The Nintendo GameCube is one of my favorite consoles of all time. It's a gem of a platform with some of the best games of its generation, a very comfy controller, and some unique oddities like the DK Bongos and Game Boy Player. But it was also a console that continuously faced an uphill battle throughout its life. The GameCube suffered from mediocre third party support, lack of DVD, Virtually no online services, and a mini-DVD format that limited the scope of its games. All things that its competitors, the PlayStation 2 and Xbox didn't have to worry about.

One big criticism by gamers back then, was that the GameCube was simply too "Kiddy". The console was perceived to be filled with E-rated platformers and family-oriented games, while the PS2 and Xbox sold themselves on gritty action games and shooters. That was the perception of the GameCube, but what people won't tell you was that the GameCube was the period where Nintendo was trying too hard to be "Edgy", "Hip", and "Cool" to keep up with the industry. It was IMO, one of the contributing factors to the console's failure. There's nothing wrong with "Edgy" on its own, but Nintendo's many attempts in this era came off as kind of desperate and sad.

Let's look at the signs.

* Commercials such as This

and this

That tried to make a purple lunchbox look like the most badass and "hardcore" thing on the planet

* A fully voiced Mario adventure in Super Mario Sunshine, IMO, a blatant attempt to try and copy the cinematic platformer experience the PlayStation popularized.

* Edgy M-Rated experiments such as Eternal Darkness and Giest, with Nintendo hoping to shake its reputation as a "children's" publisher.

* Games such as 1080 Avalanche and Donkey Konga 2 relying on cheesy punk and emo rock to appeal to angsty teenagers.

* Discontinuing Indigo (purple) half-way through the console's life in favor of using Silver and Onyx to try and make it look more "Grown-up"

* The next Zelda game for the system going for a more realistic and gritty art style to avoid Wind Waker's "kiddy" perception.

* Nintendo's ill-fated five game deal with Capcom, the "Capcom Five" which included Resident Evil 4 as a GameCube exclusive (only to later be ported to PS2).

Well thats what console makers do. They try to reach new audiences. Nintendo already had the kids and fans, so they went after the PS2 and Xbox crowd. Why wouldnt they?

Of cause it was edgy it was a cube after all, lots of edges😊

It's not necessarily a bad strategy in theory. But the way Nintendo did it in the GameCube era felt very desperate. Anytime Nintendo tried to be cool or irreverent, it always gave off an air of "Don't forget us! We're cool too!... Come back to us please!" But given the GameCube's design and the direction some of its games took (Wind Waker in particular), nobody took these attempts seriously. All most people saw was a purple lunchbox trying way too hard to look edgier than it actually was.

If you're wondering why Nintendo went in the "Blue Ocean" direction after the GCN, this is a big reason why.

Eh, it was more Nintendo of America than Gamecube itself. Gamecube in Japan was still propped up as a fun game machine. NOA was trying desperately to be the cool dad who gets the kids. This is pre-Reggie. PS2 and Xbox marketing was aimed at teen to 20s guys. When Reggie was hired as head of marketing Reggie prevented Nintendo of America from changing the US logo to a Nintendo in graffiti font logo. NOA-approved shit like this.

NOA is probably how we got Mario in NBA street games.

As for Zelda TP. We have no confirmation on this but people who have done serious homework on the subject. All signs point to no one making the Zelda games who wanted to make Zelda TP but felt forced to due to low sales of Wind Waker and the outcry. Given there has not been a more realistic take on the franchise since I tend to believe it.

Yeah, they were desperate for sure. It was a bit of an awkward time for Nintendo. I would say Nintendo was trying to be edgy with the N64 at times as well. They just gave up and depended more on third parties to fill that void with the Wii, WiiU and Switch. Which is probably the better option...although I would like to see some more mature Nintendo games.

If this is what they thought edge was in the '90s then it's like a Christian dad acting like Christian rock is metal lol

Well you do have Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, Metroid Dread, Bayonetta 3, and Astral Chain, even BotW and TotK are fairly mature. And next month we're getting remakes of Another Code. It's not that Nintendo's given up on appealing to mature audiences first party wise. They just rightfully abandoned the GameCube style of tryhard edginess.

Yeah, I was thinking more games like Eternal Darkness. Hopefully they will try something like that again. Such a masterpiece.

The launch commercials in the US did, but the product itself, not so much. The N64 was much cooler with the sports car styling design and GoldenEye/James Bond and lots of other FPS games and racing games (genres that Microsoft basically bumped Nintendo out of) and epic Zelda games, go to Wrestling multiplayer machine, fair amounts of sports games, etc. 

The purple lunchbox design and Zelda looking like a Powerpuff Girls cartoon killed the GameCube's appeal to older audiences, it was deemed a kiddie machine by the teenagers/college aged kids of that era. Losing their hold on the console FPS shooter market to Microsoft hurt Nintendo a lot in the West. 

It was just a tough era for Nintendo pop-culture wise, being cool/bad ass was given a lot of importance. I remember my roommate laughing in a good natured/fun way about me buying Animal Crossing like thinking "what the fuck is this shit", lol, but today it's a huge franchise, back then it was like "oh what the heck is Nintendo doing" type thing. 

In terms of cool factor it's probably SNES > N64 > Switch > NES > Wii > GameCube > Wii U from coolest to least cool for the time they were released in.