Best Gamecube Games?

Mr E

Along the same lines as the recent Wii thread, I've just spent a fun evening catching up on some Gamecube games. I played a bit of Luigis Mansion, P.N.03 and Wario World.

P.N.03 has dated pretty badly IMO (controls were very clunky), but the other 2 were good fun. I want to delve deeper into the back catalog and see what else I can pick up. I have Burnout 2 and Sands of Time to try out tomorrow night.

What are the hidden gems that I should be looking out for?

Retr0gamer

Jaysus there's quite a few must haves on it:

Mario Sunshine
Metroid Prime 1 and 2
Resi Remake
Resi 4
Fire Emblem
Tales of Symphonia
Baten Kaitos
Baten Kaitos Origins
Skies of Arcadia
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Chibi Robo (so cute!)
Cubivore
Eternal Darnkess
Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2 (better than PS2 versions)
Killer 7 (same again)
Smash Bros Melee
Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door
FF Crystal Chronicles (only fun in multiplayer)
Zelda Four Swords
Wind Waker
Twilight Princess
Pikmin 1 and 2
F-Zero GX
Mario Kart ~Double Dash
Soul Calibur 2 (best version)
Pac Man Vs
Warioware
Mario Golf
Resident Evil Zero

Jack burton

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Jaysus there's quite a few must haves on it:

Mario Sunshine
Metroid Prime 1 and 2
Resi Remake
Resi 4
Fire Emblem
Tales of Symphonia
Baten Kaitos
Baten Kaitos Origins
Skies of Arcadia
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Chibi Robo (so cute!)
Cubivore
Eternal Darnkess
Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2 (better than PS2 versions)
Killer 7 (same again)
Smash Bros Melee
Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door
FF Crystal Chronicles (only fun in multiplayer)
Zelda Four Swords
Wind Waker
Twilight Princess
Pikmin 1 and 2
F-Zero GX
Mario Kart ~Double Dash
Soul Calibur 2 (best version)
Pac Man Vs
Warioware
Mario Golf
Resident Evil Zero

Aim for that list right there, very solid mixture of great games there. I'd throw in Ikaruga aswell because you can never have enough of that game

DinoRex

Resident Evil 0 is probably worth a look at, but it's not all that great.

The remake is outstanding though, still looks amazing.

Mr E

I still have my bongo drums for Jungle Beat - just need to find the disk!

I have Metroid Prime 1-3 on Wii.

I played a lot of the others a long time ago (Mario Sunshine, Killer 7, Eternal Darkness and the Resident Evil games).

Thanks for the other recommendations, I'll start hunting them down.

Retr0gamer

Chibi Robo is one that gets overlooked a lot. It's a weird game but well worth it. You play a tiny robot whose job it is to wander about the house cleaning for a family. However said family is on the verge of a divorce and the poor daughter has taken to dressing as a frog to cope with it. Also when people aren't around all the toys in the house come to life and have their own problems that need sorting (my favourite being the 'free rangers' a bunch of militant eggs at war with the family dog). It's cute fun and a real feel good game.

Baiten Kaitos is a good RPG to track down although I'd say get Tales of Symphonia first. It starts of quite slow and the card mechanics don't make sense but as the game progresses you are able to use more cards each round and it starts getting really good. You start aiming to make runs with your cards but also have to balance elements, opposing elements will nullify each other but you have to weigh the trade off against a good run.

Star Lord

DinoRex wrote: »

Resident Evil 0 is probably worth a look at, but it's not all that great.

The remake is outstanding though, still looks amazing.

^ This. RE0 is definitely worth a look though, if only for the sheer weirdness that they brought into it!

Mr E wrote: »

I played a lot of the others a long time ago (Mario Sunshine, Killer 7, Eternal Darkness and the Resident Evil games).

Eternal Darkness still plays quite well once you get used to the controls again.
Last time I tried to play Killer 7 again, it was a bit of a struggle. I loved it back in the day though (Played and finished multiple times, LOVED the Luchador character!), so must give it another go.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Baiten Kaitos is a good RPG to track down although I'd say get Tales of Symphonia first. It starts of quite slow and the card mechanics don't make sense but as the game progresses you are able to use more cards each round and it starts getting really good. You start aiming to make runs with your cards but also have to balance elements, opposing elements will nullify each other but you have to weigh the trade off against a good run.

I'm not an RPG fan at all, but I did give Baiten Kaitos a go, and it's one of the few I've played through and finished. Don't think the prequel was ever released in Europe though?
The card mechanics do take a while to wrap your head around alright!

Retr0gamer

Eternal Darkness for me is a total dog to play but it makes up for it with the story.

Baten Kaitos Origins didn't get an EU release but with freeloader on the GC and how easy it is to hack the Wii to be region free there's no reason to limit yourself to PAL only games.

Jack burton

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Eternal Darkness for me is a total dog to play but it makes up for it with the story.

Baten Kaitos Origins didn't get an EU release but with freeloader on the GC and how easy it is to hack the Wii to be region free there's no reason to limit yourself to PAL only games.

Eternal Darkness does not hold up well today, The combat is very clunky but it isnt a game breaker. And the sotry is well worth the run through

But for the love of god do not play it on a HDTV. Any sort of experience gotten from the insanity element will be completely lost, play it on a CRT

CiDeRmAn

I was a big fan of Eternal Darkness when it was released. As said the story was impressive and not at all what was expected from a horror title of the time.
Pacman Vs is tremendous, such a pity that it's saddled with a terrible game, R Racing, the worst Ridge Racer title by far.

Star Lord

Jack burton wrote: »

Eternal Darkness does not hold up well today, The combat is very clunky but it isnt a game breaker. And the sotry is well worth the run through

But for the love of god do not play it on a HDTV. Any sort of experience gotten from the insanity element will be completely lost, play it on a CRT

Or multiple run through for the proper ending! ;-)

CiDeRmAn

To a certain extent the whole game is a multiple play through!
But probably my favourite Lovecraftian game, perhaps the best.

Star Lord

It's the only one to capture the otherworldly horrors in any sort of decent way.
There was an element of that to Clive Barker's Undying too, but just not quite there...