The Spaceworld GameCube Has been found, and here is a comparison!

Written by Consolevariations - May 03, 2023
After days, months, years of searching, someone in Discord posted the link to a certain prototype GameCube that was for sale, quickly we found out that it was the Spaceworld console that was shown in Spaceworld 2000 Expo!

And here it is. Not the best condition, but it’s only one, and we are proud of it.
Spaceworld GameCube


The Details


As promised on our Twitter account here are some high quality pictures of the system, from all sides,




As you can see, it has some wires coming out from the bottom, we assume it’s only for the LED on top, since these units were only for shown on the Spaceworld 2000, none of them were actually working just shining on their displays.

The insides:
Nothing is connected, there is a loose PCB, with the name CPU-DJ-X2 that indicates that this is a prototype board there is no CPU or GPU installed, just wires that goes to the LED on top, everything can be removed without screws except the base.

PowerSW-PCB, Front PCB, and the CPU-DJ-X2 motherboard


The Comparison to the Retail Unit


Of course you would like to know, what exactly is different beside the window on the lid? We manage to find at least 20 differences we have compared it with a Japanese GameCube DOL-001 console! About the size, the Spaceworld is 1 mm bigger from all sides then the retail!

The Top:
The top has 4 differences, the Spaceworld GameCube is on the right,
- Spaceworld has a window lid
- The reset button is flat
- The On/off button is round and actually a 'convex button'
- The names 'power" "Reset"  and "open"  is written down in white and not carved in, (more details in other pictures)
Spaceworld compare with Retail (top)

The Front:
The front has 2  differences,
- On the Memory Card slot, the Spaceworld has " Digi card A" and "Digi card B" written
- On the Retail version, there is a "ATI" logo on the right corner
The ATI CPU did got announced, but we guess for the Spaceworld, no other logo or other sticker has toe be shown, in the end ATI had 2 very limited edition GameCube Consoles, ? Check it out  here and here
Spaceworld compare with Retail (front)
The Side:
2 differences
- The Spaceworld has 121 airvents for the cooling while the retail has 64,
- Below the vents, the retail has a little 'wing'  on the side and the Spaceworld does not.

Spaceworld compare with Retail (Sides)

The Back:
There are multiple differences that caught our eye,
- The retail has an air filter, while the spaceworld has not
- The Spaceworld shows different sockets,
- The Spaceworld has the port names printed in white, while the retail it's carved in.

Spaceworld compare with Retail (back)

The Bottom:
at first glance there is not much, however doing a side by side comparison, you notice the following:
- Holes for the GBA player are much bigger,
- It has no area where the sticker could be for serial numbers
- Again, the covers their names are printed in white, while the retail it's carved in.
Spaceworld compare with Retail (Bottom)

The inside of the Disk Tray.
Opening up the lid shows some minor design changes on the disc tray,
- it has some corners instead of a round finishing and the lid goes up much wider, high likely to showcase the inside.
- very small detail, in the middle it says "push"  in black, while the retail has a holographic button

Spaceworld compare with Retail (under the hood)


- Also the disc trays are very different as you can see, no explanation needed


Finally, the covers,

The covers of the ports, are written in white, but also nothing on the insides, while the retail version has their part numbers written there.


And that is all for now, thank you for your time, and feel free to browse Consolevariations, the database with all the consoles, with over  450 Prototypes and dev kits to enjoy :)

Spaceworld GameCube + Controller reunited!