Nintendo's American Branch Didn't Like The Idea Of GameCube Being Purple

Would have been a much more boring world, I always liked that Nintendo was the "colorful" one. Who gives a damn if it isn't "professional"? You're playing video games on a video game system.

Lately a lot of fashion has been back on track with striking colours too, I'm glad colour is cool again.

It's not purple, it's indigo 😜

I actually bought a black one but I like the Purple lunch box.
Probably because it was purple and at the time it was different.
It's good to be different some times, makes you stand out from the crowd.

Unfortunately at the time from a business perspective purple probably wasn’t the best colour to choose. People thought of it as ‘girly’ which of course is sexist BS but the world was a lot worse in that way back then, girl gamers were very rare and the market was basically only trying to appeal to young boys/men.

I think giving people a choice was the best decision in the end. I pre-ordered the black one. Since the Genesis days I've always thought black consoles go better with the other devices I have in my gaming setup.

I had no problem with the purple GameCube since one of my GBA was also purple but I end up getting the jet black one so to match with my black GameCube controllers that I also bought along side it as the store I went to ran out of purple controllers.

They didn't want to do a purple console because nobody had done it before? When has Nintendo decided to go for the obvious choice?

-and the whole idea of a console looking too feminine is just ridiculous, but it was decades ago. Purple works for everyone.

Purple Gamecube machine looks better than Black color.
I played my Gamecube games on White Wii machine.

"This pre-dates Apple. Picking your colour these days is like making a statement. But back then all the game systems were black […]"

I call this b.s. Apple released their colored imacs in 1998 and the N64 came in in a wide array of colors. Apart from that you had a grey PS1, SNES, NES (mostly). Heck, even wooden Ataris, etc. so I don‘t see a point in that.

Yeah I went with black, never liked how the purple looked. All of my friends also had black. Smart choice to push for black and silver. I also can't disagree that purple is girly.

Purple is historically a color reserved for royalty, so the GameCube is a console that kings play.

Ironically, I have always been connecting Gamecube with purple color 😁

I wanted them to release all the Space World colors. My mates and I had all of ours picked out; Silver, Gold, Spice, and Black were the winners. Personally, silver reminded me of NES and SNES gray so that was the one they should have led with in my opinion. When I saw indigo in all of the press materials I just shook my head.

Ugh. I hate blandly coloured consoles. I’m sick of buying boring coloured launch models only to leap at the first variant that comes along. Not making the white Switch OLED Metroid themed was also a missed opportunity.

I was never a fan of the Red/Blue Switch colour scheme, but I’ll take the most garish of colours over boring old grey any day of the week.

Rrrrrright have they forgotten that the US SNES console had purple on it and the controller had purple and violet buttons?!

All of my GameCubes are black and black Gameboy players. Wish I could have gotten that orange one though.

The handle didn't help its image in the West either. My mate called it a Teletubbies lunch box.

Panasonic Gamecube. Loved that design. Didnt own it myself.

Didnt feel masculine? Seriously?? I honestly can’t believe this came out of someone’s mouth with zero shame…

Purple was my favourite even though I don’t really like purple. It just looked fresh compared to the grey or black consoles

I dont get how purple is feminine. Centuries ago purple was reserves for royalty and if you has something that was purple it meant you were loaded or you were an imposter. How is purple feminine (or masculine for that matter lol).

"Don't be different, do the same", was the Rule Number one for Succsess since ever! - Or maybe not ;P

And that NOA had bad taste shows the US Super Nintendo - "Make it blocky and take out the Color from the Buttons!"

On one hand, they're right to at least some extent and the Gamecube was awesome so changing it to sell better sounds like a good idea.

On the other hand, stuff like "purple is too girly" is so profoundly stupid and infuriating that I would've doubled down on it being purple out of spite.

They must have really hated the orange then.

Didn't Nintendonhave success with the extra colors for the n64 and Gameboy hardware shortly before the GameCube released? I had a black GameCube, but the purple was a nice color too.

Consoles still appeal to a sense of masculine pride with design and marketing with little more flair than what you’d see in a sports bar… a moody sports bar lol

All my Nintendo systems from NES to Switch has either been grey or black. I much prefer that as electronics are ugly in general and don't need to stand out.

the decision to use purple was definitely interesting and I remember feeling a bit mixed about it, but also felt like it was the right thing to do. It was way more recognizable and caught attention while the black one didn't necessarily look great in terms of its design and the black sorta made it also boring to look at.
I also prefer the Switch with colored Joycons, as its just a different approach to things, emphasizing that they're jumping out of the box, instead of following sorta tedious routines.

How can we make our dislike of the purple Gamecube even dumber? Oh yes let's call it a female colour.

I swear to god some of these executives are stupid, sounds like the numpties who used to run Sega of America. Thankfully they weren't listened to as the purple Gamecube looks great and the black variant is boring to look at

I had the choice to choose between a black one and a purple one, and I'm glad I went with the purple one in the end.

Detain these criminals, the indigo Gamecube cannot be contained!

It's so much more exciting to look at than, say, any Playstation for example.

The purple one is iconic, but back then I went with a black one

I've got a lot of time for the purple lunchbox. Even the the orange one as well.

I went for black. It looked better. The marketing team were right.

I love the purple, and I loved the console, but I do remember having the pi** ripped out of me by some of my pals at the time for it. And when they saw cell shaded Link in Wind Waker that really sealed the deal for them - no chance they were picking up this "baby console". Idiots.

It won them around eventually with Smash Bros. Melee, but they still never bought a console. Hard to say NoA were completely wrong, regardless of the quality of the system and the games...

This whole article is purple

I wish there was more console colour variety nowadays. The only recent consoles that are anything other than black, white or grey are the limited edition Animal Crossing Switch and the Switch Lite.

It was perfect because it looked different. What he said about them failing in differentiating on costumer focus is on point though.
(Edit: should not have tried to be edgy, even if some of the resulting games were quite good)

@quinnyboy58 Only half true. Females who are into games have existed in large numbers for as long as there have been video games. I was introduced to the NES by the girls across the street from me, and many girls I went to school with in the 90s played all the same games I did. You are right that magazines, marketing and executives at games firms behaved as if they thought there were hardly any girls or women who liked video games, but that was as untrue then as it is now.

I got the black cube near launch but also have the indigo cube. I’m using the indigo now as the black cube seems broken

I always thought the silver GameCube with the glass mirrored front was the best one. shifty eyes emoji

Also, loved the purple colour but even I thought it was a strange choice given consoles were usually black at the time.

I had a black one but purely because I bought mine in a sale and it was the only colour they had. I was always jealous of the purple one and treasured my purple controller.

We still have a long way to go, but I'm glad that the notions that games are for men and that men don't want colours like purple are starting to fade away. Like I said, still a long way to go though.

@Duffman92 not bs at all. It doesn't matter whether other hardware models were available in different colours. The comment was specifically regarding combating negative perceptions in the game console space. The fact that the N64 was available in different colours doesn't mean the comment was bs either. Nintendo America were concerned about the kiddy image the colour portrayed. The N64's primary colour in marketing materials was black while the GC's was purple.

Dawn Paige rightly said Nintendo shouldn't have been chasing the same audience. Thanks to this mindset, we've had the DS, the Wii, and the Switch as success stories with the Wii U as the massive anomaly (and the 3DS as a smaller anomaly, it started out rough before righting ship)

"This pre-dates Apple" once and for all providing proof that gender anxiety in marketing boardrooms rots the brain really awful.

@noobish_hat the American SNES's main colour definitely wasn't purple though. The accents were.

The main colour was closer to grey.

Purple was the wildest choice for a game console's main colour.

The iMac G3 with the colours came out in 1998/1999 so this 'pre dates apple'is a nonsense argument... it just shows the panic nintendo america were in.. they should have ridden the wave, and put nintendo in an avant garde spot..(Everybody was already buying colourful nokia covers then) now they we're just in also run ps2s... while the gamecube was more powerful, (and had so many good first party games..)

Presumably nobody at Nintendo America had ever used any workstations made by SGI or Sun Microsystems…

"But back then all the game systems were black… even white hadn’t really been done widely. "

Well there was the NES,SNES, PlayStation 1 and Dreamcast that weren't and also had those amazing different coloured N64s and of course gameboys.

I get the overall point of the now iconic purple being seen as a risk but was definitely a few big hitters that weren't black.

So one wanted to ditch it to make the console more masculine apparently another wanted it not to stand out from its competitors by blending in and the last chap thinks they should have focused on children and under 15s.

I'm very glad Nintendo Japan obviously didn't listen to any of them.

Tbh I had black one as a kid, and I always thought purple seems much cooler.

The purple wasn't a "female" looking color, it's a "fun and playful" looking color. Wich is very on-brand with Nintendo. I loved my purple GameCube, it might have been my all-time favorite console.

Personally I bought the black one, I guess as a kid I thought it looked best. Still do. The purple one's fine, however.

'Murica and their insecurities. Must look like a gun so real men won't be ashamed to get one.

Lmao. Purple made some people here uncomfortable.

My gamecube was purple and nobody ever said anything negative about it!

Like I said a couple days ago regarding bowser. NOA doesn’t really have a say. So for everyone who missed Reggie, they miss his personality not his influence on the company because he didn’t have any. Nintendo of Japan makes all the decisions like it or not.

My first GC was the black one but I also got a purple one down the road. I always liked that there were so many different colour variations of the GC like the orange one or the silver one. It really set the GC apart from the competition visually

Purple Gamecube a Terrible idea? You Fools!!
I was never convinced. Actually It's made the Gamecube even more memorable to people, at least in my opinion.
Even when i got a used Gamecube in 2002, i preferred the purple one instead of the black one. Luckily for me, I did eventually get the purple one for myself a few years later, and gave my other console to a relative for a christmas gift. We both still have them all these years later.

I actually never owned the purple one. I chose Jet black right out of the gate at launch because purple just put me off. Would the Nes or SNES had flied off the shelves like they did if they had been purple instead of gray? I kinda doubt it. Sorry I Know it makes me look sexist but a boy does not want a purple game system. It would have been seen as sissy and girly. I was an adult when GameCube came out and still I chose the black. It just looked more respectable and cool honestly. I mean imagine if they had a Gamegirl instead of Gameboy. Hardly any boys would have wanted one purely on the name alone.

These days however sure I wouldn't mind having a purple one. I'd like the red and blue switch joycons too.

@Zeldafan79
"a boy does not want a purple game system."

If i was a boy, i want the purple one.
Purple is a regal color.

@MetalMan
"purple is girly."

Real man likes purple color.
Purple was used to be a color for royalty.

@Anti-Matter

I've seen those shirts that say "real men wear pink" I suppose you could say real men have purple GameCubes. I kinda regret my shunning of the purple one now.

@Zeldafan79
My Gamecube controller is half Purple half Clear. Looks great in both Purple and Clear color.

My Gamecube is white and so is the controller. Until a few years ago I didn't even know a purple Gamecube existed.

@Anti-Matter

I think my first Gameboy color might have been purple. I Know my GBA was.

Loved that both GBA and NGC were the same color, mainly indigo. The design and the color of the NGC made it really look like a fun videogame. Quite the opposite direction Nintendo took with the Wii, which was designed to have a minimalist design and not to stand out in the living room.

I think it was a good call, to separate themselves from everyone else.

My first, and only Gameboy Color was purple (or grape), and I remember I looking at it from behind the glass case feeling a lot like the execs: "It just didn’t feel masculine". I was like, maybe 10 at the time, but purple really did look and feel “girly”.

The lady at the register assured me it wasn't a big deal and I immediately got over it.

They're not kidding. Many people you talked to in the U.S. would say GCN was bad because it was purple. I bought the black one, but that's because I usually like my electronics black or white. If purple was the only option, I'd have gotten used to it but I would have preferred another color.

But, let's not forget that Nintendo was still profitable during that time. Part of that was the GBA, but GCN wasn't losing them money.

That doesn't surprise me. The American branch also thought it was necessary to make Kirby angry on every box cover.

I didn't dislike the indigo colour (that's not purple!) but I asked for the black model. I think that the silver one looks really nice.

Purple rain, purple rain!

It's sad to say, but they were right at that time. Nintendo and the Gamecube had a major image problem of being "kiddy", and I doubt they would have sold half the Cubes they did (which wasn't that many) if there hadn't been a black option.

It's easy to look back from 20 years of progress and say how backward this thinking is, but that is very much how things were. We can all laugh at the idea that girls don't game in 2021, but back then NOBODY marketed video games to women. Did girls play video games in 2001? Yes, they did. Was my daughter still being bullied by classmates for playing video games and being into Star Wars - as late as 2008? Also yes.

I'm not sure the purple looked feminine, but it definitely made it look like a toy. At the same time Sony were flat out trying to appeal to 15-25 year olds.

This article made me think and realise I had the purple one in my teens, the black one in my twenties and I now own a silver one. This is because I have emigrated several times and sold them only to regret it and buy a new one… a couple of times.

I don’t like the black of the gameboy player under the silver though {^w^}

I was 13 and my brother was 15 when the gamecube came out. The purple one looked like a kid's toy. We got a black one with an extra orange controller with Rogue Squadron II and Tony Hawk 3 as our launch games. We didn't need the kiddie Luigi's Mansion. (We were die hard Nintendo fans, but were worried we were aging out of it. Still hasn't happened.)

The silver/platinum one is definitely my favourite of the regular consoles. I don't like black, dull consoles.
It may not have the testosterone that black has but it has a certain elegance and sleekness to it.

My favourite one would have to be the red Char Gundam GameCube from Japan, its colour of red is striking and I am just a fan of Gundam so I may have a bias.

@The-Chosen-one Lookie here, we have a man of culture.
Only problem is that there is no Component output for the DVD player.

It looks gorgeous but it's much more practical even back then to just get a GameCube and a DVD player separately. And you would even get component cables and 480p/576p for DVDs if you got a higher-end (at the time) model that had Component, but even the PS2 and Xbox had Component for DVD playback.

Back then, Component on DVD players was a rarity, especially in Japan. Only the best models usually had them.
I have a China-made budget DVD player from 2018 and it has Component output.
A PS2 or Xbox would've also worked great for a DVD player, if you didn't want to stick with one console.

Hell, the GCHD dongles are not compatible with the Panasonic Q.

I forgot to mention i've also had an original GameBoy Advance also purple, since launch.

Looks through the comments
@Papichulo Wow, I really like the look of your 'Gameboy Advance', with those cutesy thumbsticks I wondered if it's a Modded 'something' but i'm not sure what, or even a Switch Lite?

I didn't care what color the Gamecube was back then and I certainly don't care what color it is right now. It's still my favorite console of all time.

My only gripe is that it doesn't play DVDs, but even today I'm not sure if it's something I needed back then. I didn't get that many DVDs back then despite owning a player.

I forgot it came in colors other than purple and orange. I’ve never looked into it but did the non-black colors of the N64 not sell well or something? I understand too many SKUs can be problematic but MAN I loved how the GameBoys and N64 consoles and controllers had a rainbow of options to choose from. Definitely a highlight memory of those generations of Nintendo products.

They're right. I bought the black one. No brainer🤷🏾‍♂️

On the one hand, having no purple cube might have helped curb the kiddy image Nintendo really suffered at the time....just a tiny bit anyway. On the other hand, the purple cube is very iconic in retrospective. Plus, it would have been too similar to the other consoles at the time. Purple showed that Nintendo did things differently. Purple it may have been, but boring it was not.

I got the purple one on launch and used it till I replaced it with a launch Wii and used its BC. I loved how it was different than the normal boring black and stood out apart from my PS2 and XBox. I also had a purple GBA so they made a nice duo.

Other than the packed in controller, I also picked up the orange, black, and the half purple half transparent ones, and eventually a couple wavebirds.

I got rid of most of those over time, but now keep around the two Wavebirds, a white controller with the longer cord that I picked up in Japan, and then the one that came with SSB Wii U set with game and adapter which I still use on my Switch.

@NinjaNicky no one is. But it's a valid reason.

I'm not interested in girls with purple hair either. Doesn't mean I'm afraid to press start, rotate the anologue stick or squeeze the shoulder button. Luckily I can choose from many better coloured ones.

I bought mine at launch when I was 21 years old. Loved the colour and don't really know where this "purple is for gurlz" thing is coming from. The controllers colour scheme was horrible though, great button layout but really clashing colours.

So they preferred original Undertaker to Summerslam ‘94 comeback Undertaker. I think Nintundertaker both made the purple work.

I don’t recall people at the time thinking Cube was “girly” or “feminine.” The only knock people gave it was that it seemed kiddy, which is a terrible thing for a video game console to be, apparently.

@Deady well that's a quote from the first 'feminine girl' in this article, the boss of marketing at that time, the actual woman, Perrin Kaplan.

@DumbElder Sorry when I said people I should have said the public. We also didn’t have this interview back then. The employees in charge of this sort of thing are a whole other matter.

In reality it could have been pink and glittery and shaped like a giant dong and it wouldn’t have mattered to me because the games ruled and the only people who would have seen it in my room would have had it in theirs too. Hoho

@Deady bro. One of my favourtite consoles. The best interface/menu. One of the best controllers. Pikmin 1&2. Smash bro Melee. Animal Crossing. Rogue Squadron 2. Eternal Darkness.

Whelp, my first GBA was the purple (indigo) variant. My first 3DS was purple as well. My current one is… still sort of purple since it’s the Galaxy version of the “New” model.

I think purple systems are awesome, but I think they should have either (A) mainly just marketed the black/silver models or (B) had a larger variety of colors to along with the Purple (I know there was orange but I don’t know if that was available at launch or not).

A GameCube “Color” line with a pure purple, blue, green, red, and potentially more would have been soooo cool.

Me and pretty much all my friends had the black model

It basically was the SNES colors inverted to a degree, but I couldn't understand pushing this color so hard at launch. I'm glad they had a black option, which I went with, but they didn't really market the colors side by side too often. If they were trying to stand out from their competitors well, mission accomplished, but boy did the system catch so much "kiddy" flack. Ironically by the time of the Wii, Nintendo started marketing themselves as "we play in our own arena", which I feel if they went with that messaging at GCN launch, the GCN's lifetime sales could've been rosier, but I digress. In any case, as an appreciator of Nintendo gaming, I rather enjoyed the Cube and its library. I'm just glad that time has treated this system with more respect over time. Glad to see so many fans

@DumbElder yeah! add F-zero GX, two Metroid games, two Monkey Ball games, classic Starfox plus Adventure, two Zelda games, 1080 Snowboarding, Wave Race, Metal Gear and the list goes on and on and on... Best console ever!!!

@BoostPower it's hard to argue with that. Cheers!

I was an adult at the time the GC released. I chose the black console to match with the majority of my electronics in my entertainment stand at the time. We have a platinum and black currently.

I sleep when I see a black Gamecube. So lifeless.

The platinum one at least had a nice shiny finish to it. Very space-y.

As an artist I could see where the hesitation could come from. Secondary colors like Orange, Green and Purple could be somewhat of a risk, albeit small. I really think the bigger thing was the handle...?....

The Sacramento Kings and LA Lakers are purple.

had the GameCube been black as the default color it might've sold a little better..

I don't see this shade of purple as "too feminine" at all, although it does make it look more like a toy, I'll concede to that much even if I personally don't care that it does.

Back in 2001 I wanted the purple one myself and only ended up getting a black one because the store was lacking in purple units.

Something about GC Purple is very pleasing to my eyes.

The US already had the big purple Fisher Price buttons on their SNES, so at the very least the purple has continuity.

This pre-dates Apple? I'm pretty sure the Apple G3 was released before the Gamecube. And the rainbow color line was quite a success...wasn't it?

I must be different because it is actually what i liked the most about it

Ironically they changed out the coloured buttons for the US Snes for Purple, to make it look more .. mature. Ooooh the irony

Maybe if it actually had been purple it would've been a little too feminine, but it was an indigo system that I think hit a good sweet spot between the genders color-wise.