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[SantaC]

The potential of the Nintendo Gamecube were great at the time. The specs were generally better than the PS2. Nintendo made some crucial mistakes, here are some of the fixes I would made:

1. I would use the DVD format instead of the 1.5GB mini discs. The 4.5 GB storage was crucial at the time. The DVD format would also make it more attractive for 3rd parties.

2. Delay the launch of the console in all regions, especially in North America. I would launch it in Summer 2002. Launch it with Black or White colors. At the time, colorful consoles were seen as kiddie (I was around back then, and it was true for that era)

3. The delay of the launch would make it so that there were more AAA games ready. Launch it with Resident Evil Remake, Super Mario Sunshine and An improved Super Smash Bros Melee with a bigger roster.

4. In the 2002 holidays, you have Metroid Prime as the the major title and if Nintendo had signed the exclusive Battlefield deal with DICE it would also have BF1942 as Gamecube exclusive.

Battlefield Could Have Been Exclusive to GameCube - News

www.nintendoworldreport.com

5. Delay the release of Zelda Wind waker. Polish it more and add the extra dungeons. Release it worldwide in fall 2003 instead of spring 2003. Except for Zelda, holidays 2003 would also had Mario Kart, but without the double dash gimmick.

6. Sign a deal with Namco and get the Tales series exclusive. The cube had some great jrpg titles and Tales of Symphonia moved some big numbers. However the PS2 also got a lot of tales games.

7. In 2004 and 2005 I would not let the foot of the gas. Make sure that there were a constant flow of titles coming.

8. The DVD format would also make it easier for 3rd parties to port their games.

These were just some of the stuff i would had done. I am sure there lots more when I think about.

I didnt really touch on online because at the time online was wonky and PS2 did move big numbers without it.

 

[Soodanim]

Hindsight is 20/20.

But half of this list was "Do what they did, but better" which is something you could say for every console ever.

 

[SantaC]

Hindsight is 20/20.

But half of this list was "Do what they did, but better" which is something you could say for every console ever.

Yeah but the disc format is a major one.

 

[deriks]

Yeah but the disc format is a major one.

This is a general consensus. I guess that even fucking Nintendo regret the mini dvd choice

 

[Impotaku]

I preferred the small disks as one huge advantage was the loading times they were stupidly fast, yeah some games had to be split onto several disks but i'd still take the loading time boost over dvds.

 

[PrimeTime]

For me, GameCube was one of the better Nintendo systems. I think the disc size was less of a concern in my opinion, compared to the departure of Howard Lincoln from Nintendo, He was instrumental in formulating key relationships with Rare, establishing the Retro Studios buyout (which led to the amazing Metroid Prime series) and felt like the only one at Nintendo that cared about third-party relationships. I feel like he was a major force in ensuring Nintendo meant something to western players. His leaving and the eventual announcement of Iwata as president and Reggie Fils-aime did not do much to push the envelope for Gamecube.

In general, I really loved the Gamecube. There were some really good games for it. It had that feeling of both eastern and western influences, it felt like it was catered to gamers (despite the game disc size). It just felt like Nintendo was reshaping itself in the middle of it's launch/early years.

 

[ReBurn]

2. Delay the launch of the console in all regions, especially in North America. I would launch it in Summer 2002. Launch it with Black or White colors. At the time, colorful consoles were seen as kiddie (I was around back then, and it was true for that era)

It wasn't an accident that the GameCube launched in those colors. It was intended to look like a toy. I doubt a back or white variant would have made much of a difference when almost all of Nintendo's first party content was designed to be family friendly. They intended the machine to be played by children.

If anything they should have either killed the handle or made it useful. The square form factor itself wasn't awful and the blue color was ok, but the handle was stupid.

4. In the 2002 holidays, you have Metroid Prime as the the major title and if Nintendo had signed the exclusive Battlefield deal with DICE it would also have BF1942 as Gamecube exclusive.

The thing here is that Nintendo has never cared whether their systems get games like Battlefield. People who play military shooters or bloody FPS titles or anything the "hardcore" group waste 8 hours a day with are not who Nintendo sees as their primary customer. They make hardware to realize the vision of their their first party games. They have never cared whether any games but their own can run on their hardware, something that holds true with Switch.

I think the toughest reality about your suggestions is that they aren't in Nintendo's DNA. I don't know that they were capable of doing things differently for GameCube because of their vision and mission.

 

[mcjmetroid]

There really wasn't much wrong with the GameCube launch to be fair. It was quite strong. You could argue it could have used a Zelda or mario but what it had was perfectly fine.

Put it this way it's better than tha launches this time hands down.

The disc issue was the biggest issue they had.

 

[Birdo]

I would have added a shoulder strap.

 

[petran79]

Nintendo and Sega could not do much. All third party developers were moving to PS2 and Xbox also sucked away pc game developers.

 

[diffusionx]

Delaying the console is a terrible idea. The system was already a year after PS2 which was already dominant. All you’re doing is giving Sony six or eight more months to sell to customers.

 

[nush]

Delaying the console is a terrible idea. The system was already a year after PS2 which was already dominant. All you’re doing is giving Sony six or eight more months to sell to customers.

And then either go into the next gen with outdated hardware at the start or cut the life of the console short and piss of your userbase.

 

[Walter Matthau]

Nintendo had zero momentum with third parties going into the Gamecube, especially in it's homeland where the Sega Saturn outsold the N64. They should have moved on from the N64 quicker.

 

[ReBurn]

And then either go into the next gen with outdated hardware at the start or cut the life of the console short and piss of your userbase.

Considering how Wii outsold PS3 and Xbox 360 it looks like they did ok with outdated hardware at the start of that generation.

 

[mikefrails]

I’d be the guy in the office screaming for Nintendo not to go with Indigo as their primary color. The console was strange enough without some off-the-wall color to go with it, and that’s before we get to the games lineup.

 

[nush]

Considering how Wii outsold PS3 and Xbox 360 it looks like they did ok with outdated hardware at the start of that generation.

Gamecube was the last time Nintendo competed on power. Wii didn't and had a unique input method the Gamecube didn't. You're comparing apples to oranges here.

 

[Walter Matthau]

I’d be the guy in the office screaming for Nintendo not to go with Indigo as their primary color. The console was strange enough without some off-the-wall color to go with it, and that’s before we get to the games lineup.

They had the black model which is the one I bought at launch. They should have used that for the ads. It certainly didn't help the general perception that Nintendo is "kiddy".

 

[ReBurn]

Gamecube was the last time Nintendo competed on power. Wii didn't and had a unique input method the Gamecube didn't. You're comparing apples to oranges here.

Power isn't the metric that defines video games. Wii proved that power wasn't nearly as important as fun. A less powerful system outselling more powerful options by such a large margin proved that. The ongoing success of the Switch proves that. You can't ignore the success of a system because you don't like the hardware spec.

 

[RoboFu]

DVD disk and two more triggers. That’s all it needed.

 

[Punished Miku]

I don't think the Gamecube really had much wrong with it. That is exactly why Nintendo changed their strategy so much after that. If they put out a box that's on par with Playstation and Xbox, and they have good 1st party development, and they paid big money to secure some third party deals like the Capcom exclusivity deals, and it STILL didn't work, then it's a losing fight. This is why they changed to putting out unique systems that offer something different. If they are just going to make the same thing as Sony, it's largely redundant.

 

[nush]

Power isn't the metric that defines video games. Wii proved that power wasn't nearly as important as fun. A less powerful system outselling more powerful options by such a large margin proved that. The ongoing success of the Switch proves that. You can't ignore the success of a system because you don't like the hardware spec.

Your going off on a tangent here. This topics is about "What if" for the gamecube.

 

[Yselacrey00]

No, it was pure marketing. The console was way better than PS2 and it launched with one of the best games of all time Super Smash Bros Melee. And what's this thing about improving wind waker? Da fuq are you talking about?

 

[synchronicity]

It needs no fixing for me. Fantastic console and library.

 

[SantaC]

And what's this thing about improving wind waker? Da fuq are you talking about?

Wind waker was rushed and two dungeons were cut from it.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Nintendo’s move at the time was to move on from cartridge, no doubt the mini disk made it more difficult for them.

 

[teezzy]

It launched in purple and black

I remember being in line for it at launch, I was second. Everyone wanted a black one so badly but they only had so much of each color. I wanted purple because it looked sweet. I still think it looks sweet

Luigis Mansion, Wave race blue storm, Eternal darkness, super monkey ball, star wars, etc

If you think that launch should have been delayed, I cant imagine how you must feel about the upcoming consoles

Used to be my favorite console and controller by a mile. Not so much anymore but meh

I'd have just put GTA on it tbh and maybe added a second z button

 

[Jeeves]

I feel like I spent that gen in an alternate reality. Everyone I knew had Gamecubes and I think I only ever saw PS2s in people's houses like twice ever. It was the same with N64 and PS1, actually.

Was kind of a trip later on to learn that Sony had actually been market leader in those eras...I have no anecdotal evidence to support that, but it's apparently the reality that the rest of the country/world experienced.

Anyway, I think Gamecube launch was fine. Smash was launch window and it was the big system seller for the console's whole life. People just, for whatever reason, didn't show up for GCN. Allegedly.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Launch it with Black or White colors. At the time, colorful consoles were seen as kiddie (I was around back then, and it was true for that era)

No.

 

[Zekra Dezivad]

It launched too late and PS2 was just unbeatable. In PAL territories competition nearly didn't existed at all, and I don't see how a further delay and launching with a 40m PS2 playerbase would help any hardware maker.

 

[petran79]

I feel like I spent that gen in an alternate reality. Everyone I knew had Gamecubes and I think I only ever saw PS2s in people's houses like twice ever. It was the same with N64 and PS1, actually.

Was kind of a trip later on to learn that Sony had actually been market leader in those eras...I have no anecdotal evidence to support that, but it's apparently the reality that the rest of the country/world experienced.

Anyway, I think Gamecube launch was fine. Smash was launch window and it was the big system seller for the console's whole life. People just, for whatever reason, didn't show up for GCN. Allegedly.

Gamecube only had press coverage for some first party Nintendo games and nowhere near that of N64 level.

PS2 sold millions because of sports, fps and gta which were out of Nintendo and Sega's scope.

 

[Chastten]

The minidisc format was a legit problem and sure, I think everyone agrees the purple color must have been because one of the higher ups lost a bet or something because no one in their right side of mind would have chosen that as the default marketing color for their new piece of electronics, but everything else on your list is.... kinda pointless.

The GameCube launched with a lot of great titles in the launch window and Smash getting even more characters sounds like your on crack. They already went all out with Melee, more than doubling the amount of fighters compared to the original. And yeah, they should've bought Namco, Capcom and SquareEnix but it wouldn't have made a lot of difference at the end of the gen.

Honestly, I can shorten your list to one point, and that point would've probably made a bigger difference than all your points combined.

They should've released it 2 years earlier to go head to head with PS2.

 

[Yselacrey00]

Wind waker was rushed and two dungeons were cut from it.

It's a masterpiece, doesn't matter if Nintendo later said they had to rush it. It wouldn't have changed anything sales wise because it was received with 10 out of 10s everywhere.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

9. Nuke Sony.


If you don’t have a nuke:

9a. Go back in time and prevent PlayStation from being created.

 

[Azelover]

If they had anticipated the success of GTA3, and made a good offer before Rockstar got huge, things would be totaly different.

That's the only change I'd make if I could go back in time, and I was in charge of Nintendo.

 

[SantaC]

It's a masterpiece, doesn't matter if Nintendo later said they had to rush it. It wouldn't have changed anything sales wise because it was received with 10 out of 10s everywhere.

Wind waker was heavily flawed. Make a thread about it being perfect and you will get downvoted.

 

[reptilex]

1. Agreed. As much as I liked the idea and design of "mini-DVD", proprietary format made it harder for manufacturer, publisher, but also compatibility and media functionality.

2. The Gamecube was heralded as the ONLY console in history worth being at the MoMa. And as your reaction shows it, this was a problem: even if they had great taste and designer, you also have to appeal to mr. tasteless nobody.

3. Bad idea. I understand the idea but this is not how marketing works: you want your console to be out on market ASAP specifically so that it has time to grow, develop a base, especially when bigger titles arrive

4. This would've been interesting. The Gamecube had one of the strongest exclusive policy ever for post-2000s consoles: it had an exclusive deal for amazing Star Wars games, a big deal with Capcom for Resident Evil and Capcom 5, a deal with Konami for Metal Gear Solid, a deal with Sega for Super Monkey Ball and all Dreamcast titles, a deal with Square-Enix for a Final Fantasy etc...the problem is that Nintendo didn't see that the 6th generation was full on the beginning of the couch potato "casual game" era.

All fat porks wanted is to be able to read DVD, play vroom vroom and boom boom games like Socom, Gran Turismo, Medal of Honor etc...

6. Tales of was actually exclusive to Gamecube but then the deal fell out with the rushed Gamecube closure by Nintendo...

7...Which brings me to this point: Nintendo should've taken a step back and go into a completely different direction when they saw the numbers but honestly it would've been almost impossible. If I was NIntendo's boss back then I would've made the exact same mistakes: they made a console for true hardcore gamers, the intelligent, tasteful and fine ones, they made a design worthy of being in modern art design, from the console & accessories to their marketing, they made it compact yet more powerful than the DC and PS2, they had probably the best controller ever made in ergonomics, they had a dreamy exclusive lines-up of all the biggest japanese manufacturers but also Star Wars as well as creating some of the best titles for their own franchise from F-Zero to Metroid or Waverace but you know what...in fact I'll say it bluntly:

The Gamecube was the best 6th generation console in front of the Dreamcast, Xbox and PS2.

But as stated above: that's not what "people" as in the mass of tasteless couch potato latecomers wanted. All they wanted a simple living-room "VHS" device, simple but practical media functionality, a familiar form and format, and couch potato game like vroom vroom and boom boom. And Nintendo should've understood it with the 5th generation: the Playstation vs N64 debate was already the same.