Topic: The GameCube 10

[Halbred]

We celebrate 10 years of the GameCube with our 10 favorite games.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/28202

Ten years ago, Nintendo launched their fourth home console: The GameCube. More than ever, Nintendo made sure their system was about games and not much else. While the PlayStation 2 and Xbox had a built-in DVD player, the GameCube just played games. It might have been part of the reason the GameCube didn't have as much traction as the other two systems, but it did give the system a singular focus. That singular focus will be on display here for the next two weeks as we lay out our favorite GameCube games.

Like the SNES 20 before it, this involved a somewhat complicated nomination and voting system, followed by a long staff meeting where friendships were killed and enemies clashed. At the end of it all, J.P. Corbran is no longer speaking to most of the staff, but we have 10 GameCube games to highlight.

Also, check out our Honorable Mentions feature, which is running concurrently with this one.

[DanielM]

I loved my Gamecube. Mind you I really only played Phantasy Star Online but still. I find it amusing that the only games that were really online for the Gamecube were MMO's.

[Ian Sane]

I would consider the best Gamecube games to be Pikmin 2, Zelda: Four Swords and the Metroid Primes.  I personally prefer Metroid Prime 2 but I can't really explain why I prefer it.  The two games are more or less equals anyway. Pikmin 1 is also a must-play but Pikmin 2 is the better title.

One thing to note is that the four titles I listed had no real N64 equivalent.  The N64 had the advantage that nearly every sequel it had did something vastly different and original from its predecessor.  The switch to 3D allowed this.  The Gamecube did not have this luxury so titles like Super Mario Sunshine and Wind Waker were not doing anything too different from what had been done before.  As a result I found those two games somewhat disappointing.  They weren't bad but they didn't stand out the way Super Mario 64 and the N64 Zeldas did.  The four titles I listed as the best provide experiences that were not available on a previous console.

The thing is is that it seemed that Nintendo KNEW that.  Both games try very hard to distinguish themselves from their predecessors with FLUDD and the cel shaded graphics.  But both of those ideas come across as incredibly forced and don't really add much anyway.  It's like that's the point where Nintendo could not effortlessly make a respectable sequel to those franchises that provided new experiences.  So they had to make a conscious effort to make them stand out which is a recipe for a forced idea.  In Mario's case, Sunshine comes across as a mistep as the idea in Super Mario Galaxy to use planets worked like a charm and did not feel forced.  But Zelda has been kind of lost since then and we'll have to see if Skyward Sword can get it back on track.

The Wii and the DS are an extension of that issue.  Nintendo does not feel confident in their ability to effortlessly innovate in a way that comes across as natural so they come up with touchscreens and motion control in the hope that they will inspire new ideas as easily as the switch to 3D did.

[Thaneros]

I loved my Gamecube. Mind you I really only played Phantasy Star Online but still. I find it amusing that the only games that were really online for the Gamecube were MMO's.

They they were awesome! PSO ep III was my fav too bad it died pretty quick but its a gem that only GCN has.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Why is J.P. always the one at the centre of the arguments when it comes to these features? I recall the intro to the SNES 20 reading very similarly. I swear, that man is nothing but trouble.

Super Monkey Ball is a good choice to get things started. One of my all-time greatest gaming achievements was conquering the Expert level set in that game. It's easy to forget how difficult the Monkey Ball series once was. Oh, and the multiplayer minigames were pretty fun. Monkey Fight was unbridled chaos with four people.

[KITT 10K]

Mario Kart: Double Dash should be up there. I liked the game's twist of having TWO characters on ONE kart, (some didn't but me, my brothers, and our friends did). We played for hours on end, we actually over heated a friend's Gamecube from a 14 hour Mario Kart race day, (needless to say we were pretty ticked), so went went to another friend's to use there Gamecube. Now we do this with Mario Kart Wii instead. And we continue to have more fun on Marioto Kart WiiWii than any other game we play.

[KITT 10K]

For those of you who are wondering his we played for 14 hours straight we turn the lap count all the way up, (which Mario Kart DS and Wii are missing, more laps made it more fun), and there were 16pretty of us and 4 spots in the game, (we turned off the computer contolled characters and who ever finished in 3rd and 4th at the end of each track gave it up to the next two people in the oder we drew numbers in which order we would play).

[NWR_insanolord]

Why is J.P. always the one at the centre of the arguments when it comes to these features? I recall the intro to the SNES 20 reading very similarly. I swear, that man is nothing but trouble.

Hey, it's not my fault most of the people on staff are wrong about a lot of things.

[roger6106]

Super Monkey Ball is a great game. I still remember how nervous I was as I was while playing the expert extra stages, hoping to make it to the master stages. Once I got to those master stages I didn't have to worry about dying anymore, knowing that I could use my continues.


Pikmin should make the list. That game has a great atmosphere combined with excellent gameplay. While it was short, it was worth playing through multiple times. I purposefully went through all thirty days once without accomplishing anything, just to see what journal entry Olimar would have next.


I never understood how people liked Pikmin 2 so much more than 1. I didn't even finish playing through it due to the cheap methods it used to lengthen the game. For example, was it really necessary to make electrified gates that only yellow Pikmin could open?

[Tizona]

Yay Gamecube! I just found and bought a sealed copy of Odama with the rarely supported Gamecube Microphone. Gamecube had some great games on it and some truly weird and one of a kind ones like Odama and Cubivore.

[UncleBob]

My top ten, in no particular order:

Super Monkey Ball
Smash Bros. Melee
Soul Caliber 2
Pikmin
Pac-Man vs.
Mario Kart
Wario Ware
Wind Waker
Four Swords
Geist
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Odama

Now, don't go back and count those.

[NWR_insanolord]

I counted them before I read the part about not counting them. There are 12. And you didn't even bother to cheat the way we did with Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario Allstars + World.

[Odie5776]

Kirby Air Ride beats this

[Sundoulos]

Try as I might, I was never able to appreciate Super Monkey Ball...

[Ceric]

My top ten, in no particular order:

Super Monkey Ball
Smash Bros. Melee
Soul Caliber 2
Pikmin
Pac-Man vs.
Mario Kart
Wario Ware
Wind Waker
Four Swords
Geist
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Odama

Now, don't go back and count those.

We could combine Soulcalibur 2, Four Swords, Wind Waker, and Smash Bros Melee by the type of Link that they have in them.

Games with Realistic Link
Games with Cartoon Link

That should get you to Ten .
 
I know these won't make it Phantasy Star Online and Crystal Chronicles.

[LittleIrves]

Okay. This is a dumb question. But...  is Super Monkey Ball worth getting now if you've never played the series? I realize the obvious answer is, "Um, it just made a top 10 list, so yes" but I'm wondering if much of the love is from playing it in 2001, when the series and GC were fresh/new. If I played this today for the first time, does it hold up?

Sort of the same question with Geist. Don't know if it'll make the NWR list, but UncleBob mentioned it, so I figured I'd be somewhat on topic...

[ejamer]

Okay. This is a dumb question. But...  is Super Monkey Ball worth getting now if you've never played the series? I realize the obvious answer is, "Um, it just made a top 10 list, so yes" but I'm wondering if much of the love is from playing it in 2001, when the series and GC were fresh/new. If I played this today for the first time, does it hold up?

Sort of the same question with Geist. Don't know if it'll make the NWR list, but UncleBob mentioned it, so I figured I'd be somewhat on topic...

Super Monkey Ball, definitely. The series never really improved over what was offered in the first two games on GameCube, and the benefit of motion controls over an analog stick is arguable at best. The question is really just if this type of action/puzzle games appeals to you or not. With a quick playing time and tons of fun mini-games to enjoy, for most gamers it's at least worth trying!

Geist... not so much. Having played through this game recently I just couldn't come up with good reasons to recommend it. The game has some neat ideas but they feel under-utilized, and too often Geist falls into the trap of just being a weak FPS with a gimmick instead of being something new and really innovative. Despite a few good moments, there are too many other good games demanding your time to go back for this one.

That's just my opinion of course.

[Ceric]

Super Monkey Ball is worth finding.  Though, Neal will shoot me for this, the levels don't smoothly go up and down.  You'll get a Hard one then an Easy one then a Medium one then an easy one, etc.  The 3DS game does a better job of this but, I can't really recommend it unless you can get it for $10-15 maybe.

Super Monkey Ball is worth tracking down and if Sega knew what they were doing they just port the gaming using the 3DS game engine, release it for $30, and I would whole heartily recommend that game to about anyone.

[UncleBob]

Geist is a fun game - it's nothing ground-breaking or genre-breaking... but it's fun.  The best reason to get it is because if you look on eBay, you can probably get it sub $10/shipped.

[UncleBob]

I counted them before I read the part about not counting them. There are 12. And you didn't even bother to cheat the way we did with Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario Allstars + World.

If I *had* to take off two, I'd probably knock out Wario Ware (since it is virtually the GBA title... but the GBA title was awesome) and Odama.  I do so love Odama though.

[Ian Sane]

Ah, Rogue Leader.  I remember it showed up in stores a few days prior to the Gamecube launch.  Well actually Super Monkey Ball did as well but Rogue Leader is the one I got so it's the one I have memories of.  It's an odd thing to be excited about a pending console release and to have one of its games in your hands but have no way to play it.  I read every word of that instruction manual in anticipation.

Rogue Leader represents a missed opportunity on Nintendo's part and really shows Nintendo's utter cluelessness in marketing to anyone between the ages of 13 and 39.  Rogue Leader was a licence to print money.  It was easily (hell it STILL is) the most accurate videogame representation of Star Wars ever released.  The marketing campaing sold itself.  Buy a Gamecube to play the Star Wars game that looks exactly like the movies.  Okay, it doesn't, but it sure felt that way then.  It was a cool game and a great game and was one of the few Gamecube launch titles that was not only a third party exclusive but also a title that Playstation fans and the emerging Xbox fans were jealous of.

It was included in about a second of footage in a TV commercial that focused on many Cube launch titles at once.  Meanwhile the one launch title that Nintendo did give a solo commercial to was Luigi's Mansion.  Luigi's Mansion was a piss poor choice to be the flagship title.  It was very short and had virtually no replay value.  Okay, Rogue Leader wasn't exactly Final Fantasy either but it has medals and secret levels to unlock.  LM had a second quest and that was IT.  I rented the game on a four day rental and got 100% of the first quest within two days and felt like I wasted my money in renting it for four days instead of just a weekend rental.  But even ignoring that LM had two other things going against it.  First it carried with it the Mario brand but it did not offer a comparable experience to the main Mario titles.  That wasn't so bad in itself but there was no "real" Mario game at launch like every other Nintendo console had had up to that point.  In comparison to those previous Mario launch titles LM came across as inferior and due to it's position as the flagship title that resulted in a poor first impression for the Cube itself.  The other problem was that at that point Nintendo was under fire for being too "kiddy".  Luigi's Mansion was the same sort of family friendly cartoon game that Nintendo detractors had criticized Nintendo for.  It played exactly into the negative biases the very customers Nintendo was trying to win back already had against them.  Rogue Leader in comparison was exactly the type of game those that had jumped ship to the Playstation in the previous gen were looking for.  It wasn't cartoony and didn't come across as kiddy.  Keep in mind that the Xbox was launching at the same time with Halo as the flagship title and the PS2 had Metal Gear Solid 2 and a surprise megahit in GTA3.  Luigi's Mansion was in direct comparison with those titles and it did not even compare.  It was probably the WORST of the Cube launch titles to put against them (exact perhaps Super Monkey Ball but THAT was at least a better game).  Rogue Leader with it's Star Wars licence and spaceship combat would have had the closest chance against those titles.

Though even then I don't think that would have been enough.  That's just making the best of a bad situation.  What actually made anyone other than kids or die-hard Nintendo nuts pay attention to the N64?  It was Goldeneye and Zelda.  So what did Nintendo do on the Cube?  Make Zelda kiddy and sell off Rare.  Let's take the only aces in the hole we have and get rid of them.  Fuckin' idiots.

[Mop it up]

I missed out on Super Monkey Ball and didn't get the game until more recently, a year or two ago I think. It didn't click with me, and I never had an opportunity to try out the multiplayer, so I think the time has passed where I could get into the game.

[DanielM]

When Rogue Squadron 3 came out, number 2 was the co-op campaign. Amazing!

[oohhboy]

You would be able to perform this by pressing the D-pad when promoted

You need to change "promoted" to "prompted".

Factor 5 cheated heavily in the Battle of Endor. There were only ever a small handful of ships that had actual AI(the ones actively shooting you) while the rest flew around on rails with almost no awareness of the player without shooting down half a flight. Even then the fighter would be completely defensive until you shot down an offensive tie or it went off camera, switching places with another tie that goes defensive. It still doesn't detract from the fact it is an awesome technological magic trick and the Rogue Squadron games genrally had inspired level designs that allowed for some level of freedom while constrained by it's arcade nature and still give it a lite sprinkle of sim with full cockpits with obvious use of the C stick.

[StrawHousePig]

Re: Rogue Leader

I still play this game and it still holds up. Maybe because I am (was?) a huge Star Wars fan, but this game was nothing short of a home run for Factor 5. Too bad RS III was such a turd. Co-op RS II was great, though.

Re: Super Monkey Ball

I was very surprised how much fun this game is. None of the sequels have exceeded it.