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Which Animal Was a Game Console Named After? The Nintendo GameCube (Codename: Dolphin)

The Nintendo GameCube (2001) was codenamed "Dolphin" during development.

Why "Dolphin"?

Internal Codename: Nintendo uses marine life codenames: Project Reality (N64), Dolphin (GameCube), Revolution (Wii), Cafe (Wii U), NX (Switch).
Logo Easter Egg: The GameCube's startup animation forms a **purple dolphin** from the spinning cube vertices before the logo appears. (Hold A at boot to see it slowly).
GPU Codename: The ArtX/ATI graphics chip was codenamed **"Flipper"** — a dolphin's flipper.

Other Animal-Named Consoles / Codenames

Console	Animal Link
Atari Jaguar (1993)	Named after the big cat (marketing: "64-bit").
Atari Lynx (1989)	Named after the wildcat (sharp vision).
Game.com (Tiger Electronics, 1997)	Brand "Tiger" + ".com".
Nvidia Shield (2013+)	Brand "Shield" + logo = shield shape, not animal.
Razer Blade / Phone	Brand "Razer" (razor) + snake logo (viper).
Cougar (Never released)	Proposed console name.

Note

No major console's *final consumer name* is an animal except **Atari Jaguar** and **Atari Lynx**. "Dolphin" was internal only. The GameCube launched as "Nintendo GameCube."

Classic Console Games