Gamecube: How did it fail?

The Gamecube had a solid game lineup and a relatively powerful CPU compared to other consoles, so is there any definitive reason that it failed in comparison to the PS2 or the XBOX?

Must be that kiddy image that Nintendo can't seem to shake. Never really understood that. Third party support was weak at best. That's been a problem of Nintendo's since the N64. Kind of strange that the NES and Super NES had crazy 3rd party support but lost it with the N64. Probably had something to do with the fact that Nintendo stuck with the cartridge format when everybody else was moving to CD's. Either way it's bogus. I'm sure the purpleness of the Cube didn't help things either.

On the other hand I thought the cube did pretty well for itself. It's got a lot of great games that are still very enjoyable. (the only system I currently own is a Cube and I still can't stop playing it) So to say that it failed....I don't know. I think to the right people it did very well.

Currently playing: Battalion Wars - friggin' hilarious.

I didn't really fail.

the first party games are awesome, but third party..not so much. xbox and PS2 got most of the attention.

but when it comes down to the best first party games, i think the Cube takes the cake.

It wasn't the kiddie image that caused the failure of the cube. Nintendo has been known as a kiddie company since the Gameboy, that didn't stop it from being the highest selling console ever. The reason why Nintendo got dominated has everything to do with third party support. They had one Final Fantasy game that wasn't that great compared to 10 and 12; one Metal Gear game which was just a remake; no amazing action games like Ninja Gaiden or Devil May cry. Nothing super creative like katamari Damacy or Shadow of the Colossus; basically the Cube was the first Nintendo system that really didn't have a stand out third party game. I mean the 64 had Goldeneye and we all know of the amazing thirdy party support for the NES and SNES but what major exclusive third party release was there for the Cube; the only one I can think of is Resident Evil 4 which in my opinion was the best game of last gen but not even that could save it. Beside, it was later ported to the PS2 thu it was a crappy port but a port non the less. Unfortunately, the only truly amazing games on the cube were the first party games.

It wasn't the kiddie image that caused the failure of the cube. Nintendo has been known as a kiddie company since the Gameboy, that didn't stop it from being the highest selling console ever. The reason why Nintendo got dominated has everything to do with third party support. They had one Final Fantasy game that wasn't that great compared to 10 and 12; one Metal Gear game which was just a remake; no amazing action games like Ninja Gaiden or Devil May cry. Nothing super creative like katamari Damacy or Shadow of the Colossus; basically the Cube was the first Nintendo system that really didn't have a stand out third party game. I mean the 64 had Goldeneye and we all know of the amazing thirdy party support for the NES and SNES but what major exclusive third party release was there for the Cube; the only one I can think of is Resident Evil 4 which in my opinion was the best game of last gen but not even that could save it. Beside, it was later ported to the PS2 thu it was a crappy port but a port non the less. Unfortunately, the only truly amazing games on the cube were the first party games.

arthas242000

Wow everything was good up untill you said RE4 was a crappy port... That makes no sense..

teens have image issues, Gamecube was not cool

= failure

When compared to past Nintendo consoles, it failed.-Wheels-

false, it blew the N64 out of the water on every front

[QUOTE="-Wheels-"]When compared to past Nintendo consoles, it failed.zh666

false, it blew the N64 out of the water on every front

except sales

[QUOTE="-Wheels-"]When compared to past Nintendo consoles, it failed.zh666

false, it blew the N64 out of the water on every front

Ummm, idk about that. N64 had many best games of all time. The Cube wasn't much of anything new, other than better graphics. N64 laid the foundation, Gamecube slightly perfected it, but not as well as the PS2.

[QUOTE="zh666"]

[QUOTE="-Wheels-"]When compared to past Nintendo consoles, it failed.-Wheels-

false, it blew the N64 out of the water on every front

Ummm, idk about that. N64 had many best games of all time. The Cube wasn't much of anything new, other than better graphics. N64 laid the foundation, Gamecube slightly perfected it, but not as well as the PS2.

if you remove your nostalga glasses for a moment, all the sequels that ended up on the Cube were far supieror to their N64 counterparts (ie Mario, Zelda, Mario Party/Kart/Paper Mario/etc)... plus the N64 more original 1st and 2nd party titles ie Metroid Prime, Pikmin, Luigi's Mansion, Geist, Eternal Darkness, Baten Kaitos, Star Fox Adventures and so on.. not only that but the Cube had a big RPG lineup with the previously mentioned Baten Kaitos, Tales of Symphonia, Gladius, Paper Mario, Fire Emblem, Skies of Arcadia and so on... N64 had 7 RPGs, GC had 40-50... also the 3rd Party support was HUGE compared to the N64, which had none at all...

It had no DVD drive, which is why the GameCube failed. loopy_101

na, by the time the Gamecube came out (late 2001), everyone already had something to play DVDs on... DVD function really helped PS2 crush the Dreamcast but it wasn't a factor after that...

The Xbox had DVD playback but it didn't exactly "win" either...

't fail per se. Much like a fad or a phase with someone, people soon got tired of the games Nintendo pumped out. They werent bad, but since Gamecube was rather one note, people gave it a chance for a bit, and moved on to something better.

Failing is when you are Sega and you make an easily hackable system with more holes in than Windows XP.

It didn't fail per se. Much like a fad or a phase with someone, people soon got tired of the games Nintendo pumped out. They werent bad, but since Gamecube was rather one note, people gave it a chance for a bit, and moved on to something better.

Failing is when you are Sega and you make an easily hackable system with more holes in than Windows XP.

Nova_Beetle

Thats what I meant to say.

[QUOTE="-Wheels-"][QUOTE="zh666"]

[QUOTE="-Wheels-"]When compared to past Nintendo consoles, it failed.zh666

false, it blew the N64 out of the water on every front

Ummm, idk about that. N64 had many best games of all time. The Cube wasn't much of anything new, other than better graphics. N64 laid the foundation, Gamecube slightly perfected it, but not as well as the PS2.

if you remove your nostalga glasses for a moment, all the sequels that ended up on the Cube were far supieror to their N64 counterparts (ie Mario, Zelda, Mario Party/Kart/Paper Mario/etc)... plus the N64 more original 1st and 2nd party titles ie Metroid Prime, Pikmin, Luigi's Mansion, Geist, Eternal Darkness, Baten Kaitos, Star Fox Adventures and so on.. not only that but the Cube had a big RPG lineup with the previously mentioned Baten Kaitos, Tales of Symphonia, Gladius, Paper Mario, Fire Emblem, Skies of Arcadia and so on... N64 had 7 RPGs, GC had 40-50... also the 3rd Party support was HUGE compared to the N64, which had none at all...

Thats just something that happens over time. The N64 was better at its time then the Cube was it its own time. That being said, I would rather have a Cube instead of an N64 if nostalgia was not a factor.

[QUOTE="loopy_101"]It had no DVD drive, which is why the GameCube failed. zh666

na, by the time the Gamecube came out (late 2001), everyone already had something to play DVDs on... DVD function really helped PS2 crush the Dreamcast but it wasn't a factor after that...

The Xbox had DVD playback but it didn't exactly "win" either...

Yeah but it was a big blow in that publishers had to use mutliple discs and unique discs which cost more than DVD. Also, it did matter, because it stopped people getting a Gamecube and getting a PS2 instead for both their gaming and movies. Which is exactly what happened, or atleast in the UK anyway. The Xbox didn't "win" because it came in too late and Microsoft wasen't very trustworthy as a games company having no history at all. Microsoft selling the console at a ridiculous price didn't help either.

The Xbox didn't "win" because it came in too late

loopy_101

it came out the same time as the Gamecube

[QUOTE="loopy_101"]

The Xbox didn't "win" because it came in too late

zh666

it came out the same time as the Gamecube

I mean it came out too late after the PS2 with it's DVD capabilites, in response to what you thought. And it depends on where as well. Remember, this was a totally different story for the rest of the world.

1. The PS2 had a massive library
2. No DVD playback
3. Graphics whores were less than impressed
4. It wasn't taken seriously by most gamers over the age of 16
5. Very few games were made for it compared to the libraries of the PS2 and Xbo

[QUOTE="zh666"][QUOTE="loopy_101"]The Xbox didn't "win" because it came in too lateloopy_101

it came out the same time as the Gamecube

By that logic, it would have been too late for the GameCube anyway. And I really don't get the "where" part. What are you trying to say there? Was there somewhere that the Xbox was more popular than the PS2?

[QUOTE="loopy_101"][QUOTE="zh666"][QUOTE="loopy_101"]The Xbox didn't "win" because it came in too lateLordAndrew

it came out the same time as the Gamecube

By that logic, it would have been too late for the GameCube anyway. And I really don't get the "where" part. What are you trying to say there? Was there somewhere that the Xbox was more popular than the PS2?

"Sigh"

The release dates of the Xbox and Gamecube differed in places like Japan and Europe. The Xbox came out several months before Gamecube in the UK for example.

Edit: I can't believe I'm even arguing about a popular point for the failure of the GameCube, go read what ash10692 just said about GameCube and DVDs and you'll see what I mean.

It did not "fail" per se - it still has a rather impressive library of excellent titles, but it definitely did worse then it could have...

1. Total disregard from Nintendo of online capabilities, mirrored by 3rd party devs

2. Lack of (consistent) 3rd party support... Why? Anybody's guess... May be Nintendo did something, or said something to upset them :P

Those are probably the two most important reasons, IMHO

The Gamecube was dead before the end of 2002. The GC was poorly marketed and many of its first party offerings, which Nintendo lives and dies with, were really lackluster efforts. Third party games were an absolute joke outside of what Capcom signed on for. GC was the home of third party sloppy seconds, which generally Nintendo doesn't have a reliance on, which is fine. But when its core franchises come up mediocre, there was little reason to even own a GC unless there were certain key titles which a prospective buyer believed to be "must-haves." Well, REmake and Eternal Darkness got me to buy it.

Nintendo also had a bad habit of trying to force feed interconnectivity with the GBA, which really no one cared about. Who would have with XBL and PS2 online gaming?

3rd party support.

The fact that it had no online and no dvd player only hurt it also.

Oh, it had online. But for some reason only Sega used it for their Phantasy Star Online games. Not even Nintendo made use of it.LordAndrew

Though the broadband adapters quietly trickled back onto store shelves when Mario Kart was released.

"I'm a twelve year old who is insecure about my masculinity so I only buy games like God of War, Devil May Cry, Kill Zone and anything else manly and cool and violent. Plus all my insecure twelve year old friends have one too. Did I mention that my PS2 had a disc read error? Yeah, so I complained until my mom bought me a new one."

That's how.

"I'm a twelve year old who is insecure about my masculinity so I only buy games like God of War, Devil May Cry, Kill Zone and anything else manly and cool and violent. Plus all my insecure twelve year old friends have one too. Did I mention that my PS2 had a disc read error? Yeah, so I complained until my mom bought me a new one."

That's how.

MrDziekuje

Yes, it was all an insecurity issue.:roll:

Surely it would have nothing to do with the market rejecting Nintendo's direction and products because their competitors offered something better, right?

[QUOTE="MrDziekuje"]

"I'm a twelve year old who is insecure about my masculinity so I only buy games like God of War, Devil May Cry, Kill Zone and anything else manly and cool and violent. Plus all my insecure twelve year old friends have one too. Did I mention that my PS2 had a disc read error? Yeah, so I complained until my mom bought me a new one."

That's how.

MarcusAntonius

Yes, it was all an insecurity issue.:roll:

Surely it would have nothing to do with the market rejecting Nintendo's direction and products because their competitors offered something better, right?

Better is an opinion, but yes you are right in saying that Nintendo did not cater enough to the insecure twelve year old fanbase. If my school represents the rest of the world, most of the PS2 fanbase bought every Madden and maybe one or two other game.

[QUOTE="MarcusAntonius"][QUOTE="MrDziekuje"]

"I'm a twelve year old who is insecure about my masculinity so I only buy games like God of War, Devil May Cry, Kill Zone and anything else manly and cool and violent. Plus all my insecure twelve year old friends have one too. Did I mention that my PS2 had a disc read error? Yeah, so I complained until my mom bought me a new one."

That's how.

MrDziekuje

Yes, it was all an insecurity issue.:roll:

Surely it would have nothing to do with the market rejecting Nintendo's direction and products because their competitors offered something better, right?

Better is an opinion, but yes you are right in saying that Nintendo did not cater enough to the insecure twelve year old fanbase. If my school represents the rest of the world, most of the PS2 fanbase bought every Madden and maybe one or two other game.

Afraid not, its an empirical truth. Ah yes, Madden, GTA, etc. Because clearly the PS2 didn't succeed with games like Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet and Clank, and Jak and Daxter. And furthermore its apparent that people only bought a PS2 with only a couple games, I mean why else did the PS2 receive so much third party support including Capcom titles that were originally intended to be GC exclusives? Your anecdotal evidence doesn't quite pass the muster, hate to break it to you. And please don't put words into my mouth, its very poor form.

Why not go back to your Nintendo gamers union where no one will disagree with you? It appears that someone pointing out the obvious is having an adverse affect on your psyche.

no 3rd party support for 64? wrong,

explain all these games

wwf series

rush

rush 2

rush 2409

crusin

california speed

re2

turok series which was exclusive lol from akklaim

to me n64 and gc are equally good so what if it did not sell as much as ps2 ,,

that doesnt mean it failed

,, and,

wii is doing 2 x better then gc and n64 combined in all honesty i think every company so far screwed up when releasing their 3rd console,

lets look shall we , segas sms and genesis were better then saturn in all fronts,

n64 was nintendos 3rd console sold more then gc but had one major drawback one of which gc improved upon

3rd party support

gc actually was nintendos first step back on the road to success none the less ,look at wii

ya n64 has awsome games,

but the cart format really killed it

now on to sony

people thought ps3 would be the next ps2 ,, well so far it hasnt been if anything its equal to the nintendo gamecube

third party support for the system is getting dull, every multiplat game so far is delayed behind the 360 version of the same games

what killed it= price and or value of what you get for if you were to get cheaper model

and development costs

now its unsure whether microsofts 3rd system will follow suit

When compared to past Nintendo consoles, it failed.-Wheels-

yeah at least the N64 u could argue that it kept up with ps1. but really the gamecube became a far 3rd place. but it did have a few gems. i was hoping nintendo would finally become a real gaming machine again after the gamecube......but no. they have settled for 3rd best console. The nes and snes were a great start and had great graphics. the n64 was still good, but since then nintendo has really given up on trying to have the best games. i think they've realized they dont have to compete directly with Sony and MS. they are selling the wii even though its graphics are barely better than the gamecube.

Lack of variety killed the GC. Sure the kiddy rep hurt too, but the only reason GC had the kiddy rep was that its game library was basically limited to Mario and Zelda games. If you liked Mario and Zelda, it was the perfect system. If you wanted more from gaming, then the PS2 or even the X-Box were better systems to own. So the GC became the system no one bought, or the one that people bought as an "extra" system.

Yes the GC had a few great games that were not Mario or Zelda related (RE4, Baiten Kaitos, Pikmin) but they were too few and far between to justify making the GC the main system.

You can say that FPS's and adult oriented action games appealed to insecure 12 year olds. The problem for the GC was that they also appealed to most of the other gamers too. Platformers had their day in the sun but people became interested in new experiences like FPSs and more adult action games. The GC did not change with the times and it paid the price.

That's why you got to give it to Nintendo for their Wii strategy. They discovered that existing gamers were tired of the same old Mario/Zelda games, but instead of changing Nintendo's gaming focus, they decided to change the gaming market - they went out and found non-gamers/casuals who weren't tired of Mario/Zelda yet and they brought them into the gaming fold. So now gamers buy the Wii as their extra system + casuals buy it as their main system = $$$$