The Panasonic Q was a bizarre mashup. Its motorized disc tray accepted GameCube discs, DVDs and audio CDs. The company took the home theater part seriously. The Q had a Cinema mode for picture processing, along with audio features like Dolby Digital, DTS (Digital Theater Systems) for surround sound, Dialogue Enhancer and Bass Plus.
Those home theater features sure must have been nice for games like Super Mario Sunshine or Metroid Prime, right? Unfortunately, no. That’s because the Q’s home theater features were split off from the game console. Game audio was limited to the GameCube’s standard analog connections. There was even a hardware button to manually switch between the two modes because it wouldn’t change automatically based on the disc type. When it was time to switch, the system effectively powered down one side and restarted the other.
The Q also came with Panasonic-branded accessories reflecting the product’s duality. There’s a gray GameCube controller with Panasonic branding for games and a matching gray remote control for the DVD player. This wasn’t so much a hybrid device as it was two distinct machines from two companies sharing the same chassis. Oh, early oughts, how we miss you.
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