Gamecube System – Indigo

GameCube is built to run the best games in the world with unsurpassed technology. Through its compatibility with Game Boy Advance, the Nintendo GameCube system is designed to optimize the gameplay experience and features the best technology in the main memory and the embedded memory.

Nintendo GameCube Controller

Nintendo GameCube offers a number of controller options. A few added features to the Nintendo GameCube controller include a second analog control stick, left and right analog trigger buttons, and a built-in rumble motor. The right-side buttons have been re-arranged to allow the user to set the A Button home position, making the role of each button more natural. There will also be a huge amount of peripheral devices that will also enhance your gaming experience. The list includes the Wavebird (a wireless controller, allows RF connections up to 30 feet away), a memory card, a SD-Memory card adapter, a modem adapter and a digital video cable.

Memory

The standard memory storage device, the Digicard provides 4-megabits of data storage, or roughly 512k -- 1/2MB. There's also a SD memory card adapter, which replaces the standard Digicard and allows GameCube to interface with a 64 megabyte SD memory card, which can store much more data.  

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Media

The GameCube games are now held on special optical disks that measure only 8 cm in diameter and can hold up to 1.5 GB of data. Unfortunately, the Nintendo 64 game cartridges will not be compatible with the GameCube system.

Nintendo Game Titles

The game titles announced by Nintendo include Super Smash Bros. Melee, Luigi's Mansion and Pikmin, an action-strategy game as well as more than 12 additional titles exclusively for Nintendo GameCube. Some of the titles included are Disney's Mickey, Donkey Kong Racing, Eternal Darkness and The Legend of Zelda to name a few.  

System Specs:

• MPU (Microprocessor Unit): IBM PowerPC "Gekko"
• Manufacturing process: 0.18 Microns Copper Wire Technology
• Clock frequency: 405mhz
• CPU capacity: 925 Dmips (Dhrystone 2.1)
• Internal data precision: 32bit & 64bit floating point
• External bus bandwidth: 1.6GB/second (peak), (32bit address, 64bit data bus 202.5mhz)
• Internal cache: L1: Instruction 32KB, Data 32KB (8 way), L2: 256KB (2 way)
• System LSI: "Flipper"
• Manufacturing process: 0.18 microns NEC Embedded DRA Process
• Clock frequency: 202.5mhz
• Embedded frame buffer: Approx. 2MB, Sustainable Latency: 5ns (1T-SRAM)
• Embedded Texture Cache: Approx. 1MB, Sustainable Latency: 5ns (1T-SRAM)
• Texture Read Bandwidth: 12.8GB/second (peak)
• Main Memory Bandwidth: 3.2GB/second (peak)
• Color, Z Buffer: Each is 24bits
• Image Processing Function: Fog, sub pixel anti-aliasing, HW light x8, alpha blending, virtual texture design, multi-texture mapping/bump/environment mapping, MIPMAP, bilinear filtering, real-time texture decompression (S3TC), etc.
• Other: Real-time decompression of display list, HW motion compensation capability
• The Gekko MPU integrates the PowerPC CPU into a custom game-centric chip.
• (The following sound related functions are all incorporated into the system LSI)
• Sound processor: Special 16bit DSP
• Instruction memory: 8KB RAM + 8KB ROM
• Data memory: 8KB RAM + 4KB ROM
• Clock frequency: 101.25mhz
• Minimum number of simultaneously produced sounds: ADPCM: 64ch
• Sampling frequency: 48khz
• System floating point arithmetic capability: 13.0GFLOPS (peak), (MPU, Geometry Engine, HW Lighting Total)
• Actual display capability: 6 million to 12 million polygons per second (display capability assuming actual game with complexity model, texture, etc.)
• System main memory: 24MB sustainable latency, (10ns or lower 1T-SRAM)
• A-Memory: 16MB (100mhz DRAM)
• Disc Drive: CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) system average access time 128ns, Data transfer speed: 16Mbpsto 25Mbps
• Media: 8cm Nintendo GameCube Disc based on Matsushita's optical disc technology – approximately 1.5GB capacity
• Input: Controller port: x4, Digicard slot: x2, Analog AV output: x1, Digital AV output: x1, High-speed serial port: x2, High-speed parallel port: x1

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