Nintendo GameCube Broadband Adapter

The Nintendo GameCube Broadband Adapter (commonly known as the GameCube BBA) is a network adapter for the Nintendo GameCube. It was produced by Conexant and made in the Philippines. The BBA fits flush into an empty port on the underside of the GameCube and adds a standard Cat 5 port to the side of the console. Its Nintendo part number is DOL-015.

Online and LAN play

The adapter is used to play four titles over the internet, three of which were developed by Sega: "Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II", "Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus", and "Phantasy Star Online Episode III C.A.R.D. Revolution". The fourth, "Homeland", was developed by Chunsoft and is only available in Japan.

The broadband adapter also allows LAN play with "", "Kirby Air Ride", and "1080° Avalanche". Warp Pipe and XLink Kai have created unofficial tunneling software that allows these games to be played over the Internet.

Possibilities for running unsigned code

Soon after "PSO I"&"II" was released for GameCube, it was discovered that a PC could be made to simulate the conditions of the server that the game would connect to when connecting to the internet. This information started off as a method of tunneling the online service. It was then discovered that when simulating this server, unsigned code could be streamed back to the GameCube, allowing homebrew, or information could be streamed back, allowing copyright infringement. However, this was also implemented to allow online gameplay with games that were not planned for online play by developers. Early dumps of GameCube games were created using this technique. From there, methods of running the games off of a computer through a GameCube were created. Nintendo and Sega responded by releasing the "Plus" version of the game.

External links

* [http://www.nintendo.com/ Nintendo of America's Online Support page]
* [http://www.nintendo.co.uk/ Nintendo of Europe (UK) Online Support page]
* [http://gear.ign.com/articles/306/306366p1.html IGN's look at the adapter]