Editing Nintendo GameCube (section)

== Games ==
See also: List of GameCube games and List of cancelled GameCube games

In its lifespan from 2001 to 2007, Nintendo licensed over 600 GameCube games. Nintendo bolstered the console's popularity by creating new franchises, such as ''Pikmin'' and ''Animal Crossing,'' which actually began as a Japanese exclusive on N64, and renewing some that had skipped the Nintendo 64, such as with ''Metroid Prime''. Longer standing franchises include the critically acclaimed ''The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker'' and ''Super Mario Sunshine'', as well as ''Mario Kart: Double Dash''. Other Nintendo games are successors to Nintendo 64 games, such as the GameCube's best-selling game, ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', at more than 7 million copies worldwide, ''F-Zero GX''; ''Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour''; ''Mario Party 4'', ''5'', ''6'', and ''7''; ''Mario Power Tennis''; and ''Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door''. Though committed to its software library, Nintendo was still criticized for not releasing enough launch window games and by the release of ''Luigi's Mansion'' instead of a 3D ''Mario'' game.

Nintendo had struggled with its family-friendly image during the late 1990s and most of the 2000s. However, during this period, it released more video games for a mature audience with mostly successful results. While the video game industry was focusing on more mature audiences and online connections, Nintendo regained older players who had gravitated to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox during the early 2000s. Some games aimed at older audiences were critically and financially successful—more than on Dreamcast, and less than on PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Such examples include ''The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess'', ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', ''Resident Evil 4'', ''Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes'', ''Killer7'', ''Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader'', ''Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles'', ''Resident Evil'' (2002), ''Metroid Prime'', ''Metroid Prime II: Echoes'', ''Soul Calibur II'', ''Resident Evil Zero'', ''F-Zero GX'', ''Star Fox Adventures'', and ''Star Fox Assault''. One of the most well-known GameCube games for mature audiences is ''Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem'', which underperformed financially, but garnered critical acclaim and is now regarded as a cult classic.

The GameCube is Nintendo's first home console with a system menu, activated by powering on without a valid game disc or by holding down the A button while one is loaded.

=== Third-party support ===
Early in Nintendo's history, the company had achieved considerable success with third-party developer support on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES. Competition from the Sega Genesis and Sony PlayStation in the 1990s changed the market's landscape and reduced Nintendo's ability to obtain exclusive, third-party support on the Nintendo 64. The Nintendo 64 Game Pak cartridge format increased the cost to manufacture software, as opposed to the cheaper, higher-capacity optical discs on PlayStation.

With the GameCube, Nintendo intended to reverse the trend as evidenced by the number of third-party games available at launch. The new optical disc format increased game storage capacity significantly and reduced production costs. Successful exclusives include ''Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader'' from Factor 5, ''Resident Evil 4'' from Capcom, and ''Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes'' from Konami. Sega discontinued its Dreamcast console to become a third-party developer, porting Dreamcast games such as ''Crazy Taxi'' and ''Sonic Adventure 2'', and developing new franchises, such as ''Super Monkey Ball''. Longtime Nintendo partner Rare, which had developed ''GoldenEye 007'', ''Perfect Dark'', ''Banjo-Kazooie'', ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'', and the ''Donkey Kong Country'' series, released ''Star Fox Adventures'' for GameCube, its final Nintendo game before acquisition by Microsoft in 2002. Several third-party developers were contracted to work on new games for Nintendo franchises, including ''Star Fox: Assault'' (which became a Player's Choice re-release), ''Donkey Konga'' by Namco, and ''Wario World'' from Treasure. Capcom had announced 5 games for the system dubbed the Capcom Five in November 2002, ''Viewtiful Joe'' and ''Resident Evil 4'' were later ported to other systems.

Third-party GameCube support was some of the most extensive of any Nintendo console predating the Wii. Some third-party developers, such as Midway, Namco, Activision, Konami, Ubisoft, THQ, Disney Interactive Studios, Humongous Entertainment, Electronic Arts, and EA Sports, continued to release GameCube games into 2007. One of the biggest third-party GameCube developers was Sega, which had quit the console hardware market to become a third-party game developer after the failure of the Dreamcast. It partnered with long-time rival Nintendo, and with Microsoft and Sony, to recuperate profits lost from the Dreamcast. Sega was a successful third-party developer since the early 2000s, mostly those for the family market, such as ''Super Monkey Ball'', ''Phantasy Star Online'', ''Sonic Adventure'', ''Sonic Adventure 2: Battle'', and ''Sonic Heroes''.

=== Online gaming ===
Main article: GameCube online functionality

Nintendo's GameCube did not put heavy focus on online games earlier in the console's life. Only eight GameCube games support network connectivity, five with Internet support and three with local area network (LAN) support. The only Internet capable games released in western territories are three role-playing games (RPGs) in Sega's ''Phantasy Star'' series: ''Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II'', ''Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus'', and ''Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution''. The official servers were decommissioned in 2007, but players can still connect to fan maintained private servers. Japan received two additional games with Internet capabilities, a cooperative RPG, ''Homeland'' and a baseball game with downloadable content, ''Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū 10''. Lastly, three racing games have LAN multiplayer modes: ''1080° Avalanche'', ''Kirby Air Ride'', and ''Mario Kart: Double Dash''. Those can be forced over the Internet with third-party PC software capable of tunneling the GameCube's network traffic.

Online play requires an official broadband or modem adapter because the GameCube lacks out of the box network capabilities. Nintendo never commissioned any Internet services for GameCube but allowed other publishers to manage custom online experiences.

=== Emulation ===
On June 5, 2025, several GameCube games were re-released on the Nintendo Classics service as part of the "Expansion Pack" tier of Nintendo Switch Online exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2.