The Nintendo GameCube was released in 2001 in Japan and North America. It marked Nintendo's first successful entry into optical media. You can always count on Nintendo to do something different from its competitors which is evident by the controller design and the decision to use mini-DVDs. The GameCube also continued Nintendo's focus on younger audiences and family-friendly games. It was also their first console that did not have a Mario title at launch. That likely hurt sales early on as Sony and Microsoft were releasing more mature titles. However, price cuts and the strength of Nintendo IPs eventually caused it to outpace Xbox (in profitability) but still fell well short of PS2 numbers. The GameCube eventually saw the release of GameBoy Advance link cables and a GameBoy player addon which allowed it to play GameBoy, GameBoy Color, and GameBoy Advance games.
What are some of your favorite GameCube memories and experiences?
I was late to the GameCube party (surprise!!), but I do remember reading a lot about the hardware architecture and appreciating just how effectively Nintendo had balanced power and cost. It was more powerful than the PS2 and not too far behind the Xbox. The problem, however, was that it tended to get inferior ports, due to either the PS2 being the target platform (due to audience size) or the Xbox being the target platform (because it was the easiest to develop for using traditional pipelines and had the most power on tap). Original titles for the system were what showed off the system's power.
Yeah, the GC occupied a strange place. It didn't come into the market with the hype of the Dreamcast. It didn't end up having the mass market success of the PS2, and it didn't get a reputation for most powerful console like the Xbox. I rarely paid attention to it.
I remember when I bought Resident Evil 4, it felt so weird. I was like, "Wow, I'm getting an actual Gamecube game". I wonder how many people got turned on to the system by that one game. RE is a massive franchise and the hype around RE 4 was immense. I think it was only AFTER playing RE 4 that I ended up picking up a handful of titles for the system.
I like the Gamecube, but it's the only Nintendo console that I never really connected with. I was in high school during the Gamecube's lifespan, and I attribute that as the main reason why. Despite the fact that I had a NES, SNES, N64 and GB, I ended up getting a PS2 over the Gamecube. I was playing mostly FPS and vehicular games. There was nothing about the Gamecube that interested me at the time. You know how dumb high schoolers are LOL.
Then three games were announced, and I got sort of pumped for the Gamecube. Super Mario Sunshine, Star Fox Adventure, and Wind Waker. I went down to Funco Land and picked up a used Gamecube as well as pre-ordered those three games. I can't remember what I had on the Gamecube before those games released. I definitely had Luigi's Mansion. I can't really recall what else I had, if anything.
So Mario Sunshine and Star Fox Adventure released and I picked them up. But I felt sort of "meh" about them. I was too busy playing FPS and vehicular games on my PS2 to really care about the Gamecube. So I ended up trading away my Gamecube and all of the games I had for it. I can't recall if I ever got Wind Waker or not.
At some point before the Wii released, I had acquired another Gamecube. I bought back all of the games I had, and more. I remember giving Wind Waker a try, on multiple occasions, but never clicked with it. Then after getting a Wii, I wanted to play a few Gamecube games before playing the soon to be released Wii games. So I gave Mario Sunshine another go. I rolled the credits, but never bothered to 100% the game. And I remember playing through Metroid Prime since the third game was being hyped. I finally played Wind Waker, but the HD version on the Wii U. Now I love that game, it finally clicked with me. I liked to go back and play the Gamecube version some time. I did play a lot of Mario Kart Double Dash, that was definitely a lot of fun.
I've played a few other games on the Gamecube, most of the popular titles, but I still never really got into the console.
The architecture of the system is extremely sexy, from a technical point of view. But like Marurun said, it had unlucky timing.
I really cannot connect with cinematic set-piece games, so RE4 was a major bummer for me. Prime 1/2 were such a watered-down Metroid experiences without sequence breaking and such limited movement options. I played competitive fighting games at the time, and Melee was just too damn taxing on your fingers. I still think fighting games should be about the mind games and not about finger dexterity. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess were too formulaic. And screw that treasure hunting quest. I'm not sure if Soul Calibur II was a good or bad thing. It kept the annoying scrubs away from the PS2 version, where the competition was at. On the other hand, it's nice to have bigger cash prizes.
The rest was pretty good: Monkey Ball, Pikmin 2, 1000-Year Door, Eternal Darkness, Double Dash, F-Zero GX, etc. But nothing I would consider a must-play.
Ironically, its best feature was the Game Boy Player, as the GBA was the saving grace for a medium that was getting too commercial for my tastes.
During that generation, I was very much in the PS2 camp. It had Final Fantasy X and all of the RPG's that I was looking for, so I kind of ignored the GameCube. I had a friend who had one and we played Super Smash Bros. fairly regularly. So, I was interested in picking one up. Back in 2015, I finally picked one up along with an original XBOX. I loved that generation of gaming, so it was great to have all of the consoles.
Collecting and playing GameCube games since then have been rather interesting. Obviously, when I think of GameCube, I think of the price. When the people who grew up with the GameCube got older, they really sky rocketed the price. So, any game is more expensive on the GameCube and any game is that much more expensive because it is on the GameCube.
I also think that is when Nintendo got really experimental. Even the first party GameCube games are very unique for that series. So, the library has many hits and misses in it. It's not as prolific as the other consoles that generation, but the hits really do hit home. I'll just list off some of my favorites for it.
- Animal Crossing - Both Baten Kaitos' Games - Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - Ikaruga - Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker - Mario Kart: Double-Dash!! - Metroid Prime - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - Pikmin - Resident Evil 4 - Soul Calibur II - Super Mario Strikers - Super Smash Bros. Melee
I had a PS2 and Xbox during this generation and I was really stretching my budget to have both. As luck would have it, I always seemed to have a roommate that had a GameCube. I didn't use it much though. I played some Metroid Prime, Smash Bros Melee, and Rogue Squadron II. Most Nintendo exclusives during this time period didn't excite me and crossplatform games were usually better on PS2/Xbox. Eventually I got a Wii a year or two after it was released. I don't think I purchased any GameCube games until several years later. The most I've ever owned at once was three titles. The only ones that I have now are Wind Waker and Rogue Squadron II. If Rogue Squadron II was ever remastered, I'd probably sell my GameCube games and my Wii since I can get the WiiU version of Wind Waker.
I've been playing a little bit of Super Mario Sunshine.
I'm not that far in, but so far I don't like it.
It looks very nice, but I once again just find myself struggling to visually parse what the game is trying to show me. And the noticeable bump in graphical detail is making it more difficult for me. I have a really hard time seeing the red coins, something that didn't really give me trouble in Super Mario 64, which I've said elsewhere that I didn't really enjoy very much, either. I am actually finding the camera in Sunshine even more unwieldy and obstructive than the camera in Mario 64. I am constantly finding my view obscured by foreground objects. I'll go under an arch and the camera will get stuck on the other side, just showing my outline. It's super obnoxious.
I really enjoyed Eternal Darkness, Geist, The Legend of Zelda:The Wind Waker, Mario Kart Double Dash, and Super Monkey Ball on the console.
I stuck with Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy long enough to get 100%. It was one of the buggier console gaming experiences I have had. There were several places where you could get the level into an unwinnable state due to odd enemy spawns or getting stuck in a wall or something. Still fun, though.
I got a bit of use out of my Gameboy Player. I was quite fortunate to get one as part of the lot when I bought my first Gamecube in 2008.
About a decade ago, I took my Gamecube with Gameboy Player and a small TV to a friend's house where we used it as a GBA along with some actual GBAs to play Four Swords. It worked really well for a while. Unfortunately, my gamecube was just sitting on the carpet and overheated, which ended up freezing the whole game for everyone.
Also, I wanted to get the Gamecube version of Twilight Princess, but the Wii version was substantially cheaper on the secondary market. I was unwilling to pay a premium for left-handed Link.
...I meant to get to this, well a month ago, coming off of the Dreamcast the NGC was my platform of choice. I actually received my GameCube as a Christmas gift from my fiancé (wife). It was Metroid Prime that really got me interested in the console, but I had a great time with Windwaker, Viewtiful Joe, Super Monkey Ball, Mario Kart Double Dash, Pikmin, and a few others. It's also what got me more into the GBA library w/the GBA player. All that being said, where the NGC shined imo was party games, I had a blast playing the multiple Mario Party games. It was the last time my wife was actively gaming in addition to us even having friends over that we would play Mario Party and Mario Kart with. I still pick up NGC games when it's something I've missed and it's a console I plan on spending more time with once I finally get a real retro setup squared away.
