What could have saved the Gamecube from the dreaded #3 spot?

The above reasons have everything to do with there being a lack of third party support. If there had been online, we would have seen more support. If the system had been designed differently, the would have been more third party support. If Wind Waker hadn't been cel-shaded, more developers would have supported the system.

All of the above affect third party support.

there was absolutely nothing wrong with this:

"The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker's cel-shaded art direction"

it's art, not everybody enjoys all types of art, just because you didnt like how the game was being presented doesn't mean it was a mistake.

it sold about 2 million less than the Xbox, but had more million+ selling games...
zh666

there was absolutely nothing wrong with this:

"The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker's cel-shaded art direction"

it's art, not everybody enjoys all types of art, just because you didnt like how the game was being presented doesn't mean it was a mistake.

kidrock17xp

I love Wind Waker. When Wind Waker was unveiled, many developers said, "Oh my God...even Zelda has been kidified." It was for this reason that GTA and many other mature rated multiplatform games never came to Cube.

I actually don't think Wind Waker is a mistake, but many people do. That's why it's included in the poll.

Clearly last generation, in terms of sales and popularity among gamers, the Gamecube came in 3rd place. What could Nintendo have done to, at the very least, grab number #2 position?LordelX

Here's my opinion.

Need for a good free or cheap online service similar to Live. Games like Melee, F-Zero, etc scream online big time and not to mention a lot of 3rd party games would have gave online games.

The Cube should have used the format of DVD-9 instead of the mini-discs. This annoyed developers that they have to half up the game and couldnt just put it on one disc. Obviously the Cube could be redesigned accept larger discs.

3rd party support from companies like LucasArts, Rockstar, Konami, etc that give a whole lot of variety of games to the Cube and people can pick what they prefer playing. And obviously the Cube has to get the best version of multi-plat games.

The controller could be redesigned , get rid of different shape and size buttons and make it like the 360 controller. Z button is poorly designed.

Should come out in multiple colors such as blue, red, green, yellow, etc to fit each person's personal flavor.

Last: Nintendo fans. They have to learn to buy 3rd party games as well and stop believing the fact that Nintendo is the only company that makes the best games. Buying 3rd party games cause the developers to work harder and provide better games because you are helping their profits.

Another opinion: Nintendo should have never sold Rare, but do their best to build a loving relationship and let Rare develop the mature games they wanted to. Games such as Donkey Kong Racing, Perfect Dark, a Banjo game, a Conker game, and few other new Rare IPs could have sold tons of Cubes and these games having online support. Again Rare did not leave Nintendo, Nintendo sold this company, but if I was Nintendo I would have done my very best to keep the employees happy and let them develop whatever they want.

[QUOTE="zh666"]it sold about 2 million less than the Xbox, but had more million+ selling games...
AlexandriaZ

Here's my opinion.

Need for a good free or cheap online service similar to Live. Games like Melee, F-Zero, etc scream online big time and not to mention a lot of 3rd party games would have gave online games.

The Cube should have used the format of DVD-9 instead of the mini-discs. This annoyed developers that they have to half up the game and couldnt just put it on one disc. Obviously the Cube could be redesigned accept larger discs.

3rd party support from companies like LucasArts, Rockstar, Konami, etc that give a whole lot of variety of games to the Cube and people can pick what they prefer playing. And obviously the Cube has to get the best version of multi-plat games.

The controller could be redesigned , get rid of different shape and size buttons and make it like the 360 controller. Z button is poorly designed.

Should come out in multiple colors such as blue, red, green, yellow, etc to fit each person's personal flavor.

Last: Nintendo fans. They have to learn to buy 3rd party games as well and stop believing the fact that Nintendo is the only company that makes the best games. Buying 3rd party games cause the developers to work harder and provide better games because you are helping their profits.

Another opinion: Nintendo should have never sold Rare, but do their best to build a loving relationship and let Rare develop the mature games they wanted to. Games such as Donkey Kong Racing, Perfect Dark, a Banjo game, a Conker game, and few other new Rare IPs could have sold tons of Cubes and these games having online support. Again Rare did not leave Nintendo, Nintendo sold this company, but if I was Nintendo I would have done my very best to keep the employees happy and let them develop whatever they want.

Ninten007

5 of Gamecubes million + is 3rd party... Xbox only has 2 3rd party title
zh666

[QUOTE="zh666"]
5 of Gamecubes million + is 3rd party... Xbox only has 2 3rd party title
AlexandriaZ

maybe if 3rd party put some effort into the Gamecube games from the start, like they did with Xbox and PS2, then they might of sold more.. but 90% of the Gamecubes 3rd party support was inferior ports... which gave people little reason to pick them up...
zh666

3rd party support and marketing

i don't think it actually had much to do with any particular games (i.e. Wind Waker), i think it had alot to do with the fact that it was kinda mediocre compared to other systems. They made alot of good games for the gamecube, but there was nothing that really set it apart from anything else (Playstation 2, Xbox, etc.) It would have stood a better chance if it had a predacessor. The playstation came out before the gamecube, so when the ps2 and the gamecube came out, there were already alot of playstation fans that would rather have the ps2 than the gamecube. Xbox had alot more stuff to offer than the gamecube, such as the ability to have live multiplayer games, and other features... The gamecube was a good system (i've had one for several years now) but it didn't have anything to set it apart from the rest. Now that the wii is here, the gamecube will more than likely fade from existence.puffinpower91

Last: Nintendo fans. They have to learn to buy 3rd party games as well and stop believing the fact that Nintendo is the only company that makes the best games. Ninten007

[QUOTE="puffinpower91"]i don't think it actually had much to do with any particular games (i.e. Wind Waker), i think it had alot to do with the fact that it was kinda mediocre compared to other systems. They made alot of good games for the gamecube, but there was nothing that really set it apart from anything else (Playstation 2, Xbox, etc.) It would have stood a better chance if it had a predacessor. The playstation came out before the gamecube, so when the ps2 and the gamecube came out, there were already alot of playstation fans that would rather have the ps2 than the gamecube. Xbox had alot more stuff to offer than the gamecube, such as the ability to have live multiplayer games, and other features... The gamecube was a good system (i've had one for several years now) but it didn't have anything to set it apart from the rest. Now that the wii is here, the gamecube will more than likely fade from existence.bubnux

I really don't see how online was a desiding factor.. it took the PS2 forever to get their online into shape and it was still very subpar compared to the Xbox.. and how many subscribers did they even have? maybe a couple million? that doesn't exactly sound like a system seller to me...zh666

Agreed. I don't think online was as big a factor as people make it out to be, simply look at the Xbox. How many Xbox owners took  the Xbox online? 2 million out of an installed base of about 20 million. That's roughly 5%. An even lower percentage of gamers took their PS2 online.

To simply say that the Gamecube needed more third party support is also a little......too general a statement. Compared to the N64, the Gamecube had pretty good third party support, but once again, the majority of Gamecube owners didn't buy many 3rd party games. Even must have titles like Resident Evil 4 and Tales of Symphonia didn't sell as well as they should have. Resident Evil 4 sold just over a million units, Tales of Symphonia just over 500,000. That's pretty disgusting. The PS2 version of RE4 sold triple that amount, and the PS2 version of ToS, which was exclusive to Japan only, sold more copies than the GC version in all regions combined. If you really think about it, we're lucky that the Gamecube got these games at all.

How could the Gamecube have avoided this? By attracting more gamers than just the hard-core, the Nintendo fanboy, and children. If the Gamecube's audience had had a sizable percentage of casual, sports or RPG gamers then 3rd party support could have seen much better sales. Why did this demograph choose the PS2? This is the real question we should be looking at, and while online was a factor, it wasn't so important a factor.

Even must have titles like Resident Evil 4 and Tales of Symphonia didn't sell as well as they should have. Resident Evil 4 sold just over a million units, Tales of Symphonia just over 500,000. That's pretty disgusting. The PS2 version of RE4 sold triple that amount, and the PS2 version of ToS, which was exclusive to Japan only, sold more copies than the GC version in all regions combined. If you really think about it, we're lucky that the Gamecube got these games at all.LordelX

Here's my opinion.

Need for a good free or cheap online service similar to Live. Games like Melee, F-Zero, etc scream online big time and not to mention a lot of 3rd party games would have gave online games.

The Cube should have used the format of DVD-9 instead of the mini-discs. This annoyed developers that they have to half up the game and couldnt just put it on one disc. Obviously the Cube could be redesigned accept larger discs.

3rd party support from companies like LucasArts, Rockstar, Konami, etc that give a whole lot of variety of games to the Cube and people can pick what they prefer playing. And obviously the Cube has to get the best version of multi-plat games.

The controller could be redesigned , get rid of different shape and size buttons and make it like the 360 controller. Z button is poorly designed.

Should come out in multiple colors such as blue, red, green, yellow, etc to fit each person's personal flavor.

Last: Nintendo fans. They have to learn to buy 3rd party games as well and stop believing the fact that Nintendo is the only company that makes the best games. Buying 3rd party games cause the developers to work harder and provide better games because you are helping their profits.

Another opinion: Nintendo should have never sold Rare, but do their best to build a loving relationship and let Rare develop the mature games they wanted to. Games such as Donkey Kong Racing, Perfect Dark, a Banjo game, a Conker game, and few other new Rare IPs could have sold tons of Cubes and these games having online support. Again Rare did not leave Nintendo, Nintendo sold this company, but if I was Nintendo I would have done my very best to keep the employees happy and let them develop whatever they want.

Ninten007

I agree with a lot of what you've said.

The biggest mistake for me was the lack of decent Nintendo marketing. Nintendo had a good product but failed to market it properly.

I read a few posts about people talking about the lack of online features but if you look back at the Xbox userbase many of them didn't subscribe to Xbox live and still the console did better than the cube. But it's true that the lack of online (and cheap online) did hurt the Gamecube but it wasn't such a huge blow as everyone else is talking about.

Another thing which has been mentioned before but I wanted to say was the over reliance on the cube media discs. Even if Nintendo had used normal DVD media discs, the games would still have loaded faster than the PS2. So many games were reduced in quality of things or features cut out just to fit onto one disc. Sure developers could have put things onto two discs but rarely did they want to.

No 3rd party support, had great 1st part games.nic0008

It had poor 3rd party support but not no support. It had rubbish marketing Nintendo couldn't market the thing properly. 1st part games were generally good but were a little thin on the ground.

Among other mistakes (controller, limited disc), no online was the worst mistake.  The sad and pathetic thing is, they still don't have any online for the Wii.

Didn't they run the Information backwards on the disks? Thus making it less profitable for developing things on the 'cube?reyson29

online play. it's simply a must nowadays123456782

Third party support is the key to a consoles success. Quite frankly the demise is no one but Nintendo's fault. They made it too expencive to develop on. They asked for too much commision on each game and that priced many dev teams out of producing games for the cube straight away. Many thought that it wasnt worth it profit wise. Also, it wasnt that GTA didnt come to the cube because of the kiddy image, it didnt go to the cube because Nintendo didnt want it to (just as many investors in MS dont want GTA to be associated with MS). They didnt want to be associated with that game. They did realise that that was a poor move which was why they allowed RE4 and killer7 on the console and why they are going to allow games like No More Heroes and Manhunt on the wii.

I know a lot of people who would have bought a cube for mario kart simply if it had had online support. I have to say that was the poorest move. Its not even as though it would have cost them that much.

none of those, well maybe online support could have effected it

it would have to be that SSBM didn't span a sequel

Heres the whole chain reaction. Okay GC is unvieled no online. That moves a lot of older gamers to X-box and PS2. So GC has these 3rd party games coming out and 3rd party Devs are noticeing "hey they aren't selling that well on the cube" so they the devs stop making those 3rd party games. Like NCAA, NBA live, Burnout, and So on

Third party support, a more mature stance and way more RPG's. The gimmickiness did it in for me, i mean four controllers, one copy of Crystal Chronicles, u'd think a person could get a 4 player round going but nooo... f@#king GBA connectivity.in2DarKneSs