Nintendo GameCube

The Nintendo GameCube (, Nintendo GameCube), also known as GCN or simply GameCube, is the fourth internationally released home video game console released by Nintendo in 2001. Super Smash Bros. Melee is one of its games, and its top-seller. First announced in 1999 by the codename "Dolphin" alongside what would become the Game Boy Advance, the GameCube would release in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. An iQue version of the console for the Chinese market was in the planning stages before being canceled.

The GameCube is a significant upgrade over it predecessor, the Nintendo 64, in terms of CPU and GPU capabilities. The GameCube abandoned cartridge based media in favor of discs, utilizing a proprietary variant of the 8 cm MiniDVD. The four controller ports return from its predecessor, which are also compatible with link cables that allows games to be played with a Game Boy Advance. The GameCube is the first Nintendo console to properly support online play, although in an extremely limited fashion, using a special add-on and only being used by a few select games. The system sold 21.74 million units worldwide, selling significantly less its main competition of the Sony and slightly less than Microsoft's  console, only outselling former rival Sega's. This continued decline in sales is due its native inability to be a CD-ROM and DVD player, something the PS2 possessed and marketed as an all in one media machine. A DVD compatible GameCube titled the Panasonic Q did release in 2003, but only in Japan. Publishers already burned by the Nintendo 64 were also not willing to learn the proprietary software, again creating a small game library.

The GameCube's successor, the Wii, is backward compatible with the Nintendo GameCube, capable of playing all of its games and accepting its controllers and Memory Cards. Various Wii games have allowed use of a GameCube controller as a way to have a more traditional way to play, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The control scheme in Brawl works much like it did in Melee. However, later released Wii models removed the backwards compatibility.

In the series
Super Smash Bros. Melee was released for the system on November 21st, 2001 in Japan, December 3rd, 2001 in North America, May 24th, 2002 in Europe, and May 31st, 2002 in Australia.

The Nintendo GameCube appears within Super Smash Bros. Melee as a trophy, with its description breaking the fourth wall. It also appears as a platform in 's Target Test in Melee in the center of the stage. In addition, the background of the Trophy Hoard room in Melee contains a GameCube (with controller) along with several other gaming implements, including a Game & Watch handheld, a Game Boy and a Nintendo 64 containing a copy of the original Super Smash Bros.

Various fighters in the Super Smash Bros. series originate from games originally released for the Nintendo GameCube:
 * Ike, Toon Link, and Olimar in Brawl.
 * Bowser Jr. in Super Smash Bros. 4.
 * Dark Samus in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

In competitive play
Due to being the original hardware the game was designed for, the GameCube is the preferred system to play Melee, especially in tournaments. The game has never been re-released on another system, so players with physical copies can only use GameCube compatible systems. While the Wii can play GameCube games with a dedicated disc drive and controller ports, later models removed these features, making it an unreliable option. Emulators like Dolphin also exist, but they sometimes possess bugs and performance issues not present on GameCube. However, the aging hardware that is becoming progressively less reliable have forced the competitive scene to consider and experiment with these alternatives before the game becomes unplayable, and emulation developers have made great strides in making a nearly identical experience, with software like Slippi rivaling original hardware in popularity due to ease of inserting mods and the implementation of rollback netcode for online matches, which is not even an option on original hardware.

Just like how it is possible to dump GameCube disc and memory card data onto other systems, some have found ways to make their own discs and memory cards that work on original hardware and dump data from other systems onto them. This allows mods and fan-games to be played on original hardware, including the many based on Melee. In this area, the Wii has greatly outpaced the GameCube in popularity due to possessing more industry standard hardware compared to its predecessor and the ease of defeating the console's copy protection and anti-piracy firmware to allow mods.

Trivia

 * The GameCube is the only console to have a Super Smash Bros. game available during its launch year.
 * The GameCube is the only home console to directly appear as a trophy throughout the series; across Nintendo's entire line of products, only the Game & Watch has also had trophies, although they depict the mock-up Super Smash Bros. variants that serve as stages in the games.