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d21lewis on 13 October 2020
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Wman1996 said:
Dulfite said:
The GameCube didn't fail the market. The market failed the GameCube.

It is still my favorite console of all time, with my favorite list of games ever. It was powerful, it was portable, it had the GameBoy Advanced adaptor (that I used a TON), and it had the best controller of all time, across any system. Smash Melee, Luigi's Mansion, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Metroid Prime, Twilight Princess, Paper Mario TTYD, Rogue Squadron II, and so, so many more. It was a gamer's dream, but sadly it was destined to fail because everyone got obsessed with having DVD players built into everything. We were stupid and so the greatest device ever failed.

I agree, to a certain point. I still think some of Nintendo's decisions like the mini-DVD were very stupid. But I'll give Nintendo a slight defense that the 'Cube was only $99.99 from September 2003 onward. That is super cheap for a current-gen console a little less than two years after its launch. 

If Nintendo would've launched the GameCube at $99.99 or likely $149.99 and changed virtually nothing else, I do think it would've sold at minimum the same lifetime units of the N64. Heck, it might even match or surpass the SNES.

You're at the store. You're getting a new game console. PS2 is $299.99, Xbox is $299.99. But the GameCube is half the price. Sure it doesn't have a DVD player or online, but you have a pedigree of Nintendo titles and some multiplats. It would make a very attractive option for kids and adults alike.

That was part of the problem. Like when Microsoft released a cheap version of the Xbox 360. People were like "I don't want this crap. I'll just save up for the good console."

Even at a much lower price, the GameCube just had the aura of a cheap, half baked console and the PS2/Xbox felt like the cool consoles. They cost more but you felt like you were getting more. 

Don't get me wrong, the GameCube was my favorite console that gen but there were people you couldn't GIVE a GameCube to. Meanwhile the competition just felt like something you had to have.