Gamecube is the most underrated console while it was in circulation.

GameCube was good, but I say the SEGA Dreamcast definitely takes the Underrated and Underutilized Console award.

DVD playback was a big issue at the time. Buy a PS2 and you got a built in DVD player. Here's the 2000 JCPenney Christmas catalog for DVD players:

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/2000-JCPenney-Christmas-Book/0689

Around $250-$350. The PS2 was introduced that year in North America for $300. So you could get one for about the price of a standalone DVD player. Why wouldn't you? Nobody cares now, of course, but it was a big thing at the time.

Oh, and the PS2 played all the existing PS1 games. To this day, I still tell people that the PS2 is one of the best deals in retro gaming because of the wide range of titles it can play. Lots of hidden gems to find. Even better if you can score an early model PS3, but they're harder to find and more expensive than a PS2.

The GameCube was a flop mostly because of image and marketing, not because it wasn't technically good.

I have one and I love it, but I only got it long, long after release.

What 12-year-old boy asking for a Christmas present is going to choose the cutesy purple brick that "only has kid games" over a sleek black PS2 that is seen as being adult, with action and fighting games? Not many, and so the GameCube flopped.

I think Nintendo were starting to see at that time that consoles weren't just for boys. They were for girls too, and for the whole family, and the GameCube was a step towards that. But it didn't go far enough. They ended up stopping short and falling smack in the middle where it didn't appeal to the established 'male gamer' demographic, and still didn't grab families either.

Then the Wii came along and went HARD on the family-friendly aspect, and just blasted off the shelves. Nintendo learned a lesson, but the GameCube was the price they had to pay for it.

I thought the Dreamcast earned this title

I mean what console has survived as long as those OG Gamecubes

Uhhh the N64, SNES, PS1 to name a few

The GameCube had one key flaw and that is that nobody actually used it to it's fullest potential.

Look at something like the Resident Evil Remake:

https://youtu.be/x72pByrt9kI

Just a great looking game, head and shoulders above what was happening on the PS2.

But most GameCube games, even the good ones, looked like garbage.

https://youtu.be/MJLnDq6f2eM

Looks at OG Atari 2600 still chugging away on my gaming shelf after almost 40 years and chuckles.

My roommate and I stood in line for it, I remember marveling over how well-made it was. They got everything right. Even the little beeps and boops using the OS itself. You don't really see that anymore.

GameCube was the Nokia of the gaming consoles. Actually, it probably still is.

I mean what console has survived as long as those OG Gamecubes.

I still have my OG SNES from when I was a kid and got one the year they came out as a Christmas gift. And Dreamcast. And PS2 (but the slim; I got rid of the fat boy as soon as the slim came out).

Ive had 2 PS2's go down, a PS3 Gen1 break, 3 Xbox 360, and very sadly an OG Xbox that did last from 2005 to 2015, an N64, and my PS4 Slim is getting there for sure. All (except the 64) gotten years (some a decade) after this Gamecube I still have today.

What do you mean by PS2s going down? I feel like they're the most robust console I've come across especially when the benefits of modding are taken into account

I miss my gamecube. That and the ps2 have to be the pinnacle of home console. After those two consoles PCs have reigned supreme.

The gamecube's durability was known during that era: https://youtu.be/ioWnoOjP9IA?si=zPRczUBOp4p4oYCZ

I just grabbed a Wii U and modded it so I can play mostly Gamecube, but also some Wii and Wii U games. So much fun completing Timesplitters, and the occasional Mario Football

Check out the raspberry pi mods you can do now!

The games that used the game boy as a controller and second screen were interesting.

The GameCube controller was hot garbage. Weird unfriendly shape, buttons in the wrong spot, my thumbs and index fingers we're not happy with it. The N64 controllers had durability issues but the layout was spot on.

I also have the same complaints about the switch controllers. The secondary thumb functions (left d pad and right joystick) and primary L/R buttons are not in a good ergonomic place and cause my hands to hurt after a bit of playing.

Anyone remember when GameStop was selling refurbished GameCubes for $30? I think I bought 2.

@Jaes@lemmy.world wait it was a flop???

I still have mine and it works fine too! Great console. I still have an OG Xbox too.

Spent so many hours on Smash, Wind Waker, Pikmin, Twilight Princess, RE4 (originally GC exclusive).

Also have that Zelda OOT promo with Master Quest on one disc, as well as the one with various Zelda games on one disc including MM.

Like others said, ut was competing with ps2 which had a dvd player. Also, I didn't actually care for the gamecube games available at release, whereas ps2 had some great options, AND it was backwards compatible with ps1. So right off the bat ps2 had a great bunch of games available, many of which you could get really cheap and used. For kids at the time who were on a budget and buying games with their allowance, ps2 was a far better value at the time. If I had enough money to get but, I absolutely would have.