I know a lot of people were disappointed with the GameCube. Myself, I view it as an improvement over the N64 that, like the Dreamcast, didn't receive the recognition it deserved. It did a lot of things right which it does not get due credit for.

First, it signified Nintendo's willingness to roll with the trends. Being Nintendo's first optical disk based console, it helped increase their third-party support over the N64's. While the third-party support was still lacking compared to PS2 and Xbox, it did ensure that we had good games to play during dry summers after Nintendo delayed their latest first-party title. We had games like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Ikaruga, Beyond Good and Evil, Timesplitters 2, Resident Evil 4, and Tales of Symphonia while we were waiting for Twilight Princess to eventually be released.

Second, although it rolled with the trends, it still tried to think outside the cube. Add-on peripherals, while seen as gimmicky to many, did change things up a bit. GBA connectivity allowed us to duel our trained Pokemon on the big screen. Certain games also allowed a second player to plug in a GBA and assist the first player with bombs and map data. Finally, using the advantage of a separate screen, Pac-man Vs. is often seen as the best use of GBA connectivity. There were also other peripherals such as Bongos, a LAN adapter, and a microphone, but support for these was rather scarce compared to the connectivity cables.

The innovation didn't stop there. The GameCube was also the first contemporary console to use PowerPC architecture, a trend which was picked up by Nintendo's competitors and continued on Wii. PowerPC is now the standard for video game consoles.

In addition to this, GameCube had built-in hardware for stereoscopic 3D, according to an IGN article from early this year. Unfortunately, utilization of this feature never saw the light of day, and was never realized until the 3DS. Luigi's Mansion was originally a tech demo that showcased this new technology.

Of course, it was the games that made Nintendo stand above the crowd. In particular, a good portion of last-gen's highest rated games were on GameCube notably Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 4, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Though the number of games on the system was almost laughable compared to PS2, there were a solid amount of good in-between games to tide GameCube owners over until the next killer app.

On a personal note, while this may make me sound like an idiot, GameCube is possibly my second favorite Nintendo console of all time. Whether or not you agree about GameCube being as good as NES or SNES, I'd still argue that GameCube is far from the failure many people view it as.