I disagree with the premise that the GameCube was a great concept for a system. Coming off the NES, SNES, and even the N64, the GameCube felt uninspired, like it lacked any kind of vision. It was the first Nintendo home console that didn’t have hype around its release. Why? It was a PS2 clonebox with a less functional controller and less functional hardware and was, frankly, kind of ugly.
The negligible extra CPU power over PS2 wasn’t relevant, and it didn’t result in easier development, better graphics, better audio, or anything else. In fact, ports had notably lower quality audio, even from Dreamcast (as seen with Skies of Arcadia Legends) which had less clarity. Other games, like Baten Kaitos, has extremely muffled audio.
Controls for games had to be altered and dumbed down for the GameCube controller (SSX Tricky, for example), or cancelled altogether (Capcom couldn’t bring their core Street Fighters over). This was because the face buttons were fucked. The D-pad was super tiny. The Z-trigger was hard to find. And the smallness of the controller made it so people with larger hands (in particular, non-Asian men) would experience terrible cramps when playing games like Mario Kart and SSX.
Other problems included a poor library of software. Nintendo as a developer isn’t really a strength when the games felt mostly half-baked (Sunshine, Mario Kart Cube, and Celda especially). The GameCube didn’t have any killer app; something every successful Nintendo console, and the N64, had. The lineup felt like a giant step down from N64’s 1st/2nd party releases. Yeah it had Metroid, Smash Melee, Animal Crossing, and Pikmin, but those felt a little small compared to the monuments of the N64: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Goldeneye 007, Banjo Kazooie, Lylat Wars.
Third party support was abysmal, even though it was a PS2 clonebox, only around 20% of PS2 games made it to GameCube. So the clonebox strategy didn’t pay. Not only was third party support low in volume, but also low in quality: no major third party releases happened - the biggest were probably a port of Sonic Adventure 2, a port of Soul Caliber 2, and a port of Resident Evil 4; which is quite sad, considering none of them sold particularly well. As I previously mentioned, the GameCube versions of third party games typically inferior or were games that people generally preferred to play on PS2 - because, why wouldn’t you?
Other issues:
* GameCube was aimed at kids. It was PS2 for your kid brother. While not all games were made for kids, these were more the exception to the rule. The thing looked like a lunchbox. The kiddy aura of the GameCube is something its fans like to conveniently forget.
* It has a feeling of obsoleteness throughout its run.
* Nintendo had pathetic marketing for the GameCube, and looked like a dork getting bullied by Sony.
* Nintendo might have cannibalized their own product as it felt like GBA, DS, and Wii (called Revolution for some of it) got way more attention than GameCube during its lifespan.
While people who were kids during the GameCube era might have a brighter memory of it, it was Nintendo’s console during my University years - my memory is somewhat less nostalgic (not really at all, to be honest). Generally, and especially in the English world, the reputation of GameCube was often summed up in one word: gay.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
