My Games Count (Retail Releases Only)GameCube:
61Wii:
58I enjoyed the GameCube era more. Let me explain...
For me, the 'Cube era was a rekindling of the fire that the SuperNES brought to my doorstep. Everything from the silky smooth controller...to having a powerful graphics chip...to a surplus of great third-party games (minus all the awesome JRPGs of long ago). Microsoft boldly and conceitedly announced that
their console was the only one that could do fur effects and certain water texturing that gen. Then Rare and Nintendo let out a big
"Screw you, Microsoft" and created one of my favorite games of that generation -- Star Fox Adventures. Crazy fur effects and realistic water abound. It was great!
I've mentioned this before on this forum, but of my 61 'Cube games, the majority of them ARE third-party games. And these games are distinctly why I love my 'Cube oh-so much more than the Wii. Yes, No More Heroes, MadWorld, Zack & Wiki, and various other third-party games are great fun... but they DO NOT compare to the magic and smooth gameplay, and most importantly - fantastic, solid play-control, that games such as Metal Arms: A Glitch in the System, Second Sight, Beyond Good & Evil, MGS: The Twin Snakes, Viewtiful Joe, and Rogue Leader conjured up.
I'm also a huge fight game fan (nowhere near as much as Ty, tho
), and games like Soul Calibur II and Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO were all that much better on the 'Cube compared to its rivals' counterparts. Plus, I own all of the Naruto: Geiktou Ninja Taisen games - I
almost prefer these games over Smash Bros.! Crazy. But they're SO good. That same experience cannot be found on the Wii. Even as much as I do like Guilty Gear XX Accent Core... but still.
As far as Nintendo's own games go... and you guys might lambaste me for this...
I was absolutely stoked and thrilled for Luigi's Mansion at launch. I much preferred this game over any of the Marios on Wii. It was breathtaking to see a new creative idea using a Mario Bros. character in a totally new way. I'm a
huge Ghostbusters fan, and so this game was a dream come true. I've probably played through Luigi's Mansion four or five times, and completed every single task on each run through... compared to my single play-through of each Mario game on Wii - and NOT doing every possible task in-game. I just got bored of the monotony. And that tacked on waggle for the spin in the Galaxy games... ugh. :/
Battalion Wars was a godsend for me that gen, too. Yes, there's BW2 on Wii.. but still, to this day, I've yet to finish the game because there's something about that Wii remote that drives me bonkers... makes me NOT want to have long play-throughs of games. It's disheartening. But anyhoo, yes! I loved BW. Such a smooth game to play on the 'Cube... and I loved that "Nintendo" touch of playing an semi-RTS, too. So good. Same goes for Pikmin... huge fan of those games during that era, too.
The only game series I can honestly say I preferred playing on Wii was Smash Bros. - Brawl, of course. And my only reasoning for it is simply because I was able to patch the game myself. Brawl+ and Project M brought new life into a semi-broken game and made it wholly wonderful again... but of course... I played this game using... yup. GameCube controllers! So would you really consider it a Wii game by that account?
And Zelda. Hmmm... this one's been a rough ride for me. I loved Skyword Sword immensely (more so than any of the other 3D Zelda's...except one), but Wind Waker was meh to me. Not because of the graphical style - which I was incredibly furious about when
that trailer was first released. >:/ But mainly because, as others have already mentioned, the devs kinda puttered out on developing a FULL Zelda game with WW. I was just very disappointed by the whole matter. That ending, though... wow, that ending. Majora's Mask is still my favorite, though. Too bad that game wasn't pushed further back and re-imagined on the 'Cube. I would've been down for that.
Xenoblade
is the one shining beacon of light for the Wii, though. I have to give the console credit where it's due when it comes to that game. And I'm also eagerly awaiting The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, too. There's still a little life left in the Wii...
I just don't find it as exhilarating as the good ol' GameCube days were. F-Zero GX, Wave Race: Blue Storm... wow. So many great memories!