Why is the Gamecube so underappreciated?

From a Nintendo perspective alone, it's arguably Nintendo's best lineup of games ever. If you start making lists of the top games, Gamecube can go toe to toe with SNES. Don't forget it beats easily beats SNES in the multiplayer category.

Every Nintendo franchise is well represented on Gamecube with atleast one game. You got great new IP's. You got ports of the best Dreamcast games. While not all, you still got some of the best third party games of the gen.

Not to mention the games have aged FANTASTICALLY compared to many games on the other gen 6 platforms. PS2 and Xbox both got some great games but Gamecube tops them both in software quality.

Despite all this, most will say the PS2 and SNES were better. Why?

• Bad controller
• not the same 3rd party support as PS2 (and even Xbox)
• Online
• It was purple and looked like a toy

Yeah, the Dreamcast and Gamecube are both very underrated.

Also, more people had a PS2 and SNES than either so most people's experiences lie within them.

People listing a console higher than another doesn't necessarily make it unappreciated. I'm sure plenty that hold SNES in higher regard also love Gamecube. And PS2 is most often picked for that gen because of the sheer amount of games it had I think, and if one is a diehard JRPG than PS2 was obviously the way to go.

Gamecube controller is great they just messed it up with the button layout.

It was at the time. In retrospective it is regarded as a top 3 Nintendo home console.

I agree. Gamecube was the pinnacle of Nintendo consoles.

would have been a success if they used dvd instead of that stupid little disc

the controller is the best

No idea. It just wasn't the "cool" one to own in that era, I guess. Despite it being one of the best consoles ever.

It wasn't appreciated for its time but now it gets a lot of respect.

It just got buried under the popularity of the PS2.

I don't know anyone that owned a GC other than me. Had some great games though that I'd love to see on VC at some point.

i think n64 had more aamzing games tbh

List wars time huh?

N64:

Ocarina

Majora

Super Mario 64

Goldeneye

Banjo Kazooie

Mario Kart 64

Paper Mario

Donkey Kong 64

Resident Evil 2

Conker's Bad Fur Day

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

Super Smash Bros

Mario Party 2

Perfect Dark

Banjo Tooie

Starfox 64

Pokemon Stadium 2

Pokemon Snap

Diddy Kong Racing

Kirby 64

FZero X

Ogre Battle 64

Star Wars Rogue Sqadron

Mario Tennis

Mario Golf

Gamecube:

Metroid Prime

Windwaker

Twilight Princess

Paper Mario Thousand Year Door

Pikmin

Super Smash Bros Melee

Resident Evil 4

Eternal Darkness

Resident Evil Remake

Super Mario Sunshine

Mario Kart Double Dash

Metroid Prime 2

Luigi's Mansion

Pikmin 2

Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil Code Veronica

Resident Evil 3

Resident Evil 0

Megaman Anniversary

Megaman X Collection

Viewtiful Joe

Tales of Symphonia

Soul Calibur 2

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle

Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes

Skies of Arcadia Legends

Beyond Good and Evil

Super Mario Strikers

Mario Superstar Baseball

Mario Power Tennis

Mario Golf Toadstool Tour

Mario Party 4

Super Monkey Ball

Fire Emblem Path of Radiance

Zelda Collectors Edition

Kirby Airride

Donkey Kong Junglebeat

Spiderman 2

Pokemon Colosseum

Pokemon XD

Starfox Assault

Ikaruga

Killer 7

Zelda 4 Swords Adventures

Timesplitters 2

Prince of Persia Sands of Time

Animal Crossing

Billy Hatcher

WarioWare Inc

Chibi Robo

Crazy Taxi

Star Wars Rogue Leader

FZero GX

Bold ones are the system defining games for me. I tried to be as fair as possible. And it's just not that close. It's 53 to 25.

in fairness at the time it suffered from the same things other nintendo consoles have suffered from. long droughts. patchy 3rd party support (the GC and xbox were also rans that gen...3rd parties werent fussed about them generally).

but, like pretty much any nintendo console, it still had some dam fine games. metroid prime, fzero GX, pikmin, even mario sunshine which was just a bit of a letdown after the almighty mario 64 but still a great game. the gamecube itself is also the epitome of how a console should be designed. cheap, robust, developer friendly, great controller and the hardware was very efficent.

@drummerdave9099: you missed a lot of good n64 games

Turok

Turok 2 turok ,3

Hexen 64

Doom

Duke nukem zero hour

Snow board kids

Bomberman hero

Bomberman 64 2

Vigilante 8

Fighting Force 64

But yes I agree gc and n64 were very under appreciated w only selling 33 m and 24 m respectively they deserved more

Yeah GC was definitely underrated... I loved the controller, and it has some epic games. I still think about Mario Sunshine.

You might want to look at this 3rd party n64 controller.

https://youtu.be/RjJ5ygSC3iI

That's fair, I didn't play most of those games, forgot about Turok and Snowboard Kids. I still think GC had a better library despite OOT, Mario 64, and Goldeneye being all time greats.

No idea.

It's the best console I ever owned bar none.

Always loved the GameCube, from Mario Party 6 to Super Monkey Ball 2 all the way to 007: Agent Under Fire.

I'm going to be another to say it was underappreciated at the time, but is highly regarded now.

It was hard at the time to live through the droughts, and watch so many great games get canceled or skip the GC entirely (Burnout 3 still stands out in my mind). But now, it's my most played retro console. Nintendo made some of their all-time best games on the little box, and there was just enough third-party support to really round out the library.

@drummerdave9099: Sadly, because it looks like a little kid's toy, and by the time the gamecube launched, most of Nintendo's existing fanbase would have probably been reluctant to have it as part of their home theater setup.

Yeah yeah, I know it's shallow, and games should matter more. But perception is your reality.

Gamecube to this day remains my favorite console of all time. Around half of my top 10 games list comes from that system alone.

That's awesome, but is it worth $100?

@drummerdave9099: Gamecube was an amazingly powerful and small console for it's time. Had fantastic games and pretty much no load screens. But it was purple, Nintendo and many didn't give it a chance. Those that did, loved it

GameCube was a great system in retrospect. People didn't really care for it because it didn't have the same third-party support like PlayStation 2 and Xbox had (no Grand Theft Auto for instance), but it had a ton of great exclusives that made it worthwhile.

mine is silver re4 edition

Some of my favorite games are on the GC, and this is coming from someone who has a PS2 game collection almost four times as big.

If there is one system I'm never going to sell or part with, it will be that one. I love my little black box.

"Respect" being the airquoted keyword here.

No, it wouldn't. Nintendo's reputation was still sour as all hell by developers and gamers by that time. Hell, it still is now.

Gamecube to me is the best console Nintendo ever released. I dont know if it was better than PS2, since we all know PS2 was a monster of a console with exclusive/time exclusive after exclusive. But Gamecube was up there for sure.

Its a pity Nintendo didnt follow that GC formula really but on the other hand i can understand this decision when GC underperformed in sales. Oh well.

Bottom line is, very rarely if never, youll see someone say Gamecube is underappreciated. Calling Gamecube better than PS2 is another story and is not the only way to call to show Gamecube appreciation.

EDIT : Im pity of sheep that their first Nintendo experience was Wii and beyond.

Loved the GameCube, however i believe it's down to the lack of online the system offered. Yes, it had modem adaptors (broadband and 56k). But it never followed up with it after Phantasy Star Online. If Nintendo put online play into Mario Kart and Smash, it would have been a winner. Sony started introducing online play with the PS2, Xbox introduced Xbox Live. Nintendo didn't keep up with the trend. 3rd party games didn't come to the system due to sales lacking, heck Nintendo had so many GameCube's built they stopped production until stock levels reduced.

The controller was one of the best i've ever used, without a doubt. The question, is the GameCube underappreciated?. I'd say no. It had an impressive library of games in Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Mario Sunshine, F-Zero GX and Resident Evil 0 to name a few. Did Rare's sale from Nintendo cause people to not buy a system, probably yes.

Don't know I actually loved that console

well, the PS2 is why, and it was the best selling console ever

but yeah, the GameCube was an impressive console, hated the controller but loved the games, I didn't own one but I quickly seized up the games when I got my Wii since it was BC

I hope Nintendo puts the GC line-up on Switch when it finally gets VC. But Nintendo is a wild card when it comes to this kind of support.

Because it competed with the PS2. The Ps2 totally destroyed it.

Because it was a purple lunchbox that used mini DVDs. It's probably my favorite Nintendo console though.

I'd say Nintendo gave it a huge chance! They put a lot of risky games on the platform. Instead of just making Super Mario 64 2 and Ocarina of Time 2, they added the water backpack to mario, and made Zelda graphics cartoony. They brought Metroid back after a 7 (i think) year hiatus. They launched the thing with a freaking Luigi game- not a Mario one! They made a Pokemon game where you catch other trainer's Pokemon. They made Donkey Kong rhythm games and a platformer that features a bongo controller. Mario Kart had two racers at a time, not one. Smash Bros was more of the same and it was great lol! But almost every franchise received a shake up in some way on Gamecube.

The controller was great actually

Yes, it didn't have 3rd party support, but it had RE4

Nothing really had proper online back then

It was portable and easy to take to a friends house

I also pity the sheep that had their first Nintendo experience that was on the Wii or a later console. The GC was still a great console even though the PS2 was a monster of a console.

Gamecube was great. Switch seems to be a return to its glory days.

Just stop. We will never have another GameCube.

That depends on what 'GameCube' means to you.

Does it mean Nintendo firing on all cylinders as far as creative output goes? Switch is there.

Does it mean well designed hardware with a singular focus, implemented well? Switch is there.

Does it mean a traditional game console that is competitive with the competition on fronts such as hardware power and third party support? Sure, that's not what the Switch is.

I think the media format probably hurt it the most. Being able to play DVDs was a very big plus for the PS2 and developers preferred the extra space it offered for their games so this kind of affected multi platform games not showing up on the system and this led consumers into going towards other systems for those games and this turned into a cyclical effect. Online for consoles was quickly growing however Nintendo had scarcely very little interest in pushing this on the system and its games. The design of the system itself certainly did it no favours. The controller was pretty good though and the system had some decent power to it.

I sure hope so- a mix of great 1st party content and enough compelling 3rd party content.

It didn't miss out on too many multiplats though. Gamecube got Madden and the other EA sports games, Tony Hawk, Soul Calibur, Beyond Good and Evil, Lego Star Wars, Prince of Persia, The Simpsons, Splinter Cell, Need for Speed, Spiderman, and Medal of Honor.

It didn't get GTA, Star Wars Battlefront, Silent Hill, Max Payne. And I'm sure there's others I missed. But most were there. I'm not sure if you can even chalk it up to bad third party relationships- other than Rockstar and Square Enix. I think it was more Nintendo's family friendly standard.

Not for me. That was my favorite platform of that gen.