The Nintendo GameCube launched on September 14th, 2001 in Japan, and only two months later the United States would get Nintendo’s latest console. It was met with mixed results, and after following one of our nation’s greatest tragedies, sales were not great. From the very beginning, there was so much working against this little guy. It was designed with graphical power comparable to the PlayStation 2, its direct competitor. While the GameCube eventually caught up to its original projection in sales, the PS2 went on the be the best-selling console of all time. This was a bleak time in Nintendo history.
That being said, this console rocks AND rolls! It had a pretty solid lifespan, and in hindsight, a lot of gamers remember this tiny blue baby, fondly. For all of its quirks, we can’t really imagine what life would be like without the Nintendo GameCube. So many games originated on this machine and would go on to greatness in future consoles. But, boy… did the Nintendo GameCube stir up quite a controversy.
Below is a list of 25 pictures from the Nintendo GameCube era that make gamers shutter with memories of unfulfilled wishes and broken promises. This neat little toy-box was a hotbed of risky innovation that some Nintendo fans would call TRICKERY. Whether it was bad communication or genuine surprises, we fought Nintendo on these decisions the whole way. Some of these entries had a unique and positive outcome! Though some had a negative impact that left us scratching our heads and mourning our wallets.
25 The Broken Mechanics Of Super Mario Sunshine
Super Mario 64 was arguably one of the greatest games of all time. It was revolutionary and paved the way for a slew of amazing 3D platforming adventure games. The follow up was highly anticipated, and it was important that they got it right.
Many would say they got it wrong; way wrong.
The first thing you notice when firing up old Super Mario Sunshine is the F.L.U.D.D. mechanic, which straps a clunky water-shooting apparatus to your back. If you don’t like it, too bad; it’s with you for the whole game. Between that and a world map that looked the same level to level, most people were very disappointed.
24 How Did Anyone Hold This Controller?
When the console was announced, fans were eagerly waiting for the reveal of Nintendo’s new controller. What is it going to look like? How will it innovate? The N64’s controller was a big gamble, but I think most people would agree that it paid off. At least, it worked for that particular console.
The Nintendo GameCube controller decided to firmly plant its feet in two camps; quirky Nintendo look and modern gaming controller look. Thus, the controller arguably served no camp completely. While this is still the standard Super Smash Bros. preferred controller type, almost no one prefers it for any other game.
23 The Problem With Disney Games
You probably bought this as a Christmas gift for any diehard skateboarding fanatic who was too young for the blood and cussing of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3. This would also explain why the receiver of this gift now hates you forever. This game carefully illustrates what would happen you let Goofy redesign a perfectly good skateboarding game. It’s junky and full of game-stopping glitches. This was back in an era when we thought that kids’ games didn’t have to be as good as adult games. This might be true, but they have to at least work!
22 The Disappointment Of Sonic Adventure DX
You would think that a game that bears the tagline “Director’s Cut” might have looked into the problems and issues with the original to make appropriate changes. You know… like a director might? Whelp, Sonic Adventure DX did nothing of the sort, which was crazy for SEGA’s first foot in the Nintendo door.
Simply put, this is a bad port of an already bad Sonic game for the SEGA Dreamcast. Sure, you might have fond memories of the game, for either console. That’s totally fine! But, when a publisher promises something by literally putting it on the box we expect the game to reflect that. Trust broken!
21 Didn’t Feel Like Visiting A Theme Park
The frame rate? Bad. The graphics? Bad. The feeling like you got to go to Universal Studios without leaving your couch? Impossibly bad!
The problem with Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure was that it showcased a gnarly representation of a beloved theme park with last generation graphics. It’s very cynical. People wanted to feel something close to experiencing the park. This isn’t a bad idea either, since most people don’t live in a city with access to Universal Studios. It would be nice to see a real attempt at this.
20 A Lesser Pokémon Game
We want a home console version of Pokémon, and we want it yesterday! Especially during the GameCube life cycle! What we got (over and over again) were iterations of Pokémon Colosseum. Essentially, it was just the battle mechanic from Pokémon without much of a story or traversing. That being said, this game is actually pretty good and inspired other great games like Pokkén Tournament for both Nintendo Switch and Wii U. After seeing this release, we learned not to expect a Pokémon game for a home console anytime soon.
19 A Shadow Of What Could Have Been
Anytime you find yourself feeling ungrateful for the Arkham Asylum series, just go ahead and turn on Batman Dark Tomorrow. This game is a mess from top to bottom, but it’s so close to the kind of thing that Rocksteady would later nail with their next-gen trilogy that it makes you sad for it. It has terrible controls, and you have to control this terrible game repetitively in missions that feel like pranks. Was this game designed by the Joker? No, because the Joker is funny, and this game anything but funny.
18 A Strange Direction For Metroid
One of the things that the Nintendo GameCube did right was turning the fan favorite Super Metroid into a third person action adventure game. Somehow, it maintained everything we loved about the 2D version but heightened it and adapted it for 3D.
Then the second game came out… and it was the exact same game.
It doesn’t happen very often with Nintendo titles, but Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was very similar to the original game with very little improvements. Had it been a notable improvement there might not have been such a long gap between the third title and today.
17 The Disappointing Wireless Controller
What a deal! You’re telling me you can play video games cordless? Well, sign me up! Wait, what are these “channels” for? Why isn’t this working?
If any of the emotions expressed above sound familiar then you might have owned/operated a WaveBird. While this controller was an amazing innovation in wireless tech, it would be years before wireless controllers would be perfected. Meanwhile, these WaveBirds live in our memory as a barely working piece of Nintendo history, whose promise over shadowed its capabilities.
16 A Strange Tie-In
Even if you were looking for a budget game to “pick at” while you were waiting for your real paycheck to arrive, this would have been a dire choice. Charlie’s Angels for the Nintendo GameCube isn’t just a bad game, it’s one of the worst games ever made, according to GamesRadar. Even the PS2 and XBOX versions of the game out performed their little Nintendo cousin. Being that the film was also pretty bad, we probably should have expected this.
15 Double The Disappointment
Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64 were both system sellers in their day, so this seemed like a no brainer. In comes Mario Kart: Double Dash with some huge innovations that left gamer’s heads spinning.
This is another example of Nintendo making huge unprovoked changes to games that were already great.
Basically, the “double” in Double Dash means you get two racers for the price of one. One to drive and the other to throw stuff. Some people love it. Some people hate it.
14 Too Much Hardware Needed
Square-Enix and the Final Fantasy license remained conspicuously absent from the Nintendo 64. When Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles was announced, fans of the series wept with tears of joy. Those tears of joy quickly turned to tears of confusion once the game was released. There was a multiplayer element to the game (uncommon for Final Fantasy titles) that had you utilize the Game Boy Advance and link cable. It was a strange choice and didn’t work for most people because you needed the extra hardware. The single player campaign alone is fine, but to truly enjoy this game you need the multiplayer functionality that most people never got to see.
13 A Failed Cable
Again, this little peripheral was great in theory, but less great in practice. This cable allowed you to link up your GBA to your GameCube to transfer data, pick up collectables, and even use as a controller in the case of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. The nightmare of coordinating all of your friends together, on the off chance they also owned a GBA and would enjoy linking up to play the same game together, brought this concept to a screeching halt.
12 Who Thought This Was A Good Idea?
They turned this mediocre Tim Burton reboot into video game dirt. This is yet another attempt to cash in on a successful box office with a phoned-in game of the same title. The camera is broken. The controls are broken. However, if you can manage to cheat your way through these broken systems you’ll find that the game is incredibly short. With overwhelmingly bad reception this game will always be remembered as “that game your grandma unfortunately bought you for Christmas.” Say goodbye to your fifty dollars, losers! You just got Wonka-ed.
11 Letting Luigi Lead
Luigi’s Mansion is objectively a good game. It just took us a very long time to recognize it because for some reason Nintendo decided to launch the GameCube with this. We were already used to Nintendo consoles launching with Mario titles such as Super Mario World and Super Mario 64.
This was probably the first mistake in a long line of mistakes Nintendo made out of hubris.
To think Luigi could sell a console was bananas. Honestly, compared to the Mario game that did come out on the GameCube, I would much rather jump back into Luigi’s Mansion, but there’s no way you could force me to play then.
10 A Weird Return For Mega Man
With the release of Mega Man 11, the blue-bomber is actually doing quite well these days, which is great news because if you look at his state of affairs in the mid-to-late aughts…it’s pretty sad. His excellent Super Nintendo run ended once he moved into a 3D space. Our thoughts were that maybe his next-gen console debut would be a return to form, or perhaps something new but good.
Nope!
We got Mega Man Network Transmission which was hard, confusing, and didn’t capture the spirit of what we want in a Mega Man game.
9 Not The Resident Evil We Wanted
The Resident Evil remake for the Nintendo GameCube was an interesting piece of its history that started a trend of games being remade with better graphics. Of course, we were all excited about a Resident Evil 2 remake, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Capcom published a brand new game using the same engine from the Res-1 remake. We didn’t expect this, and we didn’t necessarily want this either. The story is fine, but not great, and would later be retconned from the Resident Evil canon. The potential here was massive, but for some reason they chose to echo the original game in such a way that made it feel redundant.
8 Metal Gear… What?
Speaking of higher resolution remakes of classic games, Nintendo released a remake of Metal Gear Solid. This is probably the most celebrated title on the Playstation, but somehow Nintendo convinced Konami to release this as a console exclusive. Well, they anime-ed the heck out of this game. Suddenly, characters like Psycho Mantis and Ninja were flying around the screen like madness, obeying none of the laws of gravity. I think we just wanted the original… again. Unlike the Resident Evil remake, this version had unwelcome additions that made the game feel worse than the original. Back to the low-res polygonal original, please!
7 Not A Great Adventure
As if one bad Sonic Adventure game wasn’t enough, they ported two. If you happened to own a SEGA Dreamcast, you still might not have played Sonic Adventure 2 because it was released very late into its life cycle.
Though it was touted as having a better multiplayer, it didn’t really improve much else from the original game.
Why not?! You would think that a sequel should make good on the promise of fixing what didn’t work in the first game. Sonic Adventure 2 doubles down on the clunk and the jank.
6 Better On Wii?
The GameCube is one of the rare cases where two Zelda titles released on the same platform. However, the messaging around The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was as follows: this game exists on the Nintendo Wii and it’s better! Sorry, GameCube-ers! Shell out the cash for a Nintendo Wii (if you can even find one) if you want to truly experience this game. Turns out, the GameCube version is actually superior and very rare. If you own a copy then you should feel lucky because while its release did break our trust, Twilight Princess belongs motion control-less on the GameCube (or in HD on the Wii U).
