Gamecube's done good or bad

As far as the business side goes, it was marketed poorly and sold worse than its predecessor. In that sense, it did bad.

As far as games go, it had releases like Metroid Prime and Battalion Wars. In that sense, it did well. 

The GC was very good, I don´t think it did bad at alljorgeluisbl

Agreed 

I firmly believe it was the best system released last generation.SmashBrosLegend

Really don't know how you can think that to be honest.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great system (it's got Mario!) and all but it missed out on most of the really big stuff like MGS3 & the GTAs.

^It's called opinion. >_>

Anyway, I agree. The GC is the best system of the last-generation.

The GC was very good, I don´t think it did bad at alljorgeluisbl

[QUOTE="jorgeluisbl"]The GC was very good, I don´t think it did bad at allOni_Matt

Agreed 

I liked it for things like the MGS and RE remakes, but i've been a little disappointed by it. Metroid Prime has been the biggest letdown so far, especially considering how much hype it's received and how much I loved Super Metroid. I just found it lifeless and boring, though it does have a nice overall presentation.

The hardware is equally nice, especially due to its small size, but i'm a little annoyed by the top trigger buttons on the controller. They just feel awkward and plasticky to me, more like a children's toy than a controller.

Don't get me wrong, it has a lot going for it, but there just haven't been a lot of games that i'm interested in playing...though admittedly, I haven't gotten around to stuff like Tales of Symphonia.

Even though I wound up buying the PS2 version later on, I have to say, RE4 has easily wormed it's way into my all-time favorites list.  Really an amazing, fun game, whatever platform it's on.

It sold decent, too. Over 22 million.Nintendogamer33

Exactly. 22 million systems in which Nintendo made a profit of all of them. I don't know about PS2, but that's better than Xbox did. Also, the fact that many Wii users who didn't have a Cube are shocked at the quality of a good portion of the games shows that the library was no slouch. The Gamecube was a success.

Yet, it was third place by selling 22 million. Think about what that really means though. Ten years ago, third place sold less than 2 million systems. The fact that Nintendo was able to push 22 million Gamecubes into consumers hands in third place shows an incredible progression.

This generation, no matter what machine ends up coming in third, it's still not going to be a bad place to be. The days of measuring the success of a console as compared to it's competitors is OVER. Get used to that.

[QUOTE="Nintendogamer33"]It sold decent, too. Over 22 million.LordelX

Exactly. 22 million systems in which Nintendo made a profit of all of them. I don't know about PS2, but that's better than Xbox did. Also, the fact that many Wii users who didn't have a Cube are shocked at the quality of a good portion of the games shows that the library was no slouch. The Gamecube was a success.

Yet, it was third place by selling 22 million. Think about what that really means though. Ten years ago, third place sold less than 2 million systems. The fact that Nintendo was able to push 22 million Gamecubes into consumers hands in third place shows an incredible progression.

This generation, no matter what machine ends up coming in third, it's still not going to be a bad place to be. The days of measuring the success of a console as compared to it's competitors is OVER. Get used to that.

Even putting aside competitors, the GameCube sold pretty poorly compared to previous Nintendo products. Per the info on Wikipedia, which appear to be derived from Nintendo's own financial announcements:

- NES: 60 million
- SNES: 49 million
- N64: 32.93 million
- GameCube: 21.52 million (as of December 2006)
- DS: 37.6 million
- Wii: 6.52 million

The Wii is too new to draw any long-term conclusions, but compared to every other console Nintendo has released, the GC has been their worst selling product. That's not progress.

I'm not saying it's a failed product, but at the least, numbers like this send a message to many third-party developers and publishers that their games may not sell as well. It's certainly possible that they will, but the pool of potential customers is simply smaller - 22 million potential customers vs. 115 million potential customers. From a purely business standpoint, that's more of a risk that a game won't sell as well as it could have on another system. Whether the GameCube is good or not doesn't enter into it at all.

Now for a more interesting comparison, look at Nintendo's handheld division:

- Game Boy: 69.42 million
- Game Boy Color: 49.27 million
- Game Boy Advance: 76.79 million
- DS: 37.6 million

HUGE numbers across the board...not quite in the 100 million club, but there's a pretty clear upward trend. That sends a much more positive message to developers, which is part of why we're seeing TONS of games going to the DS, even some core titles.

10 years ago was when the PlayStation overtook the market, selling* over 102.49 million units. The PS2 has hit over 115+ million. At the very least, you can bet that Nintendo is paying attention to that kind of contrast in sales to their own.

I measure the success of a console based on the quality and quantity of games available...but numbers DO have an impact on the games that are available for a given system.

* I should mention that a lot of companies mention units "shipped" rather than "sold." The reason for this is that if they ship it to a store, it's counted as a sale - the retailer has to pay for it, so the company has gotten their money and is able to count it in their financial reports.

I'll also add that the systems that truly failed, the Virtual Boy, Jaguar, Sega Saturn, and Sega Dreamcast, sold less than the GC combined.Nintendogamer33

I didn't say the GC is a failure, just that it sold less than any other Nintendo console.

I try to pretend that the Virtual Boy was never released :p

I'll also add that the systems that truly failed, the Virtual Boy, Jaguar, Sega Saturn, and Sega Dreamcast, sold less than the GC combined.Nintendogamer33

The Saturn and Dreamcast may not have sold well, but they put out some of the greatest games in history. 

The Saturn and Dreamcast may not have sold well, but they put out some of the greatest games in history.SmashBrosLegend

So did the GameCube. Super Smash Bros. Melee, Metroid Prime, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Resident Evil 4 all come into mind.