Can you remember back when Super Mario Sunshine first came out? Walking onto Isle Delfino for the first time, marveling at the new controller in your hands and just how cube-like the GameCube really was. There’s so much in a name – GameCube. It’s literal, no-nonsense, like the Germans calling a lightbulb a ‘glow pear’. Well, did you know that it was originally supposed to be called the Nintendo Dolphin and that Isle Delfino, the main Island in the GameCube’s most anticipated title literally means ‘Dolphin Island’?
I love starting off an article with a little bit of factual history, and the new picture of the Nintendo Dolphin from ConsoleVariations on X of the very first console assists these facts like the accompanying images in the world’s nerdiest dissertation. Of course, many of you will have heard the term Dolphin in conjunction with Nintendo before. I used to see it in magazines back in the day when I was first learning about the console, and of course, the Dolphin Emulator pays further homage to the name that never was.
It’s interesting that they chose to go with the obvious choice of name rather than the Dolphin. I guess it’s even more of a shame that we didn’t actually get GameCube Island on the Wind Waker too to match Isle Delfino, but that’s a story for another day. I’m here to talk about the fact that this GameCube exists, and while this isn’t confirmed (so don’t quote me on it) it appears to be in the possession of ConsoleVariations as they have teased more pictures coming soon.
The console itself looks very much the same as the GameCube that we know and love today, but the main difference is the circular panel in the middle of the console. Rather than being black with the GameCube branding on it, the plastic disc is white with a strange-looking cube on it, as well as the Dolphin branding. The power button is on the right-hand side of the console as opposed to the left and is raised with a slight dome compared to the actual GameCube design we ended up getting.
As ConsoleVariations have stated in the tweet above, they have more pictures but were ‘not allowed to upload them onto the internet’. What’s changed? Why are they posting now? Who has the GameCube? I’ve reached out to them with more questions, so hopefully I’ll be able to answer them and more soon!
