DF Retro: the forgotten Nintendo tech that makes GameCube HDMI possible
Nintendo's GameCube is a fascinating design - and an under-appreciated masterpiece of console technology. First released in Japan in September 2001, it offered a vast leap in 3D power compared to its predecessor - the Nintendo 64 - while at the same time delivering the whole package in a tiny form-factor. But there are hints that Nintendo had further plans for its machine, ideas built into the design that were never fully utilised - until now. A series of HDMI adapters for the machine are now available, delivering crystal-clear 480p, derived from a lossless digital signal that was mysteriously built into the GameCube hardware.
PlayStation 3 would go on to be the first mainstream console to deliver a digital video output via HDMI, but the fact is that Nintendo built a similar pure digital output into the GameCube five years earlier. What's curious about this is that the only digital display interface with any kind of traction at the time would have been DVI, a standard for PC monitors and surely not Nintendo's target for the functionality built into the GameCube. Perhaps not surprisingly then, the digital AV output was barely utilised.
Indeed, the only use for the digital output - bizarrely - came from Nintendo's official component cable, which featured a built-in digital to analogue converter (DAC) for the most pristine image quality you could get from the hardware. Nintendo's component cable was never distributed that widely and now command prices of around $200-$300 on eBay. However, its existence has made the new wave of HDMI dongles for the Cube possible - the DAC itself has been reverse-engineered via an open source effort, and mapped onto an FPGA that now allows GameCube owners to hook up their consoles to modern screens via HDMI. These adapters range from $75 for the Insurrection Industries' Carby, up to the $150 for the Eon GCHD Mk2 I was sent for review, which offers a number of additional features.
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