A Console Modder Recreated a Classic Portable Gamecube That Only Ever Existed Online as a Render

It’s nonetheless no simple feat, however creating a practical 3D render of a miniaturized console is nowhere close to as troublesome as constructing the actual factor, however that didn’t cease YouTuber GingerOfOz from building a handheld portable GameCube based mostly on nothing however an idea pic that’s been floating across the web since 2005.

Miniaturizing a contemporary console is tough sufficient, however doing so whereas forcing your self to be constrained to a design that by no means truly existed as actual {hardware} takes the problem to a different stage. As exhausting as GingerOfOz tried to remain true to the unique render, they have been pressured to make just a few compromises alongside the best way.

Using custom-designed 3D printed elements made recreating the general look of the Nintendo GameCube Advance principally painless, and the general measurement was a compromise between the size of the rendered mannequin (based mostly on the scale of a GameCube disc within the picture) and the scale of an LCD show that will be integrated into its lid. The idea’s hinge needed to be redesigned for usability, and GingerOfOz took inspiration (and a few {hardware}) from a clamshell Nintendo 3DS handheld to construct it. The moveable GameCube’s joystick was additionally salvaged from a 3DS and, alongside some 3D-printed miniature buttons, was recessed to permit the hand held’s lid to shut with out destroying the LCD within the course of.

Inside the modded GameCube is the place a lot of the compromises needed to be made. It was inconceivable to suit a disc drive contained in the {custom} housing, so the slot on the entrance exists principally for beauty causes—though a sport disc can nonetheless be slid inside. There are additionally no precise GameCube elements contained in the GameCube Advance. Instead, GingerOfOz opted for Nintendo Wii {hardware} which is much less power-hungry, a lot simpler to trim and miniaturize, and extra appropriate with {custom} software program.

The last creation performs ROM recordsdata as an alternative of video games on disc, however because the Wii was totally appropriate with the GameCube, the entire video games from that console’s library play completely completely on this factor—simply not for very lengthy. Because of the area constraints contained in the housing, there was solely sufficient room for 2 rechargeable batteries offering lower than an hour-and-a-half of gameplay.

What is perhaps much more spectacular than GingerOfOz’s construct is the truth that they efficiently tracked down the artist who had created the 3D render of the Nintendo GameCube Advance that impressed the challenge. The designer created the mockup within the early aughts as a solution to follow utilizing a 3D modeling app known as 3D Studio Max (now referred to as 3ds Max) whereas finding out artwork in school, and to see if their expertise have been as much as the duty of fooling the web plenty, which, have been apparently simply as gullible then as they’re now.