Gear Cube Cube. Three 3x3 cubes are very similar to the original: the Gear Cube Extreme, the Gear Cube Ultimate, and the Even Less Gears Cube. Gear Cube Extreme: Unlike the original Gear Cube with 12 total gears, the Gear Cube Extreme (also known as the Anisotropic Cube) has only eight gears. The top and bottom rows remain gear cogs, whereas the middle layer edge cogs have been removed. Taking away the middle layer cogs and replacing them with standard edges allows for different movement between rows. Due to the added straight edges, the cube can now make 90° turns on two
Rubik's Cube pair of edges while leaving the others intact. Some algorithms do have a certain desired effect on the cube (for example, swapping two corners) but may also have the side-effect of changing other parts of the cube (such as permuting some edges). Such algorithms are often simpler than the ones without side-effects and are employed early on in the solution when most of the puzzle has not yet been solved and the side-effects are not important. Most are long and difficult to memorise. Towards the end of the solution, the more specific (and usually more complicated) algorithms are used instead.