(May 17, 2001) Nintendo has announced details and a release date for its all-new home video game console, NINTENDO GAMECUBE, designed from the ground up to deliver on legendary game developer Shigeru Miyamoto's vision of innovation and creativity.

A dedicated gameplay system, NINTENDO GAMECUBE launches in North America on November 5, 2001, with a library of five Nintendo titles. Through its compatibility with Game Boy Advance, which launches in the United States on June 11, NINTENDO GAMECUBE paves the way for entirely new forms of gameplay in the 21st century, according to Nintendo.

"In first thinking about NINTENDO GAMECUBE three years ago, we envisioned a system that would allow us to create entertainment which would surpass the common definitions of video gameplay," says Mr. Miyamoto, the world's foremost video game designer and head of all Nintendo software development. "The engineers have given us just that -- a machine that not only excels today, but will continue to break boundaries for years to come."

Key NINTENDO GAMECUBE titles unveiled by Nintendo at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) include Luigi's Mansion, featuring Mario's younger brother chasing ghosts in a mysterious haunted house; Super Smash Bros. Melee, a frantic fun-fest featuring all-time favorite Nintendo characters in stunning detail; and Pikmin, a life simulation action-strategy game from Mr. Miyamoto; as well as more than 12 additional titles that play exclusively on NINTENDO GAMECUBE. Designed to optimize the gameplay experience, the system features the best technology in each field including the main memory and embedded memory, both with very low latency enabled by 1T-SRAM technology, a proprietary optical disc and a wireless Wavebird controller.

Additional exclusive NINTENDO GAMECUBE titles under development include: Animal Forest, Disney's Mickey for NINTENDO GAMECUBE, Donkey Kong Racing, Eternal Darkness, Kameo: Elements of Power, The Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart, Metroid Prime, NBA Courtside 2002, Raven Blade, Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet and Wave Race Blue Storm. In addition, early third party titles will come from a wide range of the world's top independent developers, including LucasArts, Electronic Arts and others.

The NINTENDO GAMECUBE controller incorporates new design elements from Mr. Miyamoto. A wireless controller, the Wavebird, allows RF connections up to 30 feet away. And in future games, the Game Boy Advance unit itself will be used as a discrete controller for NINTENDO GAMECUBE. In addition, a wide range of peripheral devices (each sold separately) will further enhance the NINTENDO GAMECUBE experience. They include a memory card, containing 4 megabits of flash memory; SD-Memory card adapter; 56Kbps V. 90 modem adapter; future broadband adapter; and digital video cable.

"At the heart of the Nintendo difference, we have the best development team lead by Mr. Miyamoto and an unrivaled number of superior partner companies around the world whose game designers and engineers are working exclusively for Nintendo," says Peter Main, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Nintendo of America Inc. "Together, we will deliver on our promise -- a dedication to innovation, the highest in game quality, and our heritage of creating the most loved franchise characters in the universe."

The NINTENDO GAMECUBE was designed to work with Game Boy Advance, Nintendo's 32-bit revolutionary all-new version of the Game Boy video game system, which has sold more than 110 million systems since its release in 1989. With a new horizontal orientation and dual shoulder buttons, Game Boy Advance boosts the screen size by 50 percent and displays 500 times as many on-screen colors as Game Boy Color. The system features high-resolution graphics on its 2.9" color LCD screen, supports four-player gameplay and has the ability to play virtually all Game Boy and Game Boy Color games.

NINTENDO GAMECUBE is scheduled to launch in Japan on September 14, 2001, the U.S. on November 5, 2001, and in Europe in early 2002.

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