It's not uncommon to see nostalgia for the Nintendo GameCube nowadays. Some of that may have to do with the wide spread of Super Smash Bros. Melee play, but it's also considered underrated by some older Nintendo fans. The GameCube is one of Nintendo's less successful home consoles, but still outstripped the Wii U in terms of sales. With a variety of unique installments like Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and a bold start to some other franchises like Luigi's Mansion and Pikmin, the GameCube's library is still able to impress.
Just looking at first-party efforts alone makes it obvious why the GameCube is held in such high regard, but not every franchise or new game could last alongside iconic faces like Mario and Link. A number of GameCube titles published by Nintendo were either the last or only members of their franchise ever released. This isn't about games like F-Zero GX and Chibi-Robo!, no matter the perception of the GameCube being their last point of relevance. Rather, these are a mix of titles that just couldn't escape the GameCube for one reason or another, and it's surprising to find out the true breadth of Nintendo-published games from this era.
One-Offs
- Cubivore
- Eternal Darkness
- Geist
- Odama
The first set of Nintendo games trapped on the GameCube are all one-off oddities that can only be found on this system. Survival horror classic Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem was going to receive a sequel, but Nintendo shut the project down and the developer Silicon Knights eventually dissolved. The pinball-RTS Odama was tied to the microphone peripheral late in the GameCube's life, and Geist was intriguing but critically panned. Cubivore is the odd game out here, as it is a rare instance of another major publisher taking the reins from Nintendo to bring the game to North America. In this case, the English fans the game has can thank Atlus for bringing Cubivore out of Japan.
Franchise Finales
- 1080° Snowboarding
- Baten Kaitos
- NBA Courtside
- Wave Race
Some Nintendo franchises were able to operate for several years, but ultimately met their end on the GameCube. 1080° Snowboarding had its second and final title, 1080° Avalanche, come out in 2003. Meanwhile, NBA Courtside and Wave Race concluded with their third entries on the console. The odd one out from this group is Baten Kaitos, a card-based JRPG series seemingly co-owned by Bandai Namco and Nintendo with two entries on the GameCube.
Unlike NBA Courtside 2002 and Wave Race: Blue Storm, Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean was able to eke out a sequel on the same platform in Baten Kaitos Origins. The Nintendo-published Origins was actually the earliest point of Xenoblade developer Monolith Soft working with Nintendo, so this series holds historical value as well as a unique identity.
Japan-Only
- Densetsu no Quiz Ou Ketteisen
- Doshin the Giant
- Giftpia
- Kuru Kuru Kururin
The final few Nintendo franchises locked away on the GameCube never made it to Western shores. Of the games remaining in Japan, Densetsu no Quiz Ou Ketteisen may have the best excuse. It was a microphone-based quiz show that would have practically needed to be remade for other languages, and the peripheral wasn't performing as well as Nintendo hoped. Doshin the Giant is itself a remake of a Nintendo 64 civilization simulator where players take control of a deity known as Doshin. Giftpia is an odd one-off project by Chibi-Robo! developer Skip Ltd., but the Kuru Kuru Kururin series actually had two other installments before it ended with Kururin Squash! The playable vehicle on the boxart, Helirin, later made it into Super Smash Bros. Brawl as an Assist Trophy, so at least Nintendo has not forgotten all of these old GameCube franchises.