Yep, it was the early 2000s, the "edgelord" era, lol.

Nintendo's mistake was making a console that looked like a Fisher Price toy in an era where everything was trying to be edgy.  I remember feeling awkward just going into Target on launch day to buy the thing.

That was the trend of the time. Miyamoto had Mario stop doing the peace sign because he thought it was too childish, for instance.

Of course, when you release a purple lunchbox, your commitment to that strategy is questionable at best.

Yeah, presentation matters.  If you put out something that look's like a child's toy, that's how people are going to view it.  Especially in that era.

This was something that was difficult for me to understand at the time, but looking back I totally get now why the Gamecube didn't perform very well.

Apparently Super Mario Sunshine was an attempt to be edgy. Because nothing says edgy like a talking water nozzle. Wtf did I just read.

You may say what you want OP but I actually think that no matter what they would've tried. They already had their brand too ingrained in the general "family-friendly" perception at the time, so it would've changed nothing, even if they didn't actually to reach the PS2/Xbox "edgy" demographic.

Nintendo both tried too hard with the GCN and didn't try hard enough. Exact same issue with the Wii U, which I'm still amazed it didn't remember that lesson after the GCN. Sony and MS have been mostly clear with their marketing strategy and target demographics. I say mostly because MS in the Kinect era started committing the same mistakes, especially with the launch of XB1 and the forced Kinect 2.0.

As a gamer during the GCN era, I'm like, "Nintendo if you want to be so hardcore, why aren't you trying harder to get GTA games on your console like MS pulled off? Why are you content with letting Soul Calibur III be a PS2 exclusive? Why aren't you spending more of your marketing budget on the third parties that do come to your console like Resident Evil 4, True Crime and Capcom vs. SNK?"

With the Wii, Nintendo went into the extreme social/casual/family route with marketing and message. I didn't like all of it, but I could respect the clear direction. With the Wii U, it went back to the one foot in, one foot out strategy. That doesn't work when you're trying to establish an identity for a new console. You have to fully commit to an idea. That's what it did with the Switch, and along with some must-have titles on the launch window, look at what happened.

Exactly. This is why Nintendo's attempts at being edgy came off as lame to people because as someone mentioned, it always felt like an out of touch dad trying to be hip with the kids of today.

Just look at the third party deals Nintendo made during this era, they were all targeting PS1 originated franchises like "Hey gamers! You like Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid right!? Well now they're on Nintendo too!" But the generation was already being defined by Gran Theft Auto, Halo, and others that weren't on Nintendo. The GameCube felt like a PlayStation 1 killer... That was seven years late to the party.

It feels like every time Nintendo tries to pander to the PS/Xbox crowd, it always fails (GameCube, Wii U launch). They're much more successful when they're offering something different from the big two (DS, Wii, Switch).

I believe in general that nintendo tries to be edgy. For example in the N64 they stuck with cartridges and then in the gamecube era they stuck with minidisks etc.

Tbh the GameCube failed because it had zero direction of what it set out to do. It was a pathetic attempt to compete with the PS2 with its lack of 3rd party support, colorful and toyish like design, and lack of DVD or online.

It also had nothing that made it really stand out, Nintendo consoles can be successful if they offer a thing that'll make them stand out from their competitors, we saw it with the DS,Wii,Switch ect... but GameCube had very little going for it. Maybe the only thing that was remotely cool was the GBA/GC add on but it required 2 separate consoles and wasn't enough to stand out. Every successful Nintendo console needs that huge hook to get people on board, otherwise it just looks like a sad attempt to be a PS2 clone box, which was exactly how the GC was perceived. Nintendo tried to make it clear in their marketing that the GameCube wouldn't focus so much on their competitors and would just focus on trying to stand out, but the GameCube was anything but a console that stood out.

But its crazy how bad Nintendo's image was with the GameCube to the point where NOA employees considered changing the iconic Nintendo logo into a graffiti design just to prove that Nintendo was edgy and mature.

Definitely the big reason why Nintendo lost so much of the NA market with the GC. The sales losses in Japan & Europe for the GC were miniscule compared to the huge sales decline we saw in NA, and I believe it's mainly cause Nintendo lost that mature edge they once had with the N64. 

GC didn't have those huge FPS games anymore like Goldeneye and Zelda became kids looking for GC after looking dark.