GameCube devkit using an early Wii menu discovered

Another major piece of Nintendo history has been discovered, and it gives us a closer look at a time when Nintendo was transitioning from the GameCube to the Wii.

A couple of years ago, a version of the first Wii menu had leaked online. There was speculation as to when and where Nintendo was using this menu for testing purposes, and now we might have that answer. Recently, a GameCube dev kit has been discovered, and it features the exact same menu.

While it hasn’t been confirmed, this dev kit appears to be one of the same that was used to show off the Wii back at E3 2006. We all know that the Wii started life as nothing more than a GameCube controller accessory, which is why it’s not surprising to learn Nintendo was using GameCubes behind-the-scenes at E3 to run prototype Wii software. These GameCube dev kits were used to demo The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Wii Sports, WarioWare, and ExciteTruck to press. Metroid Prime 3, Project H.A.M.M.E.R, and Super Mario Galaxy demos were actually running on Wii hardware.

Not surprisingly, the person who found this devkit has chosen to remain anonymous. We can only imagine how they came across such an incredible piece of Nintendo history, and you can bet Nintendo would like to know as well! At least they were bold enough to share a look at dev kit with the internet at large.