Update [Mon 3rd Oct, 2022 16:00]: A previous version of this article reported that a GameCube development kit was found in an early build of the Wii's menu. This was incorrect — a GameCube development unit was discovered to be using an early build of the Wii menu. We have amended the article to reflect this.
A GameCube development kit that uses an early build of the Wii's menu has been found. This was shared online by Forest of Illusion after being discovered by an anonymous community member. The Wii menu in the dev kit is potentially the same one used during E3 2006.
Our friends over at Time Extension reached out to Forest of Illusion for more details on this discovery, which is apparently the Nintendo GameCube TDEV dev kit. And, according to the Nintendo preservation site, there's a chance this was the model that showcased a number of games at E3 2006, the year the Wii came out, including Zelda: Twilight Princess — which launched on both the GameCube and the Wii.
The original version 0.1 Wii menu was discovered after the huge Nintendo leak back in 2020, but with so much information, avid Nintendo fans have been digging through the details ever since. Among the other games demoed on the TDEV kit were Wii Sports, WarioWare Smooth Moves, and Excite Truck.
Forest of Illusion also shared with Time Extension a forum post from way back in 2006, with the user Teddman saying that "no one at E3 played the Wii version of Zelda--it was all the GameCube version rigged up to the Wii controller."
We're sure there's still so much more to come out of this gigaleak, including even more snippets of info from this dev kit. Maybe we'll see those game demos out in the wild someday!
We want to thank Forest of Illusion and the community for their continued work in preserving Nintendo's history, and Time Extension for bringing this to our attention! Go have a read of the full article for more information.
What do you think of this discovery? Would you like to know what else the GameCube dev kit on the Wii brought us? Let us know!
[source twitter.com, via timeextension.com]
Comments 8
The person that bought this one from ebay (not knowing it was a dev kit) shared it on r/gamecollecting and r/gamecube about 2 weeks ago.
I love it when you change the colours to match an article like the Gamecube or Kirby
The software was made before the hardware. Also found out about the PS5 was different before the final model.
Only goes to show how integrated the GameCube was to the Wii. Basically the same software and technology with a new coat of paint. I hope Nintendo considers this for their next console.
@ModdedInkling
I hope they don't. The switch appears increasingly dated with each month it's on the market. Back in 2017, I was fine with 720p games at 30fps. In 2022, I barely touch my switch just because any game I want to play is much more enjoyable on nearly anything else. Even first party Nintendo games generally play better on PC. 4GB Ram, and a 1.02 ghz cpu is not enough anymore. Especially with the steamdeck on the market. The next APU they use has got to be comparable with modern smartphones at the bare minimum. The Snapdragon 8 gen 1 has an 8 core CPU and even the lowest performing cores are clocked at nearly twice the speeds of the 4 cores in the Tegra x1. I don't know how committed Nintendo is to Nvidia, but AMDs RDNA platform looks like a much better bet moving forward.
But what do I know. Numbers don't lie, and Nintendo's salsa are still high. I just wish I found myself choosing the Nintendo system more than I actually do.
@Nerdtendo64 My eyes burn on any game that runs less than 60 fps and 1080p. That's the new standard.
@AlanaHagues
The title (and several lines in the article) are backwards, a developer GameCube (hardware) was found, and the GameCube was using an early Wii menu (software).
The GameCube (hardware) wasn't found inside the Wii menu (software).
@Nerdtendo64
Technically, it's not impossible to try to keep similar architecture and make improvements. Microsoft has pushed it as far as they could and effectively ends up still having powerful hardware.
The Steam Deck doesn't prove that more powerful hardware can be put on the market viably. I've noted from time to time that Valve stated they had to make a lot of sacrifices to bring it down to their current price point, implying that breaking even on it is much more difficult than even the PS5 and XSX. Then comes smartphones, which aren't designed to handle heavier gaming in mind and I don't believe there is any game that remotely comes close to the Switch without receiving sacrifices in quality. Higher frame rates have definitely been possible on mobile devices, but cooling has been the biggest issue that still isn't fixed because they don't have to use "vapour cooling" as opposed to fan or liquid.
Nintendo wouldn't push hardware that far until manufacturing costs aren't their biggest concern. Nvidia did confirm that the Tegra 239 is real, and it may very well be what Nintendo decides to use.
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