After twenty three long years, the Nintendo Space World GameCube variant has finally been discovered.
I know what you’re probably asking yourself: “What the heck is the Nintendo Space World GameCube?“. Because that is exactly what I thought when I heard the news.
Well luckily for both of us, I’m pretty decent at research, and I can tell you!
Our friends at Consolevariations.com were the ones to make the exciting discovery of the Nintendo Space World GameCube and post it on their Twitter. Which has set the community on fire today.
To understand why this is so exciting, let’s take a stroll down memory lane…
Nintendo Space World
Nintendo Space World was a video game trade show in Japan that ran between 1989 and 2001.
It was at the 2000 event where Nintendo launched both the GameCube console and Game Boy Advance portable handheld.
Nintendo showed video footage of new GameCube games, including Super Smash Bros. Melee, Luigi’s Mansion, Metroid Prime, and Mario Kart: Double Dash. All some of the absolute best GameCube Games to ever appear on the console.
They also showed early footage of two works in progress – “Super Mario 128” and “The Legend of Zelda 128”. These games would undergo major changes after their 2000 reveals.
Both of these titles would make a return at the 2001 Space World event. But now much closer to what we would know them as – Mario Sunshine and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker.
It’s quite interesting to go back and see some of the footage they showed at the 2000 and 2001 events and see how wildly different the games looked.
Makes for a pretty interesting Youtube rabbit-hole to explore.
Space World GameCube
The GameCube had not yet released by the August 2001 Nintendo Space World, so it was further promoted at this event.
There were apparently a couple different GameCube consoles on display at the 2000 and 2001 Nintendo Space World events.
One was a pink model that never saw a public release, and the other the iconic indigo purple model.
These display models were believed to be non-functional with LED lights wired through the shell to feign life.
While the indigo unit had a clear window to reveal the disk inside the tray. Which would make this variant quite easy to spot.
And it is this indigo purple model that has suddenly reappeared in our timeline.
What Is Hiding Inside?
Perhaps the most exciting part of this demo GameCube reappearing is the possibilities of what may be hiding inside.
Many are hoping that the demos of “Super Mario 128” may still remain in the disk tray.
While this does sound like an exciting possibility, I wouldn’t get your hopes up.
If the demos for Mario 128 were anywhere to be found, we’d likely have it already and would be playing it using one of the best Gamecube emulators.
Either way, it is certainly cool to see the Nintendo Space World 2000-2001 era GameCube variant come out of hiding from a collector’s stash.
Many on social media have shared their excitement. With over 1000 retweets, 8000 likes, and 450 bookmarks… it’s safe to say people are pretty interested.
The Nintendo Space World GameCube has not yet hit the database on consolevariations.com, but you can check back there for their post soon. Surely there will be some interesting details to discover.
Here is their breakdown of the five Space World prototypes.
