Here's our first look at Wiimote and Nunchuk prototypes for the GameCube
Yes, I said GameCube. No, that isn't a typo.
Photographs of Nintendo's early GameCube "Wiimote" and Nunchuk have surfaced online after an auction site listed the never-seen-before kit for sale.
While it was the Nintendo Wii that brought motion-control to mainstream gaming, Nintendo initially filed a patent for an "accelerometer-based controller" back in 2006, originally intending to use it alongside Wii predecessor, the GameCube. But while we've known about that for a number of years now, it's thought this is the first time images of Nintendo's prototype tech have been made public (thanks, ResetEra).
GameCube enthusiast Twitterer @spmrp has shared a variety of images of the retro kit, which at the time had been dubbed "Nintendo Revolution". Here, take a peek yourself:
Amazingly, the kit was discovered on an auction site, and the lot sold for 74,000 yen (which roughly translate to £516). It included the wired remote, the Nunchuk, and the sensor bar.
While the internet was initially a little sceptical about the legitimacy of the kit, WayForward game development director James Montagna confirmed via Twitter that he "remember[s] seeing these back when it was still known as the Nintendo Revolution!"
Further comments on the tweet also give us a sneaky peek at the original Wii dev unit, too, for which Wiimotes were still a wired peripheral and, like the GameCube remote, featured a pause and back buttons in place of the Wiimote's + and - ones.