November 2021’s proven a busy month when it comes to significant gaming anniversaries. Skyrim turned ten on the 11th, with Halo and Xbox hitting twenty on the 15th. The Nintendo GameCube also reached its two-decade mark, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its US release on November 18th.
Earlier today, a former Nintendo executive talked about the release of the now twenty-year-old console. She revealed that GameCube’s iconic color was quite controversial within Nintendo, with parts of the company expressing concerns over the console’s purple pigmentation.
Several former Nintendo employees recently spoke to Video Games Chronicle about the company’s last two decades. Among them was Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America’s former Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Affairs. She revealed that the American branch was not a fan of the GameCube’s purple plastic, pushing for a black or silver console. However, Nintendo’s then-President Hiroshi Yamauchi overruled the decision. While Nintendo would eventually roll out white, black, silver, and orange versions, purple remains the iconic GameCube color.
According to Kaplan, Nintendo of America worried that the purple color would be too “female” for a console marketed primarily toward boys. The American branch was also concerned because it was the first purple console released in the US. Kaplan remembers feeling nervous when Nintendo unveiled the console at E3 2001, fearing the press would mock the GameCube for its unusual appearance. While those fears proved mostly unfounded, some have argued that the console’s appearance didn’t do it any favors.
The Nintendo GameCube ultimately sold around 22 million units during its lifetime, coming in third after its main rivals, the PlayStation 2 and Original Xbox. It also sold approximately 10 million fewer units than its predecessor, the Nintendo 64. There were several reasons for the GameCube’s comparatively poor performance, and its appearance may have been one of them. Nintendo’s console struggled to shake the mostly unfair perception that it was for kids. This was due to a combination of the GameCube’s appearance, Nintendo’s existing reputation, and the company’s general game design philosophies.
On the other hand, it was not a console free of other handicaps. For example, the GameCube had relatively few big exclusives and was overly dependent on first-party titles. The latter was at least partly due to Nintendo’s use of “Microdisk” mini DVD’s, which had reduced capacity and prevented the GameCube from functioning as a DVD player. It was also the only console of its generation that didn’t support some level of online functionality.
Still, the console was hardly a total flop and is still remembered fondly by many gamers. It was also home to many great titles, like the original Luigi’s Mansion. Still, Nintendo of America may not have been entirely wrong to worry about GameCube’s appearance.
Source: Video Games Chronicle