"The Empire Strikes Back!"

The Empire Strikes back! Nintendo tried to strike back against Sony and Sega but miserably failed. For such a great system, it failed. I wonder why? It did because people lost faith of Nintendo after the Nintendo 64, and went over to Sony and Sega. Later one more opponent revealed themselves and that was Microsoft with their Xbox. Sega finally had a painful death with the now defunct Sega Dreamcast. So basically the scores right now is Sony is killing everyone else with the PS2, with the Xbox in 2, and Gamecube not so far behind. Now let me tell you some of the Killer Apps the Cube had to offer!

The first Killer App, the Gamecube had to offer was Super Smash Bros Melee. It showed all of Nintendo's All-Stars fighting off to be the champion. We saw are Italian Plumber Mario, the Lovable Bounty Hunter Samus, the slashing Swords Man Link, and the Cute little mouse Pikachu! You could pick from 25 characters, and quite a few arenas. Now lets compare stuff. In 2001, Games Link Super Smash Bros Melee, Halo: Combat Evolved, and Final Fantasy X. Now lets compare them? According to GameFAQ's top 100 games ever, Super Smash Bros Melee comes out the clear winner, with Halo: Combat Evolved following it, and then Final Fantasy X in last place. So you can probably see why everyone says Super Smash Bros Melee is the best Cubes game.......

Another great game was Metroid Prime. People were skeptical about having Metroid, become a first shooter because they were used to the usual Side Scroller shooter. It turned out one of the best games of 2002, and easily one of the best Gamecube games. I guess you could compare it to like Kingdom Hearts, and Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, but we will do that later.

Easily the next great game happened to be none other than a Zelda game. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker showed Link sailing the seas, to search and destroy Ganondorf once and for all. The game showed new weapons, like the grapple hook and Deku Leaf. You could possibly compare it to, maybe to one of th Metal Gear Sold games, or Star Wars: KOTOR.

The Cubes best RPG was made by Namco. By the name of Tales of Symphonia it easily was the Gamecubes best RPG. It showed are hero Llyod and his um brother in law Kratos and other people in his party fight in this awesome RPG. Believe it or not, it's based off a T.V. show only in Japan. You could compare this too, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and Halo 2.

The last Killer App was Resident Evil 4. Some people loved Resident Evil 3: Nemeses, but I thought it was a major letdown. We saw the likes of the Resident Evil remake which was truly amazing. We got Resident Evil Zero, which was amazing too. The in 2005 we saw the likes of another Resident Evil game, Number 4 in the series. We didn't see the T-Virus or the Umbrella Corporation. We saw the return of a character from Resident Evil 2, which I won't tell yuo who it is so I don't spoil it for people that haven't played Resident Evil 4. If you haven't played it, your definitely missing out. You cold easily compare this too, God of War, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

So there you have your Killer App games. Those are the games that you have to pick up or you shouldn't consider yourself a true Gamecube owner. I did the comparing to show you what some games had to go up against. Resident Evil 4 would win against most challenges, when Tales of Symphonia would never have a chance against Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Honorable Killer App Mentions, go to F-Zero GX, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Soul Calibur II, Star Fox Adventures, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Resident Evil, Super Mario Sunshine, and the list goes on and on.

Graphics 10/10
Games Like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, and Star Fox Adventures look absolutely stunning. Not to Mention pretty much every other game looks pretty good too. There was something called Progressive Scan, that would enchance the Graphical abilities of some games. Games like Metroid Prime, and Resident Evil 4 look stunning in Progressive Scan. Sadly was discontinued, but some games still have it and mostly First Party titles.

Sound 10/10
If anyone walked in Brinstar for the first time in Metroid Prime for the first time would know the the Cubes music was going to be a success. One early title, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem really showed off the showed off the Audio capabilities with the Sanity effects. The soubds of 29 other drivers ready for racing in F-Zero Gx was great too. We got classic tunes in Super Smash Bros Melee, and some old tunes brought back memories in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Overall 10/10
I loved this system. It was underrated, but really great games. I could go on about mentioning more, but there's just too many to name. But to name a few I didn't mention: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. The system had great games, great graphics and amazing Audio and sound effects. The System has kept me busy this Generation and it wouldn't be right to buy a Xbox or PS2 with it. You will just be happy with Nintendo's Cube. Well hope you enjoyed the Review and don't let the Cube die a painful death like the Dreamcast!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/26/06