Nintendo GameCube

In May 1998 Nintendo partnered with ArtX, a company founded by former SGI engineers, to design the "Flipper" graphics chip. IBM created the PowerPC-based "Gekko" CPU, and Panasonic the disc drive. Nintendo announced the console in May 1999 under the codename "Dolphin" and unveiled it as the GameCube in August 2000. It wanted a simple, low-cost architecture that would attract outside studios. It was Nintendo's first home console to use optical discs instead of cartridges.

It launched in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18 at US$199, $100 less than the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and in Europe on May 3, 2002. It was Nintendo's first home console since the Famicom without a Mario launch title: Luigi's Mansion led the line-up instead. Reviewers liked the controller and the exclusive games, but called the design toy-like and noted the missing multimedia features: its discs were for games only.

Its library launched series such as Pikmin, Luigi's Mansion and Metroid Prime, and included Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Resident Evil 4. Sega, having left the hardware business, became one of its main supporters. Even so, many series aimed at teenagers and adults never arrived, and several publishers cut support because of weak sales. Nintendo halted production for the first nine months of 2003 and cut the price to US$99.99 that September.

The Wii succeeded it in November 2006, and its first model accepted GameCube games, controllers and memory cards. In February 2007 Nintendo announced the end of the console; the last official game was Madden NFL 08, in August that year. It sold far below forecasts and trailed the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, though it was profitable. Its controller has been usable on every later Nintendo home console, and in 2025 part of its library reached the Switch 2 through Nintendo Classics.