Remember when people realised that the Save icon — a little floppy disk — would be unrecognisable to younger generations? Remember how absolutely ancient you felt? Well, get ready, because it's happening again, and you are the cryptkeeper. Congrats!
Here's the backstory: The lovely, zen game Unpacking just came out, and it's all about figuring out where things go. Mostly, it's pretty easy — cutlery in the cutlery drawer, toilet paper in the toilet paper drawer, and loose milk in the loose milk drawer.
But the Unpacking Twitter account has been fielding requests for help with some of the more tricky items, and some of them... some of them are going to make you sad.
To be absolutely clear: It's completely fine that people don't know a console from 20 years ago! Especially when the developers have made it aesthetically legally distinct, so it looks more like a toaster-GameCube hybrid — and we certainly never got it in that lovely light blue. The fault is not with people who don't recognise the 'Cube and its lovely angles... it's just a sign of the passing of time.
We're not the only ones feeling this way, of course — one of the founders of Witch Beam, the developers of Unpacking, had A Little Moments as well:
And a fellow writer:
Well, at least we're not alone. Now, excuse us while we lie face down for a little while and think about what we've done with the last two decades.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 97
Well there is a lot to .. unpack... here.
To be fair, it looks more like a CD player than a GC console, so I can see why it would confuse people. Plus, the artist put the controller ports in the wrong place, so it may not jump out at people as much.
Oh no... Another thing to make me feel like a fossil, thanks :')
I remember driving to Walmart on launch day at 3am to wait in line for Gamecube.
I’m more curious on what they think the GameCube is supposed to be. Do they think it’s some kind of kitchen appliance?
My nephew doesn't know who Arnold Schwarzenegger is.
Oof. The Cube was my first console as well. File yet another one under ‘looming existential crisis’.
I played my Gamecube games on my Wii machine.
During early 2000's era, I knew about Gamecube existence but have no idea about N64 existence.
All the more reason to make a GameCube mini and toss all the games that are now super expensive to purchase onto it.
I can understand people not knowing what a Gamecube looks like, but come on! The little guy just celebrated its 20th anniversary, didn't they see the posts about it?
I still had my GameCube with a Game Boy Player attached underneath. Sadly I no longer had the disc that came with the GBP thus can't play my Game Boy, GBC, and GBA games on it anymore.
What’s a gamecube
Well it is only 1 of 2 Nintendo systems that Nintendo pretends doesn't exist (the other being the Virtual Boy).
@Handy_Man a compact air fryer
I'm sitting next to a GameCube as I type this and I still think that looks like some kind of kitchen appliance.
The blue color could throw anyone off really. Needs to be indigo
Also kinda funny that if you watch the official trailer (linked above) it shows the use of the GameCube.
It's hard to believe but there are people out there in their low to mid 20s for which the GCN would be an early childhood memory for them, like the NES and SNES was for me.
Old...so very, very old...
Actually I'm not THAT old. As Atomic Samurai would say, "I'm not middle aged, I'm only 37."
Just a handful of ignorant kids. I grew up in the 2000's and I was familiar with old technology from a young age. These people just choose not to be informed. Some of them even take pride in not recognizing devices from the beginning of this century like it makes them cool or something; a weird trend I've been noticing.
Also people in their 20s and 30s should stop feeling old. When we reach 60 we're going to wish we were as "old" as we are today. Every stage of life is special in its own way.
This article makes me feel like I've been injected with Foxdie. What you don't know what Foxdie is either? Welp... my days are apparently numbered.
I didn't even know the GameCube existed back then everyone I knew either had a PS2 or an Xbox
@Would_you_kindly GameCube sold 22 million units, lol. People act like it's some beloved console that everyone owned, but, in reality, it only compares well to total garbage fires like the Virtual Boy and Wii U.
thats... wow. i know what a LP is, but i am from the 90's....
I still have mine packed away somewhere but I'm sure it doesn't have a handle on its side..
Can understand people not knowing what it is,I keep struggling to remember what the PlayStation Vita is despite owning one..
Do people not know about stuff from before they were born anymore or are people happy showing their ignorance online?
@Ralizah The Virtual Boy only sold 770k units. That doesn't compare to the Gamecube.
Yeah, it doesn't really look like one. And most of them would recognize a NES or N64 I think (maybe not one of those weird colourful Euro SNESes though).
@Ralizah didn't do as bad as the Dreamcast though sega didn't even bother making consoles after that it's a shame aswell because my grandad bought me a Dreamcast & I loved it
I'm 19 years old and grew up with Gamecube games first on the console itself and later also on the Wii.
These people are likely partially older than me and still manage to make me feel old.
@Ralizah
Considering the PS2, 22 million wasn’t half bad. The Xbox sold around 24 million. The Dreamcast at 9.5 million.
The PS2 was just such a juggernaut that it pillaged all challengers and threw their corpses into the nearest river. I remember on GC launch day seeing more Xboxes and GameCubes on shelves than PS2s.
What we are experiencing with the PS5 those of us who are a little older experienced with the PS2. You couldn’t find them for nearly a year. They sold out immediately upon reaching store shelves. It was nuts. Completely nuts.
The Xbox and GameCube tried their best but there was just nothing Nintendo or Microsoft could do. The PS2’s hype level was insane.
The fact that both competitors were able to sell 22 and 24 million consoles is actually great success for both of them. No other platform before or since has had such a strong start like the PS2 had. Maybe the PS5 is replicating it now some 20 years later. Point is, no other console maker stood a chance.
Nintendo at least made some money on the GameCube hardware. Microsoft never made a dime on the Xbox. Both were great consoles with some great exclusives, especially Metroid Prime and Halo 2, my favorite games of that generation.
@Kevember absolutely right… but easier said than done 😭
I am as exactly old as the NES and Super Mario Bros, which means I am exactly as old as the concept of modern home video games as we know them.
It's a notion that fills me with existential dread every time I see systems and game series having their anniversaries.
Coincidentally, happy belated birthday, @KateGray 😉
Wow, it was bound to happen eventually. Had some good times with the Cube back in the day.
Some of the comments here are harsh, remember that since everyone on the site is a hard-core Nintendo fan, of course we'd have better recognition of this. Saw people in this thread comparing this to not recognising a gramophone or lp, which is a ridiculous comparison given how much more mainstream that is. Remember that the Game cube only sold 22 million units. There are more people have played Botw and SSBU than people who have owned a Gamecube.
The time has come for me to walk off into the ocean, waves crashing against me as I vanish into the briny deep.
Oof indeed. There's no way I wouldn't interpret any of these tweets as playfully ironic by default. Even taking the design tweaks (possibly aiming to avoid copyright issues as others have suggested) into account. And we're talking something from three generations ago, not even exotics like 3DO or Intellivision that I would be admittedly hard-pressed to identify myself.
Now, they are picking my curiosity about this game. Luckily, it's available in Game Pass, maybe I'll give it a try.
Wait until the Nintendo Game Cube Classic / Mini comes out complete with actual Game Cube Controller connectors! Then everyone will remember. LOL. RE: Dreaming.
Nintendo also forgot about Gamecube (ports).
...Zing!!!!
😎
I would criticise these people, but if I'm being honest, the only reason I knew what a GameCube was pre-2019 was that my brother had one, and I played on it a ton. I didn't even know that the Wii U wasn't a handheld until I got a Switch and became more well-informed on Nintendo.
Great now I know I’m old.😔😔😔
My birthday is in 10 days of this writing and I’m already feeling old.
Well a lot of people missed or skipped the GameCube generation of Nintendo gaming. So at least some young gamers may recognize the NES or possibly even the N64 before recognizing the GameCube... I remember not knowing a lot of people who were into it.
WAAAY of topic but for laughs! Us oldies if you are making a phone symbol we use our little finger and thumb. Kids these days will use the palm of there hand to symbolise a phone.
It's not exactly a GameCube either, so this article is clutching at straws for sure.
Try Pong, kids.
Those images are not Gamecubes. If it doesn't have the four inputs in the front as you'd expect it's something different.
I’ll be honest, if I had seen those pictures out of context, I probably wouldn’t have realized that it’s supposed to be a GameCube.
I'm old enough that I've only seen a gamecube about twice because it came after I lived with my parents, and before I had much money of my own...
This is a welcome change from everyone pretending that they owned several.
If you don't know what a gamecube is, you aren't a gamer. Nothing screams "I don't know what I am doing but I am trying to be a part of something" quite like ignorance about major platforms.
It's like calling yourself a car enthusiast when you don't know what a Ferrari 360 is.
I had an Atari 2600 in the 1980s, do they know what one of those is? 🤔😄
@Kevember Haha, 'old technology'. I'm 40 in two weeks, am I allowed to feel a little old?
@Nintendzoey Atari Collection for Switch. IYKYK.
@JayJ what if you like cars that come from before 2000?
I realized I was old when my reaction to articles/posts that are meant to make you feel old started to be “yeah, this isn’t surprising at all, I know I’m old.”
Nothing could compete with the PS2 at the time (I loved mine), but there was something pretty special about my GameCube. There were some awesome gaming experiences on that little box. Lots of Nintendo magic...
Doesn't look exactly like a GameCube. 🙄
Oh yeah I remember that thing! That's the old GameBox from Microsoft!!!
I look at a Gamecube every day and this looks very little like a Gamecube. I would probably also have a moment of "what is this nondescript appliance supposed to be"
@CharlieGirl thanks, pal
Easy, thats a blue toaster, not a Gamecube.
@TryToBeHopeful Does not matter what age you are, in your late 30s you wish were in your 20s; in your 40s, you will wish you are in you 30s and so on. No matter what age you are, you will always feel old.
I once showed someone a picture of the super megason IV and they didn't know it was a bootleg ps1. It's amazing how many kids these days don't know enough about gaming history to see that it's clearly the same console. It seems no one remembers the ps1 anymore sadly.
I have 3 of em. I'll never forget GameCube. It deserves the Mini Console makeover more than anything else.
I mean, all I'm seeing in the tweets of people not knowing what a GameCube is are zoomer females. No surprise there when their main obsessions are tiktok and instagram.
@TryToBeHopeful Believe it or not you still look like a kid to 70-somethings. Enjoy your youth while you have it. Life begins at 40.
Twitter should have an age filter where I can make it so I only see tweets from people my age and up 😒
Although I played the GameCube only once in 2007 at a friend in Vienna, I had such a fun time with it and kind of regretting that it didn’t quite catch on in my country, where people were gaming either on PC or a PS2/PSP. Even now, in the Switch Era, not many Romanians know about Nintendo or it is considered extremely niche/kiddy compared to Sony and Microsoft’s offerings.
GameCube could have been something of a juggernaut, but as Miyamoto said, it was just another T-rex in the fight for supremacy…
@KateGray Happy B-day!!! Noticed Charlie’s wishes while scrolling and thought that another wish would help making your day great!
@noobish_hat Not going to lie, when you said candle-stick phone and reel-to-reel, I didn't know what you were talking about until I looked them up. I used to read books about inventions, so I recognize the former, and I've seen the reel-to-reel countless times in old videos. But to be fair though, the icon looks more like the airfryer in my house than it does a gamecube.
Being a 42 year old gaming kinda chap, I have just booked myself in to the nearest care home.
It's for the best.
Oh no! I just got one last year. Enjoying Rogue Squadron and Waverace Blue Storm.
Ow. That hurt. I know what a GameCube is.
I think this is just a case of bad artwork. Our eyes demand perfection!
It's good for the value of my original day one gamecube with a gameboy player still attached.
@TryToBeHopeful I was just trying to think of something equivalent to the era lol.
@ChromaticDracula Snake?!
I still enjoy the use of the floppy disk save icon, it's cute and nostalgic.
Dude I never once had a Gamecube yet I know what it is?
I would not have recognized this as a GameCube. It's not obvious.
Also not sure why others not being informed of a games console would make me feel old but ok.
@ThatBlokeTor I agree, I know many things designed before I was born. Also, this doesn't look much as a GameCube. The handle, lid, ports and buttons are all wrong.
That is more on the art that anything. That looks more like a a toaster than GameCube lol
"No.. it is the children that are wrong"
Show them a legally distinct neo geo and then we’ll talk.
I mean... It isn't EXACTLY the same as the real thing.
@Kate Gray:
recogniZe
@KateGray
I don't think we're dissimilar in age... So I'll argue the fine wine angle and say we're only improving with age 🤣
But in all seriousness — is the cube really 20 years old?! What the heck happened to time 😔
Heck people barely recognized the thing when it was new.
😂😂🤣🤣🤣
I still play that thing, it's first party multi-player games were THE BEST!.... And good I'm old!! 🤣🤣😂😂
@MortalKombat2007 Oh, I don't wish I was 30. My 30s sucked. I'm just a little tired, and also it's a big deal when you start working with people in the office born this century.
Always get confronted with all this 'getting old' news but this one does hit in the feels...
of course i know what a Game Cube is, Game Cube is my favorite console beside the Switch.
GCN the first console I ever stood in line for at launch. Have gotten every Nintendo and Sony console at launch since then.
GCN still my favorite overall.
@OldManHermit well, as Denis, the "old woman" in Monty Python's Holy Grail said: "I'm 37, I'm not old."
@Shambo Lol, I forgot about that one. Such a great flick.
I still love mine to bits. Still gets played once in a while too as i have alot of really good games on it that are fantastic to play.
In fairness, I think this has less to do with young people not recognising a GameCube than the fact it doesn’t really look like a console at all. If it were a NES with a controller I think anyone would be able to tell it’s a console - even if they couldn’t name the make and model.
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