Six reasons the GameCube is the best system of all time

Ten years is a mighty long time, but it feels like just yesterday we drove to our local Sam Goody to pick up the system alongside Super Money Ball, Rogue Leader and Tony Hawk 3. Though it wasn’t the most popular system of its time, and statistically-speaking the Cube was Nintendo’s worst-selling system, we heart the purple square, and you should too. For reasons other than its better-than-you-remember game library, it may be the best console of all time.

We’ve done a couple of these before for making similar arguments for PS2 and Xbox, so we aren’t saying definitively GC is the best ever. But when you look at the system from a certain angle, you might just realize it’s better than you think. Is it truly the best system to date? Take a look at our reasoning and you make the call.

1. It mastered connectivity between portables and consoles

Though Sony kind of, sort of integrated its handheld and home consoles, the fusion of two unique systems have yet to have been done better than it was done on the GameCube. As Xbox Live was just starting to make online gaming the future, Nintendo experimented with connectivity between the very popular Game Boy Advance and the GameCube. And while it wasn’t a runaway hit with consumers, if you bothered to play the games that used it, you’d see that Nintendo was really on to something.

The N put a lot of muscle behind titles like Zelda: Four Swords Adventure, and teamed with major companies like Squaresoft and Namco to make titles based on Final Fantasy and Pac-Man. It even implemented special GBA-only features in Wind Waker and Animal Crossing. Yes, there was the annoyance of having to buy separate link cables for up to four GBAs, and after a couple years of experimenting it basically vanished, but some of the games gave a uniquely fun experience you couldn’t find anywhere else. Though Nintendo didn’t bother with connectivity when it came to the Wii and DS, it’s possible the company will pick up this underrated idea with Wii U and 3DS.

2. One of the most durable consoles of all time

Nintendo systems are often synonymous with quality design, and that extends to the superiority of the casing too. We bet decades from now (should you still own a TV that takes component input) you could plug in your GameCube and start a whole new save for Luigi’s Mansion. Hopefully you held on to a few Memory Card 59s along with that old TV in this theoretical future. And we’re sure of that situation we foresee coming to pass because the GameCube is one of the toughest systems around.

When Nintendo put that handle on the system it may have looked silly, but it implies the designers expected people to carry them around, and something being handled in such a way needs high durability. More than a few stress tests done back in the day proved the system was the sturdiest around, with the purple thing showing it won’t let you down no matter how many times you accidentally drop it. And in this age of Red Rings and iPhones breaking right when the 2-year warranty runs out, that’s valuable.

3. It had the best buttons

The discussion about what system had the best controller is a debate as old as time. Many go with the PS2’s Dualshock, some still can’t put down their SNES game pads, and there must be at least one person that loves the Jaguar’s controller most of all. And while the GameCube’s input device is a worthy contender for overall awesomeness, its buttons remain the best in gaming history.

The big green A button made it clear to player and developer alike where the most important inputs should be mapped to. The smaller B, X, and Y buttons surrounded it comfortably, and the C-Stick had the nice octagonal surrounding that let you know where you were pointing. And the shoulder buttons have yet to be improved upon, as the analogue input was backed up by the satisfying click that let you know you just finished a specific command. It was disappointing to see Nintendo strip most of that out when it gave consumers the friendly little wand of a Wii Remote, but you could still remember how great the publisher once was by plugging the colorful controller into your Wii.