Nintendo Switch OLED? Thanks but no: I want this portable GameCube instead

It's daft. It's impractical. It runs out of puff very quickly. And I still desperately want it

Portable GameCube by GingerOfOz
(Image credit: GingerOfOz)

Some of my best friends are games journalists, and they tell me that the Nintendo Switch OLED is the most fun you can have with a handheld console. And I totally agree that it's a wonderful bit of kit, and that its display is stunning. But it's hardly pocket sized, and if you're going to go big then you might as well do it properly – like this portable GameCube.

If you're thinking "hang on, isn't that just the wishful thinking render that's been online for about a million years?" you're partly right: games console builder GingerOfOz "got tired of it being fake". So he built it.

It's big, it's clever and it'll probably hurt your hands

To make the portable GameCube, GingerOfOz had to overcome some obstacles –such as the GameCube being completely unsuited to becoming portable. The solution was to use a Wii motherboard, because the Wii is backwards compatible: by customising the boot screen and menus, he was able to make it look and feel just like the much-loved console without having to deal with the original's significant downsides, such as its size, power demands and lack of native 480p output.

It's more of a proof of concept than a real product, of course. The battery life is awful, the controls look like they'll give you RSI and the disc drive is purely cosmetic. But it's the kind of project that I really love to see, and if you love your retro gaming you'll love the video showing how a render became a real console. And if you're more interested in the GameCube games than the hardware, there's another option: the Dolphin emulator team have got their software running on the Steam Deck

I'd also like to point out that, yes, there are actually plenty of classic GameCube games you can actually play on the Nintendo Switch OLED, including Super Mario Sunshine, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and heavenly shmup Ikaruga.

Also, the fact that there is only one of these custom portable GameCubes in existence means that you're almost certainly better getting you GameCube kicks on Switch.

Carrie Marshall

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series. When she’s not scribbling, she’s the singer in Glaswegian rock band HAVR (havrmusic.com).