Nintendo during the Gamecube days

This is an amazing article just published that gives an inside look at Nintendo's mindset during the release of the Gamecube.

http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2013/08/15/the-struggles-of-marketing-the-gamecube/

Theres too many quotes and interesting tidbits in this article to sum up in a few sentences. Its a great read and I hope you all share your thoughts.

 

I always imagined it was execs saying "Don't fuck this up don't fuck this up don't fuck this up........we fucked this up."

 

Great article, thanks for sharing!

 

Don't know how much that Mercury guy paid to have this article written, but it was probably too much.

 

"IT WASN'T MY FAULTTTTT!!! It's because NoJ thinks Americans are bloodthirsty murderers!!!"

Though I can tell you why the Gamecube flopped.

1) Poor third party support
2) No online component (PSO doesn't count by itself), Nintendo thought that the GBA connection was superior to online play, but it was really not. Not in any way whatsoever.
3) A lack of HD visuals (some games did run in 480p with Component cables, but they were released in such a small quantity to be useless).
4) The controller sucked. Though, the Wavebird was awesome, asymmetrical face buttons made the controller not work that well.
5) The lack of M-rated games was nowhere near as important as the Nintendo people made it seem. Rarely do M-rated games sell more than 15% of total sales, and while some of the most popular games (Halo, GTA, and now CoD) are M-rated, the Gamecube's lack of sports games hurt it as much, if not more, along with not having any go online.
6) It looked like a lunchbox

 

as the resident Nintendo hater here, I can't really say the Gamecube Flopped. It was just bent over and anally raped by the PS2. Plus it lacked a Proper Mario game to launch with and Mario Sunshine is compete ass. Wind Waker didn't help much either. But it sold what 20-30 million units?
Hardly a flop.

 

Agreed, I would go as far as saying Nintendo did well to ride out the PS2 storm. I mean Sony couldn't have released a more perfect console at a more perfect time.

Maybe I'm taking this thought to far, but I really think it was just a large generation of gamers were maturing from the 5th generation consoles (esp. N64) and the PS2 just fit the bill perfectly. It seemed like the GameCube was a Nintendo that didn't know whether to keep pursing this large group that got older or begin targeting a new generation.

 

GameCube had tons of unknown gems. PS2 was great and all but keep in mind, it was in the market for much longer and most people I know, especially me, had to go out and buy at least 2 or 3 PS2's to replace because of the whole Disc read error problem. Overall the GameCube was the shit imho. I remember when RE4 came out, I wasn't gaming on any other machine than the GC. Skies of Arcadia, Geist, Star Wars Rogue Squadron, SSBMelee, MGS Twin Snakes, Baten Kaitos, Metroid Prime, F-Zero GX, Killer 7, RE remake, Wave Race Bluestorm, Pikmin 2, Eternal Darkness etc. plus all those awesome Jap games that never made it here, Made the GameCube worth owning

 

It didn't flop. Let's face it, Xbox was the system of choice for shooters and online, it didn't have a single JRPG worth mentioning. Gamecube had it great on first party and got a lot of good Dreamcast ports but lacked any multimedia features and meaningful online. Dreamcast had a good launch but was underpowered and badly timed. The Playstation 2 had almost all of the RPGs of the generation as well as a more open online model and launched against 2 companies recovering from self inflicted injuries 1 newbie, it was also the only backwards compatible hardware, something that did matter at the time.

 

Its funny, the GC is considered Nintendo's weakest system (WiiU forthcoming) but personally as someone who doesn't really care for Nintendo games per-seh, it has the most to offer in regards to interesting 3rd party games and off the wall titles.

 

Completely inconsequential, barely anyone even owned an HDTV when the GC came out, and they didn't become widespread for gaming until the 360 had been out for some time. It's safe to say that the GC not having HD had no effect on its sales during its lifetime; besides, the Wii wasn't HD either and it sold a lot better than the GC.

By who? It definitely has a better library, Nintendo or 3rd party, than the Wii.

 

HD was important to a lot of people who wanted to get the best looking games, plus both the PS2 and Xbox (with the remote) had DVD playback, which was HUGE in the early days of the generation.

I think the Wii had a better library than the GC, It had multiple great Mario games (Galaxy 1,2, and New), about an equal number of Zelda and Metroid titles, and a ton more third party games, hit and miss, than the lunchbox.

 

You're overstating the importance of HD during the last gen big time there, only the original Xbox could do it anyway and it only worked for a handful of games.

Well, the GC had more great Metroid games: one (Metroid Prime 1) as opposed to zero on Wii. Zelda games...maybe, haven't played Skyward Sword but Twilight Princess was nothing special. The Wii wins the Mario category by having two great Mario games (Galaxy 1 & 2) as opposed to zero on GC (Sunshine is boring crap). Then again, Mario Kart Wii is probably worth at least minus one billion points for Wii.

 

No, that dubious honor goes to the Virtual Boy.

 

The N64 had almost 30% less games than the GameCube (in Japan), but then again 30% more consoles were sold worldwide. I grew up with the Nintendo 64, but I honestly think it was probably Nintendo's least attractive time. N64 had a very distinct graphic style (foooooooog) which makes it hard to enjoy the games nowadays. Actually, it was even a bit hard back then. I'd definitely say N64 was their weakest consoles, despite my lovely childhood memories.

The GameCube days were full of mistakes (no Internet, DVD) and unfortunate events (Capcom 5 fuck-up), but I could name 10 times as many great GameCube games I would play nowadays still than N64 games.

 

F Zero GX is on Gamecube that single handedly makes it a decent system.

 

What was wrong with Mario Kart Wii? It was better than Double Dash. I'd accept criticism of Brawl over Melee, but still, Mario Kart Wii may be the best one in the series.

I remember almost being excited for the Capcom 5, especially (ironically) Dead Phoenix, and then one of them doesn't come out, one is good, one is horrifically overrated, one is a solid meh, and I never played Killer 7.

But honestly I think most all games (especially 3D ones) from the PSX/N64 era aged terribly. Maybe it's my wizened old age giving me rose-colored glasses about the past, but I doubt any generation will age as well as the 16 bit one did.

 

The main problem is the fact that items are so overpowered and take little or no skill to use that winning becomes more about luck than skill. There are other issues, like the amount of recycled content, bikes being so much better than karts there's no reason to ever use karts, and being forced to endure the practically unplayable single-player mode to unlock stuff, but that's what makes the game utter shit. I still think SMK was the best game in the series: there were items, but they weren't overpowered and took actual skill to use, meaning they weren't a substitute for knowing how to play. Then as the series progressed (more like degenerated), they decided to make the items take less skill to use and make them more powerful, to the point where they should've been honest and just called MKW Item Lottery Wii.

 

Me & my friend conversed over the Mario Kart series, & as we started talking about it he asked me, "So which is your favorite?", to which I replied, "That new one on the Wii." Then like out of a movie, we both looked at each other seriously, then began to laugh at the same time.

I honestly never thought I would read what you just wrote. Mario Kart Wii may be the best one in the series? I really don't know what to say. . . I'll have to think about it.

 

Mario Kart Wii was my least favourite out of all them. It has such dramatic changes compared to Double-Dash, and Mario Kart 64. They introduced too much new shit at once... Karts and Bikes, Tricks and more mini-turbos, unable to mini-turbo by user control and a whole lot more. I honestly gave up with it too, it's too random for me. Mario Kart 64 was the best one to me personally.