Metroid Prime, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Resident Evil 4 and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Five of my favorite games of all time, and all on Nintendo’s indigo cube of wonder. When describing the GameCube I could focus on each of these games, explain why I love them so much, and why this (to me) elevates that bizarre shaped beast ahead of the competition. But this article isn’t about games. Instead, the GameCube represents a turning point in my relationship with games and gaming. The release and life-cycle of that machine was the first time I felt truly invested in a gaming company or brand. That’s why I’ve been very specific over the title of this article – the GameCube isn’t necessarily what I would consider the best console ever released, but it is certainly my most important console.
The GameCube came out (in Europe) in May 2002, nearly a decade after I’d started gaming. I’d been pretty much a solid Nintendo boy up until that date – with a NES, Gameboy, and N64. But all those consoles were different. The NES and the Gameboy were my older brothers, while the existence of the N64 was only revealed to me at a friend’s house a few years after it launched. I played and loved Goldeneye, Ocarina of Time, and other classics, and got a subscription to a Nintendo magazine. However, the majority of games and knowledge around that console came from friends and seeing adverts – I was still on the periphery of the gaming world.
Things changed with the announcement of the GameCube. I still remember the talk of “Project Dolphin”, and the reveal in 2000. I remember pouring over that Zelda demo from the now-defunct Spaceworld and being blown away by what the next generation could bring (I also remember being hugely disappointed by the reveal of “Celda”, what would go on to become one of my favorite games of all time, because I was a moron). I visited a still-adolescent gaming internet daily, waiting for new updates and opinions on upcoming (or yet-to-be-announced) games. I remember “discussing” (arguing) with my Xbox pre-ordering friends as to why I was getting the machine with Luigi’s Mansion over the one with Halo, and how Nintendo wasn’t just for kids. I followed the launch in Japan and America, frustratingly 9 months before I would get my hands on the machine. It seems unthinkable now, but I had to read reviews from people on the other side of the world getting to enjoy the new generation while I was “stuck” with the N64 for what felt like an eternity. Before launch, my experience with the GameCube was simply so much more intense than it was with any other console I had actually owned.
With launch day came my first experience of a midnight release. I got home and booted up my first launch-day purchase (Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader) and spent the majority of the following evening taking on the Empire. Post-launch things just got better, as the years rolled by so the library grew into one which could go toe-to-toe with any other console. As well as the Ninty classics I had expected, that generation saw my gaming horizons expand. Survival horror crept into view, first with Remake and then with Resident Evil 4 – my first imported title (I’m still mad about those staggered release dates). Equally, I got much more into sporting games, losing hours into my first PES as well as Tony Hawk 3 and 1080 Avalanche. Then, of course, you did have those stalwarts – and the aforementioned Wind Waker comfortably remained my favorite game for well over a decade. Between 2002 and 2006 I beat Double Dash with my brother, got far too into Super Smash Bros Melee, and even purchased the Donkey Kong Bongo accessory. I filled memory card after memory card with, well, memories – both gaming and real. I even re-played classics I’d missed from earlier years, Resident Evil 2 remaining one of my favorite experiences on that machine despite being a straight port of a near decade-old PlayStation game.
I was a GameCube faithful right up until the release of the Wii, though I followed that launch cycle with much less zealotry. I think that’s another reason that the GameCube is so important to me, it was the zenith of my childhood gaming years. In May 2002 I had just turned 13, while when the Wii launched I was just a few months shy of my 18th birthday. I had begun to lose interest in gaming, the purchases got less frequent and those magazine subscriptions went un-renewed. Throughout the following years I briefly owned a Wii, and an Xbox 360, but I invested very little time in the hobby. I felt I had grown-out of it, and moved on. The GameCube wasn’t just the biggest gaming moment of my life to-date, it was the pinnacle before a rapid decline in my late teens and early 20s. I have since, as you will be unsurprised to hear, got back into gaming in a big way – but I’m at a very different stage in my life. Disposable income makes games more accessible, but adult responsibilities limit my time. The GameCube remains my “glory days” of gaming – when games were infrequent enough to retain their allure but I had the time to completely invest myself in those rare worlds I could dive into.
This is ultimately why the GameCube remains my most important console. It came along just at the right time in my life, with just the right library of games. A mix of horror and sport for a growing, frankly slightly pretentious, adolescent mixed in with just enough Nintendo magic to remind me why I gamed. Played during day-long gaming sessions that are just a pipe-dream sitting here in my early thirties. The SNES and PS4 probably have better libraries, and the Switch frankly has a better Zelda, but the GameCube will always be above them in my personal gaming pantheon. Oh, and it’s purple – and has a handle. I mean how can you not love it?
