I absolutely LOVE the Gamecube. I mean, I love all things Nintendo, but as time goes on, I fall more and more in love with the Gamecube. Yes, even more than the Super Nintendo. And that's saying a lot since it's been my favorite console of all time ever since its inital release in 1991. I enjoyed the Gamecube back in 2001 but during its lifetime I felt it was a step down from NES, SNES, and N64. When I got a Wii, I even cared for the Gamecube so little that I sold my console. Sure the Wii was backwards compatible but I don't get rid of a console unless I really didn't care for it, as is the case for the Wii when I got a Wii U. But years later, just 2 years ago, in 2012, I began to regret selling my Gamecube. The Wii had been a big disappointment to me, and while I said the same thing about the Gamecube during its life, I actually played the shit out of the Gamecube. I bought a ton of games of the console and would consider the Gamecube my "golden era" of gaming. I was in college, had a lot of free time, friends to play the games with, and enough money to buy a new game every week. It was a beautiful time. When Wii came out, I was done with college, and had real bills to pay, so I had less money for games and even less free time to play them. Sure, that really says nothing about the console itself, but perhaps I just don't have the same attachment to the Wii like I did with the Gamecube or any other console before it, but even now, I look at Wii games, trying to fill up a small library of games and I'm really blown away by how few games for the Wii actually interest me. When I look at Gamecube games I don't have, I'm blown away but for a different reason... I'm blown away simply because I can't believe there are so many games that I haven't played that I want to buy for my collection! Even when I look at Super Nintendo games, there are maybe 50 games total that I want in my collection. When I owned an N64 (yes, sadly I sold it a few months ago) I owned approximately 50 games and that was every game I wanted. I was completely done buying games for that system. I enjoyed N64, but I wanted to make room and pay some bills so I decided to give my 64 the cut. It's a decision I've come to regret but it is what it is. Gamecube, along with SNES, is one system I absolutely will not part with. I've already made the mistake of selling my original Gamecube console and even though I kept most of my games and could play them on Wii, I missed looking at the Gamecube console itself. It's my favorite looking console and has my favorite controller to boot. The Wii and Wii U are nice looking as well but they moreso blend in with the surroundings as opposed to being a nice accent piece within your gaming set-up. I love the SNES but it's not a great looking system. I mean it's old-looking and doesn't go well with other electronics around it, unless it's an NES or N64. Oh, and when I say the Gamecube is a great looking system, I'm talking about the black or platinum color. The indigo color looks like a children's toy and that's probably why many people associated the Cube with being "kiddie". That's also why I got a black one. It's very nice looking.
But in regards to the actual games, the Gamecube has a very strong library. It's relatively small, at 666 games released in North America, but it's much better than the laughable miniscule library of the N64. The Gamecube also had the best 3rd party support of the last 4 consoles, so that's another thing it had going for it. Not only that, a lot of the 3rd party games were actually better on Gamecube than on Playstation 2. The prime example for this is one of the greatest games of all time, Resident Evil 4. Initially the game was only set to come out on Gamecube but then after a year or two Capcom decided to release the game on PS2, but the game was still superior on Gamecube. The graphics were better, the controller was better, and the game just overall ran better including having shorter loading times. That's another thing I love about the Cube - fast loading times. If you didn't know any better you'd think you were playing from a cartridge, that's how fast it is. I'm not really sure why either. Perhaps it has to do with the mini-disc format they chose to use. But I digress. The Gamecube had a killer selection of both first party and third party games. Don't believe me? Here's a brief list:
• Super Smash Bros. Melee
• Metroid Prime 1 & 2
• Super Mario Sunshine
• Animal Crossing
• Legend of Zelda Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Four Swords Adventures
• Pikmin 1 & 2
• Luigi's Mansion
• Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
• Mario Power Tennis
• Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
• Mario Party 4-7
• Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
• SSX Tricky, 3, and On Tour
• Resident Evil 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and Code Veronica
• Beyond Good & Evil
• Tales of Symphonia
• Skies of Arcadia Legends
...So do you really need me to keep going? That list is just a fraction of the great games available. You know what the best part is? There are so many that I haven't played yet so it's like I have a new system without actually getting one!
Gamecube games are generally cheap right now. They won't always be. Once people decide that the Gamecube is officially considered "retro", more people will be collecting for it and as a result, prices will skyrocket. Believe me, it's happened with every console since the Atari 2600. Right now people are focused on NES, SNES, and N64. Atari 2600 games used to be ridiculously expensive but now no one wants them and can be found for dirt cheap. Hell, even NES games have been dropping recently. There's a pattern of hills and valleys where a console goes from being brand new to something no one wants to back to being sought after because it's considered retro to being too old to be bothered with. Right now, the Gamecube is collecting dust on a lot of people's shelves. If you're old enough to remember the Super Nintendo coming out, you should be old enough remember people practically throwing their NES's out or selling them for peanuts at garage sales. I definitely remember that. No one wanted an NES once the SNES came out, and they wanted it even less when the N64 came out. Somewhere around the launch of the Gamecube, people became interested in the NES again. They saw it as a collector's item and thus began the whole "retro gaming" revolution. Later on, people migrated towards the SNES, and now the N64. In time, perhaps at the end of Wii U's lifecycle, Gamecube will be considered retro. People will begin to seek Gamecubes and start collecting for it. So in a way, I'm ahead of the game. I don't care whether a console is considered new, old, retro, or whatever. I only care about a console if it has good games. The Gamecube has that. It has more good games than I know what to do with. And most games I never played or sold and plan to rebuy are going for less than $20 a pop right now. Hell, just the other day I bought Battalion Wars, Mario Golf, and Geist for $20 total. All complete and in mint condition too. How can you argue with that? What game, new or old, costs that little? Don't get me wrong - there are definitely games that will fetch a pretty penny (Cubivore, Mega Man X Collection, Phantasy Star Online 1 & 2, etc) but the majority of Gamecube games are very affordable. If you're ever planning on getting into Gamecube collecting, now is the time.
While the Gamecube didn't change the way we play games, it opened a lot of doors. For instance, the prototype for Wii U's controller was hidden in the Game Boy Advance to Gamecube link. Games like Zelda: Four Swords Adventures and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles required that each player link a GBA to the Cube to use as their second screen. It was a hassle, and very pricey if everyone didn't have their own GBA and cable, but it was a great idea and one that is being put into use by the Wii U today. Another thing the Gamecube did well was introduce new IPs and reinvigorate old ones. For instance, Animal Crossing has become a big success ever since its debut in 2002 on Gamecube. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles enjoyed decent success and 3 sequels after it debuted in 2004 on Gamecube. Not to mention Pikmin, one of the best new Nintendo franchises of the 21st century, debuted on Gamecube. It brought new gameplay ideas with a nostalgic feeling which created an engaging and memorable experience, just like Metroid, Zelda, and Mario all did over a decade before it. As far as reinventing franchises go, Metroid Prime is the prime (no pun intended) example. Few people thought the transition from 2D to 3D would go as well as it did. Hell, even I thought it was going to turn out terribly. Luckily we were wrong, and Metroid Prime is often considered one of the best, if not the best, game on Gamecube, if not one of the best of all time. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker is another example of a success story. While Ocarina of Time usually still considered the best in the series, Wind Waker is definitely a contender for the top 3, and my personal favorite in the series. When Nintendo originally showed off Wind Waker, peoples' stomachs churned. They hated the new cartoony look of the game. I, however, liked it. I really liked the new art direction and felt it was a fresh take on the series. And it was. After people got over the initial shock of the cel-shaded graphics, they actually enjoyed the game. A lot. The game even still looks great to this day. And I'm not talking about the HD version on Wii U. I'm talking about the original on Gamecube. Seriously, boot it up. It still looks amazing! Come to think of it, so do a lot of Gamecube games. Metroid Prime is still a marvel to look at. The water effects in Mario Sunshine look good enough to drink. And Resident Evil 4 still is an amazing masterpiece in every sense of the word. Speaking of RE4, that's a reinvention success story if there ever was one. While I disliked the more action oriented direction that RE5 and RE6 took, RE4 was the perfect blend between old and new. It is one of the few games that actually exceeded my expectations upon playing it. It's also one of the few games of the 21st century that I have finished multiple times and on every difficulty setting. Oh, not to mention Resident Evil 4 is cited as one of the greatest video games of all time, and is also in my personal top 10 games of all time. In fact, the Gamecube is the console to own for any true Resident Evil fan. It has Resident Evil Zero, the remake of the original, 4, and the ports of 2, 3, and Code Veronica. In my opinion each version of those games are best played on Gamecube. The controller is a perfect fit for the Resident Evil games, and 2, 3, 4, and Code Veronica are all the best versions of each on the Cube. Zero could only be played on Gamecube or Wii and the edge definitely goes to the Cube. The only one that's up for debate is the remake of Resident Evil. While I personally love that version, some purists prefer the original. Either way, all the best Resident Evils are here.
I could literally go on forever about how much I love the Gamecube. It is a paragon of video games. Sure it wasn't as popular as the PS2 or Xbox back in its heyday but even as far as specs go it was the superior system. For those who never owned a Gamecube, you really missed out. Now is your chance to correct that mistake. Buy a Gamecube. They go for around $40 to $50 for one in working condition. Buy a few games. You can get many of them for less than $20. It is totally worth your time. I promise.
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