A self proclaimed “madman” has created a remote play GameCube network to play their favorite JRPG with friends that they call the HyperCube.
The whole idea started when Steven Squitieri dreamed of playing Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles with his friends again on real hardware.
Not a bad game choice, might I add. It was one we included on our list of the best 4 player GameCube games. So we totally get it.
But unfortunately, Steven’s friends were no longer located in the same area to get together. So something had to be done to bring that nostalgic feeling back.
Steven points out that the remastered 2020 release of FFCC sacrificed most of the multiplayer functionality; his favorite parts.
In the original 2003 release, players could connect to the GameCube via a Game Boy Advance for a unique shared experience.
It was from here where the Bork Yeah Games project “The HyperCube” was born.
The HyperCube
The goal for the HyperCube was clear – network a bunch of GameCubes with GBA functionality and get it all online for friends to join the game.
And after a bunch of tireless research, the [not so simple] solution seemed to be found.
The HyperCube consists of 4 GameCubes with Game Boy Player attachments for each player. As well as a Nintendo Wii as the main hub running Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.
Each Game Cube connects to the Wii as a controller, essentially pretending to be a GBA connected to the Game Cube.
The video feed from the Wii is captured and displayed in Open Broadcaster Software (OBS).
The separate video feeds of the 4 Game Cubes are combined into a split screen view and sent to the OBS as well.
The actual remote play part of it gets even more complicated. But it essentially breaks down to the players connecting to a host PC using Parsec and a bunch of clever adapters for everything to function as desired.
Impressions
Surely you’d agree that this project is pretty wild, and is clearly aimed to keep the “original” feeling of real hardware, real games, and real friends connected.
That’s probably the best theme for the project as a whole: Connection.
This is a great example of just how much of an impact something like a single retro game can make on somebody’s life. It’s certainly enough of an impact to inspire some pretty creative creations to keep that feeling alive.
We absolutely can relate and we love that projects like this exist in the world!
