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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - GCN Component Cable Price: Is the Sky the Limit?

There's only one way to get 480p out of a Gamecube (GCN), and that's a component cable. Not to be confused with composite (one yellow video input vs the red/green/blue of component), component was one of the most important video inputs of the 6th and 7th generations of video games. It was the original means for viewing HD material, before HDMI. A gamecube outputs 480i standard definition usually, but this is bumped up to a crystal clear 480p Enhanced Definition (EDTV) with the OEM component cable. HOWEVER...there's just one problem. Its back against the wall with the PS2, nintendo, just to make sure the cube would be $199 at launch, left out the processing chip for component output, and instead put the chip inside the cable itself! the chip was proprietary, so no 3rd party cables were ever available. on top of that, the cable itself was discontinued in 2004. not to mention that the cable was only avaialbe at nintendo.com in the first place. Bottom Line: this cable is hard to find (at least locally) and therefore worth alot. Once available for $20 on nintendo's website, ebay prices have soared into the $300 range in recent months. Does this price have a sealing?




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Wtf is wrong with people. Don't waste your money like that. Go to a decent gaming store and they'll put 480p gamecube games(and wii games) on your wii for 20-60 bucks.

My uncle owns a great game store. He can put hundred's of gamecube and wii games on the Wii U for about 40 bucks. Extremely worth it.



 

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12/22/2016- Made a bet with Ganoncrotch that the first 6 months of 2017 will be worse than 2016. A poll will be made to determine the winner. Loser has to take a picture of them imitating their profile picture.

Component TVs weren't common back then, and the fact that Nintendo just stopped making them is pretty ridiculous.

Honestly, you're better off using S-Video, or using a Wii with component cables (since they're pretty easy to find) for the best video quality possible



"Just for comparison Uncharted 4 was 20x bigger than Splatoon 2. This shows the huge difference between Sony's first-party games and Nintendo's first-party games."

spurgeonryan said:
hershel_layton said:
Wtf is wrong with people. Don't waste your money like that. Go to a decent gaming store and they'll put 480p gamecube games(and wii games) on your wii for 20-60 bucks.

My uncle owns a great game store. He can put hundred's of gamecube and wii games on the Wii U for about 40 bucks. Extremely worth it.

 



Could doing this brick your Wii U and can you play these games with your gamepad?

No, it doesn't brick the system. He either does homebrew or something else to install the games.

Also, I'm not entirely sure on the gamepad. I'm sure you can though. Wouldn't be hard for him to do so





 

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12/22/2016- Made a bet with Ganoncrotch that the first 6 months of 2017 will be worse than 2016. A poll will be made to determine the winner. Loser has to take a picture of them imitating their profile picture.

spurgeonryan said:
hershel_layton said:

No, it doesn't brick the system. He either does homebrew or something else to install the games.

Also, I'm not entirely sure on the gamepad. I'm sure you can though. Wouldn't be hard for him to do so



Well I mean if Nintendo found out, would they brick it?

 



 

? What do you mean?



 

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12/22/2016- Made a bet with Ganoncrotch that the first 6 months of 2017 will be worse than 2016. A poll will be made to determine the winner. Loser has to take a picture of them imitating their profile picture.

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I think the only reason you would ever get the Gamecube component cables is if you're a hardcore GC collector that's willing to go all the way. Otherwise, I can't imagine anyone spending that much money on it.



Or you could just play your GC games on your Wii (original version only) with the Wii's component cable. Being able to experience games like F-Zero GX in 480p and 16x9 widescreen format on an HDTV is soooo worth it!  Many NTSC region GC games support 480p but surprisingly few also support true 16x9 widescreen.



On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.

Interesting. I still have two GCN component cables that I never use since I play all my Gamecube games on my Wii.



NightDragon83 said:

Or you could just play your GC games on your Wii (original version only) with the Wii's component cable. Being able to experience games like F-Zero GX in 480p and 16x9 widescreen format on an HDTV is soooo worth it!  Many NTSC region GC games support 480p but surprisingly few also support true 16x9 widescreen.

Yeah, I was wondering if the component cables for my Wii also up-resed GC games too. Definitely a much cheaper option.



Bman54 said:
NightDragon83 said:

Or you could just play your GC games on your Wii (original version only) with the Wii's component cable. Being able to experience games like F-Zero GX in 480p and 16x9 widescreen format on an HDTV is soooo worth it!  Many NTSC region GC games support 480p but surprisingly few also support true 16x9 widescreen.

Yeah, I was wondering if the component cables for my Wii also up-resed GC games too. Definitely a much cheaper option.

Yup, you just have to change the resolution output from 480i to 480p in the Wii system settings when using the component cables.  Then all GC games that support progressive scan / 480p will boot with progressive scan enabled.





On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.