Product Description

The GameCube is the first Nintendo video game system to use a disc-based medium rather than cartridges.

Though it looks like a toy, don't be fooled: the Nintendo GameCube is a powerful video game console that rightly deserves its place among the its generation of game systems.

For starters, Nintendo has quite clearly made this a game-only machine. It doesn't try to play your CD collection, movies, or MP3's.

Nintendo concentrated on games. All titles we've seen play smoothly, with bright, fast graphics and great sound.

Of course, the main advantage of the GameCube is that it's the home field of one of the world's premier game designers: Nintendo. While powerhouses Electronic Arts and Sega make games for all systems (including this one), you can play Nintendo games only on a Nintendo system. Nintendo, you might recall, has been hitting them out of the park since it started with Donkey Kong. In fact, here's a roll call of characters and series you won't find on the other consoles: Mario, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, and, of course, Pokemon.

A few names that the GameCube does share with the other guys: Madden, Tony Hawk, Sonic, Batman, and Star Wars.

The system has four controller ports, so you can let friends join in for the multiplayer games -- it even has a handle so you can easily move it to a friend's house. It comes with two memory card slots for saving your progress.

Unit Specifications

• MPU (Microprocessor Unit): 485 MHz custom IBM PowerPC Gekko
• Graphics Processor: 162 MHz custom ATI/Nintendo Flipper
• Texture-Read Bandwidth: 10.4 GB per second (peak)
• Main Memory Bandwidth: 2.6 GB per second (peak)
• Pixel Depth: 24-bit color, 24-bit Z buffer
• Sound Processor: 81 MHz custom Macronix 16-bit DSP
• Sound Performance: 64 simultaneous channels, ADPCM encoding
• Polygon Performance: 6 to 12 million polygons per second (peak)
• System Memory: 40 MB
• Main Memory: 24 MB MoSys 1T-SRAM
• Disc Drive: 128 ms CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) system
• Data Transfer Speed: 16 Mbps to 25 Mbps
• Media: 3-inch, 1.5 GB capacity disc
• Controller Ports: Four
• Memory Card Slots: Two
• Audio-Video Output: Analog and digital
• Dimensions: 4.3 by 5.9 by 6.3 inches (height by width by depth)