Just how awesome was the Gamecube?

[RCBH928]

I am talking about the Gamecube.
Why does everyone think that this console is a bad one.
I know it sucked probably not owning a ps2 last generation probably, but I think without the Halo craze , xbox might have been on par with the GCN.

I certainly think other than Mario Galaxy, the Gamecube had better game selection and was more "hardcore" . I think it was even better spec wise than the ps2. I hear people complaining about it a lot.

I know the N64 had extreme droughts, that you can still notice today by looking at its catalog of games. But what made up for the N64 is that it had like 5 of the best games ever, and unmatched experience. Mario 64, Zelda, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark , Conker, Banjo Kazooie, Mario Kart which people still say its the best ever yet. I also like to mention the wrestling games , which if you are a wrestling fan would be total blast since wrestling was in what they call "golden years" at the same time.

But what was upsetting about the Gamecube, what did they promise and not deliver? I think the Wii promised a lot more and delivered a lot less.

I am not arguing, I simply do not know what went on last generation and I am looking for people to tell me how it was.

[Mozgus]

Agree with most of that. I bought a Gamecube at launch, mostly for Smash Bros Melee. But the console remained my only exclusive current gen machine for 3 years. I had no regrets. Never felt like I was missing out on much. I checked out stuff on my friend's PS2s, and followed the news online. Gamecube provided me with plenty of great titles.

The system was not a failure in any sense. I still see well known and respected bloggers refer to it as a failure. I've even seen Nintendo execs say it. It makes no sense to me. Nintendo made a profit off the hardware the entire way, something PS2 and Xbox could only say in their final months. Gamecube also sold just 3 million less than the Xbox's 24 million last I checked, and no one calls the Xbox a failure.

I also loved how Gamecube didn't demonstrate the aliasing issues PS2 had. Load times were almost always better on gamecube. The system was far more reliable than the other two. In those 3 years, the system only had one hiccup during an elevator in Metroid Prime, but it turns out, thats a well documented issue with the game and not the system.

I finally modded a Gamecube a few months ago and have been checking out some titled I missed.

[gennss]

I don't think it was a failure, however, people have a tendency to believe that if it wasn't the top console it failed.

Honestly, to me, the Dreamcast though it had a short life span, was very successful. It sold, it had games, it will be immortalized in the hearts of gamers. No better success than that, but money-wise, Gamecube did really well. Dreamcast did not.

Gamecube was powerful, interesting, and had plenty of platform specific titles. It just wasn't "popular" by the in-crowd of gaming. Not that I care what they think.

[racketboy]

I like the Gamecube -- it's a fine system.
And like the Dreamcast, its a real bargain (as long as you're not planning on getting a Wii anytime soon)

[Flak Beard]

I've always considered the Gamecube to one of Nintendo's most underrated consoles. I hear people reminiscing about the N64 constantly, but the GCN trumped it in terms of quality as far as I'm concerned.

It had two phenomenal Zelda games, two great Metroid Prime titles and a handful of stellar exclusives. Not to mention, quite a few Dreamcast games were ported over very nicely.

My GCN only hitched once, and it was in MP like Mozgus mentioned. Can't say the same for my PS2 and certainly not my original Xbox.

[Mozgus]

I've always considered the Gamecube to one of Nintendo's most underrated consoles. I hear people reminiscing about the N64 constantly, but the GCN trumped it in terms of quality as far as I'm concerned.

It had two phenomenal Zelda games, two great Metroid Prime titles and a handful of stellar exclusives. Not to mention, quite a few Dreamcast games were ported over very well.

I'm the opposite. I think N64 provided very little. I enjoyed Mario and Zelda, but the third party efforts were almost always sloppy. Horrible frame rates, horrible textures, very little optimization for the console. I also hated the controller. I always will. Gamecube's controller remains one of the most comfortable of all time.

Even though people didn't buy into third party titles on GC, there was nothing wrong with them. Multiplatform games were almost always superior to PS2's versions, and inferior to Xbox's versions. Exclusive third party games were almost always good to great, especially from Capcom and even sometimes from Sega.

[fast]

Last gen was alittle crazy for me. I bought a PS2 at launch, sold it the day after for three times as much, bought another two weeks later and did close to the same. I am now on my seventh PS2, and the only one that I have actually owned more than a week (and I traded some pc games for it). Xbox wise I bought one when the first price dropped and when I still worked at a Software ETC. Played through Halo, Ghost Recon, TS2, Serious Sam, and the Hunter the Reckoning demo far more times than we should have. Sold it, and only recently rebought one.

All of last gen my steadfast companion was my Cube. Being a Nintendo fan, I preordered, camped out, and got my console at midnight. I picked up Monkeyball, Rogue Leader, and another controller. Played that console so much that it started having problems. Fortunately lighting fried it and I got a new one right when the price dropped to $150. I now own four, but most of yall know that cause I wont stop talking about it. I have 16+ controllers for it, 30ish games, and still only two memory card 59s. I never felt like I was missing out on anything last gen, except when GTA3 came out. Being a big GTA2 fan, I still think it is the best of the series (multiplayer deathmatch), I wanted to play 3 pretty badly. And after I played it, and didn’t like it, I continued to have no problems with my choice of console. Sure the PS2 had more games, and the Xbox had the harddrive and my beloved Steel Battalion, but the Cube kept giving me exactly what I wanted in a console. It had its easy to pickup and play games, excellent single player adventures, and some of the coolest multiplayer games possible – 8 player Double Dash is a riot, up there with Saturn Bomberman.

I never viewed it as a failure, but I did receive flak when buying games for it or talking about it in public. “Oh the purple lunch box” or “Gaycube” were often the phrases used to describe it. I never understood the hatred toward it, but whatever I don’t understand most things. It is a great console, built like a tank, and at a great price. There are reasons to own one over a Wii – Gameboy Player and aforementioned 8 player Double Dash, but those reasons will not be concerns for most gamers.

[Ack]

I figure it was partly the color scheme, partly the controller(it took me a little bit to get used to it), and partly that it's being compared to the success of the PS2 that the Gamecube gets called a failure. Between it and the Xbox, I'd gladly take a Gamecube any day of the week, though I still favor my PS2. But there was quite a decent selection of titles, and for the horror genre, it got some good stuff. I can't say as much about fighters, but that's mostly because I never really looked.

Either way, there's decent games available on it, and for the short while my girlfriend and I had one, we enjoyed it. We switched it out for a Wii, though I've been considering getting another one off and on for a few months. But then again, I consider getting just about everything every few months or so...

[racketboy]

I figure it was partly the color scheme, partly the controller(it took me a little bit to get used to it), and partly that it's being compared to the success of the PS2 that the Gamecube gets called a failure. Between it and the Xbox, I'd gladly take a Gamecube any day of the week, though I still favor my PS2. But there was quite a decent selection of titles, and for the horror genre, it got some good stuff. I can't say as much about fighters, but that's mostly because I never really looked.

Either way, there's decent games available on it, and for the short while my girlfriend and I had one, we enjoyed it. We switched it out for a Wii, though I've been considering getting another one off and on for a few months. But then again, I consider getting just about everything every few months or so...

As stupid as it kinda sounds -- I do think the whole purple thing hurt them.
If Black would have been the "default", it probably would have gone over a lot better.

[Ack]

I think they thought it would be alright, considering how well the SNES did over here, regardless of its appearance(I've heard criticisms for the SNES' appearance before).

Personally, as far as general attractiveness goes, I actually think the Nintendo 64 and the Super Famicom were the best looking of their consoles. I don't really like the way the Wii looks, the Gamecube I was just kinda meh on, and both the NES and SNES look like dull gray boxes. The NES toploader looks like a Fisher-Price toy to me, as does the Famicom. I've always liked the way Sony's consoles looked, and all three models of the Genesis, as well as the Saturn and Dreamcast, look good. The 360's attractive, but the Xbox really wasn't to me.