This week marks the 25th anniversary of the Nintendo GameCube, and the Guardian writer reflects on the console as their first-ever games purchase, tracing how it went from being seen as an underwhelming flop compared with the Xbox and PlayStation 2 to being fondly remembered today as a charming, uncomplicated gaming machine. The piece argues that the GameCube's squat, colourful design and family-friendly launch titles stood apart from the more "adult" gaming trends of the early 2000s, and that its legacy has only grown warmer with time, unlike Nintendo's true flops such as the Virtual Boy and Wii U.

The GameCube launched in Japan in 2001 and in Europe in May 2002, selling fewer units than its rivals despite being technically capable. Its library included beloved titles such as Luigi's Mansion, Super Smash Bros Melee, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, and Metroid Prime, alongside experimental games like Eternal Darkness and Viewtiful Joe. The article notes that behind the scenes, Nintendo's designers and its late president Satoru Iwata concluded that chasing graphical power was a dead end, a realisation that would go on to shape the company's future console strategy.