The Video Game Critic

Happy 15th Anniversary to the Nintendo Gamecube! The Cube!

Nintendo's next console after the N64, made with giant electronics manufacturer Foxconn, was another jump away from more of the same to trying something a bit different. No gimmick here, but still a move to not be like the others, which still included old rival Sega. The Gamecube would veer toward being simpler, in the hopes of bringing in more 3rd party support. Project Dolphin would go on to become "The cube", a video game console with very non-technical aesthetics, complete with a carrying handle - not sure if we had ever seen that before. It was Nintendo's first use of optical discs for a storage medium (although they still went with mini discs). This was a machine built for couch co-op, with limited online capabilities but four controller ports right there welcoming you and your friends to come play. Nintendo went for what was then a rather standard handlebar controller with dual analog sticks (grey and yellow), which has lasted for years as a controller of choice for some fans.



So, let's hear it for the Gamecube! Any great memories? Favorite games? What is its legacy?

I played a lot on both the PS2 and the GameCube, and the GameCube really came off to me as the classier system next to the PS2's coarseness. That little box with its tiny disks put out cleaner graphics, ran quieter, and just felt tight and precise in general - compare popping open the GameCube's lid and plinking a disk onto that spindle to trundling out the PS2's DVD tray. Also, despite its wonkiness, the GameCube's controller had easily the best physical feel of that generation's big three; it wasn't cheap like the PS2's or stiff like the XBOX's, just smooth and solid all around. And you could plug in four of them! Barring the Wii, I've never associated another console so strongly with social gaming (driven especially by Super Smash Bros. Melee, which never met a party it couldn't improve). People tend to give the system heat for its smaller library, but it made up for that with probably the best lineup of exclusives on a Nintendo console since the SNES, and those exclusives did a lot to back up the hardware's elegant, self-contained character. On the whole, the GameCube was an idiosyncratic system - if not as quirky as the Dreamcast, certainly quirky in some very similar ways. And as with the Dreamcast, while this held it back in some aspects, it resulted overall in something genuinely special.

I didnt get a GC until a few years ago, and it is by far my favorite modern system. I really enjoy it. I wish they would have chosen standard discs to those mini disc though. That really put a hard limitation on their games. Its still shocking when I play a game and have to insert disc 2. Other than that, its flawless IMO.

Interesting, I've been thinking of finding a GameCube to play some of the games I missed out on.

Yes The Cube is a classic! That and the Nes are my two fave Nintendo
consoles.

Voor wrote:Interesting, I've been thinking of finding a GameCube to play some of the games I missed out on.

If you dont have a GC I would suggest just getting an old Wii. Mainly because it has the component out, which makes a lot of the games look a lot better.

I have to agree with the greatness of the GC as well. It has probably been consistently the most played 'party system' over the years. My friends like Smash Bros. Melee over Brawl (the Wii version) so when they're around the cube is still the system that is played.

I think it is the last genuine console that is great online free. The Wii has that annoying menu you have to go through every time, and you have to use the wii-mote even when you're going to use the GC controllers to play, and every modern system has a UI and multi-media functions and is more or less a computer. That certainly has its advantages, but just popping in a disc/cartridge and playing has a really nice feel to it, and the GC is the last great system to be like that in functionality. It's also a super tough system, mine is 15 years old, with a LOT of hours of college partying induced gameplay and the system and all 4 of my controllers are still in great shape.

As for games, of course the many nintendo titles that are on it make it a fantastic system... but more adult titles it had as well. Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil 4, and the Resident Evil remake are some of my favorite games of all time. Oh, and Soul Caliber 2 with Link on it was great too. Good lord he was buff.

The memories I had going from an N64 to a GameCube were vast.

Getting Super Mario Sunshine was a ball, man. I loved that game when I got it for Christmas.

Billy Hatcher was a childhood favorite and it's great today.

How about the lush orchestrated music in Smash Bros Melee with real orchestration? Coming off MIDI music, this was huge for Nintendo fans! The game itself was amazing, expanding and innovating on the original N64 Classic

The Wind Waker was a great game for me. I loved the puzzles music and unique graphics. Strategy guide helped me find the vast secrets the game offers. Wario World was a favorite for me back in the day because I loved Wario and collecting treasure.

Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door was a big one. I remember getting it and jaw dropping at all the plot twists and puzzles the game offered. The train chapter where you have to stay on a train for 3 days was remarkable, as was the part where your body is stolen and you have to get it back.

And of course, the Game Boy Player. Playing GBA games on a console was like a working SNES!!!

Great console. Can't believe it's 15 years old. So many great memories with it.

I love the ngc. It was one of the first consoles I bought with my own money when I was still in high school. I had to work that day so I gave my mom my money and she told more over the phone that the console had sold out. When I got home the console was sitting there, lol. The fiat game I bought was Luigi's mansion. I loved that game then and I like it now. The graphics blew me away. Mariooooo....

Happy birthday indeed, the GC is my all time favorite system (Atari 2600 and N64 a close second). The best game ever made, GC's Resident Evil 4, holds up to any game on any system to this very day.