Ladies and gentlemen, the GameCube is dead.

In late 2001, Nintendo released the system that was the answer to Sony in the console arms race. Fans were assured that the horrid third-party support of the Nintendo 64 era was long gone, thanks to the developer-friendly environment and disc media, a first for Nintendo. The early years of the system's lifetime were a boom, with many terrific games being released for GameCube shortly after launch. The prospect of three Nintendo heavyweights coming at E3 the next year meant that things were looking good for Nintendo in the early going.

That was, until the industry decided otherwise. The Microsoft Xbox began the modern era of the online console, and the PlayStation 2's dominating market share meant all games went to where the people were spending the most dollars. The GameCube demographic was skewed toward the younger audience, and the system had no online structure to speak of. With the Xbox quickly winning the hearts, minds, and wallets of the gaming industry, the GameCube was shut out by many publishers. After the 2004 holiday season, there weren't many reasons to make the Cube a first or second choice in the minds of consumers, who were loving the enormous library of the PS2 and the online features of Xbox Live. Eventually, noteworthy GameCube releases evaporated completely, turning everyone's attention to Nintendo's Revolution.

Now that Nintendo has moved on into the next generation, the GameCube hardware will fade into further obscurity. Nintendo will eventually cease production of the system, and sooner or later retailers will start clearing out unsold systems and accessories. The death of a console is never a pretty one—we all remember how the Dreamcast met its end. It was starting to look similar for the GC. Few hung around the GameCube's death bed, and no one attended the funeral. Instead, the GameCube's family were more concerned about their new baby Wii, rather than seeing its older sibling being put to rest.

We don't want to remember the GameCube's problems, or its untimely end. We'd much rather forget about them. Instead, we should be celebrating GameCube's life. We compiled this list of the greatest GameCube games because everyone who loves to play video games should look back on the system as a success. Without the GameCube, the games we featured would not have existed, or at the very least, not have been the same on other systems.

As we were compiling this feature, everyone on staff was happy to remember all the great times they had playing GameCube games. We're sure you have great memories of when you played the games on our list for the first time. Hopefully you've played most of the games we featured here. If not, what's your reason for not playing them? Do you hate video games? Most of these classics are still available, and probably at bargain bin prices, to boot. Go out and buy them!

The legacy the GameCube hardware leaves behind is not one Nintendo fans will want to remember. It was a case of would of, could of, should of. But there's no doubt that die-hards will never forget the greatest GameCube games. With any luck, the rest of the gaming population won't, either. We hope you'll do your part to spread the word about our Greatest GameCube Games feature to those unfortunate enough to miss out on the GameCube era.

Finally, we've got a question to ask you. Do you agree with our list? Did we shaft a game you thought should be included, or perhaps included a game that you think doesn't belong? We think we did a pretty good job here, but everyone has their opinions. Voice yours in our forum's talkback thread. We want to hear your feedback so we don't mess it up the next time!

The GameCube is dead. Long live the GameCube, and long live the GameCube's Greatest Games!