GameCube Retrospective: The Third-Place Console With A First-Class Library

The GameCube came third in its generation, and it still has one of the best libraries Nintendo ever put on a console. It sold far less than the PlayStation 2 and slightly less than the Xbox, beating only Sega's Dreamcast. Even so, journalists now rank it among the best game consoles, and the list of games that came out on it explains why: Super Smash Bros. Melee, Metroid Prime, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Resident Evil 4 are all there.

It was also Nintendo's first console to use discs instead of cartridges, small MiniDVD-based ones that most models could not play movies from, because unlike its rivals the GameCube cared only about games. The name came from its boxy shape, and with the Game Boy Player attached it became an actual cube.

Key facts

Released

September 14, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in EuropeSource

Launch price

¥25,000 in Japan, US$199 in North America, €199 in EuropeSource

Units sold

21.74 millionSource

Best-selling game

Super Smash Bros. Melee, 7.09 million copiesSource

Media

MiniDVD-based game discsSource

Codename

DolphinSource

Discontinued

February 2007Source

How Nintendo fixed the N64's mistakes and still lost the sales race

The GameCube was built to correct the Nintendo 64. Cartridges had limited the N64's storage, which Sony famously used when it marketed Final Fantasy VII, and the N64 had even been outsold by the Sega Saturn in Japan. So Nintendo began work in 1998, partnering with ArtX on the graphics chip. On top of that, it moved to roomier discs and dropped the old exclusivity deals in favor of more open relationships with developers.

The hardware it ended up with was powerful and well built, and some call its controller one of the best ever designed. Four controller ports came standard too, with no adapter needed. However, the launch lineup was weak, and Nintendo aimed at younger players when they were a minority of the audience, so sales came in far below expectations. As a result some developers skipped the console, and it missed out on quite a few mainstream releases from series such as Final Fantasy and Metal Gear.

Still, the cube had a long tail. Its hardware became the base of the Wii, which launched on November 19, 2006 and played GameCube games on most models, and the GameCube controller has been supported on every Nintendo home console since. Nintendo kept the controller long after it stopped making the console, which is fair, since the controller was arguably the best part.

The best GameCube games

Ranked by how often players recommend them, with picks other players backed counting extra. Super Smash Bros. Melee takes #1, and Metroid Prime is second.

Every GameCube list

Handhelds for GameCube games

GameCube games need a strong handheld, so fewer than half of the ones in our database play them well.