Crunching the Numbers: GameCube's 2005
Nintendo milks its mascots dry, but devotes no internal resources to GameCube. Our analysis inside.
by Matt Casamassina
January 31, 2006 - According to the latest TRST data, courtesy the NPD Group, the majority of 2005's biggest games were on PlayStation 2. That being true, both Microsoft's Xbox platform and Nintendo's GameCube console had some hits of their own. An analysis of the top 15 GCN games of the year proves that the Big N's system is made of mascots. Take Mario out of the equation and half of the machine's top sellers for 2005 go completely missing. Even so, Capcom managed to sneak one clearly adult-targeted entry into the list and the project outsold every other GCN competitor for the period.
2005's Top 15 GameCube Titles:
1. Resident Evil 4 (January) - 615,000
2. Super Mario Sunshine (August, 2002) 532,000
3. Mario Party 7 (November) - 500,000
4. Super Smash Bros. Melee (December, 2001) 440,000
5. Mario Superstar Baseball (September) 410,000
6. Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness (September) 336,000
7. Super Mario Strikers (December) 310,000
8. Madden NFL 06 (August) 280,000
9. Star Fox Assault (February) 280,000
10. Mario Party 6 (December, 2004) 275,000
11. Shadow the Hedgehog (November) 260,000
12. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (November, 2003) 222,000
13. Madagascar (May) 232,000
14. DK Jungle Beat w/ bongos (March) 185,000
15. NBA Street V3 (February) 165,000
The list above shows that for 2005 GameCube lacked a million-seller. Madden NFL 06 sold more than a million copies on both PlayStation 2 and Xbox, by comparison. GCN's biggest hit for the year was Capcom's critically acclaimed Resident Evil 4, which released last January. The game sold through more than 615,000 copies during the year, which is a very respectable number. However, for such a recognized and beloved franchise, the numbers probably should have been higher. This point is perhaps best evidenced by the fact that the console's second greatest seller, Super Mario Sunshine, sold through an additional 532,000 units despite the fact that it was released three years prior.
The top sellers for 2005 illustrate that for GameCube owners, Mario is still king. The Italian plumber headlined or appeared in eight out of the top 15 best sellers for the platform last year. Nintendo mascots as a whole - this includes both Pokemon and Star Fox entries -- dominated 10 out of the top 15 games on GameCube in 2005.
The list also suggests that younger skewing titles sell better on the platform. With the exception of Resident Evil 4 and Madden NFL 06, every game on the top 15 GCN sellers falls into the "family friendly" category of kid-appropriate titles. Resident Evil 4 may have been the best seller on GCN in 2005, but it released in January. Mario Party 7 debuted in November and sold 500,000 units, only 115,000 short of Capcom's anticipated survival horror sequel.
Most perplexing of all, however, is the lack of titles in 2005 developed by Nintendo's internal teams, including Entertainment, Analysis and Development or EAD, headed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Not a single new game on 2005's top 15 best-selling GCN efforts was created internally by EAD. Super Mario Sunshine made the list, but it was released three years. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat was made by Nintendo's newly formed Tokyo studio. This, of course, begs the question, why weren't there more internally developed Nintendo titles released for GameCube last year? Can the entirety of EAD be working on the next Zelda? We think not. We can only assume that the internal divisions have been busying themselves with Nintendo DS and Revolution development.
