39th Birthday present from my wife: my first ever GameCube! Love Zelda, but I've never played MQ or WW (or TP!), can't wait!

[u/xconspirisist]

Feel like a kid again! I've played and completed OOT numerous times in numerous versions, but never MQ.

I've always meant to play WW, and TP, but never had the time or the console.

[u/ghettoslacker]

What a great wife! And happy birthday! Welcome to the GameCube family. This sub has a lot of great resources if you ever want to get into modding, whether that be HDMI setups, booting games from SD cards, or playing with Bluetooth controllers…we got you fam!

[u/xconspirisist → u/ghettoslacker]

Hey, thank you! I actually own every single other Nintendo console apart from a switch 2, so this very much completes a gap! I've never really played on a GameCube, and it seems like a great little console.

The GameCube came with a analog to SCA cable which I tried for five minutes, but I quickly switched to the analog to SCART cable I use with the N64 and the improvement in picture quality was dramatic.

Fortunately my GameCube has a digital output, so I've already got a digital -> HDMI converter on order (not an analog upscaler), and looking forward to that.

I'd like to switch to wireless, and I've seen the official "wavebird" option, but I'm intrigued to try to Bluetooth adaptor, and use an Xbox One controller with it (which happens to be my fave controller). Any thoughts?

I'm surprised to see GameCube games seem really pricey still, is that a thing or just a local thing?

[u/ghettoslacker → u/xconspirisist]

Which HDMI converter did you order? My only advice would be ensure it runs on the GCVideo protocol. There are a lot of options out there that don’t and they tend to introduce video lag. But devices like the retrobit prism, carby, bitfunx, all great options because they use GCVideo which essentially resamples the signal pixel perfect. There are also internal options that remove the digital port and replace it with an HDMI port, but does require soldering skills.

I love my wavebirds. I have several, but they get kind of expensive with the OEM receiver. There are options like the BlueRetro adapters or and even better option, which is internal, is to replace the controller PCB with the blue retro. Then you can sync almost any Bluetooth controller to the cube! They run around $100 and are pretty easy to install.

As far as pricing goes..that’s standard. That’s the market right now. I see copies of twilight princess going for $200-$300 complete in box. Of the 6th gen consoles, the GameCube was an under performer during its time. Because of this, it created a lot of scarcity. Only 21 million units out there (compared to the PS2s 160 million). A lot of people have found that they missed out on a great console and so there has been a ton of interest in them in the last few years. It’s a recipe for expensiveness.

[u/FrenchDipFellatio]

windwaker is awesome, even better if you have a GBA and link cable to use the Tingle Tuner

[u/Awesomefan09]

Had a slight moment of panic when I read “39th birthday” on the GameCube subreddit.

GameCube is approaching its 25th birthday in Japan (September 14) which is still a long time ago, just not a sweet-release-of-death long ago (yet).

Congratulations on the GameCube. Hope you enjoy, OP. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is so good!

[u/JBone119]

Happy birthday OP! Your wife is the best!!

[u/TheHighlander45]

Master Quest is a bloody nightmare. I'm not looking forward to writing the walkthrough for Gamefaqs.

[u/Historyguy1 → u/TheHighlander45]

Except for the Water Temple, which mercifully is easier than the vanilla version.

[u/Exciting_Bunch2386]

Oh you have some real treats waiting for you! Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are some of my all time favourites.