¶ Technical data
- Manufacturer: Nintendo
- Year of release: 2001
- Units sold: 21.74 millions
- Best-selling game: Super Smash Bros. Melee
- CPU: IBM PowerPC "Gekko" @ 485 MHz
- RAM: 24 MB of 1T-SRAM + 16 MB of auxiliary DRAM
- Video: ATI "Flipper" @ 162 MHz
- Resolution: 640x480 (480p supported on models fitted with the digital port)
- Sound: Macronix DSP, 64 ADPCM channels
- Media: proprietary 8 cm mini-DVD, 1.5 GB
¶ Presentation
The Nintendo GameCube is Nintendo's sixth generation console, released in September 2001 in Japan, in November 2001 in North America and in May 2002 in Europe. After the relative commercial failure of the Nintendo 64, the company finally dropped the cartridge for an 8 cm mini-DVD of its own design, harder to copy than a regular CD but limited to 1.5 GB — a choice that once again kept some multi-disc productions away.
Technically, the machine is renowned for its excellent power-to-price ratio. Its PowerPC Gekko processor and Flipper GPU, designed respectively by IBM and ArtX (bought by ATI), make it a remarkably balanced console, often credited with cleaner rendering than its competitors despite comparable raw power. Its compact cube shape, carrying handle and colours (indigo, black, silver) give it an immediately recognisable identity.
The GameCube controller became a classic in its own right: its asymmetric button layout, its two-stage analogue triggers and its C stick made it the reference pad of the Super Smash Bros. community, still used in competition today. The catalogue, smaller than the PlayStation 2's, includes major titles such as Super Smash Bros. Melee, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 4, Pikmin and F-Zero GX.
¶ Emulators
Emulator availability per board:
| Emulator | RPI3/RPI02W | RPI4/400 | RPI5/500 | OGA/OGS/RG351 | PC | RG353 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Libretro dolphin | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| dolphin-gui | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| dolphin | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
The GameCube is only available on RPi5/500 and on PC. It is offered neither on RPi3, RPi Zero 2 and RPi4/400, nor on the OGA/OGS/RG351 and RG353 handhelds: those machines do not have the power required to run Dolphin.
The three entries are the same emulator, Dolphin, in three different forms. Libretro Dolphin is the core embedded in RetroArch: it is the one used by default, and it gives access to shaders, save states and the RetroArch overlay. Dolphin GUI launches the standalone emulator with its full graphical interface, handy for fine-tuning a game. Dolphin is the standalone version launched straight into the game, without any interface.
Netplay is supported by both standalone versions, Dolphin GUI and Dolphin; the libretro core does not offer it. CRT output is possible with all three. Softpatching and RetroAchievements are not available on this system. A controller is mandatory.
GameCube emulation is demanding. Even on RPi5, not every game runs at full speed: heavy 3D titles require compromises (1x internal resolution, some effects disabled). On PC, a graphics card with an up-to-date Vulkan driver is strongly recommended.
To get the most out of the RPi5, proper cooling is essential: the RecalTower case is designed for exactly that.
¶ BIOS
The GameCube BIOS files (the IPL files) are optional. They are only used to display the console menu and the original boot animation; games start perfectly without them.
| File name | Description | MD5 | Emulators |
|---|---|---|---|
gamecube/EUR/IPL.bin |
European menu and boot animation (optional) | 0cdda509e2da83c85bfe423dd87346cc | Libretro Dolphin, Dolphin |
gamecube/JAP/IPL.bin |
Japanese menu and boot animation (optional) | fc924a7c879b661abc37cec4f018fdf3 | Libretro Dolphin, Dolphin |
gamecube/USA/IPL.bin |
US menu and boot animation (optional) | 339848a0b7c2124cf155276c1e79cbd0 | Libretro Dolphin, Dolphin |
Place your BIOS files like this:
/recalbox/share/bios/gamecube/
├── EUR/
│ └── IPL.bin
├── JAP/
│ └── IPL.bin
└── USA/
└── IPL.bin
¶ Roms
Put your games in:
/recalbox/share/roms/gamecube/
Supported extensions per emulator:
| Emulator | Extensions |
|---|---|
| Libretro Dolphin | .ciso .dol .gc .gcm .gcz .iso .m3u .rvz .tgc .wia |
| Dolphin GUI | .ciso .dol .gc .gcm .gcz .iso .json .m3u .rvz .tgc .wia |
| Dolphin | .ciso .dol .gc .gcm .gcz .iso .json .m3u .rvz .tgc .wia |
The recommended format is .rvz: it is Dolphin's modern compression format, it greatly reduces image size without loss and without any noticeable decompression overhead. The older .gcz is still read but no longer brings anything. Raw .iso images also work, at the cost of far more disk space.
.zipand.7zarchives are not supported: extract your images before copying them. For a game spread over several discs, create an.m3ufile listing the images in order and launch that.m3ufile.
Also have a look at the GameCube and Wii guide for game preparation, configuration and system-specific tips.