Believe it or not, the Nintendo GameCube is now 15 years old. That’s right, the console that became Nintendo’s biggest failure before the release of the Wii U was released in Japan back on September 14, 2001. And although they’d clearly made a ton of mistakes with the system, it still holds a special place in the hearts of gamers everywhere.
Throughout its lifetime, the system only sold an abysmal 21 million units worldwide, and was overall a big letdown for the Big N. Why was it such a failure, you ask? It suffered from the same problem that seems to have been so prevalent with Nintendo as of late. To put it bluntly, it was stuck in the past. In an age where online gaming was really beginning to take off, the idea a console with four controller slots and a nifty handle on the back so you could easily take it to your friend’s house to play it with them just simply didn’t hold up. Combine that with the fact that, although it had its fair share of M-rated games, the system was very clearly marketed towards children and even had the appearance of a toy, and it just didn’t win over hardcore gamers. And what were they thinking with that giant green A button on the controller? I mean, seriously?
In terms of system power, (this might shock you) the GameCube was actually slightly more powerful than the PS2, although because of Nintendo’s bizarre decision to optimize 8 cm mini DVD disks for the console, which contained less capacity than the standard 12cm DVD size, most big games on the console were released on two separate discs. This led many to believe that the GameCube itself was far less powerful than it actually was. If you don’t believe me that the console was much stronger than you’d be lead to believe, just look at how amazing Resident Evil 4 looked on the system.
Although the era of the GameCube was indeed a dark time for Nintendo, the success of its first-party titles helped save Nintendo from having to close their doors. Super Smash Bros. Melee was by far the best selling game on the system, with 7 million copies sold worldwide. Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Luigi’s Mansion, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, are just a few of other first-party GameCube games that did big business, with each selling over 3 million copies. Towards the end of its lifespan, it was getting little third-party support due to its low sales, so the first-party titles really did save it from certain doom. Just image how well they’d have done if more people had bought the console itself. Sigh.
Although they clearly made a lot of questionable decisions with the GameCube, you have to give Nintendo credit for learning from their mistakes and going back to the drawing board with the Wii. Whilst it was still hugely underpowered, they carefully promoted and marketed it in such a way that it put them back on top of the console wars. And while the Wii U was an even bigger screw-up than the Cube, and because Nintendo’s draconian copyright policies have dragged them even further behind their competition, they’ve always been able to pull themselves up the bootstraps whenever they find themselves trapped in a dark place, so if they’re careful with the NX, the Big N could once again reign supreme.
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