The germ of 3D technology and the hybrid bet of Nintendo Switch began on the GameCube.
Nintendo hasn’t always ruled the roost when it comes to the commercial success of its platforms over competing consoles, but for one reason or another, its machines have managed to go down in history for very different reasons. Whether it’s by its design, the physical format of its games, by its controls or, of course, by the games themselves. On this occasion, we talk specifically about the nintendogamecubea console that hit stores around the world between 2001 and 2002. It turns out that more than 20 years after its release, it has been discovered an unknown function of the Nintendo console.
Apparently the idea of add an LCD screen to the console or its peripherals, as they later put into practice, was long before the launch of the Wii U. There were already plans to make a Nintendo GameCube with an LCD screen, and more, although things did not quite materialize.
Nintendo GameCube with built-in screen and 3D functions
As shown in an unpublished video from E3 2022, shortly after the console launched in Japan, the company was working on a version of the Nintendo GameCube with a built-in screen, thanks to which it would not be necessary to have a conventional television to play at home or wherever one could imagine. As a travel version of the traditional GameCube, in the same way that has happened with Xbox Series S thanks to third-party accessories. Even Phil Spencer himself today uses this modified version to play during business trips, and the same could have happened with the Nintendo console.
So far the story is more or less known, but the thing does not stop there, since as we can read in Kotaku, this project had a screen with 3D properties which Nintendo kept secret for years. It is unknown why this model never finally saw the light of day, but it is clear that it served the Japanese to develop a whole line of portable and desktop consoles based on those same ideas.
Currently, Nintendo Switch is based on that idea of hybrid console between portable and desktop thanks to its tablet format and desktop dock, but 3D technology has long since ceased to be popular. We’ll see what’s new Nintendo’s next console, known as Switch 2 although it still does not have an official name or has even been presented. For now, Switch is one of the most popular consoles in history with its 122 million consoles sold.