Just how awesome was the Gamecube?

[Dreamstation]

The purple color made it seem as a child's toy and not a serious gaming machine. The control was a brilliant idea that and bizarre appearance threw people off. The lack of real online support hurt them because they could not get on the online FPS craze that has dominated this last generation and current generation. If you're looking for good platformers, RPG's, survival horror, unique shooters, this will be a great system for you.To my way of thinking no system is a failure, is 3DO really a failure because it was priced too high or is the Neo Geo AES a failure because of lack 3rd party support and high prices? every system has good games some obvious others you have to dig for.

Geist > Halo

[Snickerd00dle]

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.

i totally agree, i mean, i think the n64 aside from the Nintendo titles, and most of the Rare titles, was pretty bad, there are a few exceptions of course, but overall, lacking
the gamecube however did have a ton of really sweet games, and quite a few that were by third party developers, i think it's main problem was lack of fps games in a time when most games(especially xbox) were fps(i think this is still going on btw, by most i mean, games marketed towards your everday guy-not gamers)-Metroid was the closest i think they got

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

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.

What hiccup is this? I've had numerous people tell me this and personally I've never experienced it.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Oh, and regarding the Cube; That purple box I've had since '03 gave me more hours of enjoyment than any other box has.

[MrPopo]

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.

What hiccup is this? I've had numerous people tell me this and personally I've never experienced it.

It has happened to me as well. I don't know what the exact conditions are, as it only happened once, but the first elevator to the Chozo ruins will freeze.

I also only had a Gamecube during that generation until about 6 months before the Wii launched. At that point I was able to get a cheap PS2 and start getting the RPGs I'd been missing out on. But I never felt like the Gamecube didn't have a good library. The only thing it really lacked was a large selection of RPGs like how the PS2 had.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Oh, thanks.

[Hatta]

That purple box I've had since '03 gave me more hours of enjoyment than any other box has.

I've had more fun playing with pink boxes.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Sigh.......

[the King]

Having owned every console last gen I have to say I really enjoyed my Gamecube. In fact for me after getting my Cube and Xbox my PS2 collected dust. Both had 4 controller ports and I thought the controllers were better especially for FPS since the shoulder buttons on the dual shock didn't feel like true triggers as on the other two.

Besides the games already mentioned, Super Monkey Ball is still one of my favorite party games. I couldn't tell you how much time I have spent playing Monkey Target. Animal Crossing took up a lot of my time and the Resident Evil remakes and Metal Gear remake which were Cube exclusives were good too.

[superlarz]

Gamewise, the Cube wasnt a failure. Saleswise i think it did ok, even with the Halo-nuts and "cool" crowd going with Xbox. I think the Cube was a failure in terms of style. Others have mentioned the whole purple thing, which definately contributes, but the shape and name of the system also contribute. N64 is fondly remembered, even though it probably had less "good games." Why? they system is sleek, and also people tend to have fond memories of catridges. Wii is also a nice looking system. Gamecube stands out like a sore thumb and looks like a preschoolers playtoy. When people, like Nintendo execs, say it was a failure, this is what I think they mean. It was just a bad, poorly executed idea. Its a failure because of what could have been

They werent going to beat PS2 because of the DVD transition, but imagine how much more successful it would have been the system had a good design. It would have been awesome.