No easy answer. My take is similar to many other posters:
1. No DVD playback in an era where the world was transitioning to DVD for home entertainment. The PS2 when it was first released was the cheapest DVD player on the market.
2. The worst 1st party offering of any Nintendo console. Super Mario Sunshine, Wind Waker, and Mario Kart Double Dash. The Metroid Prime series was a diamond in the rough.
3. No 2D Mario.
4. No Sean Malstrom to call the generation before it begins. Obvious sarcasm here.
5. Purple lunchbox design. Whoever designed the Nintendo Gamecube should be exiled and blacklisted from the video game industry.
6. Halo, Final Fantasy 10, and Grand Theft Auto 3. Anyone whose balls were dropping aka reaching the age of puberty could care less about Super Mario Sunshine in comparison to these three games.
7. No gimmicky feature to differentiate itself from the competition. The Super Nintendo was simplicity exemplified. The Gamecube carried the tradition of "is this a controller or some weird, 3-hole sextoy?" from the Nintendo 64. The PS2 like the PS1 had a simple, sexy controller with no frills.
