For long-time Nintendo followers and online game historians there have been few public occasions as memorable as Space World 2000, the present that first revealed the GameDice—and its library of video games, and a divisive Zelda demo—to the world.
Space World, which ran from 1989-2001, was mainly a cross between E3 and Nintendo Directs. A dwell occasion held yearly in Japan, it was house to all types of main reveals and bulletins, and 2000 was one of many greatest, being the place Nintendo first confirmed off each the Game Boy Advance and the GameDice.
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Nintendo didn’t simply reveal the console itself, additionally they confirmed off numerous video games and ideas for the GameDice, a few of which might later flip up as video games, and others—just like the infamous Zelda demo, which enraged some corners of the fanbase—wouldn’t.
For Nintendo followers this present was a giant deal, and by way of its affect and legacy it is perhaps one of many firm’s most vital occasions ever, so you possibly can perceive of us have a sure stage of attachment to all the things related to it. Which is why some individuals obtained each excited this week on the information that one of many GameCubes current on the present had been secured by a collector.
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Consolevariations’ Donny Fillerup—who you would possibly bear in mind from the Queen’s Golden Wii—was not too long ago alerted to the sale of a really unusual prototype GameDice, an object collectors had been attempting for years to pay money for. It was one of many consoles current at Space World 2000, a machine so forward of its time that it wasn’t even actually a console in any respect.
Because Space World 2000 passed off in August, and the console didn’t go on sale till late in 2001, the GameCubes current on the occasion had been simply shells. The precise demos being run had been powered, like they typically are at occasions like this, by improvement {hardware}.
The shells had been there, although, and whether or not they truly labored or not didn’t matter, they had been nonetheless the primary look the world obtained at one in every of its weirdest and most beloved little consoles, and so for collectors they understandably maintain an expensive place of their hearts, even when they’ll’t truly play video games.
Donny obtained maintain of the console and took a ton of images, which present it solely has just a few items of electronics inside, largely there to energy the LED lights that lit up as a part of the presentation. But it’s nonetheless an fascinating GameDice to behold, as a result of its exterior is fully-realised, and provides us an opportunity to see the console throughout its gestation, when not all the things was nailed down and set in stone.
While it seems to be an identical to a retail unit at first look, this Space World console truly has a ton of minor variations, the sort of stuff you’ll count on as engineers work by the method of turning a sketch and prototype into one thing mass-manufactured and bought. So the within of the lid is a special design, the underside of the console has all the things at barely totally different dimensions and the vents on the aspect are a special design.
Nothing earth-shattering, then, however that’s not the enchantment right here. Sometimes it’s simply good to know that an vital piece of online game historical past is in good fingers, and that we will all get a actual good take a look at it to make minor (but nonetheless fascinating!) observations like this. If you’d prefer to see extra images, together with a ton of comparisons between the Space World shell and a retail unit, you need to take a look at Consolevariation’s gallery.
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