Panasonic Q

The Panasonic Q is a hybrid variant of the Nintendo GameCube with a commercial DVD player. It was released exclusively in Japan on December 14, 2001. It was the result of a collaborative project between Panasonic and Nintendo to develop the optical drive for the original GameCube hardware. It features a stainless steel case that is completely revised to accommodate the DVD capabilities, with Panasonic including a DVD-sized front-loading tray and a backlit LCD screen with playback controls among other hardware revisions; a carrying handle was also included as a nod to the one on the GameCube.

The Panasonic Q was originally announced on on October 19, 2001, and upon being released it had a suggested retail price of ¥39,800. On December 18, 2003, Panasonic announced that they would be discontinuing the Panasonic Q, likely because of poor sales.

The Panasonic Q supports CDs in addition to DVDs and GameCube discs; however, there is little-to-no integration between the GameCube and DVD player hardware, emphasized by the "Game" button used to switch between the two modes. As a result, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS are only supported by the DVD player via a digital optical output; a bass boost system called Bass Plus is also supported via a dedicated subwoofer jack. Meanwhile, component video (YPbPr) output is only supported by the GameCube hardware, made possible by the "Digital AV Out" port that was present on early GameCube models. Virtually all GameCube peripherals are compatible with the Q; however, the standard Game Boy Player is physically incompatible with the Q due to the latter's legs, resulting in Panasonic producing a version of the former for the latter. A remote control was included with the console along with a Panasonic-branded GameCube controller.