Nintendo Fans Discover GameCube Secret 24 Years Later

Its has been 24 years since Nintendo released the GameCube, the successor to the N64. While a very nostalgic console, ultimately the GameCube was not supremely successful for Nintendo, having only sold 21 million units, which was substantially lower than Nintendo forecasts. This is why it was succeeded in 2006 by the Wii and discontinued in 2007, only 6 years after it was released.

Those that did play the GameCube back in the day may be surprised to learn it has not one, not two, but three different start up sounds. There is the standard start up sound that plays every time the console is booted up normally. That said, there are two other secret boot up sounds many GameCube owners had no idea about it.

In addition to the standard boot up, there is a secret boot up that is unlocked by holding down the “Z” button on the controller. And then there is an even more secret boot up sound that is unlocked by four controllers being plugged in and all holding down the “Z” button together.

Did you know the GameCube had three different startup sounds? pic.twitter.com/9dqK8vKp4T

— Video Game History (@VideoGameHstry) May 28, 2025

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Now, it is worth noting this is not a brand new discovery. This has been known about, however, it appears many Nintendo fans had no idea about this, or at least that is what many of the replies to the post above suggest.

“I didn’t know this, nice little easter egg,” reads one of said replies. “I used to love finding little Easter eggs like this back in the day. Gotta admit… that third one totally slipped past me,” reads another reply.

Of course, the third boot up sound, in particular, is hard to naturally come across because you need four controllers plugged in, which likely means three other people to play with. And unless you know about this trick, all four need to press the “Z” button at the same time, which is statistically very unlikely.

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