Yes, I said GameCube. No, that isn’t a typo.
Photographs of Nintendo’s early GameCube “Wiimote” and Nunchuk have surfaced online after an auction site listed the never-seen-before kit for sale.
While it was the Nintendo Wii that brought motion-control to mainstream gaming, Nintendo initially filed a patent for an “accelerometer-based controller” back in 2006, originally intending to use it alongside Wii predecessor, the GameCube. But while we’ve known about that for a number of years now, it’s thought this is the first time images of Nintendo’s prototype tech have been made public (thanks, ResetEra).
GameCube enthusiast Twitterer @spmrp has shared a variety of images of the retro kit, which at the time had been dubbed “Nintendo Revolution”. Here, take a peek yourself:
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Amazingly, the kit was discovered on an auction site, and the lot sold for 74,000 yen (which roughly translate to £516). It included the wired remote, the Nunchuk, and the sensor bar.
While the internet was initially a little sceptical about the legitimacy of the kit, WayForward game development director James Montagna confirmed via Twitter that he “remember[s] seeing these back when it was still known as the Nintendo Revolution!”
Wow, it’s the prototype Wii Remote & Nunchuk! I remember seeing these back when it was still known as the Nintendo Revolution! https://t.co/wsl6mFXvrc
— James Montagna (@JamesPopStar) October 28, 2018
Further comments on the tweet also give us a sneaky peek at the original Wii dev unit, too, for which Wiimotes were still a wired peripheral and, like the GameCube remote, featured a pause and back buttons in place of the Wiimote’s + and – ones.
Sure thing! It?s not as cool as the GameCube one, but it?s the next step in the evolution of the wiimote design. Aside from the fact that it?s not wireless, the only difference is that it has pause and back buttons instead of the + and – buttons that the final controller has. pic.twitter.com/cVBVTwNgJP
— David (@Zidapi) October 28, 2018