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[Jubenhimer]

The Nintendo GameCube is now 20 years old. While it may not have been a particular success for Nintendo at the time, it has since gained a cult following among gamers for its strong library, hidden gems, and odd, yet comfortable controller. Several former staff who worked at Nintendo during this era, as well as developers who helped with its development were recently interviewed about the little lunchbox that could.

GameCube at 20: Nintendo insiders on the failed console that changed the industry

Engineers, marketing bosses and game developers share their memories of Nintendo’s bold purple box…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Great console from Nintendo.

N64 was a deception for me.... And Gamecube is one of the Best consoles of Nintendo.

 

[TexMex]

The last truly great Nintendo console. So many classics.

 

[Saber]

GC is my pride. Had a total of 3 controllers and 10 games. I had lots and lots of joy playing it, GC controller is so far my favorite controller of all time(despite something like mediocre d-pad).

The only thing I ever regret about it is not finding Pikmin(becaue I love that game) and having bought Pokemon Gale of Darkness(trash game).

 

[Kokoloko85]

Ah loved my gamecube. Great console and probably one of the best if not thee best generation. Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox

Top games:
Luigi's Mansion
Mario Sunshine
Resident Evil Remake and 0
Zelda Wind Waker and Twilight Princess
Pikmin 1 & 2
Resident Evil 4
Smash Bros
Metroid Prime
Paper Mario
Viewtiful Joe
Time Splitters 2
F-Zero Gx
Mario Kart
Animal Crossing
Rogue Squadron
Eternal Darkness

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

1

Ah loved my gamecube. Great console and probably one of the best if not thee best generation. Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox

Top games for me:
Luigi's Mansion
Mario Sunshine
Resident Evil Remake and 0
Zelda Wind Waker and Twilight Princess
Pikmin 1 & 2
Resident Evil 4
Smash Bros
Metroid Prime
Paper Mario
Viewtiful Joe
Time Splitters 2

Add F zero Gx to the list too.... Dude

 

[KellyM]

Enternal Darkness...loved that game.

 

[Banjo64]

The last truly great Nintendo console. So many classics.

Harsh assessment man - the DS/3DS are GOAT tier and the Switch is shaping up nicely too.

 

[amigastar]

I love the GC Controller, its the most fun controller i have ever used.
And the games really aged well like Wind Waker, Prime, Resident Evil Remake, F-Zero GX and so on.

 

[ManaByte]

My favorite Nintendo console.

 

[jigglet]

Launching with my favorite shade of purple. Respects.

Anyone that didn't buy purple should be Resetera cancelled. You don't deserve to call yourself a scumbag like me.

 

[KellyM]

Tales of Symphona had one of the best versions of the Gamecube is was 60 fps compared to the pc and Ps2 versions that were only 30. sadly they used the ps2 version to base the collections on. Wish they would put an hd version of Tales of Symphona on the Switch based off the Gamecube version.

 

[Doom85]

While not my favorite Nintendo console, definitely had some really good times with it. Also Paper Mario TTYD, Metroid Prime, Smash Melee, Fire Emblem POR, Tales of Symphonia, Star Fox Adventures, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Soul Calibur 2, Rouge Squadon 2 and 3, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, RE Remake and 0, and I was one of the cool kids who played Beyond Good and Evil on its original gen.

 

[Star-Lord]

Ah loved my gamecube. Great console and probably one of the best if not thee best generation. Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox

Top games for me:
Luigi's Mansion
Mario Sunshine
Resident Evil Remake and 0
Zelda Wind Waker and Twilight Princess
Pikmin 1 & 2
Resident Evil 4
Smash Bros
Metroid Prime
Paper Mario
Viewtiful Joe
Time Splitters 2
F-Zero Gx

You forgot Eternal Darkness.

 

[nush]

Wavebird was the future. I remember the range on that controller was insane, I could go out my house and the the end of my garden and I could still hear is was pausing/unpausing the game I was using to test the range. Great battery life too.

 

[Fake]

Love this system. Still have my silver GC here.

 

[TexMex]

Harsh assessment man - the DS/3DS are GOAT tier and the Switch is shaping up nicely too.

Sorry, I meant home console. Completely agree. My black "New" Nintendo 3DS is one of my favorite Nintendo devices I've owned. So sleek, great games, good Virtual Console.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

Love that cube, I'll never forget the agonizing wait for SSBM and how much fun I had playing it on Christmas morning (and for hundreds of hours after). Next year is the 20th anniversary of my first experience with the Metroid series, Prime and Fusion dropped within days of each other. I don't consider Fusion to be a good edition but at the time it was awesome. Prime still the best in the franchise.

 

[fart town usa]

Great console. I have two different experiences with the GCN.

The first: I didn't game much in Junior/Senior year in High School but I did have a GCN for whatever reason. Main games that stand out for me during those years, Double Dash, probably my favorite MK title. Super Monkey Ball, bought it randomly cause it was cheap. Such a fun game. Crystal Chronicles, really wanted to like this game but just too many things going against it. Star Fox Adventures, love this game, amazing graphics and solid Zelda clone. Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, hands down the best Mario Golf game, it isn't even close. Holy shit that game is fun.


Flash forward to 2008 and my second experience with the GCN: I had owned just a Wii since it's release. So many shitty fucking games, it was fucking miserable. Hollywood Video near me was going out of business and selling games for cheap as hell. Picked up RE4, RE2 & 3, Eternal Darkness, Metroid Prime, REmake, RE: Zero, Spinx and the Cursed Mummy.

Man, I was like fuck the Wii, and I proceeded to just play the GCN for days upon days. It was awesome. Eternal Darkness was such a trip! TV was old enough back then so all the sanity tricks seemed legit, lol.

Gamecube is awesome but Nintendo would eventually surpass it.....

Spoiler: Real ones know

In other news, the Wii U turned 9 today.

 

[Rival]

Last console I stood in line to get day one. Best Buy had some promotion at the time where if you signed up for some msn internet service you'd get $200 off or something. Being a stupid poor college student I signed up and got my console essentially for free because I never once got billed for the service or used it.

 

[Ikutachi]

N64 was better. If I could go back, I'd pick the PS2 instead.

 

[Max_Po]

Great memories I remember numerous discussions with my fellow students and dissing their asses by calling it GayCube...

 

[Bakkus]

Best console ever.

 

[Tschumi]

this is, i'll be honest, to date by far the console that most successfully won me over... ps4 eventually become second... but man...

ssx 3, true crime streets of la, red faction 2, metroid prime, zelda tww, nfs hot pursuit 2, star wars the clone wars, tales of symphonia, gcn port of jedi outcast... these games were just, epic as epic for me, at that age

 

[gimmmick]

The first and only console I have waited to purchase at midnight.

My favorite console of all time. Resident evil 4 and metroid prime were some of the greatest gaming experience I had in my 20s.

 

[Dream-Knife]

GameCube was actually a let down for me back then coming from the N64 and all of those great Rareware games. I still had a ton of fun with it, but it took a backseat to Xbox and PC for me that gen.

 

[JimmyF]

Played PSO for hundreds of hours, amazing game and also the first time I ever played an online game.

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

GAMECUBE WAS AMAZIN'

Bought the windwaker bundle on my birthday. And it's Link's birthday when he wakes up at the start of the game.

 

[GymWolf]

The last good console from nintendo.

 

[Esppiral]

This kind of threads are always reminding me how old I am getting, please stop.

 

[UnNamed]

GameCube was a mistery wrapped in a enigma. No idea why failed against Xbox, probably there are so many reason behind this.

I had the Zelda bundle, loved the games but not the joypad.

 

[Deerock71]

That controller design is utterly top-notch, but WHYTF did they only put one trigger button on it?!

 

[darth.shrimp]

The GC was the first console I bought with my first salary. And yet it still feels like yesterday...

 

[SirTerry-T]

Up until two/three years ago I still had my "UK day one" Purple GameCube set up in my lad's bedroom...it was his first proper console. Lovely bit of hardware..Donkey Konga is still a great party game and it had the best (imho) Mario Party releases too. Just wished that had released that "spice" colour option in the PAL territories.
Thing was built like a tank as well!

 

[cyberheater]

Last console where Nintendo bothered to compete hardware wise with the competitions. It was a great console with a lovely form factor.

 

[Vagswarm]

Metroid Prime and Eternal Darkness were both incredible. I remember a lot of people were rooting for Nintendo to drop out of the console race and go 3rd party.

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

My favorite Nintendo system, my first home console. Its the gift that keeps on giving! Started Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg and its amazing

Edit: amazing read in the OP! I learned different things about the purple lunchbox

 

[Vagswarm]

You forgot Eternal Darkness.

They always do. It's crazy to think there hasn't been one sequel for it. Other niche titles had them.

 

[Impotaku]

Gamecube was done dirty by the majority of the gaming population around the time it released. I still remember the shit it got about it's shape the purple launch colour the fact it had a handle and the biggest complaint was it didn't play full sized dvds. Personally i didn't give a shit i dumped my japanese PS2 in part exchange for a launch import japanese one along with luigi's mansion and i never regretted it once. When i got home and started playing, the lighting and the way the fabric moved when sucked up with the vac blew me away it left a great first impression the atmosphere was so good. Over the following years i collected and played the shit out of the large amount of titles i imported some total bangers in the release list too. Even going as far as messing about with setting up a hunters license in japanese using my friends home address so i could play PSO although it used to cost a fortune playing over the modem from the uk to japan even when i was using the ntlworld internets penny a min call charges as i'd be on for hours at a time. Still have all of my gamecube games & all still in pristine mint condition which in 2021 is rather rare as japanese gamecube cases are fragile because of the card sleeve that goes over. They make them look a shitload better than the western covers but also are a huge pain as they get mangled easily if you don't take great care of them.

Originally had a purple cube then i upgraded to a final fantasy crystal white cube which i got pretty cheap off YAJ despite there only supposedly 150 of them ever made, years later i decided to finally correct a wrong and get the superior colour which is the orange one and that's the one i still use today. Kind of take a vindictive pleasure nowadays that a lot of the titles are way inflated in cost so the people that passed it by back in the day & want to now jump on are gonna have to pay the toll. Cube stuff has aged pretty well in fact most nintendo systems have aged amazingly well the only one that still looks like shit is N64 no amount of HDMI modding and video scalers will make that look any less janky. Love the tiny disks as they boot really fast, also the start animation & menu system are really pleasing too i love how it's whole design was themed around the cube.

For people who want to treat their eyes to minty jpn GC games my collection is below but it's in a spoiler tags as it's a lot of pics

Spoiler

 

[Esppiral]

My beautiful silver cube.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

GC was a true disappointment for me.

Bought it day 1.
Luigi's Mansion never felt much more than an appetizer to me. I still find it supremely boring to this day. Today it'd be an indie game.
Rogue Leader was spectacular... and frustrating as hell, with performance hiccups that a game would be roasted for these days.
Launch software for both GC and GBA was such a far cry from Super Mario 64. That gen didn't exactly start with fireworks for Nintendo.

Mario Sunshine and Zelda Wind Waker were a one-two punch of disappointment I've never felt ever since. They were expected to be the GC's crown jewels. They turned out to be the most rushed, unpolished, unappealing episodes in their respective series. I swear the GC was basically dead to me after The Wind Waker. Only later that year, Metroid Prime (which I got some time after launch) saved the console for me and justified my purchase. Later on, RE4 and Ikaruga became my other main reasons to own a GC. And yeah, I played a lot of Soul Calibur 2. Too bad the GC's controller wasn't exactly fit for fighting games.

Oh, and Smash Bros. Melee. My first Smash game. Raving reviews. Those close-ups of Mario's denim on magazines, you could almost feel the texture with your fingers.
I hated that game with such passion, the very idea there's still an insane number of nerds playing it over the newest iterations makes my fists itch.

And then there were the accessories. The GB Player... that output at 50Hz only in Europe, and if you wanted a purple one you had to get it from Japan anyway because the west would get the purple system (a spectacular marketing misstep, even if I loved it over the boring black model) but not a purple add-on. Apparently that'd somehow emasculate your console beyond some unspoken threshold and bullies would come to your house to beat you up or something. And of course the Japanese model needed a boot disc to work. And this was before region-free consoles, so a Freeloader was needed to play imports. Two versions of it, because the first one didn't work with some games made after it and you needed to buy the revision.
Then there was the GBA-GC link cable. And the 251-block memory card, because the 59-block one was basically useless, and what the fuck are those numbers anyway? Nintendo milking users for all they were worth. And people say that Nintendo fans would buy anything Nintendo makes, today. Lol.

GC was a good console that came out at the worst possible time. Not even Nintendo was ready to make the best out of it. The marketing was all wrong. The controller was trying so hard to be different at a time when controllers were striving towards a standard. It wanted to be a games-only system when consoles were pushing hard to be all-in-one multimedia systems. And there was simply nothing Nintendo could do to shake off their "kiddy" image against PS and XBox, especially since Pokémon was taking the world by storm and even with the most mature-looking games available, Nintendo would still be the Pokémon guys. While Nintendo fans were waiting for a cel-shaded Zelda and Mario's tropical adventure, PS2 users were having the time of their lives with the industry-changing titles of that famed "Fall of 2001" picture. It was over long before launch for the GC, the poor purple box didn't stand a chance.

 

[Vagswarm]

Later on, RE4

Damn, how did I forget Resident Evil 4? Agree with all of your other points. I bought the GB player shenanigan for Zelda Four Swords Adventures, lol. It wasn't bad but what the hell was all that about... and they actually thought it would be a good alternate to playing online.

 

[Kiddo Cabbusses]

As a frame of reference:
1) The N64 was about 6 years old before Nintendo started releasing games on emulators for it (Ocarina of Time Master Quest), followed some time after by regular N64 virtual console releases.
2) The SNES was about 15 years old before likewise (Fight Night Round 2 on Gamecube), followed some time after by regular SNES virtual console releases.
3) The Famicom was 18 years old when Animal Crossing was released in Japan with Famicom games emulated in ROMs, which had a large chunk of the library inside even before the NES classic series on GBA, e-reader cards with NES games, or the NES Virtual Console.
4) The Gamecube was 19 years old when Super Mario 3D All-Stars, to this date the only official use of a Nintendo Gamecube emulator, was released.

 

[cr0w]

Man, I loved my GCN. I had it preordered at Sam Goody (remember those?) and a buddy of mine was working there for the launch. Some stores nationwide started releasing preorders a couple days early, and he called me and was like, "Uhh, I can't officially tell you to come get your system, but if you happen to swing by the store and ask me for it...", so I broke several traffic laws immediately afterwards. Rogue Squadron blew my fucking mind of course, but I think what I was most impressed by was the water physics in Wave Race.

Still some of my all-time favorite games on there. Eternal Darkness, Prime, REmake, Rogue Squadron, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess (I vastly prefer the GCN version over the Wii), RE4, Skies of Arcadia...

 

[Romulus]

It was one of those middle of the road consoles for me. I liked it but got distracted by other consoles and PC. First game I had for GC was that Resident Evil remake. That was an incredible experience.

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

The GameCube was the first home console that really got me into gaming when I was a kid. Before that I only had a Game Boy Color, and a PS1, which I didn't really play all that much. My parents were divorced and neither had much money so I always got stuff pretty late as this was the early '00s. I pretty much only had demo discs to play on the PS1 or crappy movie tie in games. Not to be ungrateful, but I just wasn't exposed any worthwhile games at the time and my parents couldn't afford much.

Then I got a GBA for Christmas. I played the shit out of Warioland 4. I also got Metroid Fusion, and then I found out there were Metroid games on the GameCube, so I begged my mom for one for my birthday. Since it was the cheapest of the three consoles she caved and got it for me. This was like 2004-5 or something so I had a good few years of being able to afford the "players choice" releases of it's library and my middle school self had a blast.

I also remember having to convince my mom to let me buy RE4 and REmake. The GameCube got me into Metroid, Zelda, Resident Evil, and even MGS with the Twin Snakes; all some of my favorite series.

Love the GameCube

 

[Nikodemos]

A console so nice, they did it twice.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I didn't own it at the time but I remember spending a lot of afternoons at my friend's place who did. I was so envious of this thing, it had so many great games. I remember looking for my socks for a week after they were blown off when I played RE4 for the first time.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

Got mine ten years to the day after getting the SNES for Christmas, we've had a great ass time with Smash Bros every year after that having tournaments around Christmas with the guys in the family, where now the younger generation joins in and actually put up a fight

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

My 3rd favorite Nintendo gaming device.