NoA didn't like the purple color of the Gamecube

[Æon]

In an article titled "Gamecube at 20: Nintendo Insiders on the Failed Console That Changed the Industry", Video Games Chronicle reveals that Nintendo of America pushed for a color change:

"We actually suggested that the purple was not the best to start with and [Japan] said, 'no, we're going to use that'. Then we pushed for black and silver, because I think in the US nobody had ever really done the purple colour before."

"...It wasn't that you couldn't bring out hardware that was a different colour, it was just a very... 'female' looking colour. It just didn't feel masculine, I think. I remember us being very nervous at E3 that we were going to get bad press purely based on the colour."

NoA's former director of corporate communications Beth Llewelyn recalls:

"This pre-dates Apple. Picking your colour these days is like making a statement. But back then all the game systems were black... even white hadn't really been done widely. Nintendo was never a technology story, but we were always combating what our competitors at Sony and Microsoft were doing from a PR perspective and having this purple box didn't quite help there."

Nintendo UK's former marketing director Dawn Paige adds:

"With hindsight I don't think we should've been trying to go after the same audience [as Xbox and PS2], going head-to-head against competitors who had squarely positioned 16-34-year-old products and who ours maybe didn't chime as much with."

"...Personally, I loved the GameCube, ut even the look of it made some people perceive it more for kids than a wider appeal. If we could do it again, we would probably be less 16-34 and play to our strengths and gone after a more overtly family and kids audience."