GameCube Ads Were Kinda Weird

Nintendo GameCube was a box. A Cube. A Square in 3D. Mario was there sometimes. Sometimes he wasn’t. What fun.
You had a Metroid or two, some Donkey Kong, and the occasional Luigi. And they had TV ads. So I’m gonna talk about them.
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Some Additional Credits:
Planet GameCube
RGTV

[@Whimsu]

fun fact; -the nintendo 64's later ads were actually quite a bit like the early GameCube ads, but since the vid ain't about the 64, I figured I'd save that for a later date.

[@FNCMontragor]

Is that a teaser for the next video?

[@elbarto6668]

Wee forgive you

[@Amesang]

…and *immediately* the ad for _Mischief Makers_ comes to mind. 😏

[@ChatterboxFM]

I remember seeing the Conker’s Bad Fur Day ads on Comedy Central all the time, and then getting really confused because I loved Diddy Kong Racing.. I was also 10 and stupid.

[@impendio]

Give us a vid like this for wii and 64

[@ChessedGamon]

It's suddenly becoming so apparent to me now why my childhood fears turned out to be so incredibly specific as they did

[@eternalux6343]

For example?

[@ChessedGamon]

@@eternalux6343 well being asked for specific examples in online comment sections is probably up there for starters

[@eternalux6343]

@@ChessedGamon I'm not sure that is a serious answer :( I was just curious

[@ChessedGamon]

@@eternalux6343 no I’m just trying to joke a bit In honest, you know those “particular” feelings you get at times? Ones that occur in very specific scenarios that don’t feel like other emotions but we don’t have a word for it? I mean that, but things that made me afraid as a child

[@eternalux6343]

@@ChessedGamon I think I kind of get where you're coming from (maybe) but brings up an interesting point that language isn't always, or really even often, that good or accurate at describing our own personal experiences.

[@dom-dp2sx]

i think this is my favorite era of nintendo ads. they have a rather absurd, human charm to them. definitely better than the corporately dried wii u ads

[@WhereAllYourDeletedCommentsGo]

Wii would like to play!

[@BlueisNotaWarmColour]

This is my favorite era of ads in general. There were so many crazy ads for Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox, and other random shit. Especially on kid's channels.

[@rosecity_chris]

Switch ads are pretty corporate in a different way too. Like a coors light ad lol

[@willissudweeks1050]

I like them as well.

[@damian9303]

The earlier Wii U ads were just like for the Wii, the 2015+ Wii U ads feels just like the Switch ads now.

[@cinemint]

Okay, I'm sorry, but the Animal Crossing ads for GameCube were some of the most accurate video game ads I've ever seen in my life lol. I could not think of a better way to market the game, even today

[@m1k3l1f3]

Winters coming soon. Should I get pants for that?

[@Joshua-te1fg]

Whimsu quickly became one of my favourite channels, I like how this guy has a nack for finding things I don’t know I’m interested and introducing me to them

[@DisasterxUs]

I still remember the Nintendo DS "touching is good" ads. As a 14 year old, I was definitely the target demo

[@goeland4585]

Wtf I don't think we had those in my country. I got one when I was 12-13ish?

[@radiokunio3738]

I'm not trying to say what you can find funny, but personally that ad kind of remembered of being groomed as a child. I don't know if that's really in good taste for ad target children.

[@ShaggyDabbyDank]

@@radiokunio3738 I don't believe they said it was funny at all, just an ad they remembered.

[@elchomper.1063]

Where you an alter boy? What the actual fuck?

[@Jared-C]

I just miss game ads in general. Hardly ever do I see an ad for a game in "normal adult media" anymore. I'm in my mid 30's now and I find myself having to actively seek out what new games are coming out. Maybe I just out of the "loop" of where to find out about these things, but I just have to keep referring back to YT to get any sort of information.

[@EmergencyChannel]

I remember seeing the ads for Halo 2 on TV and getting super hyped.

[@FTChomp9980]

Ads back in the game were basically another form of entertainment rather then advertising. It was a show within a show.

[@goeland4585]

In my opinion it may be better this way? I kind of don't trust mainstream media to force-feed me the latest and most expensive games haha. There aren't any ads for the games I'm playing anyway. Probably Mario Kart but I'm not turning my adblock off just to see what I already know and stuff I don't care about.

[@DynaZor]

to get to the loop; (with the extra info, news, dramas and rumors) subscribe to these channels: gameranx Inside Gaming Logitech G outsidexbox Pelvic Gaming Stumpt (mostly coop) Tyler McVicker (mostly Valve) ValveTime (mostly Valve)

[@DynaZor]

and for trailers just go to IGN wherever

[@mittensfastpaw]

What is funny is that both the Dreamcast and Gamecube ended up shooting themselves in the foot by refusing to adopt the DVD format. Which was really strange because up not adopting the CD format really hurt Nintendo with the 64 and Sega was known for trying to be ahead of the curb. Both were primed to use a new format that pushed the limits of storage, read speeds and been signed on by many companies. So they handed away a giant win to the PS2 before the console generation got started. Which won over many companies not only to make games for it but families as well. My mom warmed up to our PS2 because of that feature and even got a DVD player for the living room due to it. I still believe this was the defining generation call.

[@2NDFLB-CLERK]

▪ Could be. Maybe it was half or a quarter of the reason.. Or maybe it was just that ps2 had gta3, & it could also play Playstation one games. I remember kids used to say those two thing way back. I remember sometimes hearing of the DVD topic, but not nearly as often. Most people I heard talking about it said "I already got a DVD player - I only care about the games". 🟥

[@renakunisaki]

The funny thing is the GameCube does use mini-DVDs. There was even a model in Japan that could play DVD movies. But the fact that they didn't realize how clever Sony's strategy was really hurt them. PS2 was an inexpensive DVD player when DVDs were new and expensive, so people bought it just for that, and then when they wanted to play games, oh look they already have a console. Wii even had a DVD player function but it was never enabled.

[@FelipeJaquez]

The PS2 managed to, lack for a better term, trick parents into buying it by marketing itself as a relatively cheap DVD player that could play games. Its like how Nintendo managed to get big sales after the crash by labeling itself as a super toy with ROB.

[@_j_t_p_]

square switching because of the carts shouldve woke them right tf up. no one over there thought "maybe we should assist the people that develop the actual fucking games next time"? This is why the 64 unit sales got doubled here in NA. not having final fantasy alone probably cost them like 5 million sales on that one system. theyre lucky they destroyed the handheld market early. gameboy/color sold more units than the 64 and gamecube combined. DS is the most successful system in NA history, by number of sales. definitely what led to the way they developed the switch - seeing their stationary consoles get out sold every generation probably got old.

[@_j_t_p_]

@@lionsgamingden97 not sure losing massive exclusives is a dunk. you ever hear someone trash their ex, when theyre clearly still infatuated? sounds like coping, but alright. square kicks ass and they know it. chrono trigger was probably the best game on the previous system. who knows what other potential exclusives they lost regardless, the larger point of making shit more workable for developers in general still stands. i see your above point about having to pay for licensing for DVD format but other companies had no real issue using that medium and selling the shit out of consoles. i heard ps2 did okay. ill forever be the 64 fanboy (i also went with gamecube) but they fucked up. point blank

[@buttertool6211]

I love the Y2K vibes ngl, these ads are *just* right

[@VexAcer]

8:35 God the Metroid Prime ad is so badass. Really nails that atmosphere.

[@bushidobrown9857]

That early 2000s drum and bass STILL SLAPS

[@Abel-Alvarez]

I'm trying to figure out what the song name is and the artist. 😅

[@Blaze0647]

The Luigi's Mansion commercial was pretty hard, can't even lie.

[@mr.b89]

Drum n bass will do that to ya.......

[@aturchomicz821]

3:42 Ok but theres no way that these heavily uncanny Animal Crossing Gamecube ads didnt at least a little bit inspire the over the-top Web LP "The Terrible Secret of Animal Crossing" 7 years later, like these games were never supposed to be viewed from this uber-realistic perspective wtf... D: "A walrus moved into the village today. Hot!"?? I think im about to have a stroke😖

[@puppable]

As a kid the weird "GameCube" whisper they had at the end of every ad always made me think they were doing it because some game cube haters would break in and beat the shit out of me if they heard the name being said out loud or something

[@mattymclaughlin5900]

Bro what

[@puppable]

@@mattymclaughlin5900 why else would they whisper, that's why you whisper. to keep wicked little secrets

[@mattymclaughlin5900]

@@puppable makes sense actually

[@Radvvan]

"To start, imagine you are in the early 2000s"... I was fucking 5 years old in a third-world country, what the fuck am I watching. I feel old as fuck and this video makes me feel even older.

[@vldmrsimonov]

Where you used to live in early 2000s?

[@horushyperion76]

Shut it gramps

[@shazmanbound1496]

Sony was doing the same "weird edgy" commercials with the PS2. It was part of that era to be edgy and weird

[@DMBisAwesome]

I think the point he's making is that those types of ads were a better fit for PS2/Xbox/PC since those platforms appealed to a more mature audience. Whereas Nintendo was trying to be something it wasn't.

[@FelipeJaquez]

The early 2000s my beloved. Inject the nostalgia directly into my blood vein!

[@patrickbyrne5070]

FR… those were the days..

[@Abel-Alvarez]

For those looking for that Drum and Bass song in the Luigi's mansion Ad, It's "Vince Pope - Destination Unknown"

[@thecomfyshirt]

I forgot about those ads but I remembered seeing every single one growing up. Didn’t really strike me as that weird at the time. Definitely mind blowing to watch now.

[@damian9303]

That’s true for all advertising during this generation, only Sony kept it going early into the PS3 before the Slim models started coming out

[@RegalPixelKing]

The Wii ads were pretty good during the "Wii would like to play" era of that console, but then they got as terribly lame as possible later on in the Wii's life. The Wii U carried on the Wii's terrible legacy of "fun for the whole family" ads that were as soulless as possible and did not really shot how good the Wii U's games can be.

[@FrecklesOpenMic]

That Luigi's mansion commercial music slaps hard

[@ill_hex8103]

11:50 The funny thing about that Good Charlotte ad is their record label is Sony Music. In fact, in order to get GC playing as frequently as possible, Sony sent dvd players and a PS2 in a payola scheme to convince the radio stations to play them more often.

[@skeletonyouth616]

The diverse content on your channel makes you so goated bro foreals and i barely found your channel this week! Already watched like 5 vids

[@matthew8153]

That Mario for President ad is how the Republicubes beat the Dreamocrats.

[@AhPook]

I can't believe the Pikmin ad was actually a bunch of dwarfs in lycra suits.

[@kat_lynx]

I remember those weird GameCube commercials, the Who Are You campaign was so bizarre but it also had some sort of charm, so much it still lives rent free in my head, just like Play It Loud.

[@Nathan-mu1pz]

Bowser taking out the pitching machine is gold

[@gringomoderfoquer8287]

That Luigi's mansion ad... amazing. Now my headcanon is that Luigi is into goth girls

[@carlcarlington7317]

It will never not be funny to me that Nintendo advertised LUIGIS MANSION as some edgy grungy horror game. Like, it’s Luigi’s mansion! I like the games but they aren’t silent hill.

[@Williampentium133]

The Gamecube had some very great games. Eternal Darkness for example will always be the unique thing we only got on the gc.

[@StoneWeevil]

Lol imagine being in the background during the filming of that American Pikmin ad Like you're just chilling on the street when across the street you see an army of midgets in colored morph suits mobbing a hotdog stand

[@EikelmannRU]

Great video. I completely forgot about how wild these commercials were as a kid. Also super random but has anyone ever told you that you could probably do a really good Kermit the frog voice?

[@XxXVideoVeiwerXxX]

Mario party ad was dead on, most realistic depiction. In any region

[@GameInterest]

My parents forced me to grow up as a Nintendo.

[@give_me_my_nick_back]

The idea of nintendo making any ads is weird to begin with. I can recall ever seeing 2 nintendo ads on TV, one was mario galaxy commercial made by media markt and the other was nintendo switch also co-branded by some store. They don't do ads at all in here, they don't really care about non English markets.

[@UncleJakey9]

Early 2000’s was trippy

[@renakunisaki]

It's a shame the GameCube didn't do well. It's probably one of the best-designed systems they made, from a tech standpoint at least.

[@olivercuenca4109]

I miss this weird style of advert. It's like the ones for Tango from the 90s, or the Five gum ones. I guess before advertising got watered down by online stuff, it was possible to really plug money and effort primarily into making some genuinely interesting, high-concept TV ads.

[@Mr.Septon]

I for sure always loved the Mario Party ads with them in the foam costumes. Those just give the right feeling to me, it all hits home nicely.

[@dragonhowler]

Been trying to find this obscure gameboy color ad... It's just this guy singing acapella and he's like "I'm your pop-song man, I'm your bubblegum man"

[@NamelessGamer29]

The Gamecube ads were what the early PS3 commercials tried to be but they were the fun kind of weird

[@paisan8766]

I’m 35 and remember none of these commercials. I also was out of gaming for the most part by then. And I was outside constantly. Sports and friends and the like by middle school lol

[@Aaronnoraator]

I prefer the old ads tbh. They had so much creativity

[@gamefan6219]

If only today's nintendo commercials were like this... 😔

[@treetheoak8313]

Holy crap, you just had me brain blast these memories back to me! Those person cube commercials and the animal crossing Live action commercials hit like normal!

[@user-fe8rh9rg7j]

The side by side of the early gamecube ads is so surreal considering the stereotype of Japanese ads and American ads have switch today. Seeing American ads be weird, trippy, wild, surreal things and the Japanese ones just being normal just feels wrong

[@kaitlyn__L]

There were plenty of weird ads on both sides, just not always for the same product. I also tended to think, back when this “y2k aesthetic” was ongoing, that the western ones tended to try to mix harsh reality with the surrealism, which I often felt limited the potential of the weirdness. Nowadays I can see better the contrast they’re going for, to draw more attention to the strangeness by putting it inside mundanity; but I still have respect for the ads that went all in on surrealism rather than trying to mix the two together.

[@zakktaylor9431]

I just really love how you get wrapped up in the flow of these vids and the endings are smash cut punch lines. Qué magnifíque

[@ethans6539]

Back when ads actually tried 😭

[@FryIronicMemeFace]

That US Pikmin ad looked like either an Eric Andre sketch gone horribly wrong or a Filthy Frank sketch gone horribly right.

[@Abel-Alvarez]

Early 2000s ads were something else, the future if you will.

[@MugenBoy]

“Luigi was there sometimes” Pretty much sums up Luigi

[@dissonanceparadiddle]

GameCube/gba ads were the peak of game commercials outside of Japan. I miss them.

[@kneefreedom817]

3:23 one thing you got to say the square screen effect are cool. Must bern hard

[@JAFOpty]

there was a lot in MTV influence in these. A lot of commercials in the late 90s early 2000s were very psychedelic

[@cyber-thundr_]

I think it’s clear that, just like how the early 2000’s was described for Disney, the GameCube was Nintendo’s experimental era. Because the company started trying to copy the same ideas as their rivals during The Console Wars to keep the company’s increasing success flowing.

[@Stop_arguing_with_strangers]

The pikmin 2 commercial has haunted me for years

[@cube6485]

Those gamecube ads were amazing, I wish they would bring that marketing style back. I don't like the dull and dry approach that they have now. Only good thing is that they show more gameplay now I guess.

[@Wierie_]

Awesome video. Usually I don't like ads at all but these were cool and interesting!

[@TrinSpin]

You need to do an overview of all the WoW ads made with celebrities back during that era; I remember the William Shatner and Mr. T ones being good in particular

[@Abel-Alvarez]

Don't forget the Ozzy Osbourne one too

[@alias7goldenletters]

man the non japanese ads are so good tho

[@metalbrainmextrememetalent6810]

I loved the GameCube. I got one for 30 dollars when my Xbox 360 red ringed. I needed a console and that was one I could afford. Played so many GameCube exclusives.

[@GreyWolfLeaderTW]

The version of the Luigi's Mansion ad you showed (the PAL version) is not even the weirdest version that it got. The version I remember was the American version we got domestically here, and it had this really weird strangely-mixed technopop soundtrack in the background with a lot of audio manipulation going on. It actually sounded quite a lot like the opening bars of the intro movie to the PS1 game Ape Escape.

[@mr.b89]

Drum and bass.....

[@60508]

I only remember seeing that ad with the people in a box, but even back in the day I watched mostly VCRs (like I had a VCR of music videos I'd recorded off of MTV lol) and didn't really see adverts or at least i don't really remember watching many ads. But then I was always a PC player and was generally playing civ while listening to MTV or The Box

[@coolthings3124]

The Gameboy advance ads are also kind of similar. Check out the Golden Sun commerical or the hilarious fire emblem commerical

[@MrBoltstrike]

Man, Metroid Prime was so cool. I don't have a single bad memory about it.

[@2NDFLB-CLERK]

▪ I was disappointed with how it didn't have an actual space jump [or screw attack]. I understood the technology was limited, and they didn't want to break the game. Playing through it, I was expecting to eventually get the [real] space jump, which would let me skip over doors, ect... So near the very end, it became obvious that all that wasn't going to happen... Other than that, it was a very good game though. 🟥

[@Fr4ncM]

I'm sorry, but weird or not, those ads were awesome... Maybe is the nostalgia talking, but as a 9-year-old they seemed cool as hell! The TIE fighter one was the one that made me to really want a GameCube. I didn't get the Luigi's Mansion ad back then, but it might have subconsciously influenced my taste for women.

[@Parappadarappa2]

The GameCube ads were just complete chaos and I love it Nintendo’s new ads just aren’t as entertaining as the GameCube ads were

[@ryancresawn4726]

youtube unsubbed me from you you might make an announcement to let people know because I missed a good few vids of yours. i know you put a ton of work into these and your fans deserve to see them. even if you try to be humble i know amassing these clips, your art, and editing them together takes forever because I tried to do it (without the art) and it was hell! Heck i only realized because my little brother asked me if "the guy with the weird cartoons" had uploaded some new videos to watch because he loves these and I would save them to watch with him

[@growingup15]

God Late 90s Early 2000s Tech Ads especially Video Games ads were Top tier. everything was Edgy, Futuristic and just flat out cool. I wish we could return to that style of adverts again. I miss the early 2000s

[@paramilksmemeandlogodump1909]

please check out the ps2 ads as they're weird as the gamecube ads

[@tenkenroo]

Though not GameCube that first smash ad was hilarious

[@fowlerfreak7420]

the weird and edgy ads always unnerved me as a kid in video format, but in magazines/comics and print ads I thought they were cool.

[@baneblade__]

I don't care what anyone thinks, that Mario Party 4 ad explains perfectly what Mario Party is all about

[@tivvy2vs21]

God I love the y2k look, I wanna eventually give it the fallout treatment.

[@m1k3l1f3]

Well, Nintendo did admit they messed up the marketing and didn't really know what to do.

[@donharmuth776]

Straight up didn't believe cube club was a thing. The dystopia we live in

[@donk918]

What saved GameCube was everyone's ps2 were getting old and not reading games. GameCube dropped to 200 bucks and pushed advertising. So we bought in.

[@poorsoul8492]

Oh the uhh little people caught me off guard…. Dear lord, baby Jesus our god. What in the holly fuck?

[@bigspaghettio]

>no goth gamecube gf

[@FTChomp9980]

I grew up playing the N64 missed out during the GameCube era but I heard it was awesome console. The Gamecube ads definitely reminds of simple times of the early 2000s.

[@swaggerdagger8976]

completely unrelated but when i heard the sample on the Death Grips Exmilitary track "Known For It" it reminded me of you for some reason probably because of the early CGI video

[@malcolmisgee]

Those Mario party ones looked so damn entertaining esp MP4 and the commercial with everybody parking bowser I remember they put hot sauce on his toothbrush LMAOOOO I bought it and I only had one controller at the time so I bought a control just to force my siblings to play with me lol … :( 😂

[@gamefan6219]

Remembet the mario baseball commercial with Bowser getting hit by baseballs then got so mad, he tackled the pitching machine?!🤣

[@malcolmisgee]

@@gamefan6219 bro yessss lmfao those Mario mascot commercials were very effective I’m sure a bunch of other kids were dumb like us and bought the games without even seeing any gameplay just thought bcoz there were funny mascots beating up bowser so it MUST be a good game LMAOOOO

[@boulzlafarte24]

Your music is so good!!!!

[@meowmasterL346]

I ADORED the Animal Crossing ones from the original; even those who had no idea what it was could relate to a commercial like that. Especially with how they depict dancing by mashing A in front of the TV in that one advert 💀💀💀 Also, did *not* need that Mario Sunshine ad ripped from my 6th grade psyche, that was laying dormant and repressed JUST fine thanks.

[@davidarjr]

This was pretty much something that was present in the 6th Gen in general if we're honest; The PS2 ads, both posters and Tv commercials were fucking wiiiiild with what they showed and how they promoted the console (something to do with the David Lynch directing the commercials) Xbox also had their fair share of "weird" ads (the "growing up" one *cough*). Marketing teams in general during that time were trying to have a more creative, surreal, edgy, weird and overall experimental approach, which funnily enough, I think it describes the 6th perfectly.

[@Plantster15]

Oh shit cat chillin in a pool

[@reanetsemoleleki8219]

America's obsession with grimdark is ancient.

[@gertywhatagash_]

I bought Animal Crossing bc of one of those ads. No lies. Didn't regret it either. Edit- was that Joji in that one Japanese ad?

[@zombies101lover]

Does anyone remember the game winback on ps2?

[@Gaia_Gaistar]

I remember these ads, the Animal Crossing one was always pretty good though tbh.

[@N00N01]

By now xbox is seen as the place wrecked from 2000s/2010s COD lobby chats while nintendo is now seen as more of a novelty than a full gaming console brand , while pc players see not as much hype around them Its really funny how demografics can shift so quickly

[@RightBackAction]

*Metroid Prime ad plays* Me: man, wouldn’t this be a cool idea for a movie?

[@notaraven]

I think the ads not working in America is more due to the disconnect between the product they sold and the message. For stuff like animal crossing, Metroid, and the sports games you are able to still communicate what the game is while appealing to older audiences. How do you make Luigi's mansion "adult"?? Its not appealing to adults and it's going to confuse the core audience.

[@LoveBbyJay]

Hey Whimsu WTF is up with all the crappy upscale artifacts on a bunch of the ads?

[@calliestudios]

‘Hotdog’ - Pikmin tzu, probably

[@CocoHutzpah]

It's as if the marketing crew watched every music video of The Prodigy and said, "Yea, we can do dat"

[@samwill7259]

I would love to be a fly on the wall during the meetings at ad companies. Just to see what everyone is huffing in that office.

[@spookyman990]

nobody say nuthin about early ps3 ads 👀

[@JD-ny3vz]

Why do I not remember these ads at all

[@owennorcross4407]

Metroid was the only one that work.