I feel the GameCube is vastly overrated.

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SigSauerLover
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I feel the GameCube is vastly overrated.

Postby SigSauerLover » July 22nd, 2015, 3:17 pm

Maybe it's nostalgia clouding judgement, but I've noticed a LOT of people recently are giving this system praise. I'm going to be honest, I think it's rather undeserved. These reasons are somewhat opinionated, and somewhat objective, but let's look at them anyway. If you have a response, please chime in. But let me explain why I personally feel the system is overrated.

First off, the games. I don't think the line up is that spectacular. The Nintendo exclusives are lacking big time in comparison to their N64 predecessors and their Wii successors. Luigi's mansion is mildly amusing, but it gets very repetitive. Even at the time I disliked it. Mario Sunshine is one of the most frustrating games ever made, and to be honest, while it did have some pretty sweet ideas, it didn't have the awesome feeling that the collectathon predecessor Super Mario 64 had. Wind Waker just didn't strike a chord with me, the art style is cool, but the gameplay isn't as clean as Majoras Mask or Ocarina of Time. Wave Race Blue Storm has NOTHING on Wave Race 64 an Wave Race, and I think we can all agree on that one. Paper Mario Thousand Year Door depressed the hell out of me, the art style actually looked WORSE than the original paper mario, but plays okay. Nothing great though. Double Dash was fun as hell, but still wasn't as good as MK64 to me. The one thing the Cube had going for it was metroid prime. The first metroid prime is one of the very best video games ever made. It's best exclusive, Resident Evil 4, was later ported. Fun fact, I actually rented a gamecube JUST to play Resident Evil 4, and actually considered buying one for the game, but it was soon ported to the PS2.

So why did I write that all over the place paragraph? Just to show which games I thought did not live up to their predecessors, and which ones were awesome. 3RD party games often suffered on the gamecube. First off, there were a few buttons missing off of the GC controller, so the controls were generally not as good. Also, games like splinter cell were missing stages (it's like a cut-down version of the PS2 version, which was ALREADY CUT DOWN!). Some games required multiple disks. That's not cool man!

The ONLY reason I can think of to get a gamecube, would be the GameBoy player, which is still excellent.

So, what's my verdict? The GameCube had many flaws, lack of internet capability, no DVD or CD playback, missing buttons on the controller, lacking 3rd party ports, and lame followups. The Xbox and PS2 had most of those flaws refined. And are much more refined systems. But people still defend the cube like no tomorrow. I think it's nostalgia.

So, do you like the cube, do you disagree? let me know why YOU like the cube.

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JustLikeHeaven
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Re: I feel the GameCube is vastly overrated.

Postby JustLikeHeaven » July 22nd, 2015, 3:57 pm

I think to be overrated the system needs to be held in high regard in the first place. There aren't many people that claim the Gamecube was the best system ever made or anything. I think the recent high praise is because that generation is long enough ago where it was someone's first generation of gaming. So I think it's seeing a resurgence in popularity.

I've always held the system in high regard and think it blows the N64 out of the water in terms of quality games. The system has enough really good games to last the average person a lifetime. I also tend to disagree and think that the Nintendo offerings for the Gamecube shine brighter than their N64 counterparts (mostly).

Here is a list of the top of my head of great Gamecube titles

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Resident Evil 0
Resident Evil Remake
Resident Evil 4
Mario Kart Double Dash
Tales of Symphonia
Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
Mario Tennis
Super Mario Strikers
Sega Soccer Slam
The Legend of Zelda - Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda - Twilight Princess
Pikmin 1 and 2
Beach Spikers
Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Godzilla Destroy All Monsters
Ikaruga
Super Smash Bros Melee
Skies of Arcadia Legends
Wario World
Viewtiful Joe
F-Zero GX
Pac Man Vs
Animal Crossing
Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
Killer 7
Beyond Good and Evil
Timesplitters 2 and Future Perfect
Soul Calibur 2
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Battalion Wars
Gameboy Advance Adapter - you can bring that library of awesome to your TV screen. SWEET!
Plus many more I'm forgetting!


Does it's overall library pale in comparison to the PS2's library? Of course. However, I believe it's a great system to own and collect games for. I still play mine and keep it hooked up.

jon
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Re: I feel the GameCube is vastly overrated.

Postby jon » July 22nd, 2015, 4:44 pm

I vehemently disagree on Mario Sunshine. I thought it was great and very creative. And it did have that charm you get from Super Mario games. I think it's one of the most underrated games in the series. I also think the Gamecube has really good graphics.

Hardcore Sadism
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Re: I feel the GameCube is vastly overrated.

Postby Hardcore Sadism » July 22nd, 2015, 5:20 pm

The controller is arguably the most overrated if not the most uncomfortable controller to date. I'm honestly not swayed by the post-SNES controllers. :/

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LoganRuckman
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Re: I feel the GameCube is vastly overrated.

Postby LoganRuckman » July 22nd, 2015, 5:33 pm

Gotta disagree. I've got nothing but love for the Purple Lunchbox. Amazing exclusives, unique design, great name, and the greatest controller ever, IMO. Easily my favorite console from that generation, and one of my all time favorites, period.

Vexer6
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Re: I feel the GameCube is vastly overrated.

Postby Vexer6 » July 22nd, 2015, 5:42 pm

I thought Blue Storm was pretty good.

The Gamecube was actually more powerful then the PS2 in some ways.

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ptdebate
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Re: I feel the GameCube is vastly overrated.

Postby ptdebate » July 22nd, 2015, 6:49 pm

Vexer6 wrote:I thought Blue Storm was pretty good.

The Gamecube was actually more powerful then the PS2 in some ways.


The Gamecube was actually significantly more powerful than the PS2 and arguably the Xbox as well, although differences in architecture and lack of benchmark software make it hard to quanitfy.

Its 450MHz PowerPC CPU was based on the final revision of the G3 processor that was used in Apple workstations and laptops. These systems were demonstrated to run circles around Pentium chips running at higher clock speed. The Xbox used a standard Pentium III at 700MHz (not an impressive piece of hardware) and the PS2 used a slower 300MHz RISC-based processor.

Here are some relevant statistics:

CPU cache
Gamecube CPU memory cache: L1: 64kB/L2: 256kB
PS2 CPU memory cache: instruction Cache: 16 kB, Data Cache : 8 kB + 16 kB Scratchpad(ScrP)
Xbox CPU memory cache: L1: 64kB/ L2: 128kB

You see in terms of CPU memory the Gamecube matches the Xbox's L1 cache and doubles its L2 cache. Both blow the PS2 out of the water.

CPU/GPU interface

Gamecube: 64-bit enhanced 60x bus to GPU/chipset at 162 MHz clock with 1.3 GB/s peak bandwidth.
PS2: 64-bit, 150 MHz bus, maximum theoretical bandwidth of 1.2 GB/s.
Xbox: 133 MHz 64-bit GTL+ front-side bus to GPU

Again, we see the Gamecube take the lead in CPU/GPU bus speed

FPU performance in GFLOPS

Gamecube: 64-bit FPU (1.9 GFLOPS)
PS2: FPU 0.64 GFLOPS
Xbox: ??? wasn't able to find this information

There are some areas where the Gamecube doesn't reign supreme--Its GPU is faster than the PS2's but weaker than the Xbox's. Its total system RAM is more than the PS2's but less than the Xbox's. It contains more transistors than the PS2 but less than the Xbox. In every demonstrable way though, the Gamecube's hardware beats the PS2's.

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Atariboy
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Re: I feel the GameCube is vastly overrated.

Postby Atariboy » July 22nd, 2015, 9:20 pm

I don't believe that that's entirely accurate. Going off memory, the PS2's memory bandwidth supposedly was very high for an example and was frequently cited as one of the few advantages that the hardware held.

Apparently it even compares favorably in certain small areas to the following generation of consoles, such as pixel fill rate. It consequently even sometimes presented issues for some of the many HD remasters that appeared on its successor when the PS2 title really pushed the hardware's capabilities in a particular way (And is also why it was such a struggle to fully emulate the PS2 on the PS3).

As someone that isn't really in a position to compare specifications and can only judge what I saw with my own eyes, it really wasn't until the Wii and releases like Super Mario Galaxy where I feel as if Nintendo's console hardware matched or even surpassed the original Xbox where graphical fidelity is concerned.

The GameCube was close, thanks in particular to Nintendo's in-house programming and artistic expertise. But I routinely saw advantages over it on the Xbox such as full 16:9/480p releases being common on the Microsoft system where as on the GCN, it usually was either progressive scan or widescreen. The hard drive also isn't something to be underestimated and provided a clear technical advantage when titles were coded specifically for the system instead of just lazily ported over.

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scotland
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Re: I feel the GameCube is vastly overrated.

Postby scotland » July 22nd, 2015, 9:45 pm

SigSauerLover wrote:Maybe it's nostalgia


Maybe, but it could also be sticking up for the underdog. Sony lorded it that gen, and MS is never seen as an underdog even when they are. Fans of the Dreamcast and the Gamecube may just want some respect. During a generation, console wars make giving a rival some credit difficult for many, but enough time has passed where even diehard fans should have some detachment.

SigSauerLover wrote: First off, there were a few buttons missing off of the GC controller, so the controls were generally not as good. Some games required multiple disks. That's not cool man! The ONLY reason I can think of to get a gamecube, would be the GameBoy player, which is still excellent. The GameCube had many flaws, lack of internet capability, no DVD or CD playback, missing buttons on the controller, lacking 3rd party ports, and lame followups.


I like the Gamecube controller, and if its simpler, its also more accessible for newbies to learn. The Wavebirds were also popular. As for multiple disks, I see no shame in that. I recall some cool games that needed multiple disks. The Gameboy player is cool, and I would have liked to see that idea revived for the WiiU.

Complaing about a lack of internet capability seems unfair, or at least any online gaming I did then was on PC.I think most people would have had better or more convenient CD players than their video game console at that time, lack of another DVD may have been a loss. This may have been done for anti piracy measures, or maybe using DVD meant paying its creator Sony a royalty.

The third party thing is a bit confusing, since unlike the WiiU the Gamecube had the wattage of its competitors and was designed to be fairly straightforward to develop for and supposedly Nintendo made some effort. Maybe this is why the next two consoles went other directions.

The cube also comes in more colors than the PS2, and has a carrying handle. You can get a set of DK bongos. You can also get an LCD screen for it...I don't think thats available for the PS2.

SigSauerLover
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Re: I feel the GameCube is vastly overrated.

Postby SigSauerLover » July 22nd, 2015, 10:23 pm

I had an LCD screen for the PS2, they DO exist. A CARRYING HANDLE? I guess that's cool. DK bongos? What about the guitar, drum, and microphone controllers that didn't come out for them? Plus, ALL models of the PS2 support component video, which is far superior than the other connections. Only the original GC's have component support. The gamecube also didn't have a hard disk available. Also, to my understanding, the playstation 2 slim had a car charger. When it comes to features, I'd rather have an LCD screen and car adapter than a pair of bongos that make you look like an idiot. :P


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