GameCube- Woo or Boo?

[Leo_A]

The WaveBird is possibly the best controller of all time. Only real downside is the need for AA batteries.

If you loved the GameCube design.

While I thought it was okay, there was much about the controller that didn't thrill me. The two stage design of the triggers (They were basically half depressed or fully depressed and were difficult to smoothly manipulate through their full range of motion for a racing game), the small d-pad (Which at least works correctly unlike every MS d-pad design), and the odd face buttons didn't do much for me.

And while the WaveBird was great (And is what converted me into a fan of wireless controllers), those issues were still present in WaveBird form. And of course the WaveBird lacked rumble capabilities which was a issue in the occasional game (Albeit a minor one). And I think lacking a built in rechargable battery is a positive at this point when it has been over half a decade since they last manufactured these things. Age doesn't do rechargeable batteries any good.

I'd rather be able to pop in a new pair of AA's and be good to go for dozens of more hours. So I'd argue that decision was a positive.

The Gamecube versions of Spy Hunter and NFS Hot Pursuit 2 weren't very good, but they are very much the exception. I agree with you, games were almost always significantly better on Gamecube compared to PS2. Once in a while Gamecube did better than Xbox too, but not too often.

Not familiar with Spy Hunter (I own it though but forget which of the three versions it is and have never played it yet), but Hot Pursuit 2's inferiority was a almost unique situation for a modern console as I recall.

The PS2 version was developed by a different developer than the Xbox and GCN versions. And it ended up being a significantly different and better experience, much like multiplatform releases from years gone by that often just shared a name. Apparantly other than the name, being racing games, and some concepts here and there, the Xbox/GCN version is pretty much a different game than the PS2 version.

It's the rare example where I went for the PS2 version instead of the Xbox or GCN version.