Its hard to believe that its been 25 years since Nintendo Gamecube was released. GameCube was considered to be Nintendo’s official sixth generation console along with being the game system followed the Nintendo 64 which was released back in 1996. GameCube came out in 2001 a year that many people considered bittersweet because the year started off great and ended on a very dark note. Along with the tragic events that occurred America in 2001 the gaming world saw Sega exit the console wars that year with Dreamcast being their final game console. Sega’s exit from the console wars was considered to be depressing by many gamers. However, Sega’s dropping out of the console wars allowed GameCube to shine more during the early 00’s. Even though, Sega was no longer apart of the console wars Dreamcast was still popular within the gaming community. Also, Microsoft had entered the console wars in 2001 when they introduced the first ever Xbox console. The introduction of the Xbox console gave GameCube more competition along with Sony’s PlayStation 2 console which came out in late-2000.

GameCube was a console that was considered to be a commercial failure years after its release. While the Nintendo 64 sold more than 32 million units after its release during the mid 90’s GameCube only reached over 21 million in lifetime sales. Despite, GameCube’s lack of commercial success it did not detract from its over appeal and overall legacy. The GameCube console from ’01 stands out for a variety of reasons aside from its unique design. Super Smash Bros. Melee came out on GameCube and its considered to be one of the most popular Nintendo games ever made. GameCube was also the console where the Metroid Prime series started. Metroid Prime was not only one of the best selling titles on GameCube it revived the Metroid series after being on a hiatus for almost a decade. Mario Kart: Double Dash from 2003 also made its debut on GameCube and was considered to be one of the most innovative racing games ever. In Mario Kart: Double Dash players were able to select two characters when racing while being able to swap back and forth anytime throughout the race. Mario Kart: Double Dash was the only game to use character swap mechanic which could also be done with co-op gameplay. It should noted that Nintendo GameCube was the first console that Resident Evil 4 appeared on.

Resident Evil 4 is considered to be on of the best entries within its entire series. The Super Mario Strikers series also started on GameCube and its a spin-off series that is still popular on Nintendo today. We also got to see titles like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Zelda: Twilight Princess on GameCube also. There where also many other cool titles on Nintendo’s sixth generation console during the early 00’s including F-Zero GX. While F-Zero GX for GameCube was addictive it ended up being the final main entry within its own series. GameCube was a huge part of 00’s gaming culture and despite its shortcomings the console had a significant impact in shaping Nintendo’s future in relation to video games. During the GameCube era Nintendo tried to be different using mini-disks over CD’s or DVD’s for video games. The mini-disks that GameCube used for video games offered limited storage and the memory cards did not have nearly as much space compared to the PS2. GameCube may not have been the most popular console of its era but its looked upon more fondly 25 years later as one of the few good things to come out of 2001.