Any console with a few great games cannot be considered a failure games-wise. I can't think of a console that didn't have at least a few must have games that are on the list of best games of all time. So in that respect there is no console that failed quality wise.

The N64 brought two of the best games of all time: Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time.

OoT sits on top of most best games of history lists, but I think Mario 64 was my favorite N64 game and probably my second favorite game ever.

N64 & GC flop or not?!

Total sales:

-N64... Above 30k... Considered rather good... PSP wise kinda.

-Gamecube... Above 20k... Healthy product, not too good sales. Kinda like Xbox. 3th partys can make good profits with good games.

Profit for Nintendo:

-N64: Obviously good. Less then NES and SNES but they made good profits.

-GC: It made more profit then PS2 did for Sony, so yeah. Good!

Image:

-N64: It looked as if 1st party titles were the only driving factor behind the system. Image was kiddie.

-GC: Nintendo tried to turn the tables, resulting in Eternal darkness, Resident evil 0,1,2 and the praised 4th part of the series featuring 'GORE' games for GC. RPG's were also on the GC: Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, etc... However, the lunchbox design made some people laugh and 'cool'... (I don't like to call it that way but they think they are) all owned a PS2...

So overall: Nintendo made profit. The systems didn't flop like Dreamcast etc... So it can't be considered a FLOP. But more like a modest hardware/software company.

 Well sure it can't have anything with the games and that people is actualy talking about have fun Wii Sport is.

Dear Mr a.l.e.x59,

I would say that the gamecube and N64 are failiures because the PS1 & 2 outsold them so severely and comparing them to their predecessors the NES and the SNES they didnt dominate in the same way. How good the games were is subjective, obviously both had classics. I would seriously disagree with gamerankings chart of greatests games, 2/3rds of those games are seriously weak in my opinion and also their is not a single NES or SNES game on their in the top 200 so the list is obviously and plainly a ridiculous joke. They seem to think videogames were invented in 1994.  Madden NFL 2005 is better than Super Mario World? Give me an f-in break!!!

gamerankings insn't a fair judgement of generations prior to the n64/ps/sat era as it requires a minimum number of reviews for a game to be counted.

otherwise this list would have far more snes, megdrive, nes etc games in the list.

it is a good site tho and i think its the best site to get an accurate review of a game. in answer to the original question, no they are no failures because: 1. they had good games (to please the gamer) 2. they were profitable (to please the hardware manufacture) nothing else really matters.

Well the top few games on the N64 and GameCube can stand toe to toe with the top few games for any other system ever. However when you go to a top 20 or 30 list you understand better why the PS1 and PS2 whiped those Nintendo consoles clean. They had such superior third party support and had so many fricken games overall that any objective observer could only come to the conclusion that the N64 and expecially GameCube had weaker lineups. Now only one PS1 game (Castlevania Symphony of the Night) makes my top 10 games of all time, and no PS2 games reach that level, but I concider the PS2 and PS1 to have the best lineup of games of any systems ever. The scope of what they have to offer is amazing particularly the PS2.

 Granted early PS1 was not so strong the N64 couldn't have taken over if Nintendo didn't resist going to a disk format for games. That caused a lot of third parties to start supporting the PS1 instead. To me the N64 going cartrige was the biggest blunder ever in video games. I remember when the N64 came out how hyped people were, and wondar if Nintendo used disks with superior storage and cheaper costs how far that system could have gone. It really decided that generation.

 Well ckmlb your wrong on that statement....The N-Gage was a failure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngage

It depends on how you measure failure. The only measure by which most would consider either console a failure would be units sold -- by that measure, even Nintendo stated they were disappointed with the gamecube.

However, perhaps the most important measure of success or failure is the purpose of the hardware: did it generate a profit for that company. By this measure, both the N64 and gamecube were successes, although neither to the level of success Nintendo would like.

And by that measure, Microsoft is the only one of the big three who hasn't yet had a success and is almost certain not to have one this generation.

N64...is possibly my favourite console of all time, although Wii is now making a run for it. It really reignited my interest in gaming thanks to the way games like Mario, Zelda, and Tetrisphere reimagined gaming in 3D.

That said, the third party support was atrocious - I'll never forget that first year where there was literally one game per month until August or September. The total game selection only reached about 250, and RPGs were basically a total loss on the system. When Wii was first announced I swore I'd buy a second system if it wound up like N64. Thankfully, it didn't.

GameCube...the third party support is not as bad as people make it out to be. There are over 500 games on the system which puts it in line with SNES and NES...the problem is that most of the third party games are crap. Still, you've got products like Tales of Symphonia, Beyond Good and Evil, Soul Calibur II, Viewtiful Joe, and Timesplitters on the system...it was not bad, just not as good as the other two.

GameCube can't beat N64 in my eyes because it wasn't as revolutionary and a lot of Nintendo's big franchises weren't all they should have been on the GameCube, but it definitely had a more consistent lineup.

I had an N64. I wouldn't quite call it a disappointment as a limited console. It just didn't have as much diversity as the PS1. It had great first party games, don't get me wrong, but I wish I would have had a PS1, which is why I choose the PS2 next generation.

Even every Gamecube owner I know who loved the thing KNOW it was a disappointment. It had less great first party games than the N64 (most people hated Double Dash and Mario Sunshine), and had almost no third-party exclusives whatsoever. Most people I knew called it the "Smash" console, since it even lost RE4 towards the end.

You can say the N64 wasn't a disappointment, but NOT the Gamecube.