Happy 24th anniversary, Nintendo GameCube

[Prowler]

Yep, time flies.

What are your memories of the GC?

I got it for Christmas 2002 bundled with Mario Sunshine and also SSB Melee as a separate game. My brother got himself FIFA 2003.

The GameCube, imo, is one of the most underrated consoles of all time. Of all major ones it has to be the most underrated one alongside the Sega Saturn. it sold poorly(21M units worldwide), but the few of us who had one cherished it immensely. So many good games for it. And even though I have a solid collection, I'm still missing some big hits like Eternal Darkness and Resident Evil 4.

I was the only kid in the schools I went to that had a GameCube. It was hard to talk about games during my teenage years since no one else was playing the games I was playing at the time. This was the worst time to be a Nintendo fan, but oh well.

[neatoman]

Well, Metroid Prime got me into FPS games, a genre I had previously dismissed because of easy it is to get hit from the back in many FPS games, so that's a good memory. I also loved playing Smash, Mario Sunshine, RE4, Twin Snakes and many other games.

[Prowler]

Funny enough, I went to a Cash Converters today and there were a bunch of GameCube games for sale there. Twillight Princess for 115 euro and Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for 148 euro or so. Fortunately, I own both games, but I sincerely feel sorry for those who missed out on the GameCube and have been trying to get into it in the last decade or so

Eternal Darkness is a big omission from my collection, though. I need to get that game sometime.

[Kold Pizza]

Even though the GameCube is over 20 years old now, my fond memories of it will never fade away. I still like to revisit it from time to time. Some of my favorite games from this era are Super Smash Bros Melee, Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi’s Mansion, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Pokemon Colosseum, Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, Star Fox Assault, and Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Happy Anniversary, Melee Machine.

[Powder]

Super Monkey Ball 2 & Super Smash Bros. Melee got the most time outta me on this console. Wind Waker remains a classic, for which my pre-order earned me a GC port of Ocarina of Time + Master Quest, which was how I would play that title for the first time, never owning an N64. Super Mario Sunshine has its moments & certainly established a lot of mainstays for the series moving forward, but it suffered from physics & camera based issues, like its predecessor, that really put me off. Mario Kart Double Dash & Mario Party 5/6 are still among the best installments in those games, though. Star Fox Adventures always caught a lot of sh*t, but is still a favorite of mine. It was the last good Rare published title, IMO, & David Wise's work on the soundtrack is great.

I think it's fair to call it an underrated console, but at the same time, I feel like it never really hit its full potential. A decent amount of third party support, though. Metroid Prime, Twilight Princess, these I didn't check out until the Wii ports came along, & I think both are significantly better on that system, aided by the motion controls.

I had the black one, it was either a birthday or Christmas gift, don't recall. Sold it probably over a decade ago, but kept the games, controllers, & memory card since Wii was backwards compatible. Regret it, but my SO has one, so we're good.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Powder

Super Monkey Ball 2 & Super Smash Bros. Melee got the most time outta me on this console. Wind Waker remains a classic, for which my pre-order earned me a GC port of Ocarina of Time + Master Quest, which was how I would play that title for the first time, never owning an N64. Super Mario Sunshine has its moments & certainly established a lot of mainstays for the series moving forward, but it suffered from physics & camera based issues, like its predecessor, that really put me off. Mario Kart Double Dash & Mario Party 5/6 are still among the best installments in those games, though. Star Fox Adventures always caught a lot of sh*t, but is still a favorite of mine. It was the last good Rare published title, IMO, & David Wise's work on the soundtrack is great.

I think it's fair to call it an underrated console, but at the same time, I feel like it never really hit its full potential. A decent amount of third party support, though. Metroid Prime, Twilight Princess, these I didn't check out until the Wii ports came along, & I think both are significantly better on that system, aided by the motion controls.

I had the black one, it was either a birthday or Christmas gift, don't recall. Sold it probably over a decade ago, but kept the games, controllers, & memory card since Wii was backwards compatible. Regret it, but my SO has one, so we're good.

I have the black one, too. My brother and I tend to love the colour black for video game consoles and electronical devices. The default purple colour for the GameCube was not appealing to us, I guess. But I'd have preferred for him to have bought the orange coloured GC instead haha

Ah I missed out on Super Monkey Ball. There were games of it on the Switch but I heard they're not as good as the GC games.

You're right that the GC has a deeper library than people gave it credit for. Thing is, it looked so barren compared to the PS2's library. And to be honest, the OG Xbox suffers from the same unfortunate circumstances as the GC. Lots of good OG Xbox games that faded into obscurity due to the PS2' existence basically "blocking" the competition at the time to the point people forgot it existed.

I have Assault, but not Adventures. I did want that game when I was a kid, but again, my brother was the one who had the priority to "decide" what games to get. The only GC titles we got based on my "input" were F-Zero GX, Metroid Prime, Pikmin and WWE Day of Reckoning 2. And I only got Prime when it was already a Player's Choice game selling for €19.99 around 2005.

[Powder]

I actually wanted the purple one, but I'm not sure if I ever specified that to my folks. I dunno if they chose black or just got what was available, but I wasn't gonna fuss about it. I actually hate black electronics, personally, as they're always dust magnets. Smudges & stuff too are especially obvious. That kinda thing bugs me. So, naturally, I wound up with a black 3DS & black Wii-U & so forth.

Super Monkey Ball 2 on GC is hands-down the best entry in its series, but if it's difficult to get or emulate, I would highly recommend the most recent installment, Banana Rumble, for being the next best thing. SEGA was never able to make one that feels as good as 2, but I think they're finally getting there.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Powder

I actually wanted the purple one, but I'm not sure if I ever specified that to my folks. I dunno if they chose black or just got what was available, but I wasn't gonna fuss about it. I actually hate black electronics, personally, as they're always dust magnets. Smudges & stuff too are especially obvious. That kinda thing bugs me. So, naturally, I wound up with a black 3DS & black Wii-U & so forth.

Super Monkey Ball 2 on GC is hands-down the best entry in its series, but if it's difficult to get or emulate, I would highly recommend the most recent installment, Banana Rumble, for being the next best thing. SEGA was never able to make one that feels as good as 2, but I think they're finally getting there.

Well, I don't see why it would be difficult to emulate.

Oh I googled Banana Rumble and looks like it came out less than 2 years ago. I completely missed the news about it.

There's 3 Monkey Ball games on the Switch and when I was researching opinions on them, there were only 2 games yet. This was around 2021-2022 still.

I'll keep that in mind about Banana Rumble. I might buy it, then. Thanks.

As for black electronics... well, I can see what you mean about the dust but our Wii is white, surprisingly enough, especially since there's black Wii models as well, and it always got dusty fast as well. Same for my PS2 Slim Platinum model.

As for the 3DS, mine doesn't really get dusty ever except for the occasional dust on screen which can get quickly wiped. But that's because I keep it stored in a drawer inside an Ocarina of Time pouch.

[CyberCubed]

The Gamecube had plenty of games, and big games like Resident Evil 4, REmake, RE0 and Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes debuted on it too. Not to mention Tales of Symphonia.

The problem is the Gamecube didn't get the other big third party games at the time, like the GTA trilogy, all the Final Fantasy games on PS2, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, Silent Hill 2 and 3, Devil May Cry 1-3, Dragon Quest 8, etc. All these games should of got Gamecube ports back in the day but did not.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

The Gamecube had plenty of games, and big games like Resident Evil 4, REmake, RE0 and Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes debuted on it too. Not to mention Tales of Symphonia.

The problem is the Gamecube didn't get the other big third party games at the time, like the GTA trilogy, all the Final Fantasy games on PS2, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, Silent Hill 2 and 3, Devil May Cry 1-3, Dragon Quest 8, etc. All these games should of got Gamecube ports back in the day but did not.

And Microsoft acquiring Rare in 2002 also must not have helped either. Nintendo probably initially expected Rare to help carry the GameCube outside of 1st party Nintendo games just like they did for the N64.

As a GameCube kid, I liked the games I had, but I was so jealous I couldn't play GTA, Metal Gear Solid, Tekken, SmackDown games, Pro Evolution Soccer games, Final Fantasy games, Kingdom Hearts, etc. on it. I got a PS2 in late 2005 and was able to play Vice City, Tekken 5, Final Fantasy X, Bully, PES 5 and a few SD games, still. But missed out on other classics. I finally got the chance to play Dragon Quest VIII on the 3DS around 2017-2018 and it's become one of my all-time favourite games.

Anyway, the GC library seems a lot richer than N64's. What does Nintendo 64 have beyond Nintendo 1st and Rare games?

Turok? I got the 1st one and disliked it.

International Superstar Soccer 98 by Konami? Great football game for its time but why play it in 2026?!

WWF and WCW games? No point in playing them unless you're a wrestling fan. And even if you are, those games are quite outdated by now and you'd have a better time playing several other games that came out after those.

That 007 game that's not Goldeneye and not made by Rare? It got good reviews iirc...

The 3D Castlevania games and Mega Man 64? Symphony of the Night on the PS1 is better and I've never heard any Mega Man fan calling Mega Man 64 their favourite or one of their favourite games of the franchise.

..Sin and Punishment is good, I guess. That's the only good N64 game that somehow didn't make it outside of Japan. Saturn players got it WAY worse in that regard.

Haven't played the Mystical Ninja games or Michief Makers, so can't say. But they seem well-regarded as well.

[CyberCubed]

Gamecube did have better third party support than N64 due to going with discs instead of carts. I have no idea why MGS2 and 3 didn't get Gamecube ports, or Devil May Cry, or at least Dragon Quest 8. I imagine the Final Fantasy games were too big to fit on a Gamecube disc, and GTA was just more popular on PS2/Xbox to bother with.

Third party N64 games that were popular were Turok 1 and 2, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Rayman 2, many of the realistic arcade racing games, Mortal Kombat Trilogy and 4, etc. But yeah outside of Nintendo/Rare there wasn't much.

[sdp]

Animal Crossing on Gamecube is easily the best game on the system, and no sequel has ever come close to matching the original's feel of living in the game. Sadly the series has basically become a sim city like game where you play god and that's just not what AC was.

I might be one of the few but I loved the whole GBA to Gamecube link cable extras in games, few games did it but the few that did were great. Pacman Vs, Zelda Four Swords Adventures, AC, Sonic Chao Garden, Pokemon Colosseum of course.

Eternal Darkness is another game that was excellent. I also liked Star Fox Assault, it's a short game and not as replayable but it's fun. Same with Mario Baseball and the Donkey Konga gams were suprisingly fun.

Originally Posted by Prowler

Oh I googled Banana Rumble and looks like it came out less than 2 years ago. I completely missed the news about it.

There's 3 Monkey Ball games on the Switch and when I was researching opinions on them, there were only 2 games yet. This was around 2021-2022 still.

The other two Monkey Ball games are remakes, one of the Wii game and the other of Monkey Ball 1&2. They're ok but the physics are different from the original.

Banana Rumble I can agree is the best Monkey Ball since the original 2 games on Gamecube. Underrated.

Originally Posted by Prowler

Nintendo probably initially expected Rare to help carry the GameCube outside of 1st party Nintendo games just like they did for the N64.

Turok? I got the 1st one and disliked it.

Nintendo actually got first dibs in buying Rare, they could've done it but instead sold their shares to Microsoft. And the excuse that they didn't want to spend money is a lie since they bought Retro studios for around the same amount it would've cost them to fully acquire Rare.

Well if you like FPSs I recommend you check out Turok 2 and 3, they're very different games from the first one. 1 is more like a doom style FPS, 2 is more objective based like GoldenEye, and 3 plays like Half Life. You can easily like one and hate the others. The remasters are usually cheap, steam/switch/ps etc.

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I have no idea why MGS2 and 3 didn't get Gamecube ports, or Devil May Cry, or at least Dragon Quest 8. I imagine the Final Fantasy games were too big to fit on a Gamecube disc, and GTA was just more popular on PS2/Xbox to bother with.

I'm guessing MGS Twin Snakes sold poorly so we never got MGS2/3. Capcom games sold badly so there goes most of that catalog, definitely no DMC after the Resident Evil games were underperforming. I think Maximo could've acutally done better on Gamecube though. I think DQ8 would've been too big for Gamecube as well not to mention that came out late in the life of the Gamecube, would've made more sense as a Wii launch game

[Andrew NDB]

Gamecube? Mario Sunshine, which I never finished. I think the rare Gamecube versions of Ocarina of Time is the only one I've ever played all the way through. Also I know I played Resident Evil 0 and the remaster of Resident Evil 1 on it, which I believe I recall were Gamecube exclusive, at least for a time. I don't think I really played anything else on it.

*edit: Wind Waker, of course.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Gamecube did have better third party support than N64 due to going with discs instead of carts. I have no idea why MGS2 and 3 didn't get Gamecube ports, or Devil May Cry, or at least Dragon Quest 8. I imagine the Final Fantasy games were too big to fit on a Gamecube disc, and GTA was just more popular on PS2/Xbox to bother with.

Third party N64 games that were popular were Turok 1 and 2, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Rayman 2, many of the realistic arcade racing games, Mortal Kombat Trilogy and 4, etc. But yeah outside of Nintendo/Rare there wasn't much.

The Star Wars games, right. I never had those. As for racing games... I already had Mario Kart 64, Wave Race, Diddy Kong Racing and F-Zero X as a kid. I didn't need or want any more racing games. That's plenty.

I had moved on Mortal Kombat after they went 3D. We got Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on the Sega Saturn. I'd not get back to the MK series until MK9 on Steam as an adult. It's a bit of a shame since I was always curious about the GC/PS2/Xbox era of Mortal Kombat games, but oh well.

Originally Posted by sdp

Animal Crossing on Gamecube is easily the best game on the system, and no sequel has ever come close to matching the original's feel of living in the game. Sadly the series has basically become a sim city like game where you play god and that's just not what AC was.

I might be one of the few but I loved the whole GBA to Gamecube link cable extras in games, few games did it but the few that did were great. Pacman Vs, Zelda Four Swords Adventures, AC, Sonic Chao Garden, Pokemon Colosseum of course.

Eternal Darkness is another game that was excellent. I also liked Star Fox Assault, it's a short game and not as replayable but it's fun. Same with Mario Baseball and the Donkey Konga gams were suprisingly fun.



The other two Monkey Ball games are remakes, one of the Wii game and the other of Monkey Ball 1&2. They're ok but the physics are different from the original.

Banana Rumble I can agree is the best Monkey Ball since the original 2 games on Gamecube. Underrated.


Nintendo actually got first dibs in buying Rare, they could've done it but instead sold their shares to Microsoft. And the excuse that they didn't want to spend money is a lie since they bought Retro studios for around the same amount it would've cost them to fully acquire Rare.

Well if you like FPSs I recommend you check out Turok 2 and 3, they're very different games from the first one. 1 is more like a doom style FPS, 2 is more objective based like GoldenEye, and 3 plays like Half Life. You can easily like one and hate the others. The remasters are usually cheap, steam/switch/ps etc.


I'm guessing MGS Twin Snakes sold poorly so we never got MGS2/3. Capcom games sold badly so there goes most of that catalog, definitely no DMC after the Resident Evil games were underperforming. I think Maximo could've acutally done better on Gamecube though. I think DQ8 would've been too big for Gamecube as well not to mention that came out late in the life of the Gamecube, would've made more sense as a Wii launch game

You know? I agree. GC Animal Crossing was awesome. It's pretty dated by now, but it has a lot of cool stuff in it that hasn't been in any game since then.

Overall, I'd say that New Leaf combines the best the series has to offer and is the perfect blend between outdated and modern mechanics.

But anyway, back to GC Animal Crossing... best game on the system? Hum... not sure about that. It's a top 10 game, definitely, but number 1? There's plenty of contenders for that number 1 spot. My gut says Super Smash Bros. Melee. But again, this is subjective.

Eternal Darkness is the GC game that got away from me. I must play that game one day.

I remember the Donkey Konga hype online very well, but I slept on rhythm based games until I played Ouendan on the DS. And besides, even if I wanted Konga, convincing my mum to buy me a new game plus the drums accessory was gonna be twice the headache, so I let it pass. Nowadays I bet the game and the accessory can set one back quite a bit...

Ah I never had the GBA player that connected to the GC. Only the Super Game Boy for the SNES. I don't think I was ever particularly interested in the GBA player, though.

Turok 2? That's also a n64 era game, so no, not playing it ever. I can't really pick up N64 games in 2026 that I have not grown up with and enjoy them properly. Turok 3? I get it that's on the Switch but I'm not a big FPS guy anyway...

Resident Evil games coming out on the GC was a big surprise back then. They ended up coming out on the PS2 as well, anyway. Whether the GC versions are better or not, that I don't know.

[CyberCubed]

It's weird how so many people here don't know the Gamecubes library, here's a full list of good games from Nintendo:

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Mario Sunshine
Luigi's Mansion
Mario Kart: Double Dash
Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (yes it also came out on Gamecube)
Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (fully playable in single player without a GBA, just use the Gamecube controller)

Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2

Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat (the Wii port lets you play without the bongos, I recommend getting the Wii port)

Starfox Adventures
Starfox Assault
F-zero GX

Pikmin 1
Pikmin 2

Pokemon Colosseum and XD

Fire Emblem
Eternal Darkness

Kirby's Air Ride
Chibi Robo

Wave Race: Blue Storm
1080 Avalance

Animal Crossing


Nintendo's Gamecube lineup was great. Some games aren't as good as other entries in the series but this is a solid lineup. I recommend all of these games.

[sdp]

The entire Turok trilogy got remasters by nightdive studios, basically modernizing the controls, so the games are very playable today, at least the remasters are and as I mentioned they're usually dirt cheap during sales.

Eternal Darkness hasn't aged that well over the years, but man what a great experience it was back in the day. Graphics and controls aren't great but if you can get over that, it's still a game with a great atmosphere.

Donkey Konga I would have never bought it but my mom found it on sale and bought it and it was just fun to play, might not be the best rhythm game but it was unique. Jungle Beat plays better with drums than the wii remote too.

Can't wait to see most of these games get added to NSO on the Switch 2.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

It's weird how so many people here don't know the Gamecubes library, here's a full list of good games from Nintendo:

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Mario Sunshine
Luigi's Mansion
Mario Kart: Double Dash
Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (yes it also came out on Gamecube)
Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (fully playable in single player without a GBA, just use the Gamecube controller)

Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2

Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat (the Wii port lets you play without the bongos, I recommend getting the Wii port)

Starfox Adventures
Starfox Assault
F-zero GX

Pikmin 1
Pikmin 2

Pokemon Colosseum and XD

Fire Emblem
Eternal Darkness

Kirby's Air Ride
Chibi Robo

Wave Race: Blue Storm
1080 Avalance

Animal Crossing


Nintendo's Gamecube lineup was great. Some games aren't as good as other entries in the series but this is a solid lineup. I recommend all of these games.

No one here is denying that? We've all been quite complimentary to the GameCube in this thread. I don't disagree with you saying that's a pretty good lineup, even if I am not a big fan of Sunshine and Wind Waker myself.

Paper Mario and Luigi's mansion can be played on other systems too. Paper Mario got a Switch remake and Luigi's Mansion got a 3DS port. I missed out on Luigi's Mansion originally, so I bought the 3DS version instead. Sunshine is also part of the 3D Mario All-Stars version for the Switch. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess got HD remasters on the Wii U, but I'd not recommend getting a Wii U in 2026 just to play those 2 games alone. The rest of most of Wii U's exclusives either got Switch ports or better sequels on the Switch. Nintendo should just port WW HD and TP HD to the Switch 2. What's stopping them? I'm sure they'd sell much better on it than they did on the Wii U...

Originally Posted by sdp

The entire Turok trilogy got remasters by nightdive studios, basically modernizing the controls, so the games are very playable today, at least the remasters are and as I mentioned they're usually dirt cheap during sales.

Eternal Darkness hasn't aged that well over the years, but man what a great experience it was back in the day. Graphics and controls aren't great but if you can get over that, it's still a game with a great atmosphere.

Donkey Konga I would have never bought it but my mom found it on sale and bought it and it was just fun to play, might not be the best rhythm game but it was unique. Jungle Beat plays better with drums than the wii remote too.

Can't wait to see most of these games get added to NSO on the Switch 2.

Maybe Turok's remasters are very good games I'm missing out on, who knows. But I'm not really interested. Look, I gave N64 Turok 2 chances. One back in the early 2000s on my brother's N64 when I was a kid. And another one some years later (2007 or so) as a teenager on my brother's N64 again. It didn't click with me that time neither. So my impression of the game is "ruined" forever. Not to mention I cannot buy and play every single decent/good video game ever made. Therefore, Turok games are not on my plans at all.

It would be a shame if Eternal Darkness did not age too well. I decided to never play Shenmue due to similar feedback. "Yeah it was awesome back in the day, but it doesn't hold up well nowadays". What makes you think ED did not age well? I know you said "graphics and controls", but could you be more specific?

[CyberCubed]

Most Gamecube games never got remasters back in the day. Just the two Zelda's, Sunshine on the All-star collection, Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Jungle beat on Wii, Paper Mario 2 on Switch, and Pikmin 1 and 2. Luigi's Mansion got a 3DS port.

But most Gamecube games never got re-released and there was never any Virtual Console for them either, so Nintendo Switch Online is the first time these games are being made available in 20 years. For example F-zero GX and Fire Emblem that were added have never been re-released since 2003 and 2005 respectively on Gamecube, so to most people these are all new games they've never played.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Most Gamecube games never got remasters back in the day. Just the two Zelda's, Sunshine on the All-star collection, Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Jungle beat on Wii, Paper Mario 2 on Switch, and Pikmin 1 and 2. Luigi's Mansion got a 3DS port.

But most Gamecube games never got re-released and there was never any Virtual Console for them either, so Nintendo Switch Online is the first time these games are being made available in 20 years. For example F-zero GX and Fire Emblem that were added have never been re-released since 2003 and 2005 respectively on Gamecube, so to most people these are all new games they've never played.

Sunshine on All-Stars was not a remaster. Neither was Galaxy or 64, for that matter. ´

Metroid Prime's trilogy got released on the Wii. They made a Prime 1 remaster for the Switch, but I didn't know they made a Prime 2 remaster?? Or are they making one??

Yes, Fire Emblem POR iss one of the most expensive GC games out there. I imagine F-Zero GX is rather pricey as well. Since those 2 games are from Nintendo properties, it's easy to put them on the NSO service.

I don't have a Switch 2 yet, but looking at the GC NSO games available so far, the only one I want to try is Super Mario Strikers, since I never had it. OK I never had Chibi Robo either, but doesn't interest me.

They better put Eternal Darkness on it.