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Forums - Nintendo - How would Gamecube have done if

S.T.A.G.E. on 08 May 2013
zorg1000 said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
Soundwave said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:

The Gamecube couldn't have outperformed the PS2 with the mentality Nintendo had at the time. The PS2 was pushed DVD tech, had a better relationship with third parties and still had a competitive price. Nintendos biggest issues back then were the following scars from the N64 era in lacking adequate third party support to gain enough attention vs the Playstation. The Model of the Gamecube turned off people giving them the image that this box was just for children, when the games proved that couldn't be any further from the truth. Their marketing was off and their first party games were second tier compared to even the N64. People waited forever for the successor to Super Mario 64 and got Super Mario Sunshine and Luigi's mansion. They could've used that idea as a new IP and made a spiritual successor to Super Mario 64. Theres so much more, but I'll leave it at this for now.


No arguements on making the system look too much like a toy.

That said I think the system would've gained a fair deal of third party support. It was more powerful than the PS2 and far easier to program for and even cheaper in cost. So there was nothing wrong with the chip itself, it was very well designed, it was the casing that was slapped over it and Nintendo taking so long to release it.

Dump that mini-DVD design choice and ditch the kiddie colors and it probably would've sold quite a bit if they had released the console sooner, which in turn would've brought in more third party support.

I think it would be less about Sony though, what would've happened if Nintendo made a few common sense adjustments to the GameCube is that the XBox would've just failed flat out, as there would be no room in the market for it, so Nintendo probably would've gained from that more than anything.


Well the power part definitely was in Nintendos hands but Sony and MS had more storage capacity because of the 8GB DVD sizes. It gave devs an advantage in making larger scaled games where as the Cube could only make games around the size of a GB. Sony made up for their losses by thinking wisely about what would keep the hardware cost efficient in that way and kept tech ahead of the curve. The potential for the larger games were closed for Nintendo. Very similar issues as to why the N64 though higher in graphical ability than the PS couldn't out do its multimedia capabilities and it changed the way we think about scalable games on consoles in a median view to how traditional gaming and PC. basically the perfect blend. MS followed suit with DVD and it was a wise decision.

Nintendo's kiddy design is really was not a marketing failure, but truly showed who they are focused on as a child/family oriented brand. The other games for the older gamers would come but Nintendo traditionally knows where they stand. From a mass market perspective, none of those boxes were good looking and they ended up all looking like bulky bricks. The only console I could say was genuinely awesome looking was the PS2 slim. The cube was definitely not designed to appeal to a mass audience though.

Was there alot of games that took advantage of the disk space back then? I assume games like GTA and Final Fantasy did but im unaware of the amount of games that needed it.

I dont quite agree with what u say about kids/families being there main focus at the time. Why would they buy Resident Evil exclusivity, publish Eternal Darkness, Twin Snakes, and develop games like Metroid Prime if kids were there main focus? I just think they made a mistake with the way the console looked. PS2 looked like a typical DVD player and Xbox resembled a PC so they actually looked like they would fit in with ur other electronics as opposed to a purple lunchbox.


I dont know all the games that took advantage of them but I know GTA and FF definitely were one of them KOTOR was definitely up there. The Gamecube console itself couldn't have been the only reason. People go where the third parties go. That is what I truly think. Nintendo lost their way with western devs, and they've been working to patch up their relationships with them for a while.



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curtiswolf on 08 May 2013

if this happened, i think the PS2 would've still outsold it, but it would be close. but GC would then beat the Xbox by a longshot and microsoft would stop making consoles, SEGA would have stayed. and the gaming community would be completely different, Sony would be king still, but Nintendo wouldnt be so kid orientated and could make some great shit, and SEGA could do stuff too....



S.T.A.G.E. on 08 May 2013
curtiswolf said:
if this happened, i think the PS2 would've still outsold it, but it would be close. but GC would then beat the Xbox by a longshot and microsoft would stop making consoles, SEGA would have stayed. and the gaming community would be completely different, Sony would be king still, but Nintendo wouldnt be so kid orientated and could make some great shit, and SEGA could do stuff too....


Segas decisions would never have changed, they paid for their mistakes and are now a third party. Nintendo is kid and family oriented, adults that love Nintendo just refuse to see that just because Nintendo has other games for other people. Marketing is marketing and Nintendo markets to either children or families, not in between which is why they've always gotten heat for being too kiddy for decades now.



Lyrikalstylez on 08 May 2013

I'm looking for luigis mansion and windwaker for the gamecube, but them games are ridiculously expensive!



zorg1000 on 08 May 2013
S.T.A.G.E. said:
zorg1000 said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
Soundwave said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:

The Gamecube couldn't have outperformed the PS2 with the mentality Nintendo had at the time. The PS2 was pushed DVD tech, had a better relationship with third parties and still had a competitive price. Nintendos biggest issues back then were the following scars from the N64 era in lacking adequate third party support to gain enough attention vs the Playstation. The Model of the Gamecube turned off people giving them the image that this box was just for children, when the games proved that couldn't be any further from the truth. Their marketing was off and their first party games were second tier compared to even the N64. People waited forever for the successor to Super Mario 64 and got Super Mario Sunshine and Luigi's mansion. They could've used that idea as a new IP and made a spiritual successor to Super Mario 64. Theres so much more, but I'll leave it at this for now.


No arguements on making the system look too much like a toy.

That said I think the system would've gained a fair deal of third party support. It was more powerful than the PS2 and far easier to program for and even cheaper in cost. So there was nothing wrong with the chip itself, it was very well designed, it was the casing that was slapped over it and Nintendo taking so long to release it.

Dump that mini-DVD design choice and ditch the kiddie colors and it probably would've sold quite a bit if they had released the console sooner, which in turn would've brought in more third party support.

I think it would be less about Sony though, what would've happened if Nintendo made a few common sense adjustments to the GameCube is that the XBox would've just failed flat out, as there would be no room in the market for it, so Nintendo probably would've gained from that more than anything.


Well the power part definitely was in Nintendos hands but Sony and MS had more storage capacity because of the 8GB DVD sizes. It gave devs an advantage in making larger scaled games where as the Cube could only make games around the size of a GB. Sony made up for their losses by thinking wisely about what would keep the hardware cost efficient in that way and kept tech ahead of the curve. The potential for the larger games were closed for Nintendo. Very similar issues as to why the N64 though higher in graphical ability than the PS couldn't out do its multimedia capabilities and it changed the way we think about scalable games on consoles in a median view to how traditional gaming and PC. basically the perfect blend. MS followed suit with DVD and it was a wise decision.

Nintendo's kiddy design is really was not a marketing failure, but truly showed who they are focused on as a child/family oriented brand. The other games for the older gamers would come but Nintendo traditionally knows where they stand. From a mass market perspective, none of those boxes were good looking and they ended up all looking like bulky bricks. The only console I could say was genuinely awesome looking was the PS2 slim. The cube was definitely not designed to appeal to a mass audience though.

Was there alot of games that took advantage of the disk space back then? I assume games like GTA and Final Fantasy did but im unaware of the amount of games that needed it.

I dont quite agree with what u say about kids/families being there main focus at the time. Why would they buy Resident Evil exclusivity, publish Eternal Darkness, Twin Snakes, and develop games like Metroid Prime if kids were there main focus? I just think they made a mistake with the way the console looked. PS2 looked like a typical DVD player and Xbox resembled a PC so they actually looked like they would fit in with ur other electronics as opposed to a purple lunchbox.


I dont know all the games that took advantage of them but I know GTA and FF definitely were one of them KOTOR was definitely up there. The Gamecube console itself couldn't have been the only reason. People go where the third parties go. That is what I truly think. Nintendo lost their way with western devs, and they've been working to patch up their relationships with them for a while.

I agree the look of the console wasnt everything. The fact that aome of the biggest selling N64 titles like Mario/Zelda/Donkey Kong/Star Fox took a drastic turn that many fans didnt like. At SpaceWorld 2000 Nintendo ahowed off Mario 128 and a realistic Zelda which likely became Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess, but instead the released Sunshine which many peope probably thought was a spin off to hold people over until 128 came out. Same with Zelda, nobody at the time wanted or expwcted a cel shaded cartoon Zelda. Star Fox left the cockpit to fight dinosaurs and Donkey Kong became a music game. I believe that had a big part in GC not performing well along with it being released a year too late and being labeled a kids system because of it how it looked.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

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S.T.A.G.E. on 08 May 2013
zorg1000 said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
zorg1000 said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
Soundwave said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:

The Gamecube couldn't have outperformed the PS2 with the mentality Nintendo had at the time. The PS2 was pushed DVD tech, had a better relationship with third parties and still had a competitive price. Nintendos biggest issues back then were the following scars from the N64 era in lacking adequate third party support to gain enough attention vs the Playstation. The Model of the Gamecube turned off people giving them the image that this box was just for children, when the games proved that couldn't be any further from the truth. Their marketing was off and their first party games were second tier compared to even the N64. People waited forever for the successor to Super Mario 64 and got Super Mario Sunshine and Luigi's mansion. They could've used that idea as a new IP and made a spiritual successor to Super Mario 64. Theres so much more, but I'll leave it at this for now.


No arguements on making the system look too much like a toy.

That said I think the system would've gained a fair deal of third party support. It was more powerful than the PS2 and far easier to program for and even cheaper in cost. So there was nothing wrong with the chip itself, it was very well designed, it was the casing that was slapped over it and Nintendo taking so long to release it.

Dump that mini-DVD design choice and ditch the kiddie colors and it probably would've sold quite a bit if they had released the console sooner, which in turn would've brought in more third party support.

I think it would be less about Sony though, what would've happened if Nintendo made a few common sense adjustments to the GameCube is that the XBox would've just failed flat out, as there would be no room in the market for it, so Nintendo probably would've gained from that more than anything.


Well the power part definitely was in Nintendos hands but Sony and MS had more storage capacity because of the 8GB DVD sizes. It gave devs an advantage in making larger scaled games where as the Cube could only make games around the size of a GB. Sony made up for their losses by thinking wisely about what would keep the hardware cost efficient in that way and kept tech ahead of the curve. The potential for the larger games were closed for Nintendo. Very similar issues as to why the N64 though higher in graphical ability than the PS couldn't out do its multimedia capabilities and it changed the way we think about scalable games on consoles in a median view to how traditional gaming and PC. basically the perfect blend. MS followed suit with DVD and it was a wise decision.

Nintendo's kiddy design is really was not a marketing failure, but truly showed who they are focused on as a child/family oriented brand. The other games for the older gamers would come but Nintendo traditionally knows where they stand. From a mass market perspective, none of those boxes were good looking and they ended up all looking like bulky bricks. The only console I could say was genuinely awesome looking was the PS2 slim. The cube was definitely not designed to appeal to a mass audience though.

Was there alot of games that took advantage of the disk space back then? I assume games like GTA and Final Fantasy did but im unaware of the amount of games that needed it.

I dont quite agree with what u say about kids/families being there main focus at the time. Why would they buy Resident Evil exclusivity, publish Eternal Darkness, Twin Snakes, and develop games like Metroid Prime if kids were there main focus? I just think they made a mistake with the way the console looked. PS2 looked like a typical DVD player and Xbox resembled a PC so they actually looked like they would fit in with ur other electronics as opposed to a purple lunchbox.


I dont know all the games that took advantage of them but I know GTA and FF definitely were one of them KOTOR was definitely up there. The Gamecube console itself couldn't have been the only reason. People go where the third parties go. That is what I truly think. Nintendo lost their way with western devs, and they've been working to patch up their relationships with them for a while.

I agree the look of the console wasnt everything. The fact that aome of the biggest selling N64 titles like Mario/Zelda/Donkey Kong/Star Fox took a drastic turn that many fans didnt like. At SpaceWorld 2000 Nintendo ahowed off Mario 128 and a realistic Zelda which likely became Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess, but instead the released Sunshine which many peope probably thought was a spin off to hold people over until 128 came out. Same with Zelda, nobody at the time wanted or expwcted a cel shaded cartoon Zelda. Star Fox left the cockpit to fight dinosaurs and Donkey Kong became a music game. I believe that had a big part in GC not performing well along with it being released a year too late and being labeled a kids system because of it how it looked.


Gamecube first party was a joke compared to N64 first party and thats probably half the reason the console sold ten million less. Luigi's mansion and Mario Sunshine were not what people were waiting for as i stated earlier in my posts. Nintendo refused to let Rare make a new IP and had to put Starfox on the cover, and Star Fox adventure was what we got. I don't really count it as a Star Fox game even though it was decent. Rare had started to have problems with Nintendo a little after that and Nintendo didn't help their relationship any with Conker during the N64 era didnt help even though they wanted to protect their kid and family friendly image. Eternal Darkness and Zelda:TP were probably the best games to come out of the Cube. Nintendo really didn't think about how they would go about dealing with that console. Nintendo can thank their lucky stars that Capcom and Konami stuck around because a lot of third party jumped ship.



burninmylight on 10 May 2013
Lyrikalstylez said:
I'm looking for luigis mansion and windwaker for the gamecube, but them games are ridiculously expensive!

You mean for an unplayed, factory sealed copy of Wind Waker? Yeah, but I see that it's $37 used on Amazon. I'd gladly sell you my near-mint copy of  WW for the price of whatever the coming HD remake is. ;)



burninmylight on 10 May 2013
S.T.A.G.E. said:
zorg1000 said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
zorg1000 said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
Soundwave said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:

The Gamecube couldn't have outperformed the PS2 with the mentality Nintendo had at the time. The PS2 was pushed DVD tech, had a better relationship with third parties and still had a competitive price. Nintendos biggest issues back then were the following scars from the N64 era in lacking adequate third party support to gain enough attention vs the Playstation. The Model of the Gamecube turned off people giving them the image that this box was just for children, when the games proved that couldn't be any further from the truth. Their marketing was off and their first party games were second tier compared to even the N64. People waited forever for the successor to Super Mario 64 and got Super Mario Sunshine and Luigi's mansion. They could've used that idea as a new IP and made a spiritual successor to Super Mario 64. Theres so much more, but I'll leave it at this for now.


No arguements on making the system look too much like a toy.

That said I think the system would've gained a fair deal of third party support. It was more powerful than the PS2 and far easier to program for and even cheaper in cost. So there was nothing wrong with the chip itself, it was very well designed, it was the casing that was slapped over it and Nintendo taking so long to release it.

Dump that mini-DVD design choice and ditch the kiddie colors and it probably would've sold quite a bit if they had released the console sooner, which in turn would've brought in more third party support.

I think it would be less about Sony though, what would've happened if Nintendo made a few common sense adjustments to the GameCube is that the XBox would've just failed flat out, as there would be no room in the market for it, so Nintendo probably would've gained from that more than anything.


Well the power part definitely was in Nintendos hands but Sony and MS had more storage capacity because of the 8GB DVD sizes. It gave devs an advantage in making larger scaled games where as the Cube could only make games around the size of a GB. Sony made up for their losses by thinking wisely about what would keep the hardware cost efficient in that way and kept tech ahead of the curve. The potential for the larger games were closed for Nintendo. Very similar issues as to why the N64 though higher in graphical ability than the PS couldn't out do its multimedia capabilities and it changed the way we think about scalable games on consoles in a median view to how traditional gaming and PC. basically the perfect blend. MS followed suit with DVD and it was a wise decision.

Nintendo's kiddy design is really was not a marketing failure, but truly showed who they are focused on as a child/family oriented brand. The other games for the older gamers would come but Nintendo traditionally knows where they stand. From a mass market perspective, none of those boxes were good looking and they ended up all looking like bulky bricks. The only console I could say was genuinely awesome looking was the PS2 slim. The cube was definitely not designed to appeal to a mass audience though.

Was there alot of games that took advantage of the disk space back then? I assume games like GTA and Final Fantasy did but im unaware of the amount of games that needed it.

I dont quite agree with what u say about kids/families being there main focus at the time. Why would they buy Resident Evil exclusivity, publish Eternal Darkness, Twin Snakes, and develop games like Metroid Prime if kids were there main focus? I just think they made a mistake with the way the console looked. PS2 looked like a typical DVD player and Xbox resembled a PC so they actually looked like they would fit in with ur other electronics as opposed to a purple lunchbox.


I dont know all the games that took advantage of them but I know GTA and FF definitely were one of them KOTOR was definitely up there. The Gamecube console itself couldn't have been the only reason. People go where the third parties go. That is what I truly think. Nintendo lost their way with western devs, and they've been working to patch up their relationships with them for a while.

I agree the look of the console wasnt everything. The fact that aome of the biggest selling N64 titles like Mario/Zelda/Donkey Kong/Star Fox took a drastic turn that many fans didnt like. At SpaceWorld 2000 Nintendo ahowed off Mario 128 and a realistic Zelda which likely became Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess, but instead the released Sunshine which many peope probably thought was a spin off to hold people over until 128 came out. Same with Zelda, nobody at the time wanted or expwcted a cel shaded cartoon Zelda. Star Fox left the cockpit to fight dinosaurs and Donkey Kong became a music game. I believe that had a big part in GC not performing well along with it being released a year too late and being labeled a kids system because of it how it looked.


Gamecube first party was a joke compared to N64 first party and thats probably half the reason the console sold ten thousand less. Luigi's mansion and Mario Sunshine were not what people were waiting for as i stated earlier in my posts. Nintendo refused to let Rare make a new IP and had to put Starfox on the cover, and Star Fox adventure was what we got. I don't really count it as a Star Fox game even though it was decent. Rare had started to have problems with Nintendo a little after that and Nintendo didn't help their relationship any with Conker during the N64 era didnt help even though they wanted to protect their kid and family friendly image. Eternal Darkness and Zelda:TP were probably the best games to come out of the Cube. Nintendo really didn't think about how they would go about dealing with that console. Nintendo can thank their lucky stars that Capcom and Konami stuck around because a lot of third party jumped ship.

The impression Nintendo gave me during the GC years:

Maybe that's why I can endure this Wii U drought without a sweat (a huge backlog to slowly slog through helps). The GameCube turned out to be a cool little console by the end, but if you could survive those years with it being your only current console, you can survive anything.



S.T.A.G.E. on 11 May 2013
burninmylight said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
zorg1000 said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
zorg1000 said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
Soundwave said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:

The Gamecube couldn't have outperformed the PS2 with the mentality Nintendo had at the time. The PS2 was pushed DVD tech, had a better relationship with third parties and still had a competitive price. Nintendos biggest issues back then were the following scars from the N64 era in lacking adequate third party support to gain enough attention vs the Playstation. The Model of the Gamecube turned off people giving them the image that this box was just for children, when the games proved that couldn't be any further from the truth. Their marketing was off and their first party games were second tier compared to even the N64. People waited forever for the successor to Super Mario 64 and got Super Mario Sunshine and Luigi's mansion. They could've used that idea as a new IP and made a spiritual successor to Super Mario 64. Theres so much more, but I'll leave it at this for now.


No arguements on making the system look too much like a toy.

That said I think the system would've gained a fair deal of third party support. It was more powerful than the PS2 and far easier to program for and even cheaper in cost. So there was nothing wrong with the chip itself, it was very well designed, it was the casing that was slapped over it and Nintendo taking so long to release it.

Dump that mini-DVD design choice and ditch the kiddie colors and it probably would've sold quite a bit if they had released the console sooner, which in turn would've brought in more third party support.

I think it would be less about Sony though, what would've happened if Nintendo made a few common sense adjustments to the GameCube is that the XBox would've just failed flat out, as there would be no room in the market for it, so Nintendo probably would've gained from that more than anything.


Well the power part definitely was in Nintendos hands but Sony and MS had more storage capacity because of the 8GB DVD sizes. It gave devs an advantage in making larger scaled games where as the Cube could only make games around the size of a GB. Sony made up for their losses by thinking wisely about what would keep the hardware cost efficient in that way and kept tech ahead of the curve. The potential for the larger games were closed for Nintendo. Very similar issues as to why the N64 though higher in graphical ability than the PS couldn't out do its multimedia capabilities and it changed the way we think about scalable games on consoles in a median view to how traditional gaming and PC. basically the perfect blend. MS followed suit with DVD and it was a wise decision.

Nintendo's kiddy design is really was not a marketing failure, but truly showed who they are focused on as a child/family oriented brand. The other games for the older gamers would come but Nintendo traditionally knows where they stand. From a mass market perspective, none of those boxes were good looking and they ended up all looking like bulky bricks. The only console I could say was genuinely awesome looking was the PS2 slim. The cube was definitely not designed to appeal to a mass audience though.

Was there alot of games that took advantage of the disk space back then? I assume games like GTA and Final Fantasy did but im unaware of the amount of games that needed it.

I dont quite agree with what u say about kids/families being there main focus at the time. Why would they buy Resident Evil exclusivity, publish Eternal Darkness, Twin Snakes, and develop games like Metroid Prime if kids were there main focus? I just think they made a mistake with the way the console looked. PS2 looked like a typical DVD player and Xbox resembled a PC so they actually looked like they would fit in with ur other electronics as opposed to a purple lunchbox.


I dont know all the games that took advantage of them but I know GTA and FF definitely were one of them KOTOR was definitely up there. The Gamecube console itself couldn't have been the only reason. People go where the third parties go. That is what I truly think. Nintendo lost their way with western devs, and they've been working to patch up their relationships with them for a while.

I agree the look of the console wasnt everything. The fact that aome of the biggest selling N64 titles like Mario/Zelda/Donkey Kong/Star Fox took a drastic turn that many fans didnt like. At SpaceWorld 2000 Nintendo ahowed off Mario 128 and a realistic Zelda which likely became Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess, but instead the released Sunshine which many peope probably thought was a spin off to hold people over until 128 came out. Same with Zelda, nobody at the time wanted or expwcted a cel shaded cartoon Zelda. Star Fox left the cockpit to fight dinosaurs and Donkey Kong became a music game. I believe that had a big part in GC not performing well along with it being released a year too late and being labeled a kids system because of it how it looked.


Gamecube first party was a joke compared to N64 first party and thats probably half the reason the console sold ten thousand less. Luigi's mansion and Mario Sunshine were not what people were waiting for as i stated earlier in my posts. Nintendo refused to let Rare make a new IP and had to put Starfox on the cover, and Star Fox adventure was what we got. I don't really count it as a Star Fox game even though it was decent. Rare had started to have problems with Nintendo a little after that and Nintendo didn't help their relationship any with Conker during the N64 era didnt help even though they wanted to protect their kid and family friendly image. Eternal Darkness and Zelda:TP were probably the best games to come out of the Cube. Nintendo really didn't think about how they would go about dealing with that console. Nintendo can thank their lucky stars that Capcom and Konami stuck around because a lot of third party jumped ship.

The impression Nintendo gave me during the GC years:

Maybe that's why I can endure this Wii U drought without a sweat (a huge backlog to slowly slog through helps). The GameCube turned out to be a cool little console by the end, but if you could survive those years with it being your only current console, you can survive anything.


You could be right. Now that the casuals are gone Nintendos first party quality will probably be more core focused. Thats one thing I did like about the N64. Games felt more personalized.



twilight_link on 11 May 2013

it was platform launched in problematic time, Yamauchi was gone Arakawa and Lincoln too, Iwata was new and the American management was well mediocre at best (Perrin Kaplan).

The design was weird certainly, the games extremely polarizing (Wind Waker) or even bad (Sunshine, Double Dash), 3rd party support is hardly relevant for Nintendo but Crystal Chronicle was great disappointment this and Capcom 5 was great example why Nintendo should never trust 3rd party, Rare one of the most capable developer from N64 generation was gone.