24 GameCube Lane

This week marks the 24th anniversary of the GameCube in North America. It was the first console I owned, having received it as a Bar Mitzvah gift, and I still have a soft spot for its library. It was also the first console I rented games for, and I was never the wiser. However, even with my memories of playing Super Smash Bros. Melee with my brothers, I often felt weird knowing I had a console that was unpopular, sitting at 3rd-place in the 6th Generation Console Wars. So why is the GameCube gaining popularity nowadays?

Truthfully, not everything about the GameCube has held up. Much has, like its controller, but the console’s library and hardware specs earned its poor sales when compared to the Xbox and PS2. Even with its AAA titles, several of its early successes were rushed, and it showed. It especially showed in the fighting mechanics for Super Smash Bros. Melee, as well as the in-game glitches in Super Mario Sunshine. Factor in no DVD player, or a solid online, and it’s no wonder Nintendo had to rethink everything with the Wii.

I feel bad criticizing the console. For all its flaws, the GameCube was quite intuitive. Not only was its controller an improvement over the N64’s, which was bulky and confusing, it also could fit neatly into a bag for travel. I specifically remember tucking it into a suitcase when I visited my cousin’s grandmother’s cottage one Winter, and plugging it in to their TV wasn’t difficult. The GameCube also introduced the WaveBird, a controller that let you play games without a wired plug. That was game changing.

Playing 4-player was also great. We take this for granted, but multiplayer was a bonus for a console that was family-friendly. It’s true that 4-player options already existed on the N64, but this was the first Nintendo console to pull it off without lag or frame drops. Besides, it was great for family gatherings, something I miss as an adult. That, and online play isn’t the same.

Perhaps the surge in popularity bugs me because, rational or not, it feels too-little-too-late. Where was this validation when the GameCube was struggling? Why now? And is the adoration sincere, or a form of “what’s old is new again”? These are questions that plague my mind looking back on the Nintendo console that wasn’t “cool” to own, and it stings.

Part of it could also be wishing that fondness had translated to the Wii. The Wii was a far bigger success story, even allowing backwards compatibility with the GameCube’s library. But the “uncool” nature of the GameCube was amplified, with third-party developers using it as a dumping ground. Nintendo catering to non-gamers was seen as a betrayal, which I’ve always found exclusivist. Perhaps that’s why the GameCube saw a re-evaluation, as it was the last stronghold of “true Nintendo” for many gamers. Either that, or GamerGate has poisoned the discourse.

I do think this fondness for the GameCube is too much, though. Maybe I’m reaching for sour grapes, I don’t know. Maybe this is me being jaded by the last four console generations, I also don’t know. However, it won’t leave my mind. And that’s the problem.

It's not all bad. The Switch 2 emulating the GameCube’s library via NSO is a great decision, and I respect them recognizing their 6th generation console got the shaft. It also allows me to play games I never fully-completed or tried at release, like Luigi’s Mansion or Chibi-Robo. I’m grateful Nintendo’s willing to reevaluate their “failures” and see their merits, even if only for financial reasons. Because it’s all financial anyway.

Nevertheless, the fandom now seeing the GameCube as “cool” stings. After years of being apologetic, to the point of ridicule from peers, this feel like whiplash. Have I won? And if so, why aren’t I satisfied? Has time ruined everything? Am I a bitter old man, shaking my fist at clouds and yelling? Is this me now?

I don’t want to think too hard here. Not only is it unpleasant pondering this, it’s equally as weird that the GameCube’s considered “retro”. If anything, I should be happy. But I’m not. I’m sad that it took too long to achieve justice over Nintendo’s most-maligned console prior to the Wii U.

But I digress. While late, it’s better now than never. And for all intents and purposes, the wave of nostalgia for the GameCube is something that’s warranted 24 years later. Nintendo struggled with it, slashing its price several times, and it bled money until they removed a key component from the hardware. That their biggest home console flop at the time, one they were forced to move away from, is getting its day in the Sun shows how time heals all wounds. Or most wounds. The longstanding trauma of being a diehard GameCube fan when it wasn’t cool doesn’t disappear all that quickly…