Every Nintendo GameCube Nameplate / Jewel / Faceplate

Earlier models of the GameCube (DOL-001) had removable/interchangeable jewels, which is the black disc on the top of the system with the logo on it. In Japan, they’re called nameplates ネームプレート, and I’ve seen some people refer to them as faceplates as well. This is the original, the one that came in most systems:

Special Edition Consoles with Unique Jewels

Hanshin Tigers 2003 – more info at https://consolevariations.com/variation/console/gamecube-hanshin-tigers

Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes Premium Package – more info at https://consolevariations.com/variation/console/gamecube-metal-gear-solid

Metroid Prime Pak – more info at https://consolevariations.com/variation/console/gamecube-metroid-prime

Nintendo GameCube Gundamn Char’s Customized Box – more info at https://consolevariations.com/variation/console/gamecube-customized-gundam-char

Pokémon XD Gale of Darkness Limited Edition Bundle – more info at https://consolevariations.com/variation/console/gamecube-pokemon-xd

Resident Evil 4 Limited Edition Pak – more info at https://consolevariations.com/variation/console/gamecube-resident-evil-4

Thanks to https://maru-chang.com/hard/dol/018/index.htm for pointing out this promotional image of a “biohazard 4” (Japanese name for Resident Evil 4) nameplate that never came out:

Tales of Symphonia Bundle – more info at https://consolevariations.com/variation/console/gamecube-tales-of-symphonia

Nintendo GameCube + Donkey Konga – more info at https://consolevariations.com/variation/console/gamecube-donkey-konga

Club Nintendo Rewards

Dobutsu no Mori/ Animal Crossing “A point prize (150pt.) that can be redeemed at Club Nintendo from December 9, 2003” – https://maru-chang.com/hard/dol/018/index.htm (This and all further quotes from maru-chang.com are Google Translated)

Mario Kart Double Dash!! “A point prize (150pt.) that can be redeemed at Club Nintendo from December 9, 2003” – https://maru-chang.com/hard/dol/018/index.htm

Wind Waker “A point prize (150pt.) that can be redeemed at Club Nintendo from December 9, 2003” – https://maru-chang.com/hard/dol/018/index.htm

Thanks to https://maru-chang.com/hard/dol/018/index.htm for pointing out this prototype image of the Wind Waker jewel

Promotional Event Prizes

Mario Party 5 – “A nameplate that came as a bonus when you bought the GameCube and software at Ito-Yokado around December 2003.” – https://maru-chang.com/hard/dol/018/index.htm I couldn’t find any other info about this promotion even searching in Japanese, same for the two below.

Pokémon Colosseum – “A nameplate that came as a bonus when you bought the GameCube and software at Ito-Yokado around December 2003.” – https://maru-chang.com/hard/dol/018/index.htm

Mario Kart Double Dash!! – “A nameplate that came as a bonus when you bought the GameCube and software at Ito-Yokado around December 2003.” – https://maru-chang.com/hard/dol/018/index.htm

Now all those jewels are cool but what I like more is that they printed installation instructions for them

Pokémon Channel – “Released on July 18, 2002 (Friday) “Pokémon Channel ~ Together with Pikachu! ~] Pokémon Center online reservation privilege.” – https://maru-chang.com/hard/dol/018/index.htm

Medabot Brave – “Medarot BRAVE” released on November 28, 2003 (Friday), first shipment bonus at some stores (イトーヨーカドー・アピタユニー・ハローマック [Ito-Yokado, Apita Uny, Hellomac]).” – https://maru-chang.com/hard/dol/018/index.htm

Naruto / 優勝記念メダル – “NARUTO’s nameplate is one of the very few plates that is distributed to the winners of tournaments hosted by game shops using Tommy’s “NARUTO-Naruto-Fierce Fighting Ninja War!”” – Google translated from https://jp.mercari.com/item/m11725648992. Maru-Chang says this event(s?) happened on April 11, 2003 https://maru-chang.com/hard/dol/018/index.htm. I tried looking for more info in Japanese and couldn’t find any.

Apparently there’s a sticker on the back as well

It came in this case

Nintendo GameCube Heineken Console – in fall 2002, Heineken put ads in some magazines, such as the August 26, 2002 issue of Sports Illustrated (see here: https://vault.si.com/vault/2002/08/26/704101#&gid=ci0258bedb001426ef&pid=704101—035—image) and according to Consolevariations.com https://consolevariations.com/variation/console/gamecube-heineken-edition-black, the September 2002 issue of VIBE Magazine, though I couldn’t find any scans of that online.

And thank goodness someone posted this framing of the ad to eBay because there are no readable scans of this thing (not that this is very readable v_v) Anyhow I saw some people online saying the rules were you needed to buy 10,000 bottles or cans to enter, and yet I don’t see that in this ad. All you have to do is enter online or mail in a card if you don’t have internet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGgmQSEURM0 This video goes over the system and the contest as well if you’re interested.

Other / Additional Information

ATI Flipper – “Came with ATI GameCube…was given away to developers who work[ed] on the GameCube” – https://consolevariations.com/variation/accessory/gamecube-ati-flipper

Nintendo GameCube ATI Delivering Console – not much is known about this one, but at least it has a console variations page https://consolevariations.com/variation/console/ati-delivering-the-graphics-power

Central Japan International Airport Console (there’s only one) – “This was inside Central Japan International Airport as entertainment for children to play!” – https://consolevariations.com/variation/console/central-japan-international-airport-game-cube

This Doubutsu no Mori+ (Animal Crossing) Sticker Book included some stickers designed to be put on your GameCube jewel! Thank you so so much to @168triangles on Twitter https://twitter.com/168triangles/status/1359182478460792836 for posting about this!!

I also found this Doubutsu no Mori e+ one on reddit

Which is probably from this book, though I can’t confirm that unfortunately (this is rather tempting to buy all the animal crossing sticker books I can and scan and upload them haha)

I found many many sticker books by searching どうぶつの森なかよしシールブック on Google and Mercari (where I looked at every single listing) but I wasn’t able to find many photos of the insides so I didn’t find any more jewel stickers : (

One of the GameCube prototypes that got shown had a gap at the bottom of the jewel to show off the disc.

GameCube jewels have part of the plastic in Nintendo missing on the N and d to line up with the notches in the GameCube’s hood so that way only official jewels can fit properly. This is suspiciously similar to how copy protection “worked” (Author’s note: it didn’t really work) on the Famicom Disk System!

As you can see, there’s bigger indents on the I and the N in Nintendo, which the FDS would check for to make sure you were playing a legitimate game.

So then bootleg disk makers just took a chunk of the disk out at the bottom to fool the system into thinking it was real because all it was doing was checking for there to not be plastic in that spot.

Unofficial

The European gaming magazine CUBE included make your own jewel kits in certain issues where you take the design you want and encase it between the two pieces of plastic and put it in your system

There’s probably more of these but retromags doesn’t have a single issue of CUBE available and I looked at all three pages of google for “cube magazine gamecube jewel” so I dunno how to find if there’s others

Harry Potter – these were released during the GameCube’s life so I figured I’d throw them in too

Thanks to u/Trippyk7 for posting about it https://www.reddit.com/r/Gamecube/comments/shjtf6/harry_potter_faceplate_jewel_anyone_know_anything/

Came in this bundle

Also, if you’re interested in GameCube jewels, custom ones are very easy to find online ^^

Sources I used to compile the full list:

https://maru-chang.com/hard/dol/018/index.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20190322003929/https://consolevariations.com/nintendo/gamecube/gamecube-faceplate-variations/
https://consolevariations.com/database/nintendo/gamecube
https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?70288-LIST-What-GAMECUBE-Jewels-were-there-D
I searched “gamecube jewel” on ebay and “ゲームキューブ ネームプレート” on yahoo auctions and Japanese Mercari (https://jp.mercari.com/search?keyword=%E3%82%B2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%83%96%20%E3%83%8D%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E3%83%97%E3%83%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Gamecube/comments/d6gty2/today_i_received_the_metabot_gamecube_faceplate_i/

Uncited images are from eBay listings.

Thanks for witnessing!