GameCube (Ohga Shrugs)

GameCube is the name of Nintendo's sixth generation video games console. Released in September 2001 in Japan, November in America, and in May 2002 in Europe, the GameCube was arguably Nintendo's least successful home console of all time, tying for the least units sold and doing the worst in comparison to Sega's respective home console, the Dreamcast.

The GameCube was Nintendo's first console to make use of optical discs. Proprietary miniature versions of standard DVDs were used, and could contain up to 1.4 GB of data. However, this meant that the GameCube could not play standard CD-ROMs or DVDs.

The GameCube has sold about 49 million units since launch.

History
The GameCube was first announced at Nintendo's "SpaceWorld" event in 2000. It was shown to be capable of far more impressive graphics than its predecessors, and arguably even more impressive than the Dreamcast's.

Launch
The GameCube was launched in September 2001 in Japan, November in America, and the following May in Europe. Launch titles were varied, and included Final Fantasy X and Luigi’s Mansion worldwide, Pikmin in America, and Super Smash Bros Melee in Europe. The launch price was about $200 worldwide.

Hardware
In most respects, the GameCube was the most advanced console of its generation. Its DVD-based discs held about 200 MB more data than the Dreamcast's GD-ROMs, at 485 MHz its CPU was over twice as fast, and its GPU was, at 162 MHz, about 60% faster than the Dreamcast's. However, with only 43 MB of RAM, it was outmatched by the Dreamcast's 56 MB of RAM.

The GameCube was available in many colors over its life, primarily black, silver, and purple. However, the GameCube was ultimately released in virtually every standard color, often coinciding with the release of a major game. For example, there were red GameCubes that were bundled with Mario Kart: Double Dash, light blue ones bundled with The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, and even a pink one bundled with Kirby Air Ride.

The GameCube controller was the first to feature a second analog stick. This stick was often used in games to control the camera, a task reserved for the D-Pad on many Dreamcast titles. This extra control option gave many multiplatform titles an advantage on the GameCube, particularly those that required navigating complex 3D environments.

Most games required a memory card peripheral to save, which was available in multiple sizes.

Reception
The GameCube was generally well received, especially for its diverse library. However, the console sold poorly by Nintendo standards, barely grabbing 50% of the market share, in contrast to the Revolution's 65%. The console's juvenile appearance was also criticized.