The History of the Nintendo GameCube
Hello all, and welcome to another issue of the RAnews! With the recent rollout of the Nintendo GameCube over on RetroAchievements, I wanted to take this opportunity to write about the system, which spiraled into me writing about the entire history surrounding it. Given how this is the biggest rollout we've seen so far, as well as one of the most hyped system on RetroAchievements ever, I could obviously do no less than that. So without further ado, let's dive into the history of the purple cube!
While the Nintendo 64 was only two years old at the time, Nintendo and company ArtX started a partnership in 1998 to work on the next generation system. After all, competition was fierce: while the Nintendo 64 didn't do all too bad, Nintendo shot themselves in the foot by creating their arguably biggest rival ever by rejecting a collaboration with Sony. Of course, I'm talking about the PlayStation 1 that took the world by storm. So while the Nintendo 64 would see continued support up until 2002, they could not sit still and rely on it to win over the competition.
ArtX, led by Wei Yen, was a graphics hardware design company former by engineers who previously worked at SGI, who were also responsible for scaling down SGI's supercomputer design to become the Nintendo 64. Their involvement with the GameCube then came as no surprise, with them helping design the system logic and graphics processor. The goal of Nintendo was to create an architecture that would help speed up development as well as making it easier on software developers, in the hope of attracting third-party developers that previously moved over to develop for the PlayStation. Squaresoft, Enix, and Capcom, who were very loyal to Nintendo during the SNES era, did not agree to the Nintendo 64 keeping the cartridge structure while the PlayStation was far more advanced, and almost completely ignored Nintendo during this generation in the process.
The console went through a variety of codenames, such as "N2000", "Star Cube", and "Nintendo Advance", before settling on the final name "Dolphin" when it was announced during a press conference in May of 1999. Wait, where have I heard that name before...? They would reassure the press that this console would finally move on from being a cartridge-based system, with Panasonic being involved in the development of DVD drives using the miniDVD format; a DVD with a reduced diameter. Why this was chosen over a normal DVD is quite simple to explain if you are familiar with Nintendo: copyright protection. These discs would make it harder for consumers to rip media off and distribute it without permission... which obviously didn't work, unsurprisingly. The miniDVD was also less powerful than regular CDs and DVDs, which could all store more. While it was sufficient for this generation of video games, it wasn't uncommon for multi-platform games to increase video compression or, in the worst-case scenario, remove content.
Development went fairly smoothly, with development kits being sent out after the press conference to prominent Nintendo 64 development studios, like Rare and Retro Studios. They were confident enough to announce the console at the Nintendo Spaceworld show in Japan during August of 2000, following the official name: the GameCube. It's shaped like a cube and you can game on it. Brilliant! In Japan it would be abbreviated to NGC or GC, but for some reason Japan forced the European- and North American abbreviation to be GCN, which to this date is still the official abbreviation used in the west... even if it makes no sense compared to what Japan got. GameCube Nintendo, really?
The name was, of course, not the only announcement during this show. Nintendo would also show off a tech demo called Mario 128, which would feature the GameCube's most prominent asset: displaying textures using a 6-to-1 texture compression, while not sacrificing hardware performance. The Marios would all run around on the screens all at once, showing off what the system is capable off. This tech demo was all it needed to be, as it was never meant to be a full game despite sounding like it would be a sequel to best-seller Mario 64.
Finally, another focus of the show was on connectivity with the successor to the Game Boy Color: the Game Boy Advance. The goal was to make GameCube games compatible with the Game Boy Advance, be it through alternative games on the handheld where you could continue playing or gain benefits that can be transferred over, or just having a second screen/controller. It would even have potential technology like using the Game Boy Advance to have tilt control. This was also planned for the GameCube controller itself, featuring motion controls and a microphone jack, but all of these motion control concepts would not be relevant until the generation after.
Finally, there was the E3 2001 show. The PlayStation 2 and Sega Dreamcast were already out by this time, while the Xbox would release shortly after. Nintendo was late to the party in the next generation, so they had one final opportunity to build up hype. They started with talking about the launch games, of which there would have been fifteen with prominent titles such as Luigi's Mansion and Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. Some games originally scheduled for launch would eventually end up being delayed however.
To finish off the conference, there was one final announcement: the GameCube would be $100 cheaper than what the PlayStation 2 and Xbox cost, making it a more appealing offer for families who had less money to spend. These families, and especially children were the target demographic, as Nintendo heavily advertised the system as "The Nintendo Difference" to distinguish itself from the competition, focusing more on the entertainment side. Was all of this enough to make sure they would have a successful launch?
The GameCube would launch shortly after the E3 2001 event in May, with it releasing in September of 2001 in Japan. North America would follow suit two months later, with it originally planned for the 5th of November but pushed back two weeks until the 18th to ensure enough units would be available. As usual, Nintendo thought it would be a funny idea to let us Europeans wait another year, with it releasing in May of 2002. And this is exactly why you failed Nintendo.
In Japan, somewhere between 280,000 and 300,000 units were sold during the first three days of the sale. In North America, it would sell a total of 600,000 units in the first two weeks.
As mentioned earlier, there were a total of fifteen scheduled launch games, but the lists below will show you that was absolutely no the case, with many games being delayed. Worse even, when the console released in Japan, they only had three (!) launch titles! Granted, those three ended up being really good GameCube games but still, that's a pretty low amount. Those titles would be:
| Game | Genre |
|---|---|
| {% ragamepic 4325, 089020, Luigi's Mansion %} | Action-Adventure, Horror |
| {% ragamepic 9915, 089891, Wave Race: Blue Storm %} | Extreme Sports - Watercross |
| {% ragamepic 9510, 068475, Super Monkey Ball %} | 3D Platforming |
Luigi's Mansion was a massive hit, and easily the most successful of the three launch games. It even had more sales than Super Mario 64 did on the Nintendo 64 launch. With Mario being absent from the launch window in general, the overshadowed brother prove that he had what it takes. Wave Race: Blue Storm was a continuation of the small franchise initially started on Game Boy, and was met with positive reviews with praise going towards the outstanding weather effects and physics. Lastly, we cannot forget about the first appearance of AiAi and friends outside of the arcade, with Super Monkey Ball being the kickstart to a very successful and beloved franchise of ball-rolling platforming. I'm glad Sega started remembering them a few years ago.
North America would see the above three launch titles, but came with nine more to up the count to a total of eleven. This would give the western audience a bigger pool to choose from--not necessarily the greatest as most of the titles were whatever, but still a bigger pool. And yes, totally letting my bias against sports games shine through again, sue me.
| Game | Genre |
|---|---|
| {% ragamepic 3827, 092247, Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader %} | Action, Space Flight Simulation |
| {% ragamepic 30383, 100324, All-Star Baseball 2002 %} | Sports |
| {% ragamepic 30347, 100542, Madden NFL 2002 %} | Sports |
| {% ragamepic 30396, 100543, NHL Hitz 2002 %} | Sports |
| {% ragamepic 25438, 100544, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 %} | Sports |
| {% ragamepic 3775, 100545, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 %} | Extreme Sports - Skateboarding |
| {% ragamepic 30295, 100546, Tarzan: Untamed %} | Action-Adventure |
| {% ragamepic 22907, 100215, Crazy Taxi %} | Arcade, Racing |
| {% ragamepic 30357, 100329, Batman: Vengeance %} | Action-Adventure |
Ignoring all the sports games, this was a pretty... mid line-up so to say. Tarzan: Untamed and Batman: Vengeance were alright but nothing special, while Crazy Taxi was beloved but the GameCube port was also seen as alright. The real hit of this line-up was Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader, being the second best-selling launch game just after Luigi's Mansion, while surpassing Wave Race: Blue Storm. The sales weren't its only success, as it is commonly regarded as one of the best third-party games on the GameCube, being met with critical acclaim all across.
Europe's launch had almost all of these titles and more, but going over them is fairly pointless as they were already released in North America due to Europe getting the system a year later. They're not really launch titles at that point anymore and just titles that conveniently lined up with the release in Europe.
Aside from a few additions that I will be talking about later, the GameCube didn't really have an eventful lifespan; it just got new games and that's about it. No major revisions, nor anything like what the Nintendo 64 did with the Expansion Pak. So let's take a brief look at every year of the GameCube, see what the most popular games were of the time, and if anything else interesting happened.
Although this was the release year and therefore only had a few months to talk about, those were some very impressive final months. Ignoring the release games as I've already talked about them, the remainder of the year birthed two completely new franchises: The Real-Time Strategy series Pikmin, and the Simulation game Animal Crossing. The latter would not make its way west until the year after, but both were released in Japan during the final few months. Both of these franchises have been ongoing ever since then, being part of Nintendo's household as well as being some of the more popular games released on each system they arrived on.
And if that wasn't enough, we also had the release of the highly-beloved Super Smash Bros. Melee. This would be a follow-up to the Nintendo 64 game Super Smash Bros., and to this day is still often seen as one of, if not the best games in its franchise, with it still getting a lot of attention in the competitive fighting scene. Sonic Adventure 2: Battle would also be released at the very end of the year in Japan, marking it as the first time Sonic was ever seen on his once greatest adversary's console--together with Sonic Advance which was released on the same day!
Also, Panasonic, the company that was working with Nintendo for the DVD drive, quickly decided to make their own version of the console combined with a standard DVD player. A brilliant move since the PlayStation 2 could also function as DVD player, and was often even the main reason people bought it. But uh, it didn't do that well--probably because of its high price when compared to just getting a regular GameCube.
| Game | Genre |
|---|---|
| {% ragamepic 15540, 097988, Pikmin %} | Real-Time Strategy |
| {% ragamepic 2901, 089222, Animal Crossing %} | Life Simulation |
| {% ragamepic 9602, 081455, Super Smash Bros. Melee %} | Platform Fighting |
| {% ragamepic 3779, 066012, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle %} | 3D Platformer |
This year would see Nintendo and Capcom working closer with each other again, as the first Resident Evil got a remake, as well as the announcement of the Capcom Five that would be released a year later. Sega would also release a bunch of games, such as the ports of Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II (not plus), which were the only games in the west alongside another Phantasy Star game that used to be capable of online gaming on the GameCube--given that you had a modem or something, as it was not built-in. These were also the only games that were compatible with the ASCII keyboard controller, a massive keyboard sandwiched in-between GameCube buttons. That sure was an experience, albeit one that only the Japanese got.
Speaking of controllers, this year was also when the WaveBird Wireless Controller was introduced, making if the first ever wireless gamepad developer by a first-party console manufacturer! It uh, wasn't exactly good as it used infrared like a remote control but hey, it's something Nintendo can claim being first at!
We might as well talk about Nintendo games next. There were A LOT of games released this year, and I could talk about them for a while, but there were three games this year that defined not only the GameCube, but 2002 as a whole. Of course, I am talking about the next big 3D Platformer Super Mario Sunshine, the first appearance of Metroid in 3D Metroid Prime, and the first new Zelda game on the system, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. These three games define what the GameCube is about, and have always been seen as some of the best games not only for the system, but ever released. Well, not always since Super Mario Sunshine has its fair share of criticism and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was met with a mixed reception at release due to not being what people wanted from that series, but retrospectively they have been praised into the heavens--especially Metroid Prime. While Nintendo had more releases than just those three like Doshin the Giant, none come close to what these three represent in the history of Nintendo.
| Game | Genre |
|---|---|
| {% ragamepic 6049, 081263, Super Mario Sunshine %} | 3D Platforming, Collect-a-thon |
| {% ragamepic 3154, 068589, Metroid Prime %} | Metroidvania, 3D Platforming, First-Person Shooter |
| {% ragamepic 9190, 099022, Legend of Zelda, The: The Wind Waker %} | Action-Adventure |
2003 was more defined by the third-party developers, with all of the Capcom Five titles releasing this year: P.N.03, Viewtiful Joe, Resident Evil 4, Killer7, and the cancelled Dead Phoenix. All of these titles were advertised as being exclusive to the GameCube as a way to boost the sales of the GameCube, which at this point in time was falling behind Xbox, and far behind PlayStation 2. Ultimately though... none of these games were exclusive aside from P.N.03, so uh, good job on the Capcom. Direction Shinji Mikami even said he would "cut his own head off" (not literally of course) it it was released on another platform, and that only took a few months. Oopsie. Aside from the cancelled Dead Phoenix, all of these games were extremely well received, with props going to Resident Evil 4 in particular for being one of the highest-rated games ever.
But it wasn't just Capcom that showed their muscles this year. Introducing Namco and Square-Enix, which released Tales of Symphonia and Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles respectively. While the GameCube wasn't particularly known for its RPGs, these three are commonly seen as some of the best, especially Tales of Symphonia which has cemented itself as the face of the Tales series that Bandai-Namco gladly keeps milking. And while technically not a full RPG, Marvelous also released Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life this year, which is commonly seen as one of the best titles in the long-running series. Finally, Sega birthed a new IP in Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg... that has never been heard of again. I miss you Billy, I hope you and the wife are alright.
And that, as always, leaves us with Nintendo. They yet again released a ton of games this year, though I would argue none on the level of what 2002 offer. But hey, it gave us two Wario games in Wario World and WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games!! That's more credit than I can give a lot of years. Racing fans had it good this year with Kirby Air Ride, F-Zero GX, and Mario Kart: Double Dash. And finally, there were two unique releases in Donkey Konga, a rhythm game featuring a Bongos controller to play, and Pokémon Colosseum marking the first time we have ever seen a true Pokémon RPG on a home console. Sheesh Nintendo, calm down!
And you thought I was done? No sire! 2003 was also the year Nintendo introduced the Game Boy Player, allowing people to play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games on their TV! This accessory could be attached to the bottom of the GameCube, with a mandatory DVD being put in to gain access to playing it... which is actually kinda stupid because that DVD is going for crazy prizes, while the accessory itself isn't that pricey. But hey, it works great! And if you want to see something funny, try looking up a Kirby: Tilt 'n' Tumble speedrun on YouTube. You can probably guess why.
| Game | Genre |
|---|---|
| {% ragamepic 25417, 090060, P.N.03 %} | Third-Person Shooter |
| {% ragamepic 6981, 092333, Tales of Symphonia %} | Action RPG |
| {% ragamepic 3885, 089284, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles %} | Action RPG |
| {% ragamepic 9699, 081531, F-Zero GX %} | Racing |
| {% ragamepic 7693, 091536, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! %} | Kart Racing |
| {% ragamepic 7423, 068145, Pokemon Colosseum %} | Turn-based RPG |
2004 would be the year when the hype died down a little. After all, this was the same year the follow-up system was announced, the Nintendo Wii. While the GameCube would still see support for a few years to come, most eyes were on the future rather than the present. That, and the GameCube didn't prove to be the favoured system of the generation, but that's something we'll tackle later.
This also meant that there weren't really any noticeable third-party exclusives left. Almost every release this year is one that we had seen elsewhere before. Nintendo had to carry the torch for the remainder of the system's lifespan, although there was still one game this year that would remain exclusive to the GameCube: Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes. This was a well-received package of remakes of the first two Metal Gear Solid games, featuring new cutscenes, voice acting, and of course better graphics. This would finally give Nintendo fans a way to experience this stealth franchise, and may very well have been a catalyst to Snake arriving in the next Super Smash Bros. games.
But yeah, Nintendo was definitely the ones who had to release the big hits this year. Did they succeed? Mostly yes, as we saw the arrival of one of the most popular Mario RPGs ever, and even RPGs in general, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. While at the time it was already well-received, it's one of those games where the reputation started growing even more over time, now even having a remake on the Nintendo Switch so more people can experience it. Pikmin 2 would also be released this year and similarly to the first game, it received critical acclaim, marking this as a series that would be unavoidable when talking about the little cube.
Aside from those two bangers, there were a few more... experimental releases so to say. Both received very well, but experimental regardless. Such as The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, which was designed as a game focused on multiplayer while also featuring connectivity with the Game Boy Advance. This would both be a blessing and a curse, as playing this game in multiplayer was actually really awkward to do, needing multiple Game Boy Advances and link cables to do so. Fortunately not something we need to worry about with Dolphin though. The other experimental game was Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, a platforming game designed for use with the DK Bongos, which were made previously to work with the Donkey Konga series of games. As awkward as this may sounds though, it actually works fairly well! It was received well as a result, with the only downsides being that it was somewhat short and repetitive.
| Game | Genre |
|---|---|
| {% ragamepic 3535, 088924, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes %} | Action-Adventure, Stealth |
| {% ragamepic 4000, 082624, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door %} | Turn-based RPG |
| {% ragamepic 14817, 067944, Pikmin 2 %} | Real-Time Strategy |
| {% ragamepic 3534, 068570, Legend of Zelda, The: Four Swords Adventures %} | Action-Adventure |
| {% ragamepic 6238, 075893, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat %} | 2D Platforming |
The last years of the GameCube could be summed up like any other system's final years: more games, nothing new for the system itself. But what was beneficial is that the Nintendo Wii supported GameCube discs, which means that any games developed for the GameCube could still be played on the current generation console. Third-party support at this point would completely dwindle down besides ports of other consoles though, but the final two games of the Capcom Five did release in 2005: Resident Evil 4, and Killer7.
So what did Nintendo cook these final years? A lot of different games, that's for sure! Chibi-Robo! would be the final new franchise of Nintendo originating on the cube, which featured a small robot doing housework and solve dilemmas in a comfy adventure around the house. Unfortunately Nintendo has a tendency to treat this franchise quite badly, but let it be known that this little guy had a great start of his life. Fire Emblem would also arrive to the GameCube this year with Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, showing together with the Game Boy Advance games that there was indeed an audience in the west for these games, becoming one of the more popular games in the series pre-Awakening. Star Fox would see its second game on the Cube with Star Fox: Assault, which followed the rail shooting gameplay style the series was known for rather than the action-adventure title we saw earlier. Mario would have two more interesting games, being Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, an excellent introduction to this form of rhythm game featuring songs and graphics from the Mario series, and Super Mario Strikers, throwing Mario into a hardcore football environment.
However, the system ended with a bang by bringing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess to it. This was technically released a few days prior on the Wii, making it a launch title on there, but was also available on the GameCube. This was the game many people were begging for, as while we have a high appreciation for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker now, at the time people didn't want a cartoony artstyle. They wanted a true realistic 3D grown-up Zelda game with dark tones, and Nintendo listened. Twilight Princess was a massive hit, winning multiple game of the year awards and being the best-selling game in the series until Breath of the Wild dropped. Suffice to say, Nintendo knew how- and when to deliver, and they pulled it off.
| Game | Genre |
|---|---|
| {% ragamepic 25431, 100108, Chibi-Robo! %} | 3D Platforming, Adventure |
| {% ragamepic 8231, 100081, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance %} | Tactical RPG |
| {% ragamepic 25472, 089933, Star Fox: Assault %} | Action-Adventure, Shoot 'em Up, Third-Person Shooter |
| {% ragamepic 25435, 094790, Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix %} | Rhythm |
| {% ragamepic 25476, 089007, Super Mario Strikers %} | Sports - Football | Soccer |
| {% ragamepic 3780, 068144, Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness %} | Turn-Based RPG |
| {% ragamepic 3934, 093811, Legend of Zelda, The: Twilight Princess %} | Action-Adventure |
We have been pretty positive on the GameCube thus far throughout this article. After all, we are here to celebrate the system, not to dunk on it. But the harsh reality is... the GameCube wasn't a success--at least, not from a financial standpoint. As shown above it had some really nice exclusives from Nintendo, some seen as the best games ever made even. Nintendo fans look back on the system fondly, and the controller especially gets praise as being one of the best ever made. It absolutely has a fanbase, and RetroAchievements also shows that with how it was the biggest rollout ever, as well as arguably the most hyped.
But all that simply does not save it from being the worst system of its generation. While its launch was successful and even outsold the initial sales of both the Xbox and PlayStation 2, it fell behind both in the long term. It was outsold by both (except for Xbox in Japan but come on, that's a low ball), and even outsold by its predecessor, the Nintendo 64. Nintendo expected a total of 50 units sold, but it didn't even manage to reach half of that. It would be the start of a pattern that is prevalent to this day: people would buy Nintendo systems for Nintendo games, but any third-party games that were not exclusive would see far more sales on systems of competitors.
Many third-party developers realised this halfway through the system's life, such as Electronic Arts with their sports games. Their sales on GameCube would be far lower than any on the PlayStation 2 or Xbox, and thus they ceased support eventually as it was simply not profitable. Many other developers would soon follow suit, all claiming the same: it was not worth it. The final years of the GameCube would demonstrate this, as all of the big hits were Nintendo exclusives at this point. Sure, many family-friendly developers would still port their games to GameCube like the Spongebob games, but these would always sell well. Suffice to say, Nintendo had to steer the sinking ship almost completely on their own.
But hey, at least it won over the Dreamcast. That's something.
But to end off not being a downer, like I said, it cannot be denied how many franchises originated on this console like Pikmin and Luigi's Mansion, as well as how many of its games are commonly associated with the best of all time, like Metroid Prime and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. There was quality to be found here, and especially Nintendo fans had a high variety of games to choose from, both massive hits but also experimental ones that have mostly proven to be successful.
And that's the entire history of the GameCube, summed up by yours truly! Admittedly I never really cared for the system so this article was based purely on research and knowledge of the video game industry. I hope I didn't miss anything as a result, but feel free to let me know if I did! And speaking of letting me know, I would love to hear about your most cherished memories of the Nintendo GameCube. Be sure to let us know in the #ranews channel on Discord, or shoot a message to the RANews account on the site and who knows, if we get enough submissions we can showcase them to all readers!