Here's Why The Panasonic Q GameCube Is A Nightmare To Work On 

Don't let this distract you from the fact that Mario is still practicing medicine without a license.

The Panasonic GameCube looks like a fake console Tv Show prop.

Jesus Christ, it's like an electronic lasagna of doom on the inside!

everyone else: yeah im not opening this so it keeps its value Spawn wave: lets crack this puppy open!

Just a note on the styling on the "Q". This was Panasonic's design trademark around the early to mid 2000s, silver and a mirrored front. A lot of Panasonic home theater systems, VCRs, DVD players, and some shelf systems had the same styling cues. So the Q wouldn't look out of place next to alot of Panasonic other AV stuff.

Great looking toaster. I actually wanted one when it was revealed back then. :p

I'm happy that yt randomly decided to recommend this video. A "friend" of mine once plugged my Q into 220v and it fcked the system. At the time (7 years ago) tried to change the fuse but couldn't find a replacement and it's been sitting disassembled in a box ever since. Gona try to get a fuse online and put it back together 🤓

"There's an insane amount of screws in this thing." Well, it's a Panasonic... Used to work with disassembling TV's for recycling and on one panasonic model there were over 120 screws... for the *just* the back panel...

So the Panasonic GameCube is a Nintendo DVD player

The only way I convinced my mom to get a PS2 for Christmas after it launched was the fact that we could watch DVDs and we hadn't gotten a DVD player yet.

I remember when I was a teen and the Gamecube was coming out. I saved my money to buy the base version at launch. Everyone thought the Panasonic version was nutty because "no one wants all that stuff!" In hindsight, I really want to give Panasonic props for building a "proper" modern console and making everything work with the Gamecube board like they did. The Gamecube should have been a DVD enabled system at lunch IMO.

The original price of this thing seems like fantastic bargain after seeing the insides

That looks like a nightmare to take apart lmao. Holy shit, I usually am super comfortable opening all my electronics but I would have a panic attack with that lol.

been waiting for this one !

"Fairly rare with less than 100k being sold nearly 2 decades ago." Me: Pfft, it wasn't that long ago, it was just.... oh. ...oh. I think I'm gonna cry.

Last year I was living in Japan and studying at an university in tokyo. I joined a "rock band club", people would basically get together, form temporary bands and play on a few gigs. They had a small room in campus where they would rest, talk and just hang out. And to my surprise they had THAT gem of a console in that room. I still don't know why. Why specifically that model. I asked two of them about it one time and they were trivially like "oh, we just play smash bros on it sometimes" and that's it. If I had to guess I would say one member of the club either donated or lent it. But I never got to see it turned on and being used. No one seemed to know how rare and valuable it is. Although the club was very big and the room was small, also I only went there three or four times so I didn't actually get to talk to more people in the club about it. Maybe someone knew more but i didn't get to talk to them.

I recently saw one of these half disassembled behind the counter at my local game store. The owner described repairing it as the most frustrating thing he’d ever done

I have always wanted and still want one of these since it was released. The way it works is not Odd, or flawed, it's perfect honestly

I think this is an appropriate time to tell you: Thank you for doing these Tech Waves. I myself was never really into taking things apart, but I find it fascinating what you do and I always feel like I'm learning something by watching. I hope you had an "easy" time getting this monstrosity back together and keep doing an awesome job!

I always really enjoy these videos. Used to love tearing into things like this years ago but don't have the time or energy to focus into it. Love the descriptions of components and what each piece "does" and seeing all the hardware without having to get my hands dirty.

All the circuits and motherboards are arranged in 3D.

Taking things apart, leave it to Spawn Wave to fix it up looking good as new.

The key to very complicated repairs is organisation. Don’t ever throw things in a pile or roughly on a specific part of the desk because you will fail pretty hard at putting it back together if you do. Get yourself a parts organiser from iFixit. It’s basically a mousepad-styled magnetic whiteboard and it comes with a pen that you can write down where stuff goes. Take loads of pictures on a tablet (or print them out) and annotate them, and just do things a step at a time. Work in sections and steps, don’t treat it all as one big job because you’ll never get it back together. Hope this helps, from someone who semi-professionally repairs things, not for a living, but because I like doing it. Also I’m a shade tree mechanic. If you think this is bad, try doing an engine replacement on a twin turbo quad cam V6 shoehorned into an engine bay barely the size of a Corolla’s engine bay.

The gamecube was a pretty good system, I still have mine and its been on several deployments over the years without problems. Probably the most solid console of the 2000's in my opinion.

I didnt even know this thing existed.

I remember wanting one of these SO BADLY back in the day. I really dug the look of it.

Electrical Engineer about to graduate in a year and your channel is the best! I've kinda learned some hands on experience in electronics with your channel. I want to focus on things like this and you are seriously the best! Thanks for all your uploads!

LOVE these types of videos from you. Thanks for sharing Spawn Wave.

I wish you did a timelapse putting it back together 😉

13:00 "so you're following along here, right?" Not at all, my brain hurts. I can't imagine working on this monstrosity.

Thanks man! I have one of these where the band for the drive has fused into a hard shape. Nice to know I only need to get to that top section to change it. I appreciate the teardown!

Even though I have little knowledge on the subject matter. I enjoy watching these tear down videos of yours. it's interesting to see how complex these consoles are. And I love hearing the history of the piece that you are working on. Keep up the great work.

That last shot with the whole thing disasembled tells me everything I need to know about the console

This essentially predicted the mini-itx case frenzy.

LOVED this video! Been watching your channel for a few months now, usually watching the teardowns passively while doing something else, but I've been swooning over the Q since I was 16 and looking at an import magazine in 2002. Watched this video practically holding my breath to keep focus. I can't tell if that thing is a feat of engineering or an overcomplicated mess haha. Now I'll post much more attention to the teardowns after seeing you walk through A piece of hardware that really interested me and can't wait for the next update on it!

Props for using Star Fox Assault music. Fitting for talking about an obscure GameCube

Fun to see, and great that you are playing Star Fox Assult music in the background! One of the best things in that game is the orchestrated soundtrack! :)

You know how AVGN made a Nintoaster? it looks like he did it again but with a Gamecube.

You’re channel is easily the best out there, these other guys are not even close. Keep up the wonderful work, your fans appreciate it!

Cool tear down! Never thought I would see the guts of that machine

The ultimate vaporwave console. Would be a great art piece in my living room.

Good luck trying get the game boy player for this one.

I watch all your videos many times over, love them! This is one of my favorite! You can definitely tell in your voice that this is a pain in the butt

Great... Thanks for this video. I wanted this for a long time. I hope you'll do a video when your project is done and working.

But seriously I love your videos man! SO informative! I

I imagine if these things had taken off that a lot of repair centres would have just looked at people coming in with faulty units and them just saying "Nope" or giving inflated prices because of how much of a pain it is to fix.

Don't know if anyone else has mentioned it, but on the PSU board @ 12:00 the white blocks that the black cables go into WILL release. Carefully push on the face of the block where the wires enter, then gently pull back on the wires & they should come out. To reconnect, simply push the bare wires back into the holes on the connector.

Great video. You do an amazing job at explaining what you’re doing. That hot mess is waay more than I could deal with. I’m looking forward to a follow up

When I read nightmare I needed to click the video. Seeing the full video and yeah ... agree damn... serious teardown and really fun to watch ! :D

Wonderful, I can't wait for the panasonic switch

just noticed the Star Fox Assault music in the beginning. Love the edition!!! Keep up the beefy work brother!!!!!!!!!

Bro, thank you for this video. You touch upon a lot that I wanted to know. Thank you for your patience and dedication! Back when this system was originally released I was very tempted to buy one. I had the money, but the problem was that I already had a standard Gamecube. I thought about selling it, but no one was going to pay me what I paid for it, so I kept it. I was quite annoyed at Nintendo for not having this Q type as the standard Gamecube. Panasonic had to step in and do it for them. I was so mad. Later that month my family purchased a DVD player, and I said screw it. I still have my original Gamecube. And DVD players where I live are either being given away or thrown out.

I tried to fix one of these before that was damaged in shipping. There was no saving the disk tray, but I got the rest of the system functioning. I WOULD NOT do that again lol

But will it toast my bread, that is the question. ‘ will it blend’ theme song plays

Top quality tech wave video Jon(SW). The Panasonic Gamecube is a really nice looking Machine. Fascinating taking apart of this very cool system and hopefully you can get it all working as normal Jon.

Looking forward to seeing you getting it working

I honestly thought you was looking at a toaster in the thumbnail. Until I saw the title 😳

I want to see the B-reel footage where, immediately after the outro, he makes one wide sweep with his arm and slides all of that electronic spaghetti right into the trash.

Awesome! Thanks for showing this!

I have taken apart a lot of systems. This... I will never touch one of these. Thank you for a great break down of a console a lot of use will never see in person!

Great video. You should do a video of the GBA consolizer

Just looked at ebay pricing. Found some for around 400$ in near mint condition from japanese based sellers with a lot of good reviews. Don't know why they go for over a 1000$ in the US.

I use to have one. I still have the DVD remote that came with it. It was my favorite system. I did open my because it stopped playing GameCube games.

This is, hands down, my new favorite Video on RU-vid!

I always wanted one of these things. They're so cool and not many people know about them.

This looks like a crazy piece of hardware

New viewer,this is nice well put together content that even someone who doesnt do this can enjoy.

I just took apart a regular Gamecube this morning and found it to be quite easy... but I'm not ready to clean the fan on that little boy, oh no!

Take apart an N64DD

I can't even imagine how the manufacturing line for this thing must have been like lol

This man is a wizard. It's so relaxing watching his videos.

Loved the PS2 DVD player, it seemed amazing to be able to have a console and a DVD player in your own room (granted on a tiny screen) so you could do anything without taking up the main TV

Oh man what I wouldn't give to have one of those.

18:20 It was at this moment he realized *he fucked up* He just looks at it worriedly and sighs, knowing he now has to put it back together.

That little power board at the very bottom of the shell contains the dcdc regulators for all the core voltages that the cpu/gpu require to operate. Early gamecubes had a similar if not exact board, but in later revisions regulation was moved onto the main board to reduce complexity and cost.

Great video 👍🏻. I have not had a good chance to add one of these to my collection. Maybe one day though ....

13:26 when you try to pull out a single spaghetti

Your telling me rgt has one but no procontroller lmfao

As someone who has taken apart many systems and had a little training fixing electronics thru vo ed in high school, i can confirm, this is a nightmare to open, let alone fix. All those ribbon cables can easily tear, and fitting them back in can cause you to ruin them. As you said, finding a short through out all those boards looks brutal. I wouldnt touch one of these and ive had training, i cant imagine someone with no training being able to disassemble this without ruining it, and putting it back together again would be an equally brutal experience.

Still have a brand new multi-region DVD/US/JP modded Q that I used like 5 times that I bought from Lik Sang back on 2002.

Hey I need you to put this back together. Me: bye bye

What do you plan on doing with it now? Are going to a follow up video of you fixing it or modding it?

My OCD just went crazy when you took out the DVD/CD Drive to expose that ribbon hell! 😳

remember seeing this in a tech shop in Croydon many years ago.

I’m a professional technician and I wouldn’t even bother with this, unless it was a simple repair like the DVD player, forget it.

Why not fix the broken plastic bit with Flex Tape?

I always wanted one of these in my collection. They look super cool. But yikes, what a maze inside!

Gonna be honest. I could never do this myself. I would be afraid of something going wrong. Kudos for Spawn to do what I could never do.

Would you be kind enough to do a video on fixing it and we see it working at the end?

18:20 the hesitation when he realizes it will never work again

You can directly swap the DC/DC converter board (in the bottom of the case) with one from a DOL-001 Gamecube. There are multiple vendors (Mitsumi and TDK, IIRC), but they are interchangeable. The GC main board can also be swapped with the board from a NTSC:J DOL-001 GC, but you need to swap over the video connectors - the ones on the Q board are fairly easy to remove, but the ones on the regular GC rather less so because they have the metal shield soldered to the board. You can also test the GC board by connecting it the DC/DC board and drive out of a retail cube - the white multipin plug on the board has the video out and has the same pinout as the original multi AV socket.

Great video, I love the game cube console one of my favourite nintendo consoles I bought 4 when they were brandnew but I never even heard of this panasonic gamecube console.. I guess if this console was only released in a few countries or even just one country no wonder it never sold

Feels like this wasn't finished. Maybe asking for alot, but wanted to see it get put back and what ever else u need to do.

The Spiderman PS4 box is slightly open on the nearest side to the camera. It's been bugging me so much. Please fix.

The rail issue is a huge problem. I collected and sell a lot of the Japanese systems as I would go to Akihabara and Book-offs and would buy these Panasonics whenever I ran into one. I sold them on Ebay and would end up getting complaints from the buyer as they would break during the shipping. (A couple of these were still FACTORY SEALED). It became frustrating because they are not cheap and Ebay will screw you as a seller. I finally refuse to sell them on Ebay. I know for a fact I still have one broken rail unit in the garage somewhere. I probably still have 3 or 4 of them. I have not tested them in over ten years as they are in storage. Cool video and very informative on this unit.

Love your videos man, very knowledgeable

this looks like an old stereo / amp 😮👍

Good luck putting that back together 😂

That's awesome, would love to see it in action when you fix it. Please make a short video of you demonstrating it 🙂

What a great teardown video, very informative!