Top Ten Gamecube Games

Also silly kid as I saw Metroid Prime as a FPS like Halo etc then played, didn't like it.

Tried again a few years ago, couldn't get on with the aiming. Would love a remaster on Switch to try again.

Yep, I gave it a shot and could only get to 20 games I played and liked, and that included two Mario Parties. The DS was I think the first machine where I could do a proper bunch of 30 gooduns.

I think I would struggle with DS but would like to give it a bash, even a Top 20 or so.

masofdas wrote:

I love the GameCube, so was well keen to do mine

Another interesting list. You reminded me of Beyond Good & Evil - I really should finish it. It definitely looks and feels like a Gamecube game too. I'm not a big horror guy so Eternal Darkness and Resident Evil 1/0 were never making my list, but is Eternal Darkness actually a good game if you ignore the tricks and gimmicks it pulls? I recall it being fairly ordinary combat-wise and borderline confusing story-wise.

What I noticed from the lists so far is that Gamecube had the best artwork this generation. You love to see it.

Balladeer wrote:

I do not think I'd be able to make it to a top 30. Top 20 maybe?

Yeah, I struggled and after doing a lot of ranking of multi-format titles this generation, it got me up to 30.

This is mine:

The gimmicks etc are part of the game though and makes it great.

Another pretty varied list.

gjones wrote:

Viewtiful Joe 2 not 1? I never played the sequel but I rarely hear it mentioned.
I liked Beach Spikers at the time but pretty sure I traded it in soon after, as there wasn't much game there outside of multiplayer. How come it made your list?
NBA Street is such a great series. I never played 3 - was it better than 2 or similar enough?
Day of Reckoning 2 is a game I was always envious of, looking back. I think it was a later release, 2005 maybe? How does it stack up compared to the PS2 games?
NHL Hitz is a proper left-field choice, but now I'm curious. Pretty sure you reviewed it on here - I'll fire up an emulator and see what's what. Was this one you played at the time or retrospectively?
Where would you put Super Monkey Ball 2, or was it too similar to feature?

I’ve just got better memories of Viewtiful Joe 2, I thought it was just that little bit better. They’re both really good though.

Likewise, I’ve got lots of really fun memories with Beach Spikers. There’s not much game there outside of the multiplayer right enough, but it’s really well put together. I remember it being discounted most of the time as well, always on clearance in Currys or always in Gamestation’s ‘4 for £20’ deal. It’s second-hand price these days is more than what it usually cost back then.

NBA Street Vol. 2 and V3 are similar enough, but I remember V3 had a better Career mode. They revamped the tricks system for V3 too, making it smoother with the GameCube’s C-stick.

I don’t think Day of Reckoning 2 is as good as Shut Your Mouth, Here Comes The Pain or SD! Vs. Raw 2006, but it’s its own thing. It’s got different mechanics, different presentation, a different feel too. I think it strikes a really good balance between arcade-ey-ness and simulation. It’s a great alternative to the wrestling games you’d know better.

I played NHL Hitz to death at the time and retrospectively! It was one of the first GameCube games I got. It was one of rare times where I rented a game for the weekend, and I enjoyed it so much that I bought it right away. The nu-metal soundtrack has aged as much as the teams’ rosters, but definitely see what’s what – I’m confident you’ll really like it.

I’d put Super Monkey Ball 2 quite far off of my Top 30. There’s times when it’s just as good as the first game, but more often than not the maze design isn’t skilful, it’s based too much on luck for my liking.

gjones wrote:

That is all, your honour.

~

From the other lists that have been posted, there’s nothing I’d majorly disagree with or anything. I’ve been meaning to play Twin Snakes and Paper Matio for years, but I’m always convinced that a modern-day remake won’t be far away. That was my logic with the Prince of Persia game too, though the remake sounds like it’s in development hell. I wish I liked PN 03, Billy Hatcher and Def Jam: Fight for NY as much as most folk seem to.

I picked up an issue of retro gamer, which I thought said GameCube Hidden Gems, but is actually a Top 25 voted in by readers.

Which is:

25th Tales of Symphonia
24 Skies of Arcadia Legends, I still need to play this
23 Pikmin 2
22 MGS Twin Snakes
21 Metroid Prime 2
20 Viewtiful Joe
19 Fie Emblem PoR
18 Pikmin
17 SoulCalibur II
16 Animal Crossing
15 Baten Kaitos, need to give this a go as well
14 Paper Mario TTYD
13 Zelda Twilight Princess
12 Super Monkey Ball
11 Luigi's Mansion
10 REmake
9 Eternal Darkness, high on this take that as you will from my list
8 Star Wars Rouge Squadron II Rogue Leader
7 F-Zero GX
6 Super Mario Sunshine
5 Super Smash Bros Melee
4 Mario Kart Double Dash
3 Metroid Prime
2 Reident Evil 4
1st Zelda Wind Waker, best game init

That list has no style, no personality, no surprises and, crucially, no 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker.

That was on the Dreamcast list (no idea if it actually was).

Pikmin and Pikmin 2 are the correct way around, but far too low in the list.

The Kiddler wrote:

That list has no style, no personality, no surprises and, crucially, no 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker.

This is why I have very little interest in public votes; just gonna get lowest common denominator. I'm much more interested in reading someone's personal top picks and why they chose them.

Well I did think it was hidden gems or something as the cover says GameCube Gems then turned out to be a Top 25.

Maybe one of the many licence platformers of the time is a bit of gen, I want to know.

Oh yeah, if it were Hidden Gems, I'd want to read that. Imagine if it were hidden gems and that was the list!

Only Baten would pass as a hidden gem, as not heard many talk about it.

What even constitutes a GameCube ‘hidden gem’ these days? Just about everything that’s likely bubbling beneath the surface of that Retro Gamer Top 25 has been talked about to death. After that, you’re moving towards to mid-tier stuff that NGC Magazine probably gave an unmemorable half-page 62% review in 2003, or the stuff that costs £80 because nobody bought it.

There’s not a lot of GameCube stuff I can think of that I think are obscure and must-plays. At least in this country, NHL Hitz is maybe about as close as it gets. But then that’s not a bad thing – it’s a console library that’s deservedly been celebrated often.

Hidden gem has ultimately lost much of its meaning. There is so much content out there now relating to the GameCube, and retro gaming in general, that it's very rare a game would be overlooked or reconsidered in 2022 to fit under that "actually lads, this is secretly amazing" label.

Day of Reckoning could be one, as other than Cappa recently, I don't think I've heard anything on those two games since the Cube days. Was the Mario baseball game any good?

There are hidden gems but they're on machines like the Game Boy which had a bazillion games, or the old home computers, which aren't popular with the modern youtube crowd, or they're regional exclusives.

Anything from around the PS1 onwards will have been owned by too many people and kept in good condition, so it will be well-documented.

I was thinking what the Retro Gamer rights consider hidden gems even if we have heard about them.

Think might be some still on PS1 and PS2 just because they've got a library of like 10000 games combined.

gjones wrote:

Hidden gem has ultimately lost much of its meaning. There is so much content out there now relating to the GameCube, and retro gaming in general, that it's very rare a game would be overlooked or reconsidered in 2022 to fit under that "actually lads, this is secretly amazing" label.

Day of Reckoning could be one, as other than Cappa recently, I don't think I've heard anything on those two games since the Cube days. Was the Mario baseball game any good?

Day of Reckoning 2 is definitely one of those “actually lads, this is secretly amazing” games.

I don’t like Mario Superstar Baseball very much. That said, I'm saying that as someone who isn't arsed with baseball video games - Baseball Stars 2 aside, I think that sport translates shite-ely to games. If I can compliment Mario Superstar Baseball, I'd say it looks, controls and feels quite like Mario Power Tennis and Mario Golf Toadstool Tour.

One game I used to have on my Gamecube which is a bit more niche was Lost Kingdoms, which was a pretty average card-based RPG which I got at launch, but which is interesting because it was by FromSoftware. I would never have thought at the time that they'd become such a big deal. It wouldn't have made my top ten (mine would be mostly the same as everyone else's) but it's kind of a neat, mostly forgotten Gamecube curio.

LKII did sneak into my Top 30 at 30

Otogi's though another forgotten FROM games are excellent.