With Nintendo's extensive library of gaming hardware over the years, there have been consoles that have seen varying degrees of success. One of these releases that saw mixed success is the GameCube. Despite the many unique and stellar games that released on Nintendo's purple console, sales of the GameCube were pretty low, especially in comparison to its competition. While the GameCube sold 22 million units worldwide, it fell just behind the original Xbox's 24 million units, and was eclipsed by Sony's PS2 which sold 155 million units. Regardless, the console is still looked upon quite fondly by Nintendo fans.
Over the years, fans have created various mockups and mods of this classic console to accomplish a variety of functions. Last year, one fan managed to turn a Gamecube into a working Gaming PC that managed to run some graphically demanding games, that still utilizes the parts of the console like the original power button, LED indicator, and controller ports. Recently, a modder turned a fake mock-up of a portable GameCube into a reality.
This concept was brought to life thanks to console modder GingerOfOz, who showed off the original Game Boy Advance SP-esque mock-up of a portable GameCube. He stated, rather humorously, that he was tired of this concept being fake for nearly two decades and wanted to make it a reality. He posted to Twitter that he managed to create a completely working version of the concept, showing off not only the GBA SP-like design, but some games being playable in this state.
To accomplish this feat, this modded console is using a combination of a trimmed Wii motherboard, since it supports GameCube game backwards compatibility, along with custom software for the classic bootup screen. The display is stuck at 480p with a headphone support also included. According to the modder, the battery life of the console is criminally short, lasting for just under an hour and a half, but it's impressive nonetheless.
GingerOfOz also posted a video that detailed the exact process into building this concept to life, with each design choice and prototype shells he made. The construction of this console required the usage of graphics software and 3D printing in order to get as close as possible to the original portable GameCube mock-up. The video also explained how this mockup came to be, with the original creator, who went by the name Demond. Demond made this GameCube mockup back in 2005 for fun. He then posted it online to see if people would believe the concept is real, and it spread across the Internet like wildfire.