"I think a large part of the "letdown" with the Cube is that Nintendo stuck with more of the same with a lot of little different. "
Exactly.
*shoots self in head for agreeing with BAB*
Darn, I missed
Anyway, I think if Ninitendo was going to play off of the success of N64, they should wave went all out kinda like Sony did with Ps2. I think Gamecube changed a lot in the wrong areas, and stayed the same in the wrong areas.
For Example:
Like BAB brought up, Zelda. The original OoT got some of the best scores of all time, and MM was right on it's booty. This is an example of a successful product that Nintendo shouldn't have screwed with.
Then there is Mario Sunshine. This isn't a bad game by any means, but people's expectations were set with a true sequal of Mario 64 and because it wasn't that it hurt the sales. (Plus the fruity commercial)
Another game that could have stuck around is Perfect Dark... and they probably could have asked THQ to keep their best selling third party game the same. Notice that I'm mentioning games that could have evolved even with the same gameplay system or general look. Would it be that hard for Nintendo to make a realistic looking Zelda game with a different story? They cold even have taken WW's story with realistic graphics and I'm sure that it would have been a general bigger sucess.
Xantar, if you don't own a cube there is no way you can make such a judgment. Some of us here spilled $100-$200 beans on the system and have purchased a ton of games for it.
I remember when bringing home a game for my Nintendo 64 was somthing special, getting games for gamecube is just fustrating. Also, what do you mean side by side Gamecube is better? If Gamecube had the same games it has now with dumbed down graphics and was released in 96 I would like N64 more, and if N64 had the same games remade with this generation's level of graphics I would still like N64 more.
Nintendo was the king of innovation, now they are scared to try somthing new unless it's on a game franchise they know will sell... and those changes ended up dissapointing more people than it impressed.
+Rep to the smart n00bs