GoKawiilWhen looking back across the annals of gaming history, some consoles are beloved (Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)), panned (Google Stadia) or woefully ahead of their time (the we-almost-had-it-all Sega Dreamcast). And then there are those systems that are frankly just weird and polarizing, like the Nintendo GameCube. Laden with the dubious honor of being Nintendo's second worst-selling console with only 21.74 million units, the GameCube is only outdone by the Wii U (and the Virtual Boy, if you want to get technical).
For me, the GameCube was such a spectacular failure that it was the last Nintendo console I owned until the Switch debuted. To be fair, there were some things that I liked about the console, such as the design and one or two games. However, a fun blurpleberry color and a nifty handle weren't enough to stem the tide of descent. A dearth of games, an over-reliance on first-party titles and the lack of a DVD player were just a few of the things that doomed GameCube to commercial failure.
But let's take a walk down memory lane to examine exactly where the GameCube went wrong.