Reasons why you should have owned/should own: The Nintendo Gamecube

cherryghost

Sorry for the late weekly post. Been moving home and its been nothing short of a struggle

This week we have the Nintendo Gamecube!

The Nintendo GameCube (ニンテンドーゲームキューブ, Nintendō Gēmukyūbu?), officially abbreviated as NGC in Japan[4][5] and GCN in other regions, is Nintendo's fourth home video game console and was part of the sixth generation console era. It was the successor to the Nintendo 64 and predecessor to the Wii.

The Nintendo GameCube was the first Nintendo console to use optical discs as its primary storage medium, after several aborted projects from Nintendo and its partners to utilize optical-based storage media. In contrast with the GameCube's contemporary competitors, the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, the GameCube uses miniDVD-based discs instead of full-size DVDs. Partially as a result of this, it does not have the DVD-Video playback functionality of these systems, nor the audio CD playback ability of other consoles that use full-size optical discs.

In addition, the GameCube introduced a variety of connectivity options to Nintendo consoles, and was the fourth Nintendo console, after the Nintendo 64DD, Famicom Modem and Satellaview, to support online play officially, via the Nintendo GameCube Broadband Adapter and Modem Adapter. It also enabled connectivity to the Game Boy Advance to access exclusive features of certain games or to use the portable system as a controller for the Game Boy Player.

The console was released on September 14, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia. The GameCube sold 21.74 million units worldwide.

So, anyone had one? I loved it. Owned the Metroid Prime games, Pikmin and F-Zero. My personal favourites were Super Monkey Ball 2 and LOZ: 4 Swords though.

The controller is so comfortable to hold too, plus they can be used on the Wii

Wooden Jesus

I had one when it came out and I have no idea where it is now. It basically disappeared off the face of the earth after i moved house. Still have all the games and get the urge to throw on Resi Evil or Zelda whenever i see them.
Great console, and i don't care what anyone say's i thought the controller was perfect

SK1979

The controller was definitely one of the highlights, a beautifully ergonomic controller. Plus they delivered the Wavebird, which was the first wireless controller (AFAIK). That was brilliant too.

Some great games on it, ones that stand out in my memory would be Eternal Darkness, Resi 4 and Viewtiful Joe. Some other crackers too.

Very under-rated system and I'd go as far as to suggest I'd buy the new Nintendo Console day one if they confirmed that they'd have all the Gamecube catalogue available to digitally download onto it.

Spunge

Loved the resident evil remake and resident evil 4, but didnt like smash bros or any of those sort of games, so in general i found there's no way it could compete with the awesome selection of games on the PS2

chrislad

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron was awesome. I don't care about the haters but Zelda: The Wind Waker was fantastic.

Wooden Jesus

PS2 was always the single player console, better selection of games like mgs and gta but gamecube was always multi player with a few friends around.

Johner

Still play 4 player Mario Kart and Resident Evil 4 on my silver one.

Spunge

Wooden Jesus wrote: »

PS2 was always the single player console, better selection of games like mgs and gta but gamecube was always multi player with a few friends around.

I hardly think PS2 was single-player.

Retr0gamer

Absolutely amazing machine. Its only problem was that compared the PS2 there weren't as many good games. However as a second console to compliment the PS2 it was amazing and the amount of amazing exclusives on the machine made it well worth it and a damn sight better than the Xbox. Some of the best games of that generation came out on the machine. Metroid Prime was stunning but unfortunately didn't get the attention it deserved. Resident Evil 4 was one of the best action games ever made and was so much better on the gamecube than the PS2. I don't think any racing game will ever beat F-zero GX.

Other classics are Paper Mario 2, Pikmin 1 and 2, Super Mario Sunshine, Resi Remake, Smash Bros., Chibi Robo, Battalion Wars, Wind Waker, Four Swords, Baten Kaitos 1 and 2, Tales of Symphonia, Luigi's Mansion, MK Double Dash, Pac Man Vs., Fire Emblem, 1080 Avalanche, Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2, Harvest Moon, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. There's Eternal Darkness as well although I thought the atmosphere and story were good but the gameplay sucked.

Also had the definitive version of Soul Calibur 2.

Graphically it was far more powerful than the PS2 and it had a much better controller than the poor dual shock.

cherryghost

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Also had the definitive version of Soul Calibur 2.

Definitely. I spent many countless hours playing that game. I also had the imported Animal Crossing. What an amazing game at the time.

gouche

Great machine. Many a day spent playing Super Monkey Ball with the lads around and a few cans.
Got a lot of alone time with it too with the likes of Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, F-Zero GX (also a laugh in multiplayer) and while it's not everyone's favourite, I really enjoyed Super Mario Sunshine - some great level design.
Still play my gamecube games on the Wii, I think that shows the strength of some of the games.

Wooden Jesus

Spunge wrote: »

I hardly think PS2 was single-player.

It wasn't but it was the way i always viewed both consoles, id stick with ps2 for single players games and a few friends around it was always straight to the gamecube.

ShaneU

It has a handle. A HANDLE.

Pinklady11

My son has one. My OH found one on ebay a few years ago and bought it for him. He still plays it. Super Mario Sunshine and Luigi's Mansion were ones I ended up playing too! He's a massive star wars fan so we managed to get a few of those games for him too and he loves them. Thy're not easy to come by but my OH has a talent for finding obscure and hard to get items. Great console.

CramCycle

I loved it, still do, rogue squadron, zelda and mario kart were my favourites by far.

Magill

My least favorite nintendo console... after the wii ofc. It just lacked games, at when compared to the PS2, and im probably one of few that hated the controller. Had a few great games tho.

Retr0gamer

I think it had far more good games than the N64, or at least far more good games that are still playable and haven't aged horribly.

CramCycle

PS

Magill wrote: »

My least favorite nintendo console... after the wii ofc. It just lacked games, at when compared to the PS2, and im probably one of few that hated the controller. Had a few great games tho.

At the time it came out I couldn't afford many games so it didn't make much difference to me as the ones I got were all quality IMO. I just think it was worth the money for the few classics that it had.

Wooden Jesus

CramCycle wrote: »

PS

At the time it came out I couldn't afford many games so it didn't make much difference to me as the ones I got were all quality IMO. I just think it was worth the money for the few classics that it had.

Definately, i bought it just for Zelda and Resident Evil remakes, everything else was just a bonus

Chairman Meow

Rogue squadron

That game was brilliant. Worth owning a GC just for that. And the cube is still home to the best Resi of all time, REmake. (no, not RE4, thats a good game but it is a resi game in name only)

Sephiroth_dude

I got it purely for Tales of Symphonia,what a great game.

Josey Wales

Funny that this thread would be started today. I had a Gamecube delivered today. Got a boxed one in excellent condition on eBay.

johnny_ultimate

It has the finest controller of any modern console, and anyone who says the Dualshock is better has merely been brainwashed by Sony :P

I spent a lot of time in Animal Crossing one year, and now am filled with remorse everytime I look at that beautiful purple box and think how many weeds have populated my once prosperous town.

I do credit the GC and more specifically Wind Waker with getting me back into gaming after a brief period of disillusionment.

CORaven

Had one, still have it set up. It had some great games, Resi4 and Eternal Darkness were my favourites. LoZ:WW was a fantastic game, my favourite in the series.
Metroid Prime 2 was an epic game and I spent many hours playing through it. It was a real shame they did not improve on the multiplayer though.

I honestly did not enjoy many other games other the one I listed. The console tended to get inferior ports of xbox/PS2 games. For example, the Matrix game came on two discs and was buggy as hell.

It had some interesting features, such as the GBA connection. However with poor game support, bar pokemon games and LoZ: Four Swords, it was a waste to buy the cable. Furthermore, the GBA player unfortunately could not be used as a substitute for a GBA.

Imo, the console would have had a greater potential to have done well the market if it attracted better third part support, maybe by increasing the disc space and adding DVD player support.

smokingman

ShaneU wrote: »

It has a handle. A HANDLE.

At least ya didn't have to get a new one every time the thing broke...which was never.

Yeah, had this and loved it. All games on it previously mentioned were smashin but my rose tinted glasses have a special tint toward F-Zero GX. Maybe it's that I haven't seen a racer since that was as gorgeous and playable at the same time, I don't know...but I really want something like this on my 3DS now...any F-Zero would do.

Other favourites of mine were Timesplitters 2, Rouge Squadron III, Extreme-G, Viewtiful Joe, Resi 4, the Metroids, the Burnouts, the Conflict:Desert Storms, the Lord of the Rings ones, The PacMan Vs freebie that came with RidgeRacer (R:Racing)....ahhhh fond memories...

Oh and ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEHIL9BDk8U

GarH

Damn this Thread.
Now i have to un-retire the GC and have a good oul game of Zelda and PN03

Retr0gamer

CORaven wrote: »

For example, the Matrix game came on two discs and was buggy as hell.

That game was buggy as hell and **** no matter what you played it on.

I found the third party ports were quite good actually, usually better than the PS2 since the GC was so easy for developers to produce games on. However it wasn't a console you got for the multiplatform games, it was all about the glorious exclusives. I would have been annoyed with the GC if it was the only console I had but as a compliment to the PS2 it was perfect.

super_furry

Chairman Meow wrote: »

Rogue squadron

I started playing that again last week and it hasn't aged well. Once you get past the first 15 minutes of 'holy crap, I'm in an X-Wing', it's bland, hugely repetitive with a difficulty curve that's all over the place.

On the other hand, the Rogue Squadron 3 pre-order freebie disc remains brilliant, with a perfectly emultated version of the wireframe arcade original Star Wars game.

As for the Gamecube, well there's no real reason to own one now with the Wii playing all it's games but there are still many great games for it. The Gamecube version of Twilight Princess is much better than the Wii one, doing away with the tacked-on motion controls.

cherryghost

CORaven wrote: »

The console tended to get inferior ports of xbox/PS2 games.

I completely and utterly disagree. The Gamecube got superior versions imo. A lot of multi platform games got 4 player split screen on the Gamecube and not on the PS2/Xbox, for example 007 Agent Under Fire. Great great with 4 players and one of the many multi platform games I had on the Gamecube. Medal of Honor Frontlines was another one.

The only thing inferior to the other two consoles was the video playback. Since the discs had smaller storage space, they skimped on the video cutscenes for some very poor quality playbacks. I'm not complaining though, the GC got extra multiplayer features.

zero19

I have one but it didn't see much action, loved Resident Evil on it though

Burning Eclipse

Wind Waker is my favourite Zelda game! There, I said it!

Loved my GC and I still remember the reason I bought it. I saw a screenshot of Chris Redfield using a flamethrower in the REmake. The detail in the flames... Instabuy. Never once regretted it!

That_Guy

Luigi's Mansion and Rogue Squadron were my favourites by far. Great console and even better controller.

CramCycle

All this talk has me on ebay looking up the games i couldn't afford at the time, rogue squadron 3 + resident evil here I come.

Retr0gamer

cherryghost wrote: »

I completely and utterly disagree. The Gamecube got superior versions imo. A lot of multi platform games got 4 player split screen on the Gamecube and not on the PS2/Xbox, for example 007 Agent Under Fire. Great great with 4 players and one of the many multi platform games I had on the Gamecube. Medal of Honor Frontlines was another one.

You sure it wasn't 4 player on the Xbox as well? The Xbox usually got the superior ports with the GC second.

CORaven

Cherry, I am fairly sure that generally any multiplayer features that were on the GC were also on the xbox. The PS2 features may have been dropped due to the need of a multitap.
Third party support was generally poor as I remember that alot of the big games, such as GTA was not released on the console.

Retr0gamer

If multiplayer was dropped it was because the PS2 didn't have the power to run it smoothly, nothing to do with the need for a multitap.

CramCycle

Anyway thinking back here are a couple of other crackers I played at mates houses that deserve a mention if they haven't been already:

Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
Super Monkey ball 2
Killer 7
Timesplitters 2
Viewtiful Joe
Eternal Darkness

Are my memories correct or am I sugar coating them?

Viewtiful Joe was the first game in my house were my younger sibling proved more adept than me. I left home soon after due to the shame.

Retr0gamer

Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes isn't great. The cutscenes are absolutely terrible and way too over the top, the voice acting is rerecorded and not as good and shoe horning the MGS2 gameplay into MGS1 makes the game far too easy.

Jazzy

henshin a go go baby!

tallaghtmick

I used to love using the action replay after i had cleared a game:D,was excellent being mauled by loads of zombies in resi remake and the suddenly boom blast them all away.

tallaghtmick

CramCycle wrote: »

Anyway thinking back here are a couple of other crackers I played at mates houses that deserve a mention if they haven't been already:

Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
Super Monkey ball 2
Killer 7
Timesplitters 2
Viewtiful Joe
Eternal Darkness

Are my memories correct or am I sugar coating them?

Viewtiful Joe was the first game in my house were my younger sibling proved more adept than me. I left home soon after due to the shame.

I never played that game,what was that like.

recyclops

I found eternal darkness to be excellent, from what i remember it was out before resi evil 4 so never got comparisons due to being a survival horror game, there attempt at making it more pyschological really worked though imo.

CramCycle

tallaghtmick wrote: »

I never played that game,what was that like.

Eternal darkness was only seen at my mates house but it looked awesome at the time, it kind of died a death among us though as it was SP only and I forgot to borrow it off him. Considering how great it appeared to be I may go and look for it now. It was a third person view and was freaky as hell, good story from the bits i recollect as well.

SdoowSirhc

Jazzy wrote: »

henshin a go go baby!

nuff said..

Mr.Saturn

I adore this console, always have. It still has a place beside my telly. Super Mario Sunshine is amongst the most brilliant time-killers I've encountered.

Mr. K

I remember playing Eternal Darkness late at night and freaking out at one particular fright moment (the

bathtub scene

).

The Gamecube was a great console. I always got GC versions over PS2; they were just better! All of the exclusives have been namechecked already.

The Resident Evil exclusivity was what prompted me to buy the console initially, I remember seeing screenshots of REmake in Nintendo Official Magazine and thinking "I want". I remember being surprised by the console's low price when I bought it and Rogue Squadron 2 at launch.

Jazzy

oh and FALCON PUUUUNNNNNCHHH

Magill

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I think it had far more good games than the N64, or at least far more good games that are still playable and haven't aged horribly.

Doesnt really matter to me if they've aged horribly, at the time they were awesome.. i dont live in the past, i have enough of a backlog of PS3 games to get through, never mind playing old classics(The countless hours i put into Goldeneye/Mario/zelda etc orginally is enough for me).

At the time it came out I couldn't afford many games so it didn't make much difference to me as the ones I got were all quality IMO. I just think it was worth the money for the few classics that it had.

At the time game piracy was massive, the 13 year old me didnt care so i was spending any money i got down in Jonesborough every sunday !! Good times...

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

If multiplayer was dropped it was because the PS2 didn't have the power to run it smoothly, nothing to do with the need for a multitap.

Haha, you just blurt the stuff out like fact!

I think the controller looks horrible, although I did like the N64 controller when I used.

Never played a gamecube, whats OOT like on the GameCube? Does it look any better than the N64 version?

richymcdermott

My friend had one , remember playing super monkey ball for the first time , serious fun.

Retr0gamer

noodler wrote: »

Haha, you just blurt the stuff out like fact!

I can't confirm it of course but it's pretty obvious that it's the reason why they did it. So you think they cut the multiplayer out because not many people had a multitap or for the more realistic reason that they didn't include a feature that was already in the code because they couldn't get it running at a playable speed on the PS2 considering it was fairly ropey of two far more powerful machines.

noodler wrote: »

Never played a gamecube, whats OOT like on the GameCube? Does it look any better than the N64 version?

Looks much better. The framerate doesn't drop as much, it runs in a much higher resolution and there's proper anti aliasing as opposed to the N64's disgusting blur-o-vision anti aliasing.