Gamecube News

News from Nintendo about Gamecube Development

This article is from Nintendo.com

    LOS ANGELES, May 16, 2001 - The world's most successful video game manufacturer today unleashed its all-new home video game console, NINTENDO GAMECUBE, designed from the ground up to deliver on legendary game developer Shigeru Miyamoto's vision of innovation and creativity.
    A dedicated gameplay system, NINTENDO GAMECUBE launches in North America on November 5, 2001, with a library of five Nintendo titles, delivering all-new forms of interactive fun for players and offering the easiest development environment to date for game creators. Through its compatibility with Game Boy® Advance, which launches in the United States on June 11, NINTENDO GAMECUBE paves the way for entirely new forms of gameplay in the 21st century.
    "In first thinking about NINTENDO GAMECUBE three years ago, we envisioned a system that would allow us to create entertainment which would surpass the common definitions of video gameplay," says Mr. Miyamoto, the world's foremost video game designer and head of all Nintendo software development. "The engineers have given us just that - a machine that not only excels today, but will continue to break boundaries for years to come."
    Key NINTENDO GAMECUBE titles unveiled by Nintendo at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) include Luigi's Mansion?, featuring Mario's younger brother chasing ghosts in a mysterious haunted house; Super Smash Bros.® Melee, a frantic fun-fest featuring all-time favorite Nintendo characters in stunning detail; and Pikmin, a ground-breaking life simulation action-strategy game from Mr. Miyamoto; as well as more than 12 additional titles that play exclusively on NINTENDO GAMECUBE. Designed to optimize the gameplay experience, the system features the best technology in each field including the main memory and embedded memory, both with very low latency enabled by 1T-SRAM technology, a proprietary optical disc and a wireless Wavebird controller.
    Additional exclusive NINTENDO GAMECUBE titles under development include: Animal Forest?, Disney's Mickey for NINTENDO GAMECUBE, Donkey Kong® Racing, Eternal Darkness, Kameo: Elements of Power, The Legend of Zelda®, Mario Kart® for NINTENDO GAMECUBE, Metroid Prime, NBA Courtside 2002, Raven Blade, Star Fox® Adventures: Dinosaur Planet and Wave Race® Blue Storm. In addition, early third party titles will come from a wide range of the world's top independent developers, including LucasArts, Electronic Arts and others.
     NINTENDO GAMECUBE offers an unprecedented number of controller options. The controller incorporates new design elements from Mr. Miyamoto. A wireless controller, the Wavebird, allows RF connections up to 30 feet away. And in future games, the Game Boy Advance unit itself will be used as a discrete controller for NINTENDO GAMECUBE. In addition, a wide range of peripheral devices (each sold separately) will further enhance the NINTENDO GAMECUBE experience. They include a memory card, containing 4 megabits of flash memory; SD-Memory card adapter; 56Kbps V. 90 modem adapter; future broadband adapter; and digital video cable.
    "At the heart of the Nintendo difference, we have the best development team lead by Mr. Miyamoto and an unrivaled number of superior partner companies around the world whose game designers and engineers are working exclusively for Nintendo," says Peter Main, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Nintendo of America Inc. "Together, we will deliver on our promise - a dedication to innovation, the highest in game quality, and our heritage of creating the most loved franchise characters in the universe."
    The NINTENDO GAMECUBE was designed to work with Game Boy Advance, Nintendo's 32-bit revolutionary all-new version of the best-selling Game Boy video game system, which has sold more than 110 million systems since its release in 1989. With a new horizontal orientation and dual shoulder buttons, Game Boy Advance boosts the screen size by 50 percent and displays 500 times as many on-screen colors as Game Boy® Color. The system features high-resolution graphics on its 2.9" color LCD screen, supports four-player gameplay and has the ability to play virtually all Game Boy and Game Boy Color games.
    Game Boy Advance arrives June 11 with an MSRP of $99.95, while new game software will retail for between $29.95 and $39.95. Nintendo expects to ship 24 million Game Boy Advance systems worldwide in the first year.
    NINTENDO GAMECUBE is scheduled to launch in Japan on September 14, 2001, and in Europe in early 2002.
    As the worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co. Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems. The systems include Game Boy, Nintendo® 64, Game Boy Advance and the upcoming NINTENDO GAMECUBE. Since the release of its first home video game system in 1985, Nintendo has sold more than 1.4 billion video games worldwide, creating enduring industry icons such as Mario? and Donkey Kong® and launching such franchises as Zelda and Pokémon®. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere.
    For more information about NINTENDO GAMECUBE, Game Boy Advance or any other Nintendo product, visit the company's Web site, www.nintendo.com.

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