Gamecube recommendations

[ncman071]

I've been a member here for quite a while and respect your opionions more so than most top 25 lists you find on ign and other sites....

Over the last couple years I've slowly started building up a gamecube collection....i'm not looking to get a huge library but i just want the best titles spanning basically all genres for that system. There's not really a genre that i dont enjoy except for maybe RTS style games....

Here's a list of what i have already:

http://www.rfgeneration.com/cgi-bin/collection.pl?name=ncman071&action=&results=&findimages=&folder=Collection&console=%7C076%7C&type=

i guess i'm looking for more exclusives because i probably i have many of the games you guys might recommend on either the original xbox/ps2/dreamcast.


Thank you guys so much!

[retroguy]

Star Fox Adventures is good. If you like fighting games, Naruto: Clash Of Ninja is a nifty exclusive. One Piece: Pirate's Carnival is a fun Mario Party-style game (although it was released while 4Kids had the license so it uses their voice actors rather than the much better Funimation ones). And I can't recommend Wallace And Gromit: Project Zoo enough.

[Dashopepper]

Eternal Darkness is one of my favorites. It's a story based horror game that takes place in short segments and really holds up well today. I played through it again last year and it was better than I even remembered.

The best FPS on the system is Timesplitters 2 if you don't already have it for another system.

[PizzaKat]

Mario Soccer. Strikers I think its called is really fun.
Killer7 is really interesting and I can give a vouch for Second Sight as well although you can get these 2 for PS2

[RP2A03]

Chibi-Robo is surprisingly good for a game about cleaning.

Fire Emblem is also excellent, but expect to pay a pretty penny for it.

[Tanooki]

You care about finding a Freeloader 1.06 disc for imports by any chance? If you do, I can't more highly enough recommend the EU release of Doshin the Giant from Nintendo, one of the biggest games Regtard in the US denied us by choice. Also from Japan you have four of the Hudson Select titles which are modern redrafting (since they're still the old games at heart) of 8bit stuff (Bonk, star Soldier, Adv Island, and Lode Runner.)

In the US market though...do your own research but these are very worth it.
- Chibi Robo
- Cubivore
- Defender (I worked on it, and it actually is fun despite the fact Midway made it)
- Eternal Darkness
- Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee (wreck monsters and the city)
- Ikaruga
- Legend of Zelda Four Swords (plays like the SNES game enough, looks it too)
- Starfox Assault
- Tales of Symphonia

Skies of Arcadia is the other big RPG, it's nice, but it hasn't aged well as the battles are frequent and tedious, infuriating almost in dungeons but the story is cool and airship battles are fun.

I'd also suggest the Gameboy Player if you have any interest at all in playing GB, GBC and GBA games on your TV.

[Gentlegamer]

I've never played a Fire Emblem game before, is the GC Fire Emblem worth the current price?

[celerystalker]

I'm on the Eternal Darkness bandwagon as well. It's held up for me through mutiple playthroughs. I also liked Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, Pac-Man Vs., Luigi's Mansion, Killer7, Cubivore (though it does get repetitive), and Momotaro Dentetsu12. I had fun with Dragon Drive D and Kururin Squash as well. I played the crap out of the Gamcube Animal Crossing, but once I got tired of it I haven't gone back in a decade. I really like the 4 Hudson Best Collection games-Adventure Island, PC Genjin, Star Soldier, and my favorite, Cubic Lode Runner. The Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy is oddly like Power Stone, and I enjoy mutiplayer sessions with Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters and... um... marykateandashley'ssweet16...

[Tanooki]

How playable though are Dragon Drive and Momotarou Densetsu if you have little or no Japanese knowledge? They look like you'd be confused at the least where to go let alone what to do. Kururin Squash though is an easy one to figure out. I'd throw Mr Drilller A out there but that game has a save flaw that makes it not really doable on a freeloader with a US system sadly. I'm also currently selling Castle of Shikigami II limited edition box set, it's a great shooter, but I tired of it as I just don't have the will for games like that anymore.

[celerystalker]

Dragon Drive is very playable with no Japanese knowledge. You miss out on some story and some of the finer points of the card system, but it's accessible enough to finish without any Japanese skills.

Momotaro, though... yeah, it's a little tougher. I posted how to play it here, though, if anyone thinks it looks interesting:

http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?172286-Opinions-on-poorly-documented-imports/page3

I believe I put an overview of Dragon Drive in that thread as well. I really enjoy video board games like Fortune Street, Dokapon Kingdom, and Culdcept, so I posted quite a few "how to plays" in there for games like Monster Paradice, Hyokkori Hyoutanjima, Momotaro, and maybe a couple of others. I'd have to dig through. They're way more fun if you have friends willing to play along.

[Nathan Dunsmore]

Residen Evil: Code Veronica X
Baten Kaitos
Jungle Kong Jungle Beat
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Pool Paradise
Cars
Hitman 2
Lego Star Wars

[Flojomojo]

You have Star Wars and F-Zero, that's all that I think you need. Be sure to find a wireless Wavebird controller to play them right.

[RP2A03]

I've never played a Fire Emblem game before, is the GC Fire Emblem worth the current price?

Depends on what you like; however knowing what I know about it, I would not hesitate to pay today's current price. If the idea of the quintessential SRPG appeals to you and are not averse to a lot of reading, you can easily get 100 hours out of it. The same goes for its Wii sequel, Radiant Dawn.

[ZP3]

Obviously SSBM and Mario Kart Double Dash. Also, I would recommend SSX Tricky (from my childhood) and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

[retroman]

Any of the Resident Evil games, and the Viewtiful Joe games are also good to name a few.

[Tanooki]

Fire Emblem is damn expensive as far as what Gamecube games in general go, but I will say this much for it. Considering how incredibly slow and long that type of game is, you can easily think of it as paying like a dollar an hour, and very likely less than that so it's hardly an issue. I'd find it harder to recommend a $70-100 game that lasts all of 70 to 100 minutes than hours. :D

As dickish as Capcom got towards Nintendo during the GC period, it's hard to deny that basically anything they did bother to put out on the system is not worth buying as they're all good if you're fine with the style of games themselves. The system for sure was the definitive Resident Evil Cube up through RE4. PN03 flies under the radar but actually is pretty good and both Viewtiful Joe games are something to be seen. Then you do have those Mega Man NES/SNES port games for original and X, and then the Network Transmission game which was kind of like the old 8bit games with a twist.

[Jorpho]

I've been a member here for quite a whileDid you really think nothing like this had been done before..?
http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?94855-The-40-Essential-Gamecube-Games
http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?4386-Which-5-GC-games-should-I-get-first

And that's just for starters.

[celerystalker]

You can't win sometimes. Some people give you a hard time for posting a similar topic to something that's been done, others will give you trouble for reviving 8 and 13 year old threads likes those two. It's a harmless enough question and there have been enough new members in the last decade to make the topic worth revisiting, so why be so hard on 'em?

[Leo_A]

For something less obvious like a 1st party Nintendo release, I really enjoyed playing through Army Men RTS on the GameCube. This PC conversion is not a console exclusive to the GCN though, with it also making an appearance on the PS2.


Any of the Resident Evil games, and the Viewtiful Joe games are also good to name a few.

Taking a chance saying this, since I was berated at AtariAge a few years ago by some nut when I did something similar, but the thread creator if he's interested in your Resident Evil suggestion should be aware of the Wii situation.

Three of the GameCube's Resident Evil releases were ported intact to the Wii, all three I believe are significantly cheaper on the Wii (With new copies running well under, the last I looked, used prices for the earlier GCN releases), and Resident Evil 4 saw the addition of a true 16:9 mode while a very well received Wii control scheme was added to the title (With GCN controls remaining an option).

Just something to consider.


You can't win sometimes. Some people give you a hard time for posting a similar topic to something that's been done, others will give you trouble for reviving 8 and 13 year old threads likes those two. It's a harmless enough question and there have been enough new members in the last decade to make the topic worth revisiting, so why be so hard on 'em?

I have no trouble with a 2nd topic similar to an old one, although if I locate a similar thread, I've provided a link numerous times around here over the years since it seems pertinent and possibly useful to someone. Especially with an all but useless built-in forum search engine, it's easy for a past topic to be missed.

Anyways, that said, Digital Press isn't the domain of 12 year old children and doesn't frown upon the proper bumping of an older thread. Someone will complain if it's bumped needlessly such as if it's bumped by someone just to inform everyone that they don't know the answer to a decade old question.

But the proper forum etiquette as I see it around here is that you first search and see if your question was previously answered, and if it hasn't, did you find an appropriate thread that could be bumped with your specific question? Failing that, then you create your new thread.

The forum archive is here for a reason and is considered one of DP's best assets. They're not keeping it intact and saddling the forum with technical issues as a result, just for nothing.

[celerystalker]

I get that and all that it's nice to find a thread that exists. I mean, it's not my thread. However, a lot of people were already participating, and hopefully getting the OP some useful ideas. I'm fine with links. They help. I just guess I don't get why people get upset about it, as the forum search tool isn't exactly awesome here. I would understand balking at forum etiquette if it were about unruly behavior or trolling, but this just seemed inocuous to me. Anyway, I'll shut up about it, because that's not what the thread was about.

A couple more fun ones... I was having a decent amount of fun with Geist, but I get motion sick with FPS games and stopped after getting a few hours in. I have to do those in short bursts. The original Super Monkey Ball was great on GC. I also liked Ribbit King a lot, and it plays a little better here than on PS2. PS2 had a slightly choppier swing meter in my opinion, making GC the better one to play.

[Daria]

Did you really think nothing like this had been done before..?
http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?94855-The-40-Essential-Gamecube-Games
http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?4386-Which-5-GC-games-should-I-get-first

And that's just for starters.

Really? People are actually replying to this thread and you want to squash it?

Anyway... I always like ZooCube. Cute little puzzle game that no one every talks about.

Zelda Four Swords is a fantastic party game if you can round up enough link cables and GBAs to play it properly.

Space Raiders is a neat Space Invaders reboot.

Alien Hominid is a fun (hard) beat-em-up from the people that made Castle Crashers.

And it's been mentioned, but seriously, Eternal Darkness is a great game.

As is Chibi-Robo.

[Tanooki]

Seriously those were two very old threads, very old. Crap like that is what will drive off people snarking instead of just answering the question and I thought we wanted this place to grow a bit again. If it's so offensive to have a post put up with possible answers done as far back as 2002, just don't read the thread and don't comment in it. No harm was done, and I'd rather see some new threads, even if they're re-runs made as it gives the look of more activity. Sure the archive here is an asset, but it's also a burden when people can just growl and point a finger. Also, consider that maybe in the last decade opinions have changed on what is good and maybe something ignored in the GC and Wii period ended up being an undiscovered treasure.

I'm sure some will argue this one, but Gauntlet Dark Legacy was like the best version there released on the GC. It works fine alone but if you have friends it's the ultimate four player game.

[Greg2600]

Anything SEGA did gets my vote, I know that's generalizing, but it's true!

[kupomogli]

Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 and 2
Skies of Arcadia Legends
Blood Omen 2

[BlastProcessing402]

Three of the GameCube's Resident Evil releases were ported intact to the Wii, all three I believe are significantly cheaper on the Wii (With new copies running well under, the last I looked, used prices for the earlier GCN releases), and Resident Evil 4 saw the addition of a true 16:9 mode while a very well received Wii control scheme was added to the title (With GCN controls remaining an option).

Just something to consider.


The Wii port of REmake has several control options, including one which only uses the remote (turned sideways, NES style). It's kind of novel to play that way, with such a controller. Of course, if you have a back compat Wii, you can always just use the GC controller, which probably is the best way to play it, but also nunchuk and classic controller/ccpro are also options.

Zero on the Wii doesn't have the remote only option, however. I guess with the zapping system it just didn't have the required number of buttons to get everything on there. All the other options are there though.

4 on the Wii also has the content that was added to the PS2 port, making it more complete than the GC version, yet without any of the sacrifices made during the port to PS2.

There's nothing wrong with the GC versions of the three games, but yeah, if you have a Wii, there's no real reason not to go with those instead. All they did was add more options to them making them either the same or better depending on if you like the options or not.

[BetaWolf47]

I will throw out that the Capcom games that were build ground up for the 6th generation are generally better on GameCube than PS2. This does include Killer7, Resident Evil 4, Viewtiful Joe, and such.

Also have to give a recommendation for Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. It's a platformer that uses the bongos to control. It sounds odd, but it's the type of game that was made specifically with that control method in mind. It was well received when it came out, with the only real criticism being the short length of the game. The timing-based platforming is extremely satisfying, and the same thing that kept people from trying it, kept others coming back to it. AFAIK, the game and bongos can be obtained pretty cheap.