Footage of an official LCD screen for the GameCube from E3 2002 has been discovered. The footage has been shared by Adam Doree on YouTube, a media executive who has been in the industry for over 25 years and has worked at IGN, Ziff Davis, Mashable, Segaweb, Gamerweb, and Kikizo (via Eurogamer, Go Nintendo).
Doree has dug through the archives to discover this never-before-seen footage of the GameCube's lost LCD Monitor from an E3 show over 20 years ago. He believes this footage is "probably the only surviving footage" of the LCD Monitor.
The screen would have turned the GameCube into a little portable machine with a 4:3 ratio screen with a 320 x 420 resolution - not bad for a smallish screen on a little square box back in the early 2000s. The footage also shows the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata showcasing the screen, describing it as a "high-quality screen" while showing off some Super Mario Sunshine — which was due to launch in just over a month in Japan and a few months later worldwide.
Iwata admits in the footage that Nintendo "haven't really decided at this point exactly how or in what form we're going to be releasing this or when it might happen", but that the team had also spoken to Sega's very own Yuji Naka about possibly making Phantasy Star Online "a portable game". If that had happened, we would've lost so many more hours in that universe.
Of course, the screen never released, though fans have made their own modded versions of it for the console — and we've wanted one ever since. Nintendo has mostly remained tight-lipped about this peripheral, but in an Iwata Asks interview with Hideki Konno, producer of Mario Kart and Nintendogs, over a decade ago, Konno briefly mentioned the console, which revealed that the screen had some secret 3D capabilities:
Konno: ... Some of the staff members around me were saying things like, "Today's 3D LCDs really look good!" I thought so, too. I had a connection with 3D games anyway. After the development of Luigi's Mansion for Nintendo GameCube was over, I was involved in the experiment of making a 3D version of it.
Iwata: Luigi's Mansion 3D. Unfortunately, we never released it.
Konno: Yeah. We tried fitting the Nintendo GameCube with a small, roughly four-inch, LCD that allowed you to enjoy Luigi's Mansion in glasses-free 3D.
Iwata: We showed that LCD as a reference exhibit at the 2002 E3, but kept the 3D aspect secret. I liked that, though.
So we nearly had Nintendo's take on 3D years before the 3DS — would we have had to wear funk red and blue glasses, too? Remember those things? Ahh...
Well, we'll have to settle with the fans incredible creations for our own mini LCD screens for our GameCubes. We would've loved to have seen the official thing hit the shelves, though. Huge thanks to Adam Doree for sharing the footage on YouTube and for preserving it for so long.
What do you think of the LCD screen for the GameCube? Would you have bought one if it ever came out? Let us know in the comments.
[source youtu.be]
Comments (15)
I mean, it wasn't just fans, other manufacturers (e.g. Joytech) sold screens for the GameCube. 'Never-before-seen' seems a bit of a dubious claim too...
I've never bought one because they've been of questionable quality, but the concept is so delightful it's a pity there was never an official Nintendo screen for it - I'd have been all over that, and it might have helped the lil 'Cube sell more units too, but as if I have any idea on that front.
Would be cool if the retro hardware industry made a nice (but inexpensive [who am I kidding!?]) modern version with better viewing angles and contrast.
If Nintendo ever manufacture a GameCube Classic Mini, they should totally add an optional screen to it.
Nice to see ol' Baby Face Trinen. Do miss seeing the Nintendo staff doing public stuff.
There was an official screen for the PSOne (the slim version from like 2000), but I know there was a company selling them for the other consoles on the market at the time.
I remember seeing the LCD screens for the GC & PS1 Slim. But I've never seen then at Gamestop, Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, etc.
Plus, I think they were rather pricey too. MadCatz was the one that sold them, I believe back then.
There were several gamecube portable monitors to choose from in its heyday. I think this is the one I saw most often on store shelves:
https://www.amazon.com/GameCube-Monitor-Indigo-game-cube/dp/B00005UWMC
If I had to make an educated guess, Nintendo decided to not bother with the official one after several other manufacturers already beat them to the punch in getting something to market, since it was considered a niche product.
It's funny how the more of Nintendo's history that becomes apparent the more it feels like every console they developed previously led up to the Switch.
I used to have an INTEC Gamecube screen back in the day that I got from ToysR'Us, well two to be exact. I remember that it had a video cable that connected directly into to GameCube and also a port that you can connect a composite cable to it. After a couple of days the cable got messed up so I got a replacement and I guess that I got an older model and the picture quality wasn't as good as the first one so after a few days I also returned that one and just got store credit and bought a whole bunch of board games.
I know joytech use to have mini screens for the cube, ps2 and wii
1: we've seen the Nintendo screen before
2: we knew about the 3D aspect since the GameCube days.
A lot of my friends in the U.S. Military had the 3rd party versions of these attached to their consoles; PS2, XBOX, and GameCube. The GameCube one arguably looked the sleekest. ; )
An official one would have been nice. I bought a 3rd party one and car power adaptor back then for my son so he could take it with him and play on long car rides and vacations, etc.
I have screens for both my slim ps2 and phat ps2
I’ve kept my eye for a game cube one but always expensive.
I love a mini screen for a console.
so the GameCube was almost the original switch!!! that's some serious forward thinking!! the GameCube was awesome!!
My brother has the 3rd party LCD screen for his GameCube, the GameBoy player, and a carrying case/bag that fits the whole thing. I jokingly pack it up with my stuff after vacations when I visit him just about every time.
I had a third-party attached screen for my Gamecube while I was in the Navy (US). It was perfect for gaming in my rack on deployments.
The screen wasn't amazing, but it was enough. My division eventually had its own space where we could put TVs, but the LCD was great in a pinch!
I too had the indigo 3rd party screen that attached to the handle. I remember taking it on trips with the DC car adapter. Yeah, it really was the original Switch ... just not nearly as easy to carry around and transport.
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