u/rvansoest

I wanted a yellow gamecube. Someone said it looked like a cube from Mario. Which was a good idea. So I put a question mark on it. Someone said buttons should be white so I changed it again.

Still I wasn't happy. https://www.reddit.com/r/GamecubeHacks/comments/1tui6rh/mario_block_with_white_buttons/

So i completely started over. I have to say it is not 100% finished as i just broke the shell (have to print it again or glue. not sure yet.

1. Chamfered edges: the front vertical edges and the top edges (front, left, right) are cut at 45°, 5 mm wide, to give the blocky "?"-block look.

2. Flat lid: the round jewel recess and the badge plate are filled in, so the lid is flat.

3. Question mark: a white, blocky Mario-style "?" (57×80 mm) is centred between the buttons. It sits in a shallow recess and stands 1.6 mm proud of the lid.

4. Fake button: a white round button in the fourth corner, so the three real white buttons plus this one look like the block's four corner rivets.

5. How the shell fits together: where the chamfers meet the bottom, the top shell keeps only the inner tooth and the bottom keeps the outer lip, so the seam follows the chamfer neatly. The fake button sits across the seam between lid and top shell, so it's made of two halves with a small gap around it, like a real button.

6. Handle removed: the handle is left off, and two plugs fill its slots at the top rear so the back looks closed and smooth.

7. Bottom closed: the hi-speed port and Serial Port 2 bays are filled in, and the logo and credit text are removed, so the underside is smooth. The only opening left is the network port on the side.

8. GC Loader coin: the mount for the SD card slot (GC Loader) is redesigned as a Mario coin, Ø59 mm. It has a light-yellow outer rim and inner ring, a yellow face and a black body. The SD slot sits in a slim black stripe (34×9 mm, sunk 1.2 mm) that looks like the slot in a Mario coin. The finger notch is kept, and its sloped wall is yellow so the coin face colour continues into it.

9. Flat sides: a lens-shaped ridge below both side grilles was removed, so the sides are flat. The side grilles have a plain rectangular 8×8 pattern with no logo.

10. Cleaner rear panel: the slightly curved outer face is now flat and flush with the back of the housing, so there are no print steps left on it. The "DIGITAL/ANALOG AV OUT" lettering is gone and the edges are sharp. The AV area is still recessed for the cables, but it now sits level, with a neat thin rim around the digital AV port.

Hardware:

1. Optical drive replacement: a cubeode (GC Loader clone) with its own SD card, booting Swiss directly. Its SD slot is in the Mario coin mount under the disc lid.

2. Network: a LaserBear ETH2SP1 in Serial Port 1, with the RJ45 port in the side wall.

3. Power: the USB-C mod (a USB-C plate glued onto the original power supply).

4. Cooling: a Noctua fan in place of the original.

5. Video: the Bitfunx GameCube-to-HDMI adapter/upscaler.

6. Front: the Bluetooth front panel from AliExpress.

7. Memory card: a FlipperMCE for slot A is on order and in transit.

Bought the BC250 for my son and put in a a G5 case. The case is painted white. Back has a custom aluminium plate made by jclcnc. 3d printed some stuff, added a flight switch and some fans and lights as that is what 13yo boys like.

As of popular demand I've changed the buttons to white. Also added the grills.

3d printing a Mario Block GC for my daughter. Added bluetooth (and 8bit do controller mod) cubeode, noctua fan, bitfunx hdmi scaler and usb-c. Almost finished, have to move some stuff from the original case and waiting for the laserbear network adapter.