WikiScene:GameCube
What is a Gamecube?
The GameCube is a video game console made by Nintendo. It’s marketed audience is children, yet many adults who grew up with the big N have come to enjoy it.
Nintendo’s Official GameCube Page - http://www.nintendo.com/systemsgcn
Hardware
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Versions
Currently there are four main retail versions of the GameCube. The “DOL-001”, “DOL-002”, “DOL-101” and the “Panasonic Q”. Please see the Gamecube BIOS Chart to see which BIOS work on your system (only the Cobra and/or Qoob BIOS will work on your Panasonic Q)
This is a picture of the infamous Panasonic Q. It’s a combined DVD player with a GameCube in a really cool custom case.
Buy one for $250 on http://prodb.matsushita.co.jp/product/info.do?pg=04&hb=SL-GC10
There is no BIOS support in older BIOS and/or Anaconda for the DOL-002, DOL-101 and/or Panasonic Q. Make sure the unit you have is DOL-001 if you wish to use an older BIOS. DOL-001 has two AV ports on the back (one analog and one digital).
NOTE: The DOL-002 version of the GCN is an exclusive version to Brazil. It was manufactured by a Brazilian company, Gradiente, due to a now dead partnership between Gradiente Nintendo.
GameCube Original BIOS (IPL) Version Information
IPL Version 0.0
The very first IPL Version that was used in early NTSC DOL-001 devices it's pretty rare to find this version in a GameCube
IPL Version 1.0
This IPL is the only one PAL Version IPL and can only be found in PAL GameCubes that are all DOL-001 REV A GameCubes
IPL Version 2.0
There are two version of this IPL, they are all for NTSC units. One is for DOL-001 and the other is for DOL-101 both versions do have the same version number but not the same release date and are not compatible each others, thats one of the reason of the numerous bugs from Cobra v0.2, v0.3 and v0.4 with DOL-101 units. This IPL can be found on DOL-101 and DOL-001 REV A, B and C GameCubes.
IPL Version 3.0
There are two version of this IPL; they are all for NTSC units. One is for DOL-001 and the other is for DOL-101 both versions do have the same version number but not the same release date and are not compatible each others, thats one of the reason of the numerous bugs from Cobra v0.2, v0.3 and v0.4 with DOL-101 units. This IPL can be found on DOL-101 and DOL-001 REV A, B and C GameCubes. SAME AS IPL v2.0
IPL Version 4.0
This IPL Version can only be found in NTSC DOL-101 REV C GameCubes and is mostly supplied with v8 GameCube drives and it's the latest IPL Release except for Brazil.
IPL Version 5.0
This IPL is very special, it can only be found in DOL-002 GameCubes that are only being sold in Brazil (along with DOL-001) it's a special GameCube co-produced by both Nintendo Corporation and Gradiente Corporation (A Brazilian Company) the main differences are that the GameCube menus are in Portuguese (Official Language in Brasil) and that the display is in PAL M signals. beside that the GameCube is the same but this very particular IPL makes it incompatible with Cobra that do patch the GC IPL to work however it still works with anaconda and of course GCOS.
REV A: DOL-001
GameCubes with both Digital AV output on and Serial Port 2 inside ::Status:: Still being sold in Europe and Korea (NTSC J), Sold out in Japan and both North and South America.
REV B: DOL-001
GameCubes with both Digital AV output on, but where the serial Port 2 had been removed ::Status:: Sold out worldwide but you can still get one in the usa if you exchange your DOL-101 (unmodded) GameCube to a DOL-001 version with Nintendo (for free).
REV C: DOL-101
GameCubes without Digital AV output and serial Port 2. ::Status: It's the current Retail version for worldwide except for PAL GameCube systems (EU + Australia) and Brazil.
I know it can help or interest some people to have that IPL Version guide and know more about those, however only Retail IPL Versions are mentioned here, don't look for details on the TDEV or NPDP GBOX IPLs while looking at that post.
Panasonic Q
There is also a modified GameCube that reads DVD videos that is called the Panasonic Q and that is only being sold in Japan, however I don't know what IPL Version it can have, I heard someone has a V2 IPL in his Panasonic Q, however the Panasonic Q is just composed of a Panasonic DVD player mainboard, a GameCube mainboard (a Japanese DOL-001 Retail version) and a (VERY) modified v8 Drive (that only has v8 in the drive version but that is totally different from standard v8 drives). It also uses two different drive controller chips, one for DVD and the other for GameCube and the GameCube controller will never allow to read more than 8cm medias (no full DVD reading on the GameCube mode as it's hardware limited by the controller chip), however the Q can be much less picky with media then standard GameCubes.