Why Are GameCube Games So Expensive and Hard to Find?

When demand is higher than supply

Nintendo 64 games aren’t that expensive. Wii games aren’t that expensive. Nintendo Entertainment System games aren’t that expensive. So why the hell are GameCube games the odd man out here? I’ll tell you why: it’s because lots of people have nostalgia for a console that really can’t handle the popularity.

Basically, as I'll explain, things usually go poorly, or, in this case, expensively when demand becomes higher than supply.

The Success of the GameCube Compared to the Sales

The GameCube was considered a commercial failure for a myriad of reasons which aren't really relevant here. According to Wikipedia, It managed to break 20 million units sold, which may sound like a lot at first, but if you put it in perspective with the 32 million the Nintendo 64 (the console before it) sold and the 100 million the Wii (the console after it) sold, its sales were kind of dogshit.

The only Nintendo consoles that sold worse were the WiiU (13 million units, failed because it was overly ambitious and confusing) and the Virtual Boy (700,000 units, failed because it gave people playing health problems). On top of this, the competition was fierce. The original Xbox was out at the same time, (it sits at 24 million units, one slot above the GameCube in terms of sales), and so was the Playstation 2, and to this day it's still the best selling console of all time (155 million units).

I should also mention that Mario Sunshine, Smash Bros. Melee, and Mario Kart: Double Dash carried this console. Combined they sold over 20 million units. (7.41 million for Smash, 6.96 million for Mario Kart, and 6.28 for Mario Sunshine).

(Information from this Wikipedia article, check it out, it's actually really interesting and shows you how quality prevented this console from completely bombing.)

Now that's a lot for the GameCube, but let's compare that with the best selling games from the Wii: Wii Sports sold 80 million, Mario Kart: Wii sold 30 million, New Super Mario Bros. Wii sold 30 million, etc. These games alone sold more than the GameCube sold units. That's why if you find a copy of Mario Kart Wii in a used game store, even with “nostalgia tax” as I call it (a phenomenon where people sell old things for much more than they're worth because they know people will pay anything to attempt to relive their childhood), you're probably not going to spend more than like 50 dollars, and there are usually quite a few other copies with it. (Info from this article here.)

So basically, we're dealing with a lack of copies of games because the GameCube didn't sell that well, which makes these pricey to begin with. You're probably not going to see 5 copies of one GameCube game in a used game store. Sellers know this and abuse nostalgia tax to make them even pricier.

Here's a comparison from eBay:

(Information from this article, take a look at it, it's really interesting.)

However, that's not the only reason.

The GameCube Tried New Things Because It Had To

GameCube games were very experimental. Nintendo was in a period of throwing things at the wall to see what stuck.

Luigi became a ghostbuster with a vacuum (Luigi's Mansion), Mario got a hose strapped to his back (Super Mario Sunshine), Metroid went from a 2D adventure to a first-person shooter (Metroid Prime), Link went from cool and serious to cartoony (The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker) and the list just goes on and on.

Many of these games are still considered to be the best of their series and the best of all time. They also had a game for almost every franchise they had at the time. Kirby, Mario Kart, Mario Party, Smash Bros, Legend of Zelda, F-Zero, Wario, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, and a ton more I haven't even mentioned.

Nintendo put their best foot forward, offering quality and quantity, they had to make an attempt to compete with those other consoles. It didn't work. Even though the sales carried the console, it wasn't enough. But in the end, we walked away with a stack of pure gold.

On Metacritic, you have to scroll down nearly 200 games to even go under a score of 80.

Check it out for yourself.

Many of these franchises were, in my opinion, at their absolute best on this console. Gamers recognize this quality and these games get snatched up faster than a tri-tip steak at a cookout.

Plus, you don't even need a GameCube to play GameCube games.

Everyone's Got a Wii

The Wii is one of the best selling consoles of all time. You can still go over to someone's house and there's like a 30% chance they've got a Wii sitting somewhere. Even though the GameCube flopped, Nintendo still wanted to let people play GameCube games, so they built in the feature of letting you play GameCube games on your Wii.

This was huge. You essentially got two consoles in one. You no longer had to buy another weird piece of hardware to enjoy many different types of games. This almost certainly contributed to GameCube games getting rarer and rarer. I grew up with both a GameCube and a Wii in my household and we usually just played our GameCube games on our Wii. It was just so convenient.

Basically, GameCube games got a second chance, but its limited stock didn't really support the sudden interest in the console and its games, and it was too late to make more at that point. If you've got a Wii, which a lot of people do, you can play these games. The reason we don't see this with something like the Nintendo 64 is that most people these days don't have a working cartridge and a working 64. It's older and the huge demand isn't really as prevalent.

Ending Thoughts

So, from what I've observed, GameCube games are expensive hard to come by because they're few and far between and get marked up, they're really great games, and because almost anyone can play them. I personally have a friend who spends ludicrous amounts every year to fill in his collection. Just last month, he and I found 2 copies of Mario Superstar Baseball and 2 copies of Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, (one each for both of us), at a used game store and in total we spent about 200 dollars. It's ridiculous, and yet I still fall victim to it.

(Example from my own hometown, Idaho Falls)

Even though I nitpick these prices, I'm still a sucker in the end.

I eat that shit up, unfortunately.