It is October 2002 and also you’re at Hollywood’s hottest occasion. To the left you see Paris Hilton, clad in an aqua-and-lime-swirled halter costume that might make a 2022 Depop-er swoon. To your proper is Christina Aguilera, whose newsboy cap perches on her head as her cargo gauchos swing gingerly on her hips. At another occasion, these divas would have all eyes on them, however right here they’re simply specks amongst the remainder of Hollywood’s early 2000s glitterati — Leonardo DiCaprio, Alicia Silverstone, the solid of Scrubs — all of whom carry the season’s hottest accent:

The GameCube.

Similar to its profitable modern, Apple’s clamshell iBook, GameCube was designed with a unusual, techy taste that dominated the 2000s, proper right down to the peerlessly ergonomic deal with. Both had been marketed as equal components vogue and performance, every using (and paying for) the highly effective early-aughts superstar engine to draw consideration and commercial. It labored for the iBook, however can the identical be stated for Nintendo’s second-worst-selling console?

In 1998, Nintendo started work on a top-secret initiative it dubbed Project Dolphin. The console later generally known as GameCube was Nintendo’s try at constructing a recreation system in a different way than its opponents: Sony’s long-awaited PlayStation 2 and Microsoft’s newcomer, Xbox. Nintendo Japan wished to construct one thing for buddies to play collectively that prioritized enjoyable and whimsy — and distanced itself from the edgier lineups on PS2 and Xbox.

As a part of that, Nintendo must persuade avid gamers to get behind a radical idea:

Purple.

“It wasn’t that you couldn’t bring out hardware that was a different color, it was just a very… ‘female’ looking color. It just didn’t feel masculine,” stated Perrin Kaplan, former vice chairman of promoting and company affairs for Nintendo of America, in a 2021 interview with Video Games Chronicle.

Photo: Evan Agostini/Getty Images

Kaplan went on to say that many within the Western division of Nintendo tried to persuade Nintendo Japan to go in a distinct path — however their issues went unheard. After a copious quantity of market analysis, the place Kaplan says each coloration from “poopy brown” to sizzling pink was thought of for the console, Nintendo’s GameCube launched in its trademark indigo, alongside black, platinum, and spice orange variations.

Many avid gamers, tens of millions of whom had already secured their glossy PlayStation 2s, kind of scoffed on the quirky purple field. Aesthetics apart, the GameCube was criticized for its lack of grownup (see: violent) video games, lack of a DVD slot, and lack of web connectivity. Nintendo was ready for these criticisms; it was at all times aiming to create one thing functionally totally different than its opponents. But many at Nintendo felt the design of the console was conserving it from being taken critically by “real gamers.” Tiny discs and multicolored controllers accessorized the GameCube, amping up the cuteness of the console and giving it a “Fisher-Price” aesthetic, in accordance with Shelly Pearce, former head of PR at Nintendo of Europe, additionally speaking to Video Games Chronicle. To some extent, this “cuteness” issue overly related the console with youngsters, however Nintendo had a much bigger demographic problem:

Girls.

According to numbers from a Nintendo-conducted survey launched at Nintendo’s 2007 E3 press convention, 42% of GameCube customers had been feminine — in comparison with 32% for PlayStation 2 and 11% for PlayStation 3. It was a statistic that was simply observable rising up in my middle-class neighborhood. Using my GameCube’s iconic purselike deal with, I carried the console from sleepover to sleepover, whereas its bunched-up wires and controllers knocked round in my Vera Bradley duffel. As the nights went on, older brothers may very well be heard screaming on their Xbox headsets whereas their sisters and I performed by means of Mary-Kate and Ashley: Sweet 16 – Licensed to Drive. Every so typically these brothers would make their solution to the kitchen or rest room, stopping in to sneer at us or dive on the simply reachable reset button to see their sisters cry.

As a child, I by no means made the connection between these brothers’ vitriol for GameCube and the enjoyment I obtained from slipping the console onto my child-sized wrist and parading all of it the best way to my mother’s minivan the subsequent morning. But now it appears clear: As a lot because the older brothers liked Smash Bros. and Mario Kart, there nonetheless wanted to be a distinction between them, the actual avid gamers, and us, the pretend gamer women. As gamer tradition advanced, the rising concept that we should solely be utilizing video games to decorate ourselves and our personalities made it apparent that GameCube, with its sociable video games, excessive cuteness issue, and freakin’ purse deal with, was our accent of alternative.

Fortunately for Nintendo, GameCube can be a short-lived failure for the corporate. In 2006, Nintendo launched Wii, which bought 101 million models over its lifetime, in comparison with GameCube’s 21 million. Learning from its errors, Nintendo primarily supplied Wii in a glossy white, with the occasional limited-edition coloration, positioning the console not only for women, however for everybody. With its delicate sensor bar, Wii was hardly a grab-and-go console, so it largely sat on our leisure heart, mixing alongside my brother’s equally glossy PS3. When I went to my buddies’ homes to play Wii, their older brothers would battle for a flip to make use of the brand new gaming know-how — although they’d later return to their shooters on Xbox and depart us with our toy.

I too was impressed by Wii’s capabilities, however I didn’t really feel a lot possession over it. As far as I used to be involved, Wii was simply a part of the TV. My GameCube, whose coloration I picked out and whose controller colours had been divided amongst buddies in no matter inner hierarchy I put them in that week, felt extra private, extra me.

And, like with my beloved Vera Bradley duffel, I discovered myself persevering with to tug my GameCube alongside to sleepovers, then faculty, and at last I settled it right into a drawer in my full-fledged grownup residence.

My brother bought his three PlayStations, and all their video games, to GameStop for $78.

So it’s simple to say GameCube failed. And financially, positive, that’s exhausting to argue in opposition to. But for these of us who obtained hooked on it for extra private causes, it turned an emblem that I’ll maintain on to for years to return. The purple coloration alternative could not have resonated with the market, however I wouldn’t have had it another method.