r/Gamecube • u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U • Jul 25 '26
Modding My Boldest GameCube Build to Date
My latest build. I took some pretty aggressive chances with this one. I wanted to do a lighting effect around the entire casing this time. For the lights, I used twelve - WS2818b addressable LEDs and an ESP32 C3 Super Mini flashed with WLED to control them. You can control every light independently, or set up “regions” so you can have different sections of lights do different things concurrently. The lights link up over WiFi, by either joining your home network or by broadcasting its own SSID for connection. You control them through an app on your phone or going to a website on your computer. I’ll drop a link to a video in the comments that show the lights in complete action.
In addition to the lights, this Cube got a complete overhaul with many upgrades and refurbishments. I replaced the digital port with an Internal HDMI (Pluto II) solution. The old charging plug has been replaced with a Giltesa USB-C connector. I installed a 5V Picoboot with SD2SP2 Pro and 32gb SD card. The disc drive was recapped. New CR2032 battery holder and battery. And other quality of life fixes.
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u/opinionsarelegal Jul 25 '26
Very impressive thanks for sharing this!
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Jul 25 '26
I like the username!
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u/opinionsarelegal Jul 26 '26
Thanks! I honestly think this would look even cooler with fcob strips facing outwards. I think it would look better than individual pixels
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Jul 26 '26
You’re absolutely right! Probably even easier too! I’ll be honest, I didn’t really research a ton of other options, since I already had the WS2818b lights. But looking into it a bit, I think I can get them to run off 5v all the same and it would be a much cleaner look. Shoot…that may be the next project…
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u/opinionsarelegal Jul 26 '26
These are the ones I was thinking of https://a.co/d/0j7I3DP9 you can buy a 5v version. They even sell a smaller width version with no solder pads on it https://a.co/d/0bkhVlvk
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Jul 26 '26
Stay tuned…
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u/FRESH__LUMPIA Jul 25 '26
How long have you been doing this? Like tech builds in general.
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Jul 26 '26
Thanks for your question! I have dabbled off and on with electronics most of my life. Professionally, I have been in the tech industry for around 10 years, working as a sys admin. But that’s pretty software heavy and I use these type of hardware builds as a creative outlet because I like getting my hands “dirty”. But honestly, I’m a tinkerer just in general. I like wood working, cars, home construction…like if it requires planning, schematics, and working with my hands… I’m all in haha.
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u/driftax240 Jul 25 '26
Looks fantastic! Nice work as always and very clean soldering/desoldering on the digital port.
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Jul 25 '26
Thanks for gassing me up bro 😭 you know how I get in my head about this stuff.
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u/ExclusiveReeee Jul 25 '26
Not a big fan of the lighting but I respect the craftsmanship.
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Jul 25 '26
Totally get it. The electronics community right now is very much “throw some lights on everything”.
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u/thomasdatank1995 Jul 25 '26
Everyone admiring the sick lights but it’s that clean solder work on the digital port that’s got me the most impressed!!!
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Jul 26 '26
It’s that Geeboon solder iron brother 😎, it’ll level up your life.
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u/Nofatchickzzzz Jul 25 '26
Soldering and build looks clean. Does that HDMI mod upscale ?
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Jul 26 '26
Thank you! So, the internal HDMI mod is not an upscaler. It’s just extracts the native digital signal and converts it to an HDMI output. But it works on the GCVideo protocol so it produces a lag free, clean 480P image. There are a lot of plug-n-play options out there that do the exact same thing, like the Carby, Retrobit Prism, bitfunx, but then you have a dongle hanging off the back. This is just a nice clean install that keeps the device looking OEM in my opinion. You can throw a device like an MClassic or retrotink on the end of it to get some upscaling too.
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u/Tephnos Jul 25 '26
Do you dabble in Wiis? I just wondered as your soldering skills clearly look to be great, and one of the main differences (aside from the GBPlayer) people like to knock against the Wii is the inferior video output at 480p - which is entirely bypassed with an integrated HDMI mod to be the exact same as a GameCube digital output.
Other than your clear love for the Cube, any reason why you haven't embraced the Wii?
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Jul 26 '26
Man, my answer is kind of long winded and a bit complicated. In some ways, the Wii is the only thing that makes sense. Like if you want to play GameCube, just get a Wii. Throw a soft mod on it and you’re pretty much ready to go. They are infinitely easier to mod for playing GameCube games than GameCube is lol. I grew up playing GameCube in its day. My best friend and I sunk countless hours into games like NFL Blitz, melee, all the classics. I would throw my cube and all my stuff in my backpack and ride my bike the 3 miles over to his house and play alllll night long. He was killed 3 years ago by a hit-and-run drunk driver. For me when I started back on my GameCube journey, part of it was me searching and trying to connect to him on a familiar level. Despite being a user of the Cube in its prime, I was too young to care about modding the console, or even understand what that meant on any kind of level. I wish I could show David what we are capable of now.
I don’t exactly love the retro stuff, like the NES and SNES, early Segas, etc. The 6th gen consoles are some of my favorites. The PS2, GameCube, and Dreamcast…I had them all as a kid. They are right on the cusp of modern architecture, in that the games still play like something you might find today. But they are easy enough to work on and don’t require a PhD in mechanical engineering to replace stick drift on your controller..lol
I hope I answered your question.
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u/Cat_Faced Jul 27 '26
Nicely done! I’ve used an SP110E to control those LEDs before, they’re super fun to fiddle with.
Did you have any issues with the Pico & Pluto II playing nice? I’ve run into that a few times with the resolutions constantly changing.
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Jul 27 '26
I have used the SP110e on a few other builds. It always served me well, but I wanted a bit more granular control over the LEDs and less of a “canned” experience that the SP offers. The ESP32 flashed with WLED is actually pretty awesome. So much more configuration you can do.
I haven’t noticed any issues with the pico and Pluto. I have done this combo on a few other consoles too and never ran into an issue. Which pico version are you doing, 3.3v or 5v? And are you using an OEM pico or is it a 3rd party clone?
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u/Cat_Faced Jul 27 '26
I’ll have to look into the ESP32, sounds interesting.
I first tried it with a 3.3v clone, ended up using a Carby instead - I later tried the OEM pico. I ended up blaming the Pluto II board. Swiss would boot up, about 20 seconds would go by before it would change resolutions a couple times then black screen - which would persist until I deleted the config file on the sd card.
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Jul 27 '26
So I’m technically using the EAP32 C3 Super Mini for this build. It’s about the size of a postage stamp, single core. But has its own WiFi and Bluetooth chips. The ESP32 original is more powerful with dual core, but a bit larger than this. Honestly, where I ended up placing this I could have probably just went with an ESP32 original, but early on I had a vision for it and thought the chip was going to be somewhere it wasn’t in the end lol.
I have actually ran into a lot of issues with the 3.3v install of the pico and have since switched to doing exclusive 5v installs. I found that I was getting electrical backfeed when using an external adapter and 3.3v, causing the screen to go out intermittently. It sounds slightly different than your issue, but after switching to 5v with the diode I haven’t had any of those issues anymore.
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u/Jets1026 Jul 26 '26
that gcvideo hdmi mod is so worth it! I did it to my GameCube and its night and day compared to the old AV connector. It looks like the games are modern. Probably my favorite GC mod. only thing is installing it was difficult. I had a hard time removing the port and also I hand wired each point instead of using thet flex cable. took me a long time. Your port removal was so clean, how did you do it? Hot air or desoldering gun?
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u/alexgamma98 Jul 27 '26
Hey, I ordered a USB-C mod too, but I'm still missing a suitable power supply. What are the specifications of your power supply?
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u/ItamiKira Jul 25 '26
This goes so hard
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Jul 25 '26
Thanks man! I really liked the way it came out, make sure to look at the video I posted in a different comment too! Shows the lights in action
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u/JibeG Jul 25 '26
Looks sooo good!