The Nintendo Gamecube is the home console in which Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2 are played, apart from the fact that the Nintendo Wii can also be used to play these games. The Gamecube's media hardware is a specially designed disc, which is read and written in a different style as other known discs. Nintendo did this to prevent pirating of the company's videogames.
It's predecessor is the Nintendo 64, and the successor is the Nintendo Wii.
History
Before being released on September 14, 2001 in Japan, the Gamecube's codename was project Dolphin. Due to this, some of the console's games have a reference to the codename, via an illustration or just a name. In Pikmin 1's case, it's the name of the ship, the S.S. Dolphin. The Gamecube sold 21.74 million units worldwide.
Controller
The Gamecube's controller is constituted by a total of 6 buttons, 2 analog buttons, 2 analog sticks and 1 D-Pad. On the Pikmin games, this is the general button distribution for the Pikmin series:
- A: Punch/pluck Pikmin/throw Pikmin/confirm options.
- B: Whistle/cancel options.
- X: Dismiss Pikmin.
- Y: View monitor (Pikmin 1)/change Captain (Pikmin 2).
- Z: Change viewpoint.
- Analogue stick:
- Lightly: Move cursor.
- Fully: Move captain.
- C Stick: Move group of Pikmin.
- L: Change the camera's angle to match the direction the cursor is pointing.
- R: Toggle zooms.
- D-Pad: Lay Olimar down (Pikmin 1)/use sprays (Pikmin 2)/change color of Pikmin (Pikmin 2).
- Start: Pause the game.
Memory Card
Memory cards are easily purchased, and Nintendo created 3 types:
- 59 blocks (grey)
- 251 blocks (black)
- 1019 blocks (white)
Although, third-party memory cards can be bought with different memory blocks available.
In the Pikmin series, Pikmin 1 uses 19 blocks, and Pikmin 2 uses 27.