Memory card
The GameCube Memory Card is a propriety flash-based memory device used to save data for games on the Nintendo GameCube. The cards are backward compatible on the Wii, but they cannot be used to save data for its games. Nintendo released cards with three different capacities: 59 blocks (512 kilobytes), 251 blocks (2 megabytes), and 1019 blocks (8 megabytes). Some third-party manufacturers, however, released cards that were even larger in capacity.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee
The Gamecube memory card is necessary in order to save data of any sort in Melee, including Records, unlockable characters, and other accomplishments; data itself is stored quite often, as a result, the manual for the game recommends against removing cards or shutting down the console before returning to the title screen. If no memory card is present, the game will warn the player of the fact, though the player can still play the game.
Melee requires 11 cards for its save data, along with further blocks in order to save snapshots; the latter can require anywhere from 3 to 12 blocks of data depending on the complexity of the image.
By default, Melee reads save data from Slot A only, though Snapshots can be viewed from either Slot A or B.
Compatibility with Pikmin
In a particularly unusual use of the memory card, players are rewarded the Captain Olimar trophy if they have save data from Pikmin on their memory card while loading up Melee. Unusually, Pikmin itself was released after Melee in the PAL regions, which made it impossible to collect all the trophies in the game's first month of release; in Japan and North America, Pikmin was released prior to Melee. Pikmin itself takes up 27 blocks on a memory card.
Compatibility with Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Some Wii games can read data from memory cards and utilise them for a variety of uses, such as Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Despite this, Brawl yields no bonuses if a memory card with save data from other games is inserted into the console.
