Despite it bringing up the rear in North America, and despite it dying a premature death, few will argue that some of the greatest games of all time were released on the GameCube. We're not talking about those multiplatform masterpieces that see releases in five or six different formats—we mean the games that were made for the GameCube. We mean the games that made it worth it to own a GameCube even though the PS2 and Xbox were getting great games hand over fist. We mean the games that you absolutely, positively needed to own a GameCube to play.

We here at Nintendo World Report still love our GameCube games. Even with the next-gen hoopla in full swing, we couldn't help but reminisce about the fantastic games we played on Nintendo's purple box. The staff wanted to make sure people wouldn't forget about these games, so we decided to pay tribute to them with one of the biggest features in the eight-year history of this site.

The NWR staff spent weeks discussing and debating which of the GameCube's more than 500 games were worthy enough to be considered games that defined the GameCube. We knew right away that constricting this list to a top ten or some other number would mean some games got shut out, or some games would be included that may not have been deserving. Instead, we set some strict guidelines and decided to include any game that met them.

- A game must have been exclusive to the GameCube in a significant way. We wanted to make a list that was the GameCube's own. There were some outstanding multiplatform games released during the GameCube's lifetime, but you didn't need a GameCube to play them. For a game to make the main list, there had to be a point in time where you could only play it on the GameCube, or there was an outstanding reason why the GameCube version of a multiplatform game was the best of the three. Of course, games that were outright exclusives automatically fit in this category.

- A game must have high NWR review scores. This is a "well duh" criterion, but there needed to be a point where we had to stop including games just for the sake of including them. We started off forbidding all games that we scored below a 9.0, but dipped down a little to include some games that we believed should have been on the list despite its "low" final score.

- A game must only be the original in a series spanning multiple games on the GameCube. After a game becomes a hit, sequels are inevitable. Although there are many sequels that are terrific games, they were not taken into consideration for the main list. This factor does not disqualify a game if the genesis of a series wasn't on the GameCube; but rather, it's to prevent the same direct line of games to be recognized more than once.

- A game must have been released in English. Japanese imports were not considered for our greatest games list. If three out of four major gaming regions can't easily obtain and play a game, it shouldn't be given the honor of being one of the system's best. If it was, it would have been available worldwide for everyone to enjoy. Luckily, almost all of the best Japanese games were eventually translated and released elsewhere.

- A game's retail success must not be a factor. Did it bomb in the shops? Doesn't matter. A good game is a good game no matter how many people buy it. (The same can be said for bad games.) We wanted to recognize the under-the-radar titles as well as the multi-million sellers, because good games deserve to be played, no matter what.

Using these criteria, we (reluctantly) settled on 18 games that we believe are the GameCube's greatest. Each game in our list will have a main retrospective from an NWR staffer, along with some thoughts from the rest of the staff about why the game is one of the greatest. For parity's sake, some games will have a dissenting opinion from a staffer bitter about the game appearing on the list. We want people to realize that even these games are among the best ever made, there's always going to be someone who thinks otherwise.

Once we're done recognizing each game, we'll bring up a related GameCube game or moment from the GameCube's history. By offering some insight to other games or the circumstances under which the games were released, we hope to strengthen our case for declaring these games the GameCube's greatest, as well as give a general overview of the system itself.

While we're pretty sure we've come up with the most definitive list of the greatest GameCube games, there will be those out there who don't agree with us. You may think we shafted a deserving game, or you may think we included an unworthy game. We don't doubt it, considering how long it took us to finalize this list due to all of the favorites each of us wanted to see included. Even so, if you want make an argument for or against a game, you can discuss this feature in our forum's Talkback thread.

With all of that out of the way, let's take a step down memory lane and begin revealing Nintendo World Report's Greatest GameCube Games.