SB Recommends Gamecube Games

Nintendo's follow-up to the N64. In perhaps typical (or perhaps admiral) Nintendo backwardness the GameCube is not able to play film DVDs, and this contributed to its 'toy' image. Otherwise the hardware is really well designed, and balanced (though it could use a bit more RAM). Games often look really clean, and the system can do some really tidy stuff with surface layers and effects. The hardware was eventually built upon in the design of the Wii, and the Wii can also run GC games. GameCube (and Wii) emulation are in a pretty good state. The GameCube also has a hardware expansion allowing the playing of Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games, called the Game Boy Player, some of them even having some enhanced features (like using the GC controller's force feedback function). And, like the N64 before it, the GC has a good selection of multiplayer games, especially if you have a few friends with Game Boy Advances.

Also has a lunchbox handle on the back of it, for Adilegian-knows what reason.

• 1080° Avalanche / 1080° Silverstorm (JP)
  • Rudie: More adrenaline filled than the N64 incarnation, what with you being chased by Avalanches and all. I still haven't figure out if this is intentional or not, but the pop-punk soundtrack directly corresponds to one course in the track. It turns into a sort of rhythm game with this in mind. There is something gorgeous when a high jump takes away the pumping soundtrack and screaming pile of death snow behind you, only to rush back as you approach landing.

• Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
  • gatotsu2501: The spirit of 32-bit RPGs lives on (well, minus the fixation on FMV cutscenes), and it is glorious. It is really hard to overstate how utterly gorgeous the art in this game is, thanks to direction by Yasuyuki Honne (Chrono Trigger/Cross, Xenogears). The plot is terribly uneven, but contains one of the cleverest twists in the history of twisty RPG twists. The game's difficulty is directly proportionate to the player's ability to strategize, both in the building of “decks” (essentially shuffled command sets — much more fun than it sounds) and playing the fast-paced and very fun battle system. The soundtrack is Motoi Sakuraba's best. Make absolutely sure to turn off the voices the first chance you get.

• Baten Kaitos Origins
  • gatotsu2501: I admit I have not actually played this (yet), but by all accounts it is superior to the first game in every conceivable way.

• Beyond Good and Evil (also on: PS2, PSN, Windows, XBLA, Xbox)
  • Wourme: A very memorable game. I find it hard to criticize even the aspects that may deserve criticism.
  • Rudie: I find it a nice little game. The Gamecube version isn't recommended because it eats an entire memory card [59].
  • Felix: this is what the plebs call an underappreciated classic. A good game that can be easily mistaken for great; feels like Zelda + (the first) Jak & Daxter.

• Burnout 2: Point of Impact (also on: PS2, Xbox)
  • Cluster: Incredible sense of speed, further heightened by speed-boosts earned by driving dangerously. The last Burnout made before the focus of the racing turned to ramming opponents off the road. The result is a more tense and precision-based racing game than what came after. The Gamecube and Xbox versions have more content than the PS2 version.

• Chibi-Robo
  • TORUMASUTA: It's a…well, it's a puzzle/adventure game but realized as a platformer. Run around as a robot that is only a few centimeters high, and try to improve the lives of your horribly dysfunctional family.
  • rabite gets whacked!: A sublime little game.

• Cubivore (also on: N64 (JP))
  • oh my car: A neat concept executed poorly. I've always loved ecosystem/evolution games — Shark! Shark! is probably my favorite game ever — but Cubivore's focus on grinding and collecting is tedious. The game won't allow you to even attempt any David vs. Goliath scenarios, because it forces you to have to evolve before you can inflict damage on each boss.

• Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
  • Rudie: We are all sons of bitches for not buying this new.
  • The Blueberry Hill: Not me! Anyway, it's a wonderful, gorgeous, rhythmic, score attacking platformer. Perhaps Sonic, or Nights like, in a sense.
  • Felix: Junglebeat is Nintendo's newish accessibility philosophy (weird peripheral and totally optional difficulty) before said philosophy got horrifically boring. Pretty damn inventive aesthetic and level design (this was their first DK platformer after Rare jumped ship), and probably the last classic game released for the Gamecube (three years and four months after its launch). The Wii port is unbelievably bad.
  • username: Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat is a pretty great side scroller with a good amount of hidden depth once you get accustomed to it, and I'd argue is possibly the best platformer of the last generation.

• Donkey Konga
  • The Blueberry Hill: The second and third Japanese versions are amongst my favourite GameCube things. There's something about clapping that makes these games a lot of fun. But, yeah, avoid the awful NA and PAL versions. Number 3 has lots of ace Namco and Nintendo Famicom game music to play along with.
    And it should be noted: the Japanese versions won't save with the Freeloader, you'll need a modded, or a Japanese, console.

• Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
  • gatotsu2501: The actual game design — a Resident Evil clone mixed with a dungeon-crawling RPG — is a little iffy (though at least the controls are head and shoulders above its survival horror contemporaries) but the story and atmosphere are great, wonderfully creepy Lovecraftian stuff. Deserves extra special recognition for its ingenious sound design.
  • Shnozlak: On the surface this game is dumb as hell. Just below the surface its a fast rolling action “puzzle” game that is endlessly fun to just dive further and further into. The plot is seemingly unselfaware camp that gets gradually more absurd while maintaining it's internal consistency. Games just aren't allowed to be this fun anymore.
  • Ni Go Zero Ichi: I haven't played this game in a few years, but I don't recall it being especially campy. As horror-fantasy genre fiction, it's entirely passable, which is more than you can say for most video games.

• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
  • gatotsu2501: I recall this being pretty fun IF — and only if — you manage to get the requisite people and equipment (GBAs and link cables) together to play it in co-op, as it was designed. Do not even attempt to play it by yourself unless you are prepared to be bored out of your skull. Why Square Enix hasn't released a faithful update or proper sequel to this game for the Wii/DS (Echoes of Time doesn't count), where the whole handheld connection thing would be infinitely easier, is entirely beyond me.

• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
  • Wourme: Fortunately, the GameCube's only tactical RPG (as far as I know) is an excellent one.
  • Felix: Eh. At best, it's riffing on some of the early levels of Tactics Ogre, where your guys were very human and very mortal, and you had to rely almost entirely on positioning to not be overwhelmed while trading counterattacks. Not really enough to do outside of that – though that's my complaint with all Fire Emblem games.

• F-Zero GX (Action Replay codes to access F-Zero AX arcade game)
  • Sniper Honeyviper: Not to mention the unlockable videos in which he rescues a baby and rips his pants, and the sublime custom vehicle editor.
  • shrugtheironteacup: Never before had a game violated me so thoroughly, and never since.
  • Felix: Really darned great racing game. Objective favourite for best game on the Gamecube.

• Gotcha Force - forum thread
  • The Blueberry Hill: A neat, collecty, Virtual On x Power Stone thing. Graphics are really tidy, and Dreamcast-esque. Lots of different 'Borgs' to find, with a variety of movesets.
  • TORUMASUTA: The plot is inane and barely there, but it's basically an action game, in the vein of Capcom's Gundam Vs. games, where you get different toy robots with a ton of different gimmicks, and kick some robot ass.
  • Leau: an extremely fun robot/toy battlin' game. One of my favorites on the system.
  • composerzane: Take the basic fighting mechanics from SEGA's Virtual On, mash them up with the combatant collection and party selection aspects from e.g. Pokémon, crank up the pacing and allow for more than two combatants at once — think 2v2, etc. — all with excellent customization, surprisingly deep and exhilarating combat, and 4-player support (2p co-op as well!). The music is pretty nice, the graphics are adequate and the framerate has seemed pretty damn stable — all just icing on the cake for the addictive, high-energy fighting at the core of this title.

• Hudson Selection Vol. 1: Cubic Lode Runner (also on: PS2)
  • dessgeega: Cubic Lode Runner is brilliant.

• Hudson Selection Vol. 2: Star Soldier (also on: PS2)
  • The Blueberry Hill: Even better than the original. A must-buy.
  • Rudie: The Star Soldier series has always ma..zzzzzzz.
  • dessgeega: Star Soldier is probably my favorite gamecube game.

• Hudson Selection Vol. 3: Bonk's Adventure (also on: PS2)
  • The Blueberry Hill: Just as dull as the rest of the Bonk series.
  • Rudie: I like it!

• Ikaruga (also on: Dreamcast, Windows, XBLA)

• Killer7 (also on: PS2) - forum thread
  • Rudie: You press buttons and things happen. Sometimes you don't even need to press buttons.
  • boojiboy7: On a very basic level, even down to the core of its mechanics, Killer 7 is about how little choice any of us have in games, how arbitrary and controlled every part of a videogame is. A taunt, but sometimes a very funny one, wrapped in a wonderful aesthetic. An amazing soundtrack.
  • gatotsu2501: Sometimes I wonder whether one day, evolved humans or super-intelligent aliens will unearth and play Killer7, and the whole thing will make perfect sense to them. Until that day, it will continue to be a breathtakingly ambitious clusterfuck of a game that falls JUST short of making any sense at all, but god damn if it isn't one hell of a ride, worth even putting up with the middling gameplay at least once. Can anyone who knows Japanese tell me if the JP subtitle script is as obtuse and impenetrable as the English dialogue?
  • shnozlak: this game feels so fair and so well executed even someone who thinks they are terrible at shooters can grow to love it.
  • Tony: the confusing way the plot is presented (and, perhaps, its nature and what Suda51 wants to tell) makes it not nearly as engaging as those of Silver Case and its follow-up, 25th Ward. There are humor and attempts to make meta-jokes and satire, although the latters feel confusing, half-accomplished. The action is boring and repetitive. Diying is a chore because redoing sections of the game is not fun. The loop of finding objects to proceed is repetitive too. In my opinion, a mediocre game (oversold as great) with some explosive attempts to break the forth wall, which for some have been enough to make it a cult. More interesting as a prototypal study, rather than something to play. The aesthetics are interesting for a while and the soundtrack is nice (albeit there is not much variety, and Silver Case and its sequel have much better ones).

• Kirby Air Ride
  • Sniper Honeyviper: Not the sprawling 3D adventure we were all hoping for, Kirby's sole outing on the GC is an exceedingly simple and easy one-button racing game that grows tiresome only a couple hours in. Recommended for the beautifully dreamscape-like course designs and rousing classical music, performed by an actual orchestra!

• Kururin Squash!
  • The Blueberry Hill: More Kururin! Mostly more of the same if you've played the GBA games, but the graphics and presentation are nice, as is being able to use an analogue stick. I guess my memory's a bit hazey on the actual differences— um— there are bosses, and it interfaces with Kururin Paradise to some effect.

• The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
  • gatotsu2501: Like Crystal Chronicles, be sure to have the necessary people and materials to play co-op or don't bother.
  • The Blueberry Hill: I sort of emjoyed playing through it solo, it feels like an arcadeish, puzzley thing—much better than Crystal Chronicles in that aspect—but can't disagree that it is significantly better with a gang of chums, even just one.

• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (remade for Wii U)
  • Rudie: While having a beautiful cartoon style, this is also the point that the Zelda franchise starts to break in half. There are extremely awesome moments in this game buried under an underwhelming huge overworld and collecting the map pieces to collect the map pieces to collect the triforce.
  • diplo: Count me as a person who kind of thinks WW is the best-looking 3D videogame yet. Back then, I was content to be engaged simply by the sea- and sky-scapes. I'm harder to please now, but the game's sights are still such a pleasure to take in. Wonderful night skies. It's great that the water's appearance and color change from time to time. Just thinking about that kind of stuff makes me want to jump back in, but the last time I tried I got bored after a few hours. :[ Maybe I need to to wait for a week where I'm sick.
  • Felix: Gorgeous (really gorgeous), inventive; doesn't quite work. Marked any number of awful turning points for Nintendo.
  • Ni Go Zero Ichi: Some really incredibly great ideas in narrative, aesthetics and design offset by some crippling fumbles and hints of Zelda's oncoming dark ages. In 2017 Zelda is finally, officially Cool again, and with the benefit of hindsight we can see that Wind Waker was in some crucial ways kind of a trial run for Breath of the Wild. Still worth playing.
  • Tony: this comes from a time when Miyamoto and his crew knew how to make you feel like watching a sky full of stars, even by looking at the ceiling of an underground shrine. It's great to wander in this game, it's great to be there. We can even forgive the embarassing final boss fight.

• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (also on: PS2, Xbox)
  • Rudie: I love this awkward meaty co-op action game.

• Luigi's Mansion
  • Sniper Honeyviper: The real Resident Evil 4. Graphics have aged amazingly well, and the cloth physics are still impressive.
  • Rudie: Luigi's Mansion is a dandy little thing. It's only about 8 hours long, and you are going to pay about that many dollars for it. The graphics are kind of dated at this point.
  • shnozlak: Its a digestible pop-song of a video game. Thoroughly enjoyable with nearly no filler.

• Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes - IC forum thread
  • gatotsu2501: Controversial remake of the PS1 title, with a retranslated script, re-recorded voice acting, added MGS2 game mechanics, a new soundtrack, and of course a visual makeover. For as much as their over-the-top absurdity is bemoaned (though, really, fuck anyone getting upset about a game compromising the “realism” of Metal Gear Solid), the cutscenes, being directed by an Actual Filmmaker (Ryuhei Kitamura) as opposed to a film school dropout (Hideo Kojima) are easily the most kinetic and aesthetically satisfying of the series. The added mechanics do break some game situations, but to compensate for this the guards are given vastly improved AI. Preference between this version and the original is ultimately a matter of taste, but Twin Snakes is definitely worth a try.
  • The Blueberry Hill: I was pretty enthusiastic about this before I went back and played the PlayStation version. But the GameCube/MGS2 additions, like first-person aiming and ledge jumping, really mess round with the difficulty and pacing (though they can be fun when speed running and goofing). Also there are no VR Missions, which are the best bit of the original. The graphics are— odd. But the former 3-D animator in me appreciates some of the attention in the surfacing.
  • Felix: the fact that this game even exists is the result of some weird mis-management that dictated that a western developer should do a from-scratch remake of MGS on the GameCube so it could sell to the PS2 owners who bought MGS2. There's lots of good in there, but it's fairly inelegant compared to the original (for too many reasons to list), and the re-recorded voice acting is a surprisingly huge disappointment. That said, it emulates well(ish; sluggish on anything slower than Sandy Bridge, IR goggles broken, and the hack to make it output in 16:9 works in gameplay but screws up cutscenes), and its graphical fidelity is a nice reason to begin an MGS HD Edition playthrough with this rather than the PS1 Classics version.

• Metroid Prime - forum thread (also on: Wii)
  • invisibleyogurt: Metroid Prime 1 is way way way better than any other of the Prime games and should be pretty much required for anyone to play if they haven't already.
  • gatotsu2501: Hands-down the best atmosphere and world-building I've ever seen in a video game. This game is oozing with love, intelligence, and painstaking attention to detail.
  • Felix: The jury is out on how much fun it is to play nowadays, due to the fact that both dual analog controls (which Prime doesn't have) and decent FPS level design (which it has) became a lot more widespread not long after this game's release, but (like everything else on the Gamecube) it's really technically sound and has certainly aged well enough. One of the better Metroid titles for sure; as everyone has said, the Prime sequels are nowhere near as good.
  • gatotsu2501: Actually I'd argue that the controls are perfect. Comparing it to an FPS is a bit of a misnomer; sure, there is some definite pre-Half-Life FPS influence, but the combat and level design seem more appropriately compared to, well, a first-person Super Metroid. If you really don't like the controls though, the Wii version uses a pretty dandy IR pointer setup adapted from Prime 3, though since the game wasn't designed for it it makes the whole thing feel kinda loose and easy.
  • Tony: It gives a sense of exploration, wonder and progression through an unknown planet that feels like “Tomb Raider” in space. After retrieving a new artifact, there is more freedom in “what to do” and less predictability, compared to the game loop of regular 2D Metroids. The controls and the implementation of autolock are still fresh in 2021 and have two main effects: they make the game feel even more different from the usual FPS, and they remind the feeling of some arcade shooters (especially during the most tense battles / boss fights). There is a progression in boss difficulty that reaches epic levels with the Omega Pirate and Ridley especially. The biggest defect of the game, intrinsic to its design, is the need to wander through the same empty spaces countless of times, in order to reach the necessary areas to progress. Still, on the other end, the same redundant exploration helps in marking those environments in the player’s memory, visually. It’s a lesson similar to Dark Souls lack of fast transport (for a large part of DS, anyway). The other limitation is that the graphics are a bit hazy for today's standards, but the game has that Gamecube-y color palette and style that makes it still pleasing. Playing it “pseudo-portably” on the gamepad of a hacked Wii U gives a particularly special feeling, augmenting the sensation of being looking through Samus' visor.

• Mr. Driller: Drill Land
  • tenshi_a: The best Mr Driller game there is. That's if you get the game on import and mod your console (freeloader can't deal with the game saves).
  • dessgeega: Mr. Driller Drill Land is neat, though it won't save with the boot disc. and it's really just a supplement to Mr. Driller A (region-free!), which is the better Driller game.
  • trickless: I've always felt Mr Driller: Drill Land to be the best in the series, I say 'felt' because I haven't played all the Mr. Driller games. But I base my opinion solely on the incredible soundtrack, and I doubt any other Driller game can match it. Oh, it happens to play very well too, the different game modes makes the gameplay more fresh if you're sick and tired of the mundane digging.
  • Drem: Much expansion of game modes but the core game and score attack were wasted somewhat here in favour of casual play.

• NBA Street (also on: PS2)

• Odama
  • Mikey: If you really want to get nuts, maybe Odama, the pinball/RTS hybrid. Shitty production values and occasionally spotty voice recognition on the microphone, but probably one of the most unique experiences you'll get on the platform.
  • oh my car: Odama is an incredibly weird pinball/RTS hybrid where you use the pinball to crush enemy troops and affect elements of each stage (e.g., by knocking down a bridge for your troops to cross). At the same time, you command your troops to fight the enemy and protect your bell (the goal of each stage is to get your bell to the top of the screen). If they would have let you command your troops with the controller, I think the sheer weirdness of the game would have won me over… but, instead, you're required to use voice commands, and yelling “MARCH LEFT MARCH LEFT MARCH LEFT MARCH LEFT” twenty times before your troops react is incredibly frustrating and not the least bit fun.

• Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
  • gatotsu2501: Takes everything that was good about Paper Mario and makes it even better. That's actually just about all there is to say about it, other than commending it on a superb localization and chuckle-worthy script, one which, like a good cartoon, expertly manages to be goofy, sweet and self-aware without becoming infantile, cloying or obnoxious. The best of the Mario RPGs, and on my shortlist of favorite JRPGs of all time.
  • Felix: Couldn't say it better. Particularly considering that every Mario RPG that came after it was utter dreck, this game is genuinely charming and I wish it could take some more credit despite the fact that all of the groundwork was laid by the first game. I get the sense that it's not that well known to people who thought the original Paper Mario was neat enough, which is a damn shame. That said, it is overly facile in the way that Nintendo sometimes tends to be; neither the puzzles nor the combat exactly require a lot of forethought.
  • Tony: to give a different point of view: I think it's too simplistic in tone and story telling. It does not have the “nintendo charm” that some older Zeldas, for example, have. I don’t really have a motivation in proceeding after the first world. Dynamics are not interesting, atmosphere and graphics are neither. This is after 4 hours in. This might be an example of kid's game, where the sense of wonder, as well as the appreciation of cuteness, are enough to make you continue with joy, while many expectations have not been constituted.

• Pikmin
  • mothmanspirit: How do you not have Pikmin on here already? It's phenomenal. Tense and beautiful and terrifying all at once. Some real post apocalyptic survival horror type shit.

• Pikmin 2 (also on: Wii)
  • jack klugman: The best RTS/dungeon crawler/puzzle/whatever game I've ever played. It's really great.
  • Felix: I have vague memories of being impressed despite nodding off while watching a friend play this one night (it must have been a rental). 2004 was the year that attention had finally all but shifted away from Nintendo and as such I remember a lot of really sound first-party stuff flying under the radar (e.g. Paper Mario and Tennis).

• P.N. 03 - forum thread Insert Credit review
  • Sniper Honeyviper: Dodonpachi meets GOD HAND. Really dull in comparison to both of those games, but the combo system is great fun.
  • The Blueberry Hill: Brilliant game. Something like a vertical shooter (maybe even Space Invaders, but played from a third-person action game perspective.
  • notbov: Man, PN03 is a good vidcon. I think my first go around, I just didn't get it, but I'm messing around with it now and something clicked. I love this game. It's mechanically pure in a way later Mikami joints (I'm thinking mostly of Vanquish here) kind of miss. It's like Gungrave, but good because you actually have to dodge shit and abuse/take advantage of stuff instead of being a dumb tank. It feels good to play, to the point where I'll forgive having special moves mapped to d-pad motions (it sure would be great if the Nintendo GameCube had a d-pad bigger than a penny). Man, it even looks good too some 14 years later because they went all in on minimalist design and color pallet and threw a shit ton of polygons and lighting around. It is a Video Game-ass Video Game.
  • Silverboy: I consider it Japan's answer to MDK. There's a lot more spatial awareness going on in that game than almost any other Mikami game made before or after. Not as conscious as MDK spatially but far more so than most 3D action games coming out at that time. Hell, I would say most action games miss this nuanced element overall even to this day.
    Might be one of Mikami's best, imo.

• Resident Evil (also on: 360, PS3, PS4, Wii, XB1, PC) Action Button review
  • gatotsu2501: The Wii port allows use of the Classic Controller, complete with its actually usable D-pad, and is therefore preferable for navigating RE's notorious tank controls.

• Resident Evil 4 (also on: 360, PS2, PS3, PS4, Wii, XB1, PC)
  • Rudie: Woah, you haven't played this one yet? You should get on that.
  • Sniper Honeyviper: Murder simulator that starts strong but degenerates into a repetitive mess. Was kind of a big deal before Gears perfected the formula.
  • gatotsu2501: Perfect example of a game stretched too thin. The first third or so is really engrossing, tense stuff, but by around the time you reach the castle the game has already introduced and explored its most novel mechanics, and starts increasingly to rely on setpieces and gimmicks to keep it going for the next dozen hours or so until it finally sputters out. I can't think of another game that makes such a drastic transition from excitement to exhaustion over its running time. The story and cutscenes are mood-ravagingly, inexcusably bad. (Wii Edition is generally considered the definitive version, though one could argue that its super-slick controls break a game that wasn't designed for them.)
  • Felix: Sniper is 100% right. The engine was really something for [not long enough before cover shooters became popular], and the early game is a lovely playground (n.b. I hate sandbox games but I love good playgroundy setpieces in linear ones). Mikami deserves a lot of credit, though I don't think I'd want to play it again.

• Sega Soccer Slam (also on: PS2, Xbox)
  • The Blueberry Hill: Arcadey, SEGA-y, sports game. One of its generation's bet multiplayer games, though the XBox version may be slightly its superior.
  • Felix: Agree. Should have gotten more play. I bought it brand new after reading a review that said “this game is doomed to fall into obscurity, but dammit, it's great” and never looked back.

• Skies of Arcadia: Legends
  • Rudie: Sega Blue Skies Forever. An update on the Dreamcast version with lessoned random battles, but there are still a lot of random battles. Thinking about this game makes me angry because of the video game bullshit, but I always have a great time playing it.
  • Wourme: When I thought that I no longer had the patience for JRPGs, I tried this one and realized that I just hadn't been exposed to any good ones lately.

• SoulCalibur II (also on: 360, PS2, PS3, Xbox)
  • gatotsu2501: Like most people, I got this for the Gamecube and can hardly imagine playing it on anything else.
  • Felix: The only Soul Calibur sequel that wasn't totally unnecessary, and yes, the Gamecube's video output was the only option that did justice to the Dreamcast original in those days. Takes too long to unlock Hwang/Assassin.

• Spartan: Total Warrior (also on: PS2, Xbox) - Action Button review

• (Tom Clancy's) Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (also on: PS2, PS3, Xbox, PC)

• SSX 3 (also on: PS2, Xbox)
  • boojiboy7: Interesting because it includes console specific Mario characters, but also loses one button used for trick moves, potentially making the available trick set smaller. A great snowboarding game either way, though.

• Star Fox Adventures
  • Rudie: This game is horrible trash that I don't understand how I liked it on any level. Normal dinosaurs are enslaved by space-faring bipedal dinosaurs with laser guns and you should just leave the normies to die. Probably playable if the absurdity I just described amused you. The game is full of them. It's not very fun otherwise.
  • Sniper Honeyviper: Should have stayed as “Dinosaur Planet” on the N64. Kinda neat to see Rare's take on the rail shooter genre though, even if the segments are horribly sparse and only last a few minutes.

• Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
  • Sniper Honeyviper: The true sequel to Star Fox 64. Watch out for Darth Bob!
  • Felix: This game is impossible to emulate because Factor 5 apparently never told anyone how they used the Gamecube's audio buffer as video memory or something preposterous like that. That's a shame, because there hasn't been a better videogame released about blowing up the Death Star since. I can't remember how good the rest of it was, but it was definitely the Gamecube's best launch title after Monkey Ball.

• Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
  • Lainer: Single player mode is a mix of the good parts of the previous Rogue Squadron with mandatory, unplayably bad on-foot segments. This is why Factor 5 lost the Star Wars License.
  • Rudie: If you have people to play with Rebel Strike is a freaking awesome time. The 2 player mode is the entirety of Rogue Leader with more things to shoot at. Every time I've managed to play it with someone else I've had an absolute blast. You need a big TV because the things you are shooting at can be pretty small. If you don't have anyone to play with, Rogue Leader is pretty good by itself. The on-foot sections feel like no one play tested them, but the storyboards/concept was awesome.

• Super Mario Sunshine
  • Rudie: A vacation with Mario! Outside of the god-hating amusement park section, I like this game a lot more than Mario 64 as something to play.

• Super Monkey Ball
  • Felix: Super Monkey Ball is one of my very favorite games. Enjoying it and thinking as highly of it as I do are certainly two different things, but rest assured it gets my wholehearted recommendation.
  • The Blueberry Hill: Oh gosh. This is terrific. The best kind of tough. You should not leave a shop / log out of eBay after buying a Gamecube without also buying this. And it never got better than the first game.

• Super Smash Bros. Melee
  • gatotsu2501: Short of a drunken orgy, it is physically impossible to have more fun with one to three people on your sofa. The 2D fighting hardcore may loathe it for “pandering” to neophytes, but in actuality I don't think I've ever seen another multiplayer game manage to so perfectly balance accessibility and depth. The playability of this game is quite literally endless.

• Tales of Symphonia (also on: PS2(JP), PS3, PC)
  • gatotsu2501: Comfort food gaming par excellence. If you play only one Tales game (and you only really need to play one Tales game), make it this one.

• Tube Slider
  • glitch: Futuristic racing game by NDCube, the team that made the GBA F-Zero games. Might well be a GC F-Zero reject, but I like it a lot more. Very elegant boost mechanic, amazing vehicle design (by the designer of the vehicles in Akira, supposedly), a bizarre introverted techno soundtrack, HARD, and gorgeous.

• Ultimate Muscle: Legends vs. New Generation
  • jack klugman: Get the Ultimate Muscle game if you can find it cheap. Really stupid, but quite fun with four people. Same guys that made the good N64 wrestling games, but paced like an arcade game.
  • boojiboy7: This game is stupid amounts of fun.

• Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2 (also on: PS2)
  • Rudie: They are pretty much the exact same game. Cool 2D platformer/beatem up with super powers. I liked the Boss Rush because it made me go zen and I got the highest score possible on that stage. Viewtiful.
  • Sniper Honeyviper: Doesn't deserve all the praise it gets, but it's a highly entertaining and wonderfully quirky attempt at re-conceptualizing the beat-em-up. Terribly hateful stage late in the game where you have to re-fight all the bosses except everything's covered in purple—I thought they stopped pulling this crap in the SNES era. The sequel unnecessarily tacks on to the mechanics but offers more varied level design.
  • Felix: Sniper is right again. Well-produced and somewhat overrated (like all of Clover/Platinum's games that aren't GOD HAND), but enjoyable enough.

• Wario Ware, Inc. Mega Party Games!!
  • gatotsu2501: Basically a console port of the original Wario Ware GBA game, but with a gaggle of multiplayer modes that I recall being absolutely fantastic amounts of dumb fun (including one mode which encourages players to sabotage their opponents IRL).

• SB recommends Game Boy games - playable via Game Boy Player.
• SB recommends Game Boy Color games - playable via Game Boy Player.
• SB recommends Game Boy Advance games - playable via Game Boy Player.
• gamecube | about import gamecube games | i bought a gamecube yesterday - Forum recommendations.
• Gamecube questions - IC forum recommendations.
• RIP Gamecube - SB's most recent Gamecube thread.
• Podcast Episode #48: The Select Button Nintendo Cubecast - Gamecube focused SB podcast.