GameCube

"Good things come in Cubes"

The Nintendo company has always played a big role in the videogame world. Releasing the NES, SNES, N64, and countless variations of the gameboy. For awhile, Nintendo was the king of the gaming world, in the early 90's after Nintendo had sent Atari to the grave and made Nintendo the word for videogames and Atari the word for ancient system. Sega popped up and started a console war. After sales flip flopped, Nintendo started gaining speed and released the Nintendo 64. Then along came Sony and they released the PS1 followed up by the PS2. Nintendo began to decline and Sony became the king of the gaming world, but Nintendo would not go without a fight, after a year of Sony's dominance with the PS2, Nintendo released their new system, titled “Gamecube” in November of 2001. All though the Gamecube is not put among the companies bests, it does have some of the greatest games that are exclusive only to Nintendo. It's because of that , that Nintendo has stayed with the competition.

Games
Games are what make the console, not graphics, not system features, and certainty not the controller. This is the reason Nintendo is so great, with games like; Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox, Donkey Kong, Animal Crossing, Resident Evil, Super Smash Brothers, and Tales of Symphonia. These games are exclusive to the Gamecube and are the best of the best when it comes the gaming quality.

When you break it down, the games are divided into a few categories. First off we have shooters, though Gamecube usually gets shooters that the other consoles get, it's probably a better bet to get them on the PS2 or Xbox. Thus the shooting genre is pretty poor here, next is the sports category. Again no exclusive titles, here you'll still have more fun getting them for the other systems. It's not till we get to Action, RPG, and Fighting games that the Cube starts to shine. Mario, Zelda, and Metroid are this console's best series, in fact, they are among the best series in the history of gaming. The RPG's include titles such as Tales of Symphonia and Skies of Arcadia: Legends. Both of them are on the Cube and are a whole different gameplay than the RPG's found on the PS2 and Xbox. And lastly, the fighting games. Super Smash Bros. Melee could be considered one of the best games ever, it takes the perfect idea of Nintendo's all-stars and putting them together in one game.

Controller
Nintendo has always been known for pulling some crazy controller out for a console. It's exactly what happened here and it's hard to explain if it's good or bad. It has “L” and “R” buttons on the top, these buttons have nice grooves where your fingers rest. The “Z” button has been moved right in front of the the “R” button. I'm not to happy about that because it feels sluggish at times and you may not feel like it was actually pressed as it's so small. They brought back the “X” and “Y” buttons from the SNES days and put those at the top of the right side, both wrk nicely and are out of the way from others. “A” and “B” are back as the main buttons for the controller. The “B” has been reduced severely and at times feels to small to find quickly. As for the “A” it's retained its original shape and is the same as before. The start button has been reduced in size and placed in the center and the analog stick has been move to the left side. For the D-Pad, they reduced it quite a bit and moved it down (it's purpose is not to move your character, but to open things like maps and such) and lastly the four C buttons have been made into a another analog stick known as the “C-Stick” which does pretty nicely as well. This stick is below the “A” and “B” buttons and opposite of the D-Pad. The overall shape of the controller is great as you are able to choose from a variety of colors, and the controller shapes fits perfectly in your hands.

Special Features
As for special features, the Cube doesn't have much. You aren't able to watch DVD's or anything else special, they didn't even make it backwards compatible with the N64. As for other things, the system comes with four slots so no need for a multi-tap. If you have a Game Boy Advance, you can purchase a cord that lets you play Game Boy Advance games on your TV or you can use them to gain special bonuses and hints in the games. For example, in Zelda: The Wind Waker, using a Game Boy Advance, you can access maps and hints for the dungeons. In Animal Crossing, you can visit a tropical island with the help of a Game Boy Advance.

Graphics
People complain about the Gamecube's lack of graphics, I however find nothing wrong with them. Take Resident Evil 4 and Metroid Prime and compare them to PS2's and Xbox's best, you'll find little difference. Then there's complaints on the cel-shading graphics (Zelda: The Wind Waker) and others such as N64 ports. Hello? They were originally designed for the Nintendo 64, why would they have current gen graphics? Besides those games, the Cube usually goes for color and making games look nice and not real. Overall, with ports from other systems and multi-platform games, you will notice that it looks nicer on the PS2 and Xbox, but only slightly. As for staying with the game, the Cube keeps the frame rate up and you never see the game load parts and not all and then later have it come. It flows together perfectly.

Wear and Tear
This section is about the breaking of the Gamecube, the controller, and the accessories. After owning my Gamecube for awhile, I have noticed only a few things. The controller's buttons seem worn after continuos use in games like Animal Crossing and Super Smash Bros. Melee where you use use the “A” and “B” buttons all the time. I then went as far as comparing them to a new controller and found that I was indeed correct, they do get worn pretty fast. Although they are still usable and I have yet to have a controller of mine to break, you should be careful. The system itself doesn't get broken that much unless you step on it or drop something on it, the easiest thing I see getting damaged on it is turning the power off, switching games, and turning it back on. It wasn't until recently that I found out you can open the console and switch the games and finish with the reset button. You could say that it was in the manual, but I got mine used without a manual and it's working perfectly.

Online-Play
The Gamecube is not known for being able to go online with the exception of a few titles, the game Phantasy Star is one of the few that actually do go online and this might be one of the reasons Nintendo is declining. For all other sports games that go online, stick with one of the other consoles and you will do fine.

Buy?
Yes, this is the only system that carries titles like Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. These are the tops series and can only be found here. Stores are stocked with new Gamecubes around $80-$100, if you can find one with a bundle, get that so you also receive a free game. If you don't wanna spend all that money, find a used one at Gamecrazy or Gamespot and try them before you buy.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/01/05, Updated 04/20/09

Game Release: GameCube Hardware (US, 11/18/01)