Then of course you can always come to the darkside and start playing Sony software. Some of my favorite games from last gen were never released on Nintendo consoles.
Banned! Banned! Banned! Banned! Banned! Banned!!!! There's a lot of GC software that hasn't quite been surpassed or is iconic.
Quality over quantity for the gamecube IMO. Pokemon Colosseum and XD gale of darkness are the best pokemon games and put the likes of scarlet and violet to shame. Paper Mario TTYD is the best one in that series too. Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 both on the gamecube were amazing. Metroid Prime 1 and 2. Pikmin 1 and 2. Luigi's mansion 1 was actually creepy unlike the sequels.
And there it is. The same point I was making in my earlier post. 20 years on and a lot of fans now see the GameCube had a lot of significant entries and high points for quite a few of Nintendo's franchises. It's like a film franchise. For instance, James Bond. There are certain movies that are considered the best, the worst and others that are good and ok yet even some of those entries can be a person's favorite for whatever reason. When looking at series like Metroid or Paper Mario or Smash Bros (or, heck, Sonic too, as mentioned by me and Dinar87), software released on the GameCube for various Nintendo franchises often ranks on the high side or top of the Best Games list for those franchises.
And to add a little bit more context to something and my perspective:
Especially in recent years where there's suddenly been all this Gamecube nostalgia and Nintendo fans declaring the Gamecube the greatest system ever made and how the Gamecube era was the best time, when it's like, are you fucking kidding me.
Recent years? The GameCube nostalgia was already happening after a couple of the Wii years. I know. I've been here and I've been part of it!
I've mentioned it before but I'll bring it up again. During the N64 years, I was falling out of gaming love. First, it took a long time before I even got an N64. It was basically around the time DK64 came out. There was some stuff that I liked to play or enjoy but I was finding myself interested in other things. My brother played a lot more N64 than me. He'd rent games and I wouldn't even bother to play them once unlike all the years with our Super Nintendo. I can think of quite a few games in which I'd check in on him and watch him play a little bit of something and then go off and pursue other hobbies. Years later, I found myself wanting to track down and try some of that software that I missed out. When the GameCube was released, we ended up getting it early compared to the N64. Feburary 2002. The GameCube really reignited my love of gaming. I loved the controller way more than the N64 one and the level of graphics and what game design had learned from going into 3D just seemed so much more refined at that time. It took awhile to acquire software for it but I would replay a lot of the games I had for it over and over because I just enjoyed them. You can say that it might also be that I had more free time to play games on the GameCube as it was during that time I would graduate high school and begin working but I'm not sure how true that it is. I had a lot of time also while growing up to play SNES and N64 but GameCube software just spoke to me more.
It was that passion for GameCube stuff that led me to PlanetGameCube and posting on these forums. I remember back then how the community was despairing at Nintendo's shrinking market share. How Sony had the lion's share of 3rd party support and XBox was making waves with Halo and online multiplayer while Nintendo was choosing to sit out online for the Cube. How every decision Nintendo made was being scrutinized and if they could ever reclaim the market. I do think a big part of that is because of the passion a lot of us GameCube users felt from feeling that the actual product, the software and the hardware, were really great. It was the idea that if people would get past the "kiddy" label or the "purple lunchbox" dismissal then they would find that there was terrific software on it that was top class compared to what the other companies had. I mean, take away Halo and what other software are people reminiscing about for the original XBox? Most of it is practically forgotten while much more GameCube software, both third party and Nintendo, have withstood the time.
I'll also say that the GameCube is the system in which I've easily played the most multiplayer gaming on. Perhaps that's a factor in my continued love for it. There's definitely some added appeal when you can play software in-person with friends but that was also what Nintendo was focused more on. In-person multiplayer over online multiplayer and a lot of titles were and still are great for that.
Even with the Nintendo criticism on these forums, there was still a lot of excitement over what the next games in a series could be like for a Nintendo franchise and also a lot praise for software that was being released for the Cube. People were often quite happy with what they were playing and talking about it here. Despite the negativity people might feel about Nintendo's future, I was very happy with pretty much everything I was playing for the system at the time even janky stuff like Sonic Adventure 2 or Sonic Heroes. Maybe I was less cynical or less experienced with gaming so it made a difference with things still seeming new and fresh. I'm not sure. Yet, it feels like a lost time in game development when Sony and MS went HD and suddenly everything had to be a huge software seller to afford the development of a title and the market changed in how it made and released games.
When the Wii came out, I found myself disappointed somewhat with Nintendo's software for it and despite Nintendo's goal of trying to win back lapsed gamers, it actually made me a lapsed gamer as I just wasn't liking the system as I did the GameCube and my gaming time went very low and almost non-existent for a few years. At least for console gaming. DS was still keeping me a bit more active. The next time I felt like I had during the Cube year was actually with the 3DS and its early years. It got me reignited again and I really enjoyed a lot of the early software on it. The design of games and their length somewhat reminded me of games developed during the time of the Cube and PS2. Now, I find it comes in waves. If I play something really great like BotW or Hollow Knight then that can get me excited about gaming again and I'll start playing a bunch of other software. Yet, since a lot of other software can be middling then that enthusiasm can wane.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, I've found that Nintendo Directs can sometimes act as a way of reigniting that enthusiasm. Just from watching a trailer of a game that might be a favorite entry of mine or looks like a sure winner, that can get me going to get back at playing games as I wait for that title to release. When that isn't there, which has been the case for over half a year then I feel the boredom that Dinar87 mentions. My gaming time has been very low these past six months. There was a bit of time in mid-February when I wanted to get back to gaming and finish up some titles I'd been working on and start up some new stuff and was playing my Switch a bit more regularly but that enthusiasm soon faded away. It's this vibe that there is nothing pressing to play right now. I'm not missing out on anything. There's nothing announced that's coming out soon where I feel I should catch up on a past title. With all the retro games I seem to be playing on Switch like N64 games or ports like Final Fantasy or Ori and the Blind Forest, it just seems like I can get to those whenever. I've waited this long to play them, they can wait some more before I get to them. Meanwhile, there can be new movies or TV Shows or books that I want to see now and don't want to be spoiled on or don't want to fall behind on. So, these things end up winning my time because the current offerings, particularly from Nintendo, don't seem as fresh or exciting.
There was a great quote from Miyamoto about how games have become these consumables that folks just try once and then discarded but like a great book or movie, they can sometime not be fully enjoyed until they are experienced repeatedly.
TLDR: replay an older game you enjoyed or try out a multiplayer game.
On the subject of time, there are a lot of games I'd like to replay and I have been returning to things slowly like stuff on the Switch apps or in my personal gaming collection. The problem is that I often feel guilty about doing so because there's so many games I've acquired that I've yet to play so why am I now returning and spending more time on something I've already played and finished. Usually, though, replaying a game doesn't take as long as the first time as you know more what to do and how to play it but it also makes me more aware of past games that do things which can waste a player's time which is why I love the save state or rewind feature with the Switch app titles to help speed a replay along. Sometimes I wonder why I'm buying new stuff if I just want to replay the games I already have. Gamers - We're Never Satisfied!