Earlier this month, an unexpected revival of the long-abandoned Windows NT for PowerPC emerged, surprisingly making its way onto Nintendo’s GameCube and Wii consoles. Both systems, which rely on PowerPC architecture, can now support this build, cleverly dubbed Entii for WorkCubes, available on GitHub. Interestingly, there’s even a version for the Wii U, although it doesn’t fully tap into the console’s advanced capabilities—like its extra PowerPC cores, larger RAM, or enhanced AMD GPU—functioning only through the virtualized Wii mode. Some early development boards remain untested or just theoretically supported.
For those in the homebrew community curious about how Windows NT performs on a Nintendo GameCube, there’s good news. YouTube creator @emukid_id has shared video clips showcasing the installation, basic usage, and a nostalgic round of The Ultimate Doom, albeit in an ultra-low 320 x 200 resolution. The downside? There’s no audio in these clips.
Apart from the silence, the Windows 95 experience seems to function as you might expect. You can configure classic NT wallpapers like 3D Maze, fiddle around on Notepad, and even pull up the simple Internet Explorer home page. The system smartly accommodates various peripherals that bridge the gap between PCs and Nintendo devices, such as a GameCube controller with an integrated full-sized keyboard, transforming the original controls into spaced-out grips. The Wii and Wii U’s standard USB ports offer additional possibilities for USB peripherals.
Yet, it’s clear there are trade-offs. Using a traditional Windows NT PC today in 2025 wouldn’t provide access to most modern web pages, a challenge mirrored here. Even with compatible Ethernet adapters for the GameCube or Wii, online functionalities are quite limited.
Nevertheless, this experiment serves as a time capsule, preserving the era of Windows NT and PowerPC before the advancements that came with Windows NT 3.5. The ability to run Doom on a GameCube is a feat worth marveling at, given the Wii is essentially a GameCube with a souped-up CPU and a new GPU.
The notion of proper Wii U support for NT 3.5 or beyond is intriguing. It could potentially leverage its substantial 1GB DDR3 RAM and triple PowerPC cores compared to the previous single-core setups on the Wii and GameCube. Despite GameCube’s meager 24MB of system RAM, supplemented by small dedicated RAM for video and I/O, this development opens up exciting possibilities for retro tech enthusiasts.
