5th September 2014, 12:47 AM
It's my longest one of these yet... just can't help myself I guess. :p I've been working on this on and off for 3-4 months now, it's great to finally get it done!
I finished this within the last day after a lot of work, so I want to post it, regardless of the unpleasant little argument going on in that other thread.
My Thoughts on the Gamecube
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The Gamecube is the only TV console that I bought within the first weeks of its release, and it was the only 6th gen console I owned between when I got it in November 2001 and mid 2007. I liked the Gamecube a lot, and it's definitely my favorite 6th gen console. It's also kind of the end of an era that for me started in about '99 -- after the GC I started playing a lot more classic games than modern ones, and I didn't end up getting a Wii until 2010. And even then, I haven't played the Wii anywhere remotely near as much as I did the Gamecube. The Wii really is just as good or better, but... I don't know, I like older games a lot, and there were so many I missed! Now I have a 360 too, but I play that infrequently as well. I did play plenty of DS games though, but that's a handheld. But during the late N64 and GC eras I did have a current TV console. (The late '90s to late' 00s were also the time when I played the most internet multiplayer games on my PC; by the late '00s that had gone down a lot, and that has not changed much. Of course the GC didn't have that, though.)
But anyway, the Gamecube was a really great console, and I loved it then and still like it a lot now. I got my Gamecube the day after Thanksgiving in 2001, and only had the money for the system, a memory card, and one game, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 2 - Rogue Leader. It was well worth it, because that's an amazing, and incredibly good looking, game. Oh, and I also got a new copy of Perfect Dark for the N64 that day at the same store for $10, so that was nice too. At Christmas I got a second controller and a few more games (SSBM and XG3). I was in college through the GC era, and so naturally I ended up playing lots of SSBM multiplayer; I was a Nintendo fan, not a shooter fan, so it was SSBM and not Halo for me. I'm not the biggest SSBM fan, but it is a good multiplayer game at least. Fortunately there were also plenty of other multiplayer GC (and N64) games to play as well; the GC doesn't have quite the variety of exceptional single-system 3+ player games that the N64 does, but it does have a good number of them, many of them great. The system has plenty of great single-player games as well.
As for design, the Gamecube is a sleek, modern looking system. Both of my Gamecubes are black; it comes in other colors, but the black one looks great. It doesn't have the style and sheer beauty of an N64, and at the time I thought it was as step down from the N64's design for sure, but it looks nice. The controller is similar -- it's a clear step down from the amazing N64 controller, in both design and function, but it's a good, solid controller which has served well for many games for a long time. I prefer the larger size, 3-prong design, better d-pad, and 6-face-button layout of the N64 controller, and the feel of (non-broken) N64 analog sticks, but the GC controller is a very good one for sure, even if it doesn't quite match its predecessor. They REALLY needed to do something better than that Z button, but otherwise it's a good pad. It is kind of unfortunate that it has only 8 buttons though, because many ports had to have something compromised to fit onto a controller with four fewer buttons than the PS2 and Xbox controllers have. Six face buttons would have helped with half of that problem, you know, Nintendo... but anyway, I do like the GC, and apart from those issues, it does have a great controller. The GC controller isn't quite as good as the N64 one, but it is extremely comfortable, and once you get used to it the GC's unique face button layout actually works very well. I don't know why Nintendo abandoned analog shoulder buttons after the GC, but the GC L and R buttons are great. I like the analog-with-click design, they should have stuck with it. The GC controller is my favorite 6th-gen controller. The Gamecube has many accessories as well. I've never owned or used a GC modem, but broadband and 56k modems exist. A few games had online play, but several do support system link multiplayer, which still works fine of course. I do have a Game Boy Player, a GC microphone with controller-hookup adapter, three sets of GC bongos, and something like three GC-GBA connection cables.
Probably the biggest problem with the Gamecube was Nintendo's strategy with the system. After the relative disappointment that was the N64 worldwide, and the horrible disaster that was the N64 in Japan, Nintendo wanted to do better this time, particularly at home in Japan. They failed to do that, but in the process took out their most important region in terms of sales, the US market. Thanks to Satoru Iwata of NCL (Nintendo Japan), now in charge under Yamauchi, Nintendo focused their Gamecube strategy on building their relationships with Japanese third parties, and mostly abandoned the Western partnerships that they had built up to such great success during the N64 generation. This may seem reasonable -- build relationships with the Japanese companies who have spurned us in favor of Sony, and get back more of our home market -- but it did more harm than good. This disastrously bad decision would set Nintendo's course for the future which they are still on, and now suffer for after the casual boom of the DS and Wii has faded. It also failed in its main goal, of getting the Gamecube to sell better in Japan than the N64 had. Instead, the GC actually sold worse than the N64 did in Japan; it was only a small drop, but it was a drop. Meanwhile, thanks to Microsoft's entry and Nintendo's surrender of the hardcore market to them, the GC crashed hard in the US and sold eight million fewer systems than the N64 had, only ~12 million versus ~20. So, with the N64 Nintendo lost the Japanese market, and then with the GC they lost the US market. Abandoning first and close third party partners like Rare, Left Field, Silicon Knights, and Factor 5, most importantly (there are also more), may have seemed to make financial sense at the time, but Nintendo replaced them with only Retro and nothing else. Retro is amazing, but they're just one team and can only make a game every couple of years. They can't do everything all on their own. The Gamecube, and Nintendo consoles since it as well, suffered badly compared to the N64 because of the loss of Rare particularly, but all of the losses hurt.
The loss of Rare particularly is tragic stuff, and as a result, the GC badly lacks in platformers compared to the N64. As I love the genre, this is a problem. The GC has a great library as it is, but its platformer selection is one of the weakest of any Nintendo console. Rare's founders, the Stampers, wanted to leave, and told Nintendo that either Nintendo had to buy the 49% of Rare they owned, or they'd sell it to someone else. Nintendo, unhappy that Rare was having a tough time with the 5th-6th generation transition, refused to do this, and the Stampers sold their share to Microsoft. MS then bought up Nintendo's majority share of Rare as well. In my opinion at least, the whole situation was a disastrous mistake. Nintendo of Japan had a very hard time with the 4th-5th generation transition, and then Rare stepped in and helped save the N64 with their consistent, and amazingly great, games. But when Rare struggled for a while during the next generation transition, Nintendo had no patience, and sold off Rare instead of giving them the time they needed. Losing Rare was a major blow to Nintendo, and I would say that Nintendo has still never recovered from losing Rare. Nintendo needed Rare. Sure, they got a lot of money from Microsoft for the sale, but the loss of key games was a major problem, and the loss has not been replaced. During the Gamecube generation, Nintendo handed Microsoft the Western hardcore console game audience which they had held on the N64 thanks to Rare's Goldeneye and others, and didn't even put up much of a fight. While they managed to find a replacement with the casual-focused Wii, the Wii U shows how losing the Western hardcore base was a big problem. With hindsight, the Western-centric N64 was the better concept, compared to the more Japan-focused Gamecube. Too bad. Had Nintendo kept Rare, Star Fox Adventures would probably have been better, Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero would have released on the Gamecube, and several other games would surely have released as well; perhaps a better 3d platformer instead of the disappointing beat 'em up Grabbed by the Ghoulies, because the action-styled design was partially inspired by the shift of platforms, and either the Conker remake, or some other new game instead; perhaps Conker 2?
Instead, Rare released games to commercial failure on a platform with an audience much less interested in their games. Rare's natural audience is on Nintendo consoles, not Microsoft ones, and they were not able to draw enough Nintendo fans over to Microsoft. Also, losing Donkey Kong, their best-selling platformer franchise, hurt as well. Rare would never be the same, and nor would the Gamecube. All of those games would have helped the Gamecube, and while Rare wasn't quite as great in the 6th gen as they had been in the 5th, staying on one platform through the generation would have helped. Also, I at least think that Kameo (and also Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts) are great games, and show that Microsoft Rare still could make great games. With Nintendo, the games would have been even better, surely. This has to be one of the great "what ifs" in gaming, particularly if combined with a more Western-focused Gamecube strategy, as they had done with the N64! Try to fight back against Microsoft, as hopeless as the effort at slowing Halo's seizure of the hardcore market may seem. In the long run it was Microsoft taking the hardcore that really doomed Nintendo in the west, more so that Sony's unmatched success with the PS2. I know, as someone with a master's in history I perhaps shouldn't put as much focus on hypotheticals as I do, but I can't help but wonder what could have happened.
As far as the GC's game library goes, the GC has a reasonably-sized, and fairly broad, library. Its main weaknesses are that this system is from during the time when 2d games on consoles were dead, so it has very few of those, and that third parties largely stopped supporting the GC after its first few years. Many third-party games from 2002 are on the GC, but by 2004 few third-party games not aimed at kids came to the system, because the GC was Nintendo's least successful home console up to that point and sales were sadly not good enough. Also, Nintendo's first-party games are ... weird sometimes. The Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, etc. games... there are some odd ones. The system definitely has a quirky, unique library. This is both good and bad, depending on opinion.
All of my GC games are US region. There are a few Japanese GC games I want to play, most importantly Kururin Squash, but sadly I don't have that game yet. I'll definitely get it eventually, because it looks fantastic. I only have 131 GC games; it's not one of my larger collections in numbers, anymore, but it's still in the top 10 anyway, and it ranks very high for nostalgia value for sure! Sadly Gamecube games aren't cheap; there never was a major price crash like there was with the PS2 or Xbox, so while with those systems I was able to buy up large collections for cheap in the last 4-6 years, that's not the case for the Gamecube. GC games are less common than PS2 or Xbox games, and when you see them they cost more. Unfortunate. It's worth it, though! The GC is a great, great system, and even though now I do have a DC, Xbox, and PS2, yes, the GC is still my favorite of the generation.
Here's my favorite games list. The top two are for sure, but the next two could be in either order, and numbers 5-10 could go plenty of ways... it's hard to choose, with so many good games!
Top 10 Favorite Gamecube Games
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1. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
2. Metroid Prime
3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
4. Skies of Arcadia Legends
5. XGRA: Extreme-G Racing Association
6. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
7. F-Zero GX
8. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
9. Capcom vs SNK 2: EO
10. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy
Honorable Mentions: Custom Robo: Battle Revolution, Defender, Super Mario Sunshine, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Geist, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, Lost Kingdoms, Mario Kart Double Dash, Mega Man Anniversary Collection, P.N.03, Ikaruga, Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, Midway Arcade Treasures, Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2, Mystic Heroes, Beach Spikers, Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, SpyHunter, Tales of Symphonia, SSX 3, Star Fox Assault, Wario Ware Inc.: Mega Party Games, Super Monkey Ball, Wave Race: Blue Storm, XG3: Extreme-G Racing, Phantasy Star Online Episodes III: C.A.R.D. Revolution, Turok: Evolution, Super Smash Bros. Melee
Reviews: 139 summaries total. Three of these are for Wii "New Play Control" titles that I actually only own on Wii, but apart from controls the games are the same, so close enough. Well, four, actually, counting Metroid Prime 2 from the Trilogy collection. Players listed is the maximum number the game allows -- games support 1-x players unless noted. All games require Gamecube memory cards to save, so I won't bother listing that -- everything requires one. GC games also pretty much all support rumble, since it's built in to the controllers. I will list other accessories games support -- Bongos, GC-GBA link cables, the modem, the microphone, 16:9 widescreen (versus the usual 4:3), and 480p progressive scan.
1080 Degrees Avalanche - 4 players, broadband modem supported (system link only), 480p progressive scan support. 1080 Avalanche is the second and, unfortunately, final game in the 1080 snowboarding series that began on the N64. Developed by NST, the same team who made Wave Race Blue Storm, 1080 Avalanche is a short but very fun game that really surprised me -- I got this game several years after its release, and went into the game with only moderate expectations based both on reviews and my opinion on the first game on the N64 (it's good, but I don't love it). However, 1080 Avalanche is a great game! More fun and more approachable than the N64 game, 1080 Avalanche is a fantastic, good-looking, and extremely fun arcade-style racing/stunt game. The game won't take long to finish if all you want to do is just see all the content, but as with the N64 original, it has enough replay value to keep people coming back. This is a snowboarding game of course, and it's fast and well-designed. There are a good variety of characters to choose from, including the Wave Race and 1080 casts. The art style is similar to Wave Race Blue Storm, unsurprisingly. As the word 'Avalanche' in the title suggests, the game has avalanches at certain points in many tracks. These can be exciting, as you try to outrun the onrushing wall of snow. Tracks are all well-designed for both fun and challenge. If I have any issues with this game, it's the same thing as every snowboarding game -- I don't enjoy snowboard game stunt systems very much at all, and as with most snowboarding games, stunts are a huge part of this game. People who like snowboard or skateboard stunt systems should like the stunt system, though, as it's very similar to other arcadey snowboarding games from the time. As I've always quite disliked stunt modes in these games, though, I've barely ever touched this in halfpipe or stunt mode. And the short length is a factor; there aren't all that many circuits to complete, and once you're done replay value is all you have. At least it does support the broadband adapter, for internet tunneling play! Still, 1080 Avalanche is a very good, under-rated game that many people seem to have forgotten about. It's kind of tragic that Nintendo let such a great team as this one die off, as this game ended up being NST's last polygonal 3d game -- all they've done since is Virtual Console and Mario vs. Donkey Kong work. Project H.A.M.M.E.R. (Wii), it probably would have been good... ah well.
Alien Hominid - 2 player simultaneous in the main game or 4 player alternating in a minigame, 480p progressive scan support. Alien Hominid is a sidescrolling 2d run & gun game based on a flash game on Newgrounds (on that note, I find it impressive that Newgrounds still finds an audience, but I guess it does!). This is a run & run shooter, much like Metal Slug or Contra, about a cute little alien who got shot down on Earth, and now has to slaughter his way through threatening FBI agents, Russians, and more as he tries to get away from this place. As with artist Dan Paladin's other games, it's violent and somewhat misanthropic. The game has good cartoon-style art, but it still looks like a flash game; it's got that classic Flash look, which isn't one I've ever liked much. I was disappointed that this console game didn't improve the graphics more. It still looks good, thanks to the art design, but they could have done more. As for the gameplay, this console game is fortunately much better than the usual bad controls of a Flash game. The difficulty is VERY steep, however. This was no surprise, as I'd played Dan Paladin's flash games before buying this and they were also very difficult, but sometimes this game really is too hard. Worst of all is that you have limited continues. You can save, but once you run out of continues you'll have to get through some very hard part of the game without dying. I got this game back after it came out, and eventually had to give up somewhere in Russia, because the game just got too hard and unfair. I was hoping that this game would be like a Metal Slug game on the Gamecube, since SNK sadly did not support the GC itself and I really love Metal Slug, but Alien Hominid just isn't quite on that level; this is more of a B or C-tier Metal Slug/Contra knockoff with okay but very Flash-style graphics and nice art design. There's not really all that much to say about the gameplay here -- you walk to the right, shoot everything that moves, and try not to get hit because of course you die in one hit. Various weapon powerups give you better offensive capabilities, but you'll get hit sometime for sure and lose it. Argh. Wanting to see what crazy situation I'd be in next kept me playing for a while, but once the game got just too unfair, I quit. In addition to the main game, Alien Hominid also has a minigame with basic two-color graphics, where you get through small, single-screen side-view levels. There are many levels to play through, and actually it's pretty fun! I liked this almost as much as the main game, actually. Overall though, Alien Hominid is a decent to good game, but I found it somewhat disappointing compared to my expectations. After this game Dan Paladin went on to make two more retail games, the okay beat 'em up Castle Crashers and the fun platformer Battleblock Theater. Battleblock Theater is probably my favorite one of the three. Still, if you find Alien Hominid cheap, maybe check it out. Also on PS2, and Xbox as well in Europe only (though Europe did not get this GC version).
Army Men: Air Combat: The Elite Missions - 2 player co-op or versus. This game by 3DO is actually a port of the PS2 port of Army Men Air Attack 2, a 2.5d helicopter action game originally released on the PS1. While the Army Men franchise may have a bad name, the AMAC/AMAA portion of it was one of its highest-quality series. This GC version released several years after the PS1 and PS2 versions, though, and is pretty much a straight port of a dated game, so it got understandably poor reviews. I liked the first Army Men Air Combat for the N64 (aka Air Attack on PS1), though, and this game is more of the same. This is the best version of the second game in the series for sure; the PS1 version looks much worse, and the GC version does edge the PS2 one. Yes, this is ultimately a port of a last-gen up-port, and it does look quite dated visually, but the reviews that claim that it looks like an N64 game are inaccurate; this looks more like the early PS2 game that it's a port of. The games' music is okay, but it's nothing special. There are FMV cutscenes, just like in the PS1 version (which I cover in my PS1 thread), and they're the same just with higher-quality video, as expected. The main changes versus the PS1 original are in graphics and controls. AMAC: TEM has dated early-PS2 graphics, but they ARE better than the PS1 version's visuals. And in controls, the handling of your helicopter is simply much, much improved on the GC; I played both games one after the other, and there was a surprising improvement in controls and handling on the GC. The PS1 version controls okay, but this is better. I haven't played the PS2 version myself, though, so I don't know if this is the same as that one; my guess would be that it likely is, since in features the two are identical.
Whichever version you play, Army Men Air Attack 2/Air Combat: The Elite Missions is another EA (Desert, etc.) Strike-series-inspired flight action helicopter game. As with the first game though, this game isn't very difficult, quite unlike the real Strike series games. The game has 3d graphics and an angled semi-overhead camera, but like the Strike games, you play on a flat 2d plane -- you have no height control over your helicopter. This works fine, as your focus is on the enemies and your mission, not any kind of complexity in the flight model. As in Strike games, your goal in each mission in the Army Men helicopter games is to complete all of your mission objectives, which generally require destroying certain enemy emplacements, taking cargos back to your base, and such. Objectives and gameplay are not as complex here as in Strike games, of course, but there is more to it than just 'kill everything'. There are 20 levels in the game, in 10 environments, slightly more than the original PS1 release but the same as on PS2. One thing I very much like about the Air Combat/Attack games is that you don't have limited fuel; the limited fuel in Strike games can be frustrating sometimes. Here you can just fly around, shoot stuff, and pick up powerups, without worrying \about the details that are key to Strike games. The AMAC games are not as good as the 5th gen Strike titles (Soviet, Nuclear), but they are fun, simple arcadey shooting games, and that's more than enough for me to enjoy them. They really are fun games, and this one is no exception! Unfortunately, unlike Army Men: Air Combat for the N64, this GC game is two player only, not four, so the multiplayer isn't improved. That's too bad, because the 3/4 player multiplayer mode in Air Combat was quite fun! The various two-player modes in this game are good fun as well, but it'd be better with more players. Oddly one of the multiplayer modes in the PS1 version isn't present on the GC and PS2, and they added nothing to make up for that, but still, what's here is good -- there are still five multiplayer modes in this version, including two player co-op and versus types. Overall, MAC: TES is a decent game, but not a great one. The simple but fun basic gameplay is good enough to keep me going in this game, though it is unoriginal and very similar to the first one, so it's much less unique, and it feels more dated too since it didn't start out as a 6th gen game. Even so, I kind of like this game. It's okay. Also on PS1 and PS2 as Army Men Air Attack 2.
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance - 2 player co-op. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is an overhead-style 3d hack and slash action-RPG from Snowblind, somewhat inspired by Gauntlet but somewhat more complex by that game. The game was a great success, and spawned a genre that was quite popular on 6th gen platforms -- from Hunter: The Reckoning to X-Men Legends to D&D Heroes and Everquest: Chronicles of Norrath and more, there are quite a few of this style of game on these systems. The GC has fewer games of this style than the PS2 or Xbox do, but it does have some, including this one that started it all. As a fan of both D&D and Gauntlet, I had to get this game back in the early '00s, and I bought it in '02 or so. I liked the game, but it's not perfect; the simplistic design and some porting issues hold it back a bit. Even so, I can see why the game was popular, and did have fun with it for sure. In BGDA, you play as one of several heroes who are off on an adventure to save the city of Neverwinter from evil forces. The game is broken up into three acts, each in a new area, so it's not all that long. First you're in the city, later a snow area, and there is one more beyond that. There is some replay value though, and unlockables, so there are some things to keep you coming back for a while at least. Gameplay, as in all of these games, is simple: Kill everything, collect the loot, and upgrade your character's equipment along the way. The monsters are all classic D&D foes, and there's a good variety of them in the game. Of course you start out fighting rats, but move up to gelatinous cubes and much more dangerous enemies later on. The controls are simple, with an attack button, potion buttons for your crucial magic and healing potions, and a block button that might be useful if you get used to how to use it well. I mostly played as a ranged character, though, but sometimes you will have to fight up close of course, since in single player this is a solo adventure. The game has some pretty nice graphics at times; I particularly liked the water effects. Thanks to the overhead view everything is small, of course, but the monsters and environments all look good. Music is fitting for the genre.
I did have a few issues with BGDA, though. First, it takes far too long to save your game! That progress bar really creeps along; it's like this is a PS1 game or something. Load times are sometimes too long as well. I imagine that the game was not too well optimized when they ported it over to GC. And yes, BGDA definitely feels like a quick port. Few third party GC games were actually designed with the GC in mind, and that is one of the things I dislike most about the Gamecube when compared to the N64, since that system has a much higher proportion of third-party titles actually designed for the N64. Ah well, at least this game released on the GC! Its sequel did not, sadly, and it's expensive too, so I have yet to play it. Also, while there is a challenging 'gauntlet' dungeon that you unlock after beating the main game where you play as Drizzt, famous Forgotten Realms hero, and higher difficulty levels to try, the short length of the main game was kind of disappointing. I'd rather see more new things, rather than playing through the same short-ish game repeatedly! Also, the simple hack-and-slash gameplay gets repetitive after a while. Whether it's in caves, town, or a snowfield, all you do is kill monsters and, occasionally, buy new items to kill monsters with. Don't expect much depth here, you won't find it. D&D stats may exist in this game, but they don't do much beyond the basics. Still, BGDA is a good game, and it's well worth playing for anyone who likes this kind of game. As a huge Gauntlet series fan I like real Gauntlet games more, but this style is good too. Also on PS2 and Xbox.
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean - 1 player, 480p progressive scan support. Baten Kaitos was one of the relatively few Gamecube-exclusive third-party titles on the system. Nintendo apparently liked the game so much that they paid for a sequel to be made and bought the developer, Monolith Soft, but while Monolith Soft's Xenoblade is pretty good, I've never liked this game at all. Baten Kaitos is a JRPG, and, like many JRPGs from the time, it has a card theme. All of your items and skills are on cards too, and the game has a card-battle element to its combat. All of your items are also on cards, which is an interesting visual touch but doesn't affect gameplay all that much. You can combine items and the like. In battle, each character draws a hand of cards that you can use, so what you can do at any point -- attacks, defense, what have you -- depends a lot on luck. the card element adds some complexity to the game, but I didn't like the battle system all that much either; the card system has too high of a learning curve, and I wasn't having much fun even once I did get it. I like Lost Kingdoms and Phantasy Star Online III, two other GC RPGs with card systems, but definitely not this one. JRPG battle systems are usually too simplistic, but this isn't really better, it's just as bad but in a different way. The story and characters are worse. The main character, Kalas, is an unpleasant person I really do not like, and the rest of the cast aren't that great either. The game has some depth and plot twists, but this only makes the characters, Kalas particularly, look worse. This isn't my kind of story at all; it's dark at times, kind of serious, and the main character is kind of a jerk. Give me Skies of Arcadia over this any day! Baten Kaitos definitely does have great production values, though. The first thing most anyone who plays this game will notice is how great it looks! Baten Kaitos has polygonal characters on very nice looking prerendered backdrops, and the look works. The games' art design, particularly character design, isn't my favorite style of anime-style artwork, though. This is of course entirely a matter of opinion, but even though the graphics are good the art in this game isn't something I like as much as, say, Tales of Symphonia's or Skies of Arcadia's. The soundtrack is good for sure, though. Unfortunately the voice acting is quite bad, in English at least, and this is distracting at times. As far as the gameplay goes, honestly I never got all that far into Baten Kaitos; at first it seemed interesting, but the battle system didn't get me nearly as interested as I was hoping, and I really disliked the characters and story, which was a major negative. After playing the game a little, I was very glad that Tales of Symphonia was the GC Namco RPG I paid full price for, and Baten Kaitos the one I got cheap. Baten Kaitos Origins, the sequel, is supposedly a good game, but with how much I disliked the first game, I never bought it. Maybe I will someday, I'm not sure. What I do know, though, is that Baten Kaitos has a somewhat annoying battle system which relies too much on those cards, a very unlikeable main character, a somewhat disturbing at times story, and more. Other than the graphics, there's not much else I like about this disappointing game.
Battalion Wars - 1 player, 480p progressive scan and 16:9 widescreen support. Battalion Wars is a third-person shooter with some strategy elements, and as the name suggests, it's a more action-oriented spinoff of the Advance Wars series of turnbased strategy/wargames. I like strategy games more than third-person shooters myself, so I didn't get this game at release, and haven't played it anywhere remotely near as much as I did the GBA and DS Advance Wars games. Those games are amazing, but this one is just decent. Still, for a third-person shooter, this is an okay one.; this just isn't one of my favorite kinds of game. It is kind of nice to see all of the unit types from the GBA games in 3d, though, and the game has a nice cartoony graphical style that fits in well with the style of the GBA games and the first DS game. Battalion Wars has pretty good graphics and art design. This may be from Kuju and not Nintendo, but it got some Nintendo polish for sure. The game also has a story of course, and much like the GBA and first DS games, it's kind of ridiculous. The game tries to be funny, and often succeeds. It's funny enough, for sure. The characters are amusing caricatures, much like the ones in the GBA/first DS game. The main three are the "cheerleader" guy, the "drill sergeant" older guy, and the black air force guy. This games' developers were a Western team, and you can tell, but they did a good job giving it an Advance Wars theme and style. These people are all crazy warmongers... but that's the joke. At least this time it's more obviously crazy than the GBA games, which sometimes had some serious tonal dissonance between the story and gameplay. This silly style fits the series well.
Battalion Wars is a third-person shooter where you control a squad of units, and have to get them through the many levels that form the campaign. The basic unit type is an infantry unit, but you'll also be able to control tanks, jeeps, and more. Each handles differently, and the basic shooting/driving action works well enough for a console third-person shooter -- that is, thanks to auto-aim help it's playable. The strategy-game element in the game is that you can give some basic orders to the other units in your team, and also can switch between your units at any time. There's no overhead view though; you can just tell units to stay in place, or go to a point you can see. I've seen shooter/wargame hybrid titles before, but this game is not as complex as those; you're not managing a whole battlefield here from both first person and a zoomed-out strategic view, or building a base and commanding a large force, as in strategy/shooter hybrids like Uprising or Battlezone (PC&N64), but instead are just getting through some fairly linear levels with your squad of units. This is a simpler game. Even so, since you do have multiple troops to command, some strategic thinking will be required, and that's great. There is a bit more to this than your average third-person shooter, though, and the added strategy is welcome. I only wish the game required more of it, but it doesn't; you won't need too much in the way of complex tactics here, for sure. Overall, while this game is good for its genre, I'd rather play Advance Wars. I like that kind of game more. Still, Battalion Wars is a good game. The game has a sequel for the Wii, which is largely similar but added a now-gone online multiplayer mode. Sadly neither game has a splitscreen mode. Ah well.
Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball - 4 player simultaneous, 480p progressive scan support. Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball is the only console port of Sega's arcade women's beach volleyball game of the same name. Women's beach volleyball games got popular in the early '00s, probably thanks in part to the bikinis and in part to the sport reaching the Olympics, and Sega decided to make a volleyball game too. The basics of this game were taken from Virtua Tennis, except modified a bit to fit with a volleyball game. The result is that this game is really good! Beach volleyball games like Tecmo's DOA Xtreme aren't very good at all as actual volleyball games but instead are all about the scantily clad girl fanservice, but Sega's game 's core is its fantastic gameplay. Just like Virtua Tennis, Beach Spikers is a very good arcade-style sports game. Just like Virtua Tennis the controls are simple, but the game has depth. Each team has two players, and a symbol will mark where the ball is headed. One of the two team members has to get there and hit it up to the other player, who will then either hit it back for a return, or will return it herself. You can return the ball immediately, but that will be a much weaker hit sure to be returned. You can aim shots easily, and there are weak or strong hits as well. When serving to begin each volley, a standard power meter determines shot power. The games' controls and gameplay are fantastic, and are every bit as good as the best Virtua Tennis games. The games graphics are good, but it's easy to tell that this game was originally a Sega Naomi game -- this looks like the enhanced Dreamcast game that is essentially is. The Gamecube can do better than this, but still, it is a fairly good-looking game with that great classic Sega style.
You can either play a championship with a pre-created team, or create your own characters and go through a new more 'RPG-like' mode. In this mode you can only play as your character, and have to work with an AI ally, instead of switching between them based on context as you can do in the other modes, unless it's a 4-player multiplayer game, of course. You choose a country for your team, and can customize their looks in a character creator. You'll unlock many different bathing suit uniforms to choose between as you play. Both characters in this mode have RPG-like stats as well, and you'll slowly get better as you play more. This is both a good and bad thing, though, because your AI partner is TERRIBLE at the beginning of the game! Seriously, no matter where you put her stats at the beginning, she'll be near-useless until you manage to win some matches mostly on your own and increase her stats. And even when you do that, this mode is tough! Yes, Beach Spikers is not an easy game. Once you get farther into it the opposition gets strong, and managing to lay down some shots that land for points can be difficult and frustrating. In the 'RPG' mode, you also have to deal with managing your partner's mood too -- several times a game you can say something to your AI partner about how she's doing, and that can affect your team togetherness and thus how well she'll play. Guessing what's the best thing to say is hard and I'm no good at it, though, so this element isn't something I like that much. It's also kind of weird; how many other sports games have anything like it? Would they ever have had something like it in a sports game with guys, or is it an example of Japanese sexism at work? Probably the latter. Unfortunate. Apart from that, though, Beach Spikers is a great game I highly recommend to anyone who likes simple but fun arcade-style sports games. Enhanced Arcade port.
Big Air Freestyle - 2 player simultaneous, 480p progressive scan support. Big Air Freestyle is a dirtbike motorcycle racing game from Paradigm and published by Infogrames. It's decent fun, and looks alright as well. I didn't play this game before just before writing this, but I like it, and will return to this game for sure. Paradigm was an N64-exclusive developer the previous generation, and made their name based on somewhat simmish games like Pilotwings 64 and F1 World Grand Prix, but this game is quite arcadey and simplistic. That doesn't mean it's not fun, though! Sort of like another Paradigm game, Indy Racing 2000 on the N64, Big Air Freestyle is a fast and fun arcade-style racing game based on a real-world racing circuit, except it's a supercross and motocross (dirtbike) motorcycle racing game this time. This game is an altered version of MX Rider for the PS2, with supposedly simpler gameplay and no official licence this time. I haven't played the PS2 version, but I the way this version plays. Big Air Freestyle has simple controls and fun, challenging gameplay. There are three modes, Freestyle, a stunt arena mode; racing championship mode, the main mode; or Challenge mode, where you have to do specific tasks in order to win a variety of missions. Freestyle mode is in the title, but it's not too complex. Once you get used to pulling off stunts -- hold L, and then press the required buttons (or in one or two cases stick movements) in order and you'll do the stunt. So, it's not as complex as some games. I rarely find these stunt arena modes compelling, though; I've never liked these "hit specific buttons in the air in order to do stunts" games. Give me Rush 2049 car-spinning any day! As for Challenge mode, it's fun, but surprisingly isn't all that hard.
Race mode is the main challenge in the game. It takes the form of a traditional points championship, which is nice. Have the most points at the end of the fairly long season (~20 races) and you win. In races, the main challenge is simply staying on the track -- many jumps try to throw you off the track, and some memorization will be required to succeed. When you go off course you get reset on the track, but the pack stays unrealistically close together in this game, so even one crash will put you in 9th or 10th out of the ten-car field. Because of this I found the game somewhat frustrating, but otherwise the game would be far too easy because of the extremely simple driving model, so it's probably more good than bad -- at least this way, you have to work to win. You certainly won't be crashing much otherwise! Excitebike 64's driving model is many times more challenging than this one; Big Air is extremely forgiving. Actually crashing on the course is quite rare. If not for the jumps, it would be far too forgiving. Race mode has two different game modes, which you have to select between before starting, easy or realistic. There are multiple differences between them, but the most important ones are that in easy mode you only do a few laps per race and can reset races as often as you want, but in realistic, each race is a long 8 laps and you can't reset, so your only reset would be to reset the game and load your last save. You can at least save between races, though.
Graphically, the game betrays its PS2 origins; it looks only okay. However, the game does have fluid 60fps gameplay and progressive-scan support, which help a lot. You won't find those in the PS2 game, I'm sure! This game looks very sharp and smooth. The art design is decently good as well. As a result the game is sharp and clear-looking, and looks pretty nice, really. I may not often be able to tell the difference between 30fps and 60fps, but I can definitely see how progressive-scan makes a game look better! As with MX Rider, this game is set in Europe, though as I said earlier, without the official license here. Still, the tracks are all European. This makes little practical difference in the game, though, except for the many European flags flying along the courses, and the track names. As for the music, well, it has the same kind of music as every other motorcycle racing game of the era. Yeah, it's that same type of rock music they've all got. Very generic (and American, I expect) stuff. I don't like it of course, but you expect this stuff with motorcycle games, unfortunately. Ah well, could be worse. It reminds me a bit of Crazy Taxi's soundtrack, but not as amusing. Overall, Big Air Freestyle is a good game. I don't have MX Rider so I can't directly compare it to its predecessor, but the game has simple controls, a fair amount of challenge thanks to all those turns which throw you off the track if you don't moderate your speed, decent graphics, and it runs at a fluid 60fps with progressive-scan support too. This is a simple game, and it gets frustrating and does not have depth, but it's definitely worth a play for arcade racing fans, for sure. Big Air Freestyle is a fun, above-average game. It's too bad that Paradigm isn't around anymore. Gamecube exclusive, but it is adapted from MX Rider on the PS2.
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg - 2 player simultaneous, 480p progressive scan support. Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg is a cute and somewhat original 3d platformer from Sonic Team. The game was made in between Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, and it's a good, and GC console-exclusive at the time, game. As with most of Sega's games at the time Billy Hatcher looks more like a Dreamcast game than a Gamecube (or Xbox, for their Xbox games) game, so that means dated graphics. As with all Sonic Team games from the time, this one also has the poor camera you expect. However, Billy Hatcher is a fun and somewhat original game. This is a Sonic Team 3d platformer for sure, and while that means graphical issues, short-ish length, and gameplay that's not quite on 3d Mario's level, it also means fun. Billy Hatcher is also an original title, which is a quite rare thing from modern Sonic Team; ever since Sonic Adventure, their platformers have almost exclusively been Sonic games, except for this one. Here, you play as, well, Billy Hatcher, a boy with a rooster hat who rolls around giant eggs. Naturally, you've got to save your world, Morning Land, from evil forces; only the boy in the chicken suit has the powers needed to defeat the villains! Yeah, it's a basic story, but it's good enough. The key mechanic here is those eggs; otherwise this would be a fairly standard game, but the giant eggs that are all over this game make it a bit different. This game isn't anywhere near as hard as Glover, another game with a character rolling around a ball, though. You will need to figure out some basic puzzles, but for the most part this is a simple game, and that's okay. You get eggs, roll them around, run over enemies with them, push them into places to solve puzzles, and with your rooster hat birth the baby chicks in the eggs. The game is mostly linear, with linear stages followed by occasional bossfights. It's fun, but not amazing. I don't love Billy Hatcher, but it is a average to good game and it's great to see a GC-only 3d platformer; the system had very few good exclusive platformers, unfortunately. Also on PC and Mac, both released several years later and only in Europe; elsewhere the game is GC-exclusive.
BlowOut - 1 player. BlowOut is a 2.5d side-scrolling platform-action game. Clearly inspired by the likes of Contra and Metroid, and made for a very low budget at a time when there were almost no side-scrolling console games, BlowOut is an interesting, and fun, title. For a game that originally retailed for $10, new, this game is far better than you might expect! In BlowOut, you play as a cigar-chomping space marine who's in an alien-infested space station, and you're there to wipe them all out. So, in each level, you've got to kill the aliens, find your way through the stage, and ultimately defeat the boss at the end. Standard stuff for sure, but it's fun. Each level is a large mazelike environment, and you'll need to hit switches, find keycards, and go up and down elevators as you try to find your way to the boss. You've got full aiming control with one stick, so you can shoot in any direction at any time, and you'll need this power, because the enemies are numerous. There are several different weapons to use though, so you have some choices, and the controls are good enough. I like exploring through the levels and finding my way through. The game has simple, repetitive graphics with little variety, but for the price you couldn't expect more. What is here is modeled fairly well, though; BlowOut's graphics are simple, but okay. Just get used to that space station environment, because it's the only one you get in the game; all levels have the same tileset. Each one has a new layout, though, so that's okay. There's also plenty of challenge here, because your health is limited and the enemies are numerous. This is a tough game, but it's doable; the challenge adds to the fun factor. You won't just blaze through this game, but will have to think a bit. Overall BlowOut is a fun little game that most people have probably forgotten about, if they ever knew about it to begin with. This is a fun little 2.5d platformer/shooter which is well worth a couple of bucks if you find it sometime. Also on PS2, Xbox, and PC.
Bomberman Generation - 4 player simultaneous (in battle mode only). Bomberman Generation is the first of two very similar 6th-gen 3d Bomberman action games. These games may be the successors to Bomberman 64, but they pale badly in comparison to that pretty good N64 classic, unfortunately. Bomberman Generation is a game I got in the early '00s, and it seriously disappointed me. With an overly cutesey style, mediocre, linear gameplay, saccharine visuals and audio in the multiplayer, okay-at-best graphics, and more, Hudson didn't do a particularly good job in moving Bomberman to the 6th generation, unfortunately. Bomberman's 5th-gen outings got mixed opinions, but most of them are better than this, I'd say. Apart from Atomic Bomberman and especially Bomberman X360 the series has always been cute, but these GC/PS2 games go overboard in that department, and in a direction I found annoying. Kirby games or classic Bomberman is great, but this... not this. So, I don't like the character sounds or graphical design very much. As for the gameplay, this game is a much simpler game than the first Bomberman 64, unfortunately. Of course all of its sequels have been -- the other N64 Bombermans are all linear games as well, for example -- but still, it's unfortunate that after showing that they could do a solid Mario 64-style 3d platformer in Bomberman 64, Hudson abandoned that in favor of simpler things like this game. Bomberman Generations has plenty of levels to play through, but it's just not fun. In the main game, explosions are circular, Bomberman 64-style. Hitting enemies with low-power bombs is tricky, but you get used to it with practice, and some bomb powerups. The game is completely linear, and in each level all you need to do is follow the route around the stage, killing enemies and solving way-too-easy 'puzzles' along the way. It's all too bland, to average, and too uninteresting to be worth much time. Level designs are bland, 'puzzles' are barely there, and the story's nothing worth mentioning either. Bomberman stories never are, sure, but it sure doesn't help when the gameplay is so average too.
In multiplayer, this game goes for a more traditional, 2.5d classic Bomberman style. Bomberman 64's 3d arenas are gone, never to return. I like both classic and Bomberman 64 style multiplayer, so it's really too bad that they couldn't have included both styles. Otherwise though, this is perfectly decent, average 4-player Bomberman. It's fun, but there's no real reason to play this over any other classic-styled Bomberman game. Many of them are better than this, and many of them don't have annoying music and voices and blah graphical design, either. Overall, Bomberman Generations is a disappointing, completely average game that probably isn't really worth playing. Some people seem to like this game, but I don't at all.
Bomberman Jetters - 4 player simultaneous (in battle mode only). Bomberman Jetters is essentially Bomberman Generations 2. Same graphics engine and graphical style, same gameplay, same battle mode, just with some anime cutscenes in the style of the Bomberman Jetters anime, and new levels. So see that review above and read it again, because there's really nothing else to say about this game -- they didn't improve things over the first one, it's just more of the same. In fact, this game might even be WORSE than Generation -- Bomberman moves even slower this time (and he wasn't fast in Generation), load times are worse, and they added a mostly-useless character switching mechanic with Max which is badly handled as Max is mostly useless. Otherwise, it's the same thing again. And yes, the music and sound effects still aren't very good and get annoying. It's worth noting that in Japan this game released late in the same year as Bomberman Generation, which explains a lot -- in the US this released several years later, and it was confusing that it'd changed so little. The short turnaround in its original Japanese release explains that. Unfortunately that means that it's just as uninteresting as Generations is, or worse. Don't bother with this either. Also on PS2.
Burnout - 2 player simultaneous, 480p progressive scan support. The first Burnout game began a great racing game franchise, and it's still a very good game! Criteron's Burnout introduced some new ideas to the racing game genre when it first released, and while it has some issues, this is still a game well worth playing. It is different from its sequels in important ways both good and bad, but some essentials of the later Burnout games began here. Burnout is not a particularly great-looking or sounding game, but the fantastic gameplay holds up even if the graphics and music definitely do not. Burnout's graphics are quite bland and average; they're not bad, but not great either. The music is oddly bland and doesn't fit the game very well, in my opinion; this game doesn't have the expected up-tempo soundtrack, but something quieter and blander than that. The gameplay is the reason to play this game. Burnout is an arcade-style car racing game with very long tracks full of traffic as well as the cars in the race. The cars are all fictional, but are based on real vehicles, and many are identifiable. Central to the game is its then-original boost system. Your boost energy charges when you powerslide, drive in the oncoming traffic lane, or pass a car very closely without actually hitting it. If you do hit a traffic car, however, the game punishes you HARSHLY: you're forced to watch two replays of the crash (which you can save to a memory card!), and then finally you'll be reset on the track. The saveable crash replays are cool, but the long delay of watching them means that every crash sets you back a lot. Later in the series this would be entirely reversed and you get the ability to just smash traffic cars out of the way, but this game is the polar opposite from that. The long races are thus long minefields, full of constant danger as you try to build your boost meter and finish in as high a position as possible while crashing the least you can. Yes, Burnout is a difficult game, it wore on me after a while -- much like Star Wars Episode I Racer on the N64, having to redo nine or ten minute long races because of one or two little mistakes late in the race REALLY gets old. As a result, as much as I liked Burnout, I didn't manage to finish it. There are many races to win in this game, so Burnout will take a good while to beat, if you do manage to finish it. It's well worth playing, at least; Burnout 1 has a style all its own, and its sequels aren't quite the same as the original. As much as the graphics, sound, and action improved in the later Burnout games, the first Burnout still is a really great racing game and certainly one of the best in the series. Also on PS2 and Xbox; the GC version isn't considered to be the best, but it's the only one I have.
Burnout 2: Point of Impact - 2 player simultaneous (Race mode) or 4 player alternating (Crash mode), 480p progressive scan support. Burnout 2, the last Burnout game on the Gamecube, is similar to Burnout 1, but with better graphics, more modes, a removal of the multiple-replays-of-every-crash system, and many more changes. It's a very good game, and is another fantastic game from Criterion in this great series. Burnout 2's races are still very long, but with slightly easier play, more ways to get boost, no repeated crash replays after every crash, and more, it's not quite as hard this time. I'm not sure if I like Burnout 2 more or less than the first game, but most people probably prefer it. Either way, this is the last of the first style of Burnout game; with Burnout 3 the series changed, for a faster, more action-packed style. Those games are great fun as well, but the first two games are more challenging and require more serious focus to beat. For the most part the main game is similar to the first game, though. The tracks are all-new, but they are long again, and while there aren't multiple crash replays this time, you still need to pay attention because crashes will set you back for sure. Other than the main game, the biggest addition in Burnout 2 is Crash mode, a mode entirely dedicated to crashing! This mode would become quite popular, and was expanded on in later titles, but in its first form the way it works is that each player tries to do as much damage as possible based on a single crash into one of several pre-designed intersections. The challenge of trying to set up the perfect point to hit, angle, and speed, and the fun of watching the chaos that results, are quite fun, and I can see why crash mode was so popular. Crash mode is mostly just a multiplayer mode, though; it's not something you do in the main campaign. It'd have been nice to have some Crash stages every once in a while in the main single player game, but ah well. I have a few other minor complaints about Burnout 2. First, I wish that there were more shorter tracks -- three-minutes-per-lap races really are too long. Also, better music would be nice as it's still not improved. Also, it's disappointing that they never attempted a four player splitscreen mode. Better racing games should have that. That's about it, though. With more content, more cars, a great new mode, better graphics, and more, Burnout 2 is a great game that is absolutely still worth playing. I don't know if there's been a racing game quite like the first two Burnout games since. Also on PS2 and Xbox.
Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO - 2 player simultaneous. Capcom vs SNK 2: EO is the only Capcom fighting game on the Gamecube, and one of only two on Nintendo home consoles since the N64, the other one being Tatsunoko vs Capcom on the Wii. Yes, ever since the SNES died Capcom has mostly ignored Nintendo consoles as far as fighting games go. Fortunately, however, we Nintendo fans didn't miss out on this one! CvS2 EO is a great, great game, easily one of Capcom's best fighting games ever. The large number of playable characters includes equal numbers from Capcom and SNK, and quite unlike the Marvel and Tatsunoko vs. games, the Capcom vs. SNK games are traditional fighting games, more in the Street Fighter Alpha vein than anything. This is fantastic, and it's easily one of the best things about the game -- I love traditional fighting games like SF2, SF3, or SNK's games, but don't like the Marvel vs. games at all. In my opinion those games are all kind of awful, and I'm absolutely terrible at them. But this game, this game I love! CvS2: EO for the GC was easily one of my most-played games of the generation. And yes, it's entirely playable with normal Gamecube controllers, that small d-pad is fine once you get used to it.
CvS2's game engine clearly looks like something derived from SFA3, except this game has fully polygonal backdrops behind the mostly SFA-style sprite characters. While not all of the characters are in that style, most are. Capcom also chose a unified look for the special moves in this game; instead of using the animations from the games the characters come from, here all have similar white attack-swing animations. This is particularly noticeable when comparing characters like the Last Blade and Samurai Shodown characters to their original games; the white flashes in CvS2 just don't look quite as nice as SNK's animations in the Neo-Geo games. And because the game mostly uses SFA-style character sprites, many have less animation than characters in SF3, Last Blade 2, or other such games. Looking at Hibiki's sprite sheet she may seem to have as many frames of animation here, but there is much less actually changing between frames, and it doesn't look as good as it does in Last Blade 2. Capcom characters also in SF3 turn out even worse, since these are the Alpha versions. And a few characters, such as Morrigan most obviously, were not redrawn; Morrigan's old Darkstalkers sprite stands out badly here. But despite these issues, overall CvS2 looks pretty good visually. It could be better looking, but this is a good, solid classic 2d fighter. The music is not so fortunate; like most Capcom fighting game soundtracks from the early '00s, CvS2's music is an ear-bleeding assortment of mediocre and awful music. Overall SF3: 3S and MvC2 have even worse soundtracks, but that is not much in the way of praise, not with how bad some of CvS2's songs are! I've always hated the London song so much, for example, that I was always kind of annoyed when I had to fight in that stage because it meant being subjected to that awful song again...
Fortunately though, that fantastic gameplay more than makes up for any visual and aural flaws. I like many of both SNK and Capcom's fighting games, but in CvS2 I mostly played as SNK characters, most of all Last Blade 2's Hibiki. The game allow you to select between six different "grooves", or power-bar systems. Each changes the way you play significantly, so in one you have to charge up supers, while in others you build up supers by attacking or being attacked, for example. I liked the more conventional S and C grooves the most, but the other ones are interesting and are worth a look. This is also a team fighting game. You can choose between 1 and 3 characters in your team, and when selecting multiple characters can choose which one gets the stronger power; the game tries to keep everything balanced by making each character weaker in a 3-person team, and stronger in a 1-person team. CvS1 (Dreamcast, PS1) locked each character to a specific groove and power level, so it's fantastic that in CvS2 that's all open, and you can set any character to any groove and power level. The Gamecube and Xbox versions of this game, the "EO" versions, add an 'Easy Operation' mode where you can control the character with the analog stick and easily do specials and supers with just a press of the right © stick. It's a moderate amusement, but isn't for serious players, and I almost never used EO mode. There are few other changes versus the earlier versions, but I do like the change that simplified character selection on the order-select screen -- now you just need to press one button for each character, instead of two together as you have to do on PS2 and DC. Otherwise, it's the same fantastic game. One last thing to note is the way to fight the two real bosses, Ultimate Rugal and Shin Akuma. You must meet some requirements to fight these two very tough bosses, including not losing, getting multiple super special KOs, usually getting the first hit in, and more. It can be tricky with some characters, but I didn't mind this; it adds some replay value. The extreme challenge of those bosses, Ultimate Rugal particularly, adds challenge as well for sure. He will kill you a LOT unless you're quite good. Overall, CvS2 is a great, and deep, fighting game with an impressively large cast and fantastic gameplay. Do not expect a fast beam-spam-fest like the Marvel vs. games here, this is a real, traditional fighting game, and that's fantastic. This game deserves its place in my GC top 10 list. Enhanced Arcade port also on Dreamcast (in Japan only), Xbox, and Playstation 2. Only the GC and Xbox have EO mode.
Cel Damage - 4 player simultaneous, 480p progressive scan support. Cel Damage is a cel shaded-style car combat game. You choose a car, play the campaign or do a single battle, choose an arena to fight in, and go blow up some vehicles. I'm not exactly a big fan of this genre, but this one is fun. Perhaps the most unique thing here is that the cars in Cel Damage don't have health bars. Instead, one hit kills in this game. Between that, the high speeds the vehicles move at, and the small-ish arenas, this game is faster and more chaotic than many car combat games, and I like that about it. This keeps the game interesting, though the nice, cartoony, sometimes Looney Tunes-esque graphics help as well. You're constantly picking up weapons, blowing people up, and then getting destroyed. There are a lot of different weapons and abilities here, all comical in some way or another. The characters are all amusing as well, of course. Arenas are small-ish, but just large enough to be interesting. This is a very simple, straightforward game, but it's an entertaining one. The game has a few different game modes, including a mode where you win by getting enough points (that you score with kills), capture the flag (get all 4 flags and get to the goal), and a mode where you go to checkpoints around the level instead of just ...
I finished this within the last day after a lot of work, so I want to post it, regardless of the unpleasant little argument going on in that other thread.
My Thoughts on the Gamecube
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The Gamecube is the only TV console that I bought within the first weeks of its release, and it was the only 6th gen console I owned between when I got it in November 2001 and mid 2007. I liked the Gamecube a lot, and it's definitely my favorite 6th gen console. It's also kind of the end of an era that for me started in about '99 -- after the GC I started playing a lot more classic games than modern ones, and I didn't end up getting a Wii until 2010. And even then, I haven't played the Wii anywhere remotely near as much as I did the Gamecube. The Wii really is just as good or better, but... I don't know, I like older games a lot, and there were so many I missed! Now I have a 360 too, but I play that infrequently as well. I did play plenty of DS games though, but that's a handheld. But during the late N64 and GC eras I did have a current TV console. (The late '90s to late' 00s were also the time when I played the most internet multiplayer games on my PC; by the late '00s that had gone down a lot, and that has not changed much. Of course the GC didn't have that, though.)
But anyway, the Gamecube was a really great console, and I loved it then and still like it a lot now. I got my Gamecube the day after Thanksgiving in 2001, and only had the money for the system, a memory card, and one game, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 2 - Rogue Leader. It was well worth it, because that's an amazing, and incredibly good looking, game. Oh, and I also got a new copy of Perfect Dark for the N64 that day at the same store for $10, so that was nice too. At Christmas I got a second controller and a few more games (SSBM and XG3). I was in college through the GC era, and so naturally I ended up playing lots of SSBM multiplayer; I was a Nintendo fan, not a shooter fan, so it was SSBM and not Halo for me. I'm not the biggest SSBM fan, but it is a good multiplayer game at least. Fortunately there were also plenty of other multiplayer GC (and N64) games to play as well; the GC doesn't have quite the variety of exceptional single-system 3+ player games that the N64 does, but it does have a good number of them, many of them great. The system has plenty of great single-player games as well.
As for design, the Gamecube is a sleek, modern looking system. Both of my Gamecubes are black; it comes in other colors, but the black one looks great. It doesn't have the style and sheer beauty of an N64, and at the time I thought it was as step down from the N64's design for sure, but it looks nice. The controller is similar -- it's a clear step down from the amazing N64 controller, in both design and function, but it's a good, solid controller which has served well for many games for a long time. I prefer the larger size, 3-prong design, better d-pad, and 6-face-button layout of the N64 controller, and the feel of (non-broken) N64 analog sticks, but the GC controller is a very good one for sure, even if it doesn't quite match its predecessor. They REALLY needed to do something better than that Z button, but otherwise it's a good pad. It is kind of unfortunate that it has only 8 buttons though, because many ports had to have something compromised to fit onto a controller with four fewer buttons than the PS2 and Xbox controllers have. Six face buttons would have helped with half of that problem, you know, Nintendo... but anyway, I do like the GC, and apart from those issues, it does have a great controller. The GC controller isn't quite as good as the N64 one, but it is extremely comfortable, and once you get used to it the GC's unique face button layout actually works very well. I don't know why Nintendo abandoned analog shoulder buttons after the GC, but the GC L and R buttons are great. I like the analog-with-click design, they should have stuck with it. The GC controller is my favorite 6th-gen controller. The Gamecube has many accessories as well. I've never owned or used a GC modem, but broadband and 56k modems exist. A few games had online play, but several do support system link multiplayer, which still works fine of course. I do have a Game Boy Player, a GC microphone with controller-hookup adapter, three sets of GC bongos, and something like three GC-GBA connection cables.
Probably the biggest problem with the Gamecube was Nintendo's strategy with the system. After the relative disappointment that was the N64 worldwide, and the horrible disaster that was the N64 in Japan, Nintendo wanted to do better this time, particularly at home in Japan. They failed to do that, but in the process took out their most important region in terms of sales, the US market. Thanks to Satoru Iwata of NCL (Nintendo Japan), now in charge under Yamauchi, Nintendo focused their Gamecube strategy on building their relationships with Japanese third parties, and mostly abandoned the Western partnerships that they had built up to such great success during the N64 generation. This may seem reasonable -- build relationships with the Japanese companies who have spurned us in favor of Sony, and get back more of our home market -- but it did more harm than good. This disastrously bad decision would set Nintendo's course for the future which they are still on, and now suffer for after the casual boom of the DS and Wii has faded. It also failed in its main goal, of getting the Gamecube to sell better in Japan than the N64 had. Instead, the GC actually sold worse than the N64 did in Japan; it was only a small drop, but it was a drop. Meanwhile, thanks to Microsoft's entry and Nintendo's surrender of the hardcore market to them, the GC crashed hard in the US and sold eight million fewer systems than the N64 had, only ~12 million versus ~20. So, with the N64 Nintendo lost the Japanese market, and then with the GC they lost the US market. Abandoning first and close third party partners like Rare, Left Field, Silicon Knights, and Factor 5, most importantly (there are also more), may have seemed to make financial sense at the time, but Nintendo replaced them with only Retro and nothing else. Retro is amazing, but they're just one team and can only make a game every couple of years. They can't do everything all on their own. The Gamecube, and Nintendo consoles since it as well, suffered badly compared to the N64 because of the loss of Rare particularly, but all of the losses hurt.
The loss of Rare particularly is tragic stuff, and as a result, the GC badly lacks in platformers compared to the N64. As I love the genre, this is a problem. The GC has a great library as it is, but its platformer selection is one of the weakest of any Nintendo console. Rare's founders, the Stampers, wanted to leave, and told Nintendo that either Nintendo had to buy the 49% of Rare they owned, or they'd sell it to someone else. Nintendo, unhappy that Rare was having a tough time with the 5th-6th generation transition, refused to do this, and the Stampers sold their share to Microsoft. MS then bought up Nintendo's majority share of Rare as well. In my opinion at least, the whole situation was a disastrous mistake. Nintendo of Japan had a very hard time with the 4th-5th generation transition, and then Rare stepped in and helped save the N64 with their consistent, and amazingly great, games. But when Rare struggled for a while during the next generation transition, Nintendo had no patience, and sold off Rare instead of giving them the time they needed. Losing Rare was a major blow to Nintendo, and I would say that Nintendo has still never recovered from losing Rare. Nintendo needed Rare. Sure, they got a lot of money from Microsoft for the sale, but the loss of key games was a major problem, and the loss has not been replaced. During the Gamecube generation, Nintendo handed Microsoft the Western hardcore console game audience which they had held on the N64 thanks to Rare's Goldeneye and others, and didn't even put up much of a fight. While they managed to find a replacement with the casual-focused Wii, the Wii U shows how losing the Western hardcore base was a big problem. With hindsight, the Western-centric N64 was the better concept, compared to the more Japan-focused Gamecube. Too bad. Had Nintendo kept Rare, Star Fox Adventures would probably have been better, Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero would have released on the Gamecube, and several other games would surely have released as well; perhaps a better 3d platformer instead of the disappointing beat 'em up Grabbed by the Ghoulies, because the action-styled design was partially inspired by the shift of platforms, and either the Conker remake, or some other new game instead; perhaps Conker 2?
Instead, Rare released games to commercial failure on a platform with an audience much less interested in their games. Rare's natural audience is on Nintendo consoles, not Microsoft ones, and they were not able to draw enough Nintendo fans over to Microsoft. Also, losing Donkey Kong, their best-selling platformer franchise, hurt as well. Rare would never be the same, and nor would the Gamecube. All of those games would have helped the Gamecube, and while Rare wasn't quite as great in the 6th gen as they had been in the 5th, staying on one platform through the generation would have helped. Also, I at least think that Kameo (and also Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts) are great games, and show that Microsoft Rare still could make great games. With Nintendo, the games would have been even better, surely. This has to be one of the great "what ifs" in gaming, particularly if combined with a more Western-focused Gamecube strategy, as they had done with the N64! Try to fight back against Microsoft, as hopeless as the effort at slowing Halo's seizure of the hardcore market may seem. In the long run it was Microsoft taking the hardcore that really doomed Nintendo in the west, more so that Sony's unmatched success with the PS2. I know, as someone with a master's in history I perhaps shouldn't put as much focus on hypotheticals as I do, but I can't help but wonder what could have happened.
As far as the GC's game library goes, the GC has a reasonably-sized, and fairly broad, library. Its main weaknesses are that this system is from during the time when 2d games on consoles were dead, so it has very few of those, and that third parties largely stopped supporting the GC after its first few years. Many third-party games from 2002 are on the GC, but by 2004 few third-party games not aimed at kids came to the system, because the GC was Nintendo's least successful home console up to that point and sales were sadly not good enough. Also, Nintendo's first-party games are ... weird sometimes. The Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, etc. games... there are some odd ones. The system definitely has a quirky, unique library. This is both good and bad, depending on opinion.
All of my GC games are US region. There are a few Japanese GC games I want to play, most importantly Kururin Squash, but sadly I don't have that game yet. I'll definitely get it eventually, because it looks fantastic. I only have 131 GC games; it's not one of my larger collections in numbers, anymore, but it's still in the top 10 anyway, and it ranks very high for nostalgia value for sure! Sadly Gamecube games aren't cheap; there never was a major price crash like there was with the PS2 or Xbox, so while with those systems I was able to buy up large collections for cheap in the last 4-6 years, that's not the case for the Gamecube. GC games are less common than PS2 or Xbox games, and when you see them they cost more. Unfortunate. It's worth it, though! The GC is a great, great system, and even though now I do have a DC, Xbox, and PS2, yes, the GC is still my favorite of the generation.
Here's my favorite games list. The top two are for sure, but the next two could be in either order, and numbers 5-10 could go plenty of ways... it's hard to choose, with so many good games!
Top 10 Favorite Gamecube Games
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1. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
2. Metroid Prime
3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
4. Skies of Arcadia Legends
5. XGRA: Extreme-G Racing Association
6. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
7. F-Zero GX
8. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
9. Capcom vs SNK 2: EO
10. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy
Honorable Mentions: Custom Robo: Battle Revolution, Defender, Super Mario Sunshine, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Geist, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, Lost Kingdoms, Mario Kart Double Dash, Mega Man Anniversary Collection, P.N.03, Ikaruga, Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, Midway Arcade Treasures, Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2, Mystic Heroes, Beach Spikers, Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, SpyHunter, Tales of Symphonia, SSX 3, Star Fox Assault, Wario Ware Inc.: Mega Party Games, Super Monkey Ball, Wave Race: Blue Storm, XG3: Extreme-G Racing, Phantasy Star Online Episodes III: C.A.R.D. Revolution, Turok: Evolution, Super Smash Bros. Melee
Reviews: 139 summaries total. Three of these are for Wii "New Play Control" titles that I actually only own on Wii, but apart from controls the games are the same, so close enough. Well, four, actually, counting Metroid Prime 2 from the Trilogy collection. Players listed is the maximum number the game allows -- games support 1-x players unless noted. All games require Gamecube memory cards to save, so I won't bother listing that -- everything requires one. GC games also pretty much all support rumble, since it's built in to the controllers. I will list other accessories games support -- Bongos, GC-GBA link cables, the modem, the microphone, 16:9 widescreen (versus the usual 4:3), and 480p progressive scan.
1080 Degrees Avalanche - 4 players, broadband modem supported (system link only), 480p progressive scan support. 1080 Avalanche is the second and, unfortunately, final game in the 1080 snowboarding series that began on the N64. Developed by NST, the same team who made Wave Race Blue Storm, 1080 Avalanche is a short but very fun game that really surprised me -- I got this game several years after its release, and went into the game with only moderate expectations based both on reviews and my opinion on the first game on the N64 (it's good, but I don't love it). However, 1080 Avalanche is a great game! More fun and more approachable than the N64 game, 1080 Avalanche is a fantastic, good-looking, and extremely fun arcade-style racing/stunt game. The game won't take long to finish if all you want to do is just see all the content, but as with the N64 original, it has enough replay value to keep people coming back. This is a snowboarding game of course, and it's fast and well-designed. There are a good variety of characters to choose from, including the Wave Race and 1080 casts. The art style is similar to Wave Race Blue Storm, unsurprisingly. As the word 'Avalanche' in the title suggests, the game has avalanches at certain points in many tracks. These can be exciting, as you try to outrun the onrushing wall of snow. Tracks are all well-designed for both fun and challenge. If I have any issues with this game, it's the same thing as every snowboarding game -- I don't enjoy snowboard game stunt systems very much at all, and as with most snowboarding games, stunts are a huge part of this game. People who like snowboard or skateboard stunt systems should like the stunt system, though, as it's very similar to other arcadey snowboarding games from the time. As I've always quite disliked stunt modes in these games, though, I've barely ever touched this in halfpipe or stunt mode. And the short length is a factor; there aren't all that many circuits to complete, and once you're done replay value is all you have. At least it does support the broadband adapter, for internet tunneling play! Still, 1080 Avalanche is a very good, under-rated game that many people seem to have forgotten about. It's kind of tragic that Nintendo let such a great team as this one die off, as this game ended up being NST's last polygonal 3d game -- all they've done since is Virtual Console and Mario vs. Donkey Kong work. Project H.A.M.M.E.R. (Wii), it probably would have been good... ah well.
Alien Hominid - 2 player simultaneous in the main game or 4 player alternating in a minigame, 480p progressive scan support. Alien Hominid is a sidescrolling 2d run & gun game based on a flash game on Newgrounds (on that note, I find it impressive that Newgrounds still finds an audience, but I guess it does!). This is a run & run shooter, much like Metal Slug or Contra, about a cute little alien who got shot down on Earth, and now has to slaughter his way through threatening FBI agents, Russians, and more as he tries to get away from this place. As with artist Dan Paladin's other games, it's violent and somewhat misanthropic. The game has good cartoon-style art, but it still looks like a flash game; it's got that classic Flash look, which isn't one I've ever liked much. I was disappointed that this console game didn't improve the graphics more. It still looks good, thanks to the art design, but they could have done more. As for the gameplay, this console game is fortunately much better than the usual bad controls of a Flash game. The difficulty is VERY steep, however. This was no surprise, as I'd played Dan Paladin's flash games before buying this and they were also very difficult, but sometimes this game really is too hard. Worst of all is that you have limited continues. You can save, but once you run out of continues you'll have to get through some very hard part of the game without dying. I got this game back after it came out, and eventually had to give up somewhere in Russia, because the game just got too hard and unfair. I was hoping that this game would be like a Metal Slug game on the Gamecube, since SNK sadly did not support the GC itself and I really love Metal Slug, but Alien Hominid just isn't quite on that level; this is more of a B or C-tier Metal Slug/Contra knockoff with okay but very Flash-style graphics and nice art design. There's not really all that much to say about the gameplay here -- you walk to the right, shoot everything that moves, and try not to get hit because of course you die in one hit. Various weapon powerups give you better offensive capabilities, but you'll get hit sometime for sure and lose it. Argh. Wanting to see what crazy situation I'd be in next kept me playing for a while, but once the game got just too unfair, I quit. In addition to the main game, Alien Hominid also has a minigame with basic two-color graphics, where you get through small, single-screen side-view levels. There are many levels to play through, and actually it's pretty fun! I liked this almost as much as the main game, actually. Overall though, Alien Hominid is a decent to good game, but I found it somewhat disappointing compared to my expectations. After this game Dan Paladin went on to make two more retail games, the okay beat 'em up Castle Crashers and the fun platformer Battleblock Theater. Battleblock Theater is probably my favorite one of the three. Still, if you find Alien Hominid cheap, maybe check it out. Also on PS2, and Xbox as well in Europe only (though Europe did not get this GC version).
Army Men: Air Combat: The Elite Missions - 2 player co-op or versus. This game by 3DO is actually a port of the PS2 port of Army Men Air Attack 2, a 2.5d helicopter action game originally released on the PS1. While the Army Men franchise may have a bad name, the AMAC/AMAA portion of it was one of its highest-quality series. This GC version released several years after the PS1 and PS2 versions, though, and is pretty much a straight port of a dated game, so it got understandably poor reviews. I liked the first Army Men Air Combat for the N64 (aka Air Attack on PS1), though, and this game is more of the same. This is the best version of the second game in the series for sure; the PS1 version looks much worse, and the GC version does edge the PS2 one. Yes, this is ultimately a port of a last-gen up-port, and it does look quite dated visually, but the reviews that claim that it looks like an N64 game are inaccurate; this looks more like the early PS2 game that it's a port of. The games' music is okay, but it's nothing special. There are FMV cutscenes, just like in the PS1 version (which I cover in my PS1 thread), and they're the same just with higher-quality video, as expected. The main changes versus the PS1 original are in graphics and controls. AMAC: TEM has dated early-PS2 graphics, but they ARE better than the PS1 version's visuals. And in controls, the handling of your helicopter is simply much, much improved on the GC; I played both games one after the other, and there was a surprising improvement in controls and handling on the GC. The PS1 version controls okay, but this is better. I haven't played the PS2 version myself, though, so I don't know if this is the same as that one; my guess would be that it likely is, since in features the two are identical.
Whichever version you play, Army Men Air Attack 2/Air Combat: The Elite Missions is another EA (Desert, etc.) Strike-series-inspired flight action helicopter game. As with the first game though, this game isn't very difficult, quite unlike the real Strike series games. The game has 3d graphics and an angled semi-overhead camera, but like the Strike games, you play on a flat 2d plane -- you have no height control over your helicopter. This works fine, as your focus is on the enemies and your mission, not any kind of complexity in the flight model. As in Strike games, your goal in each mission in the Army Men helicopter games is to complete all of your mission objectives, which generally require destroying certain enemy emplacements, taking cargos back to your base, and such. Objectives and gameplay are not as complex here as in Strike games, of course, but there is more to it than just 'kill everything'. There are 20 levels in the game, in 10 environments, slightly more than the original PS1 release but the same as on PS2. One thing I very much like about the Air Combat/Attack games is that you don't have limited fuel; the limited fuel in Strike games can be frustrating sometimes. Here you can just fly around, shoot stuff, and pick up powerups, without worrying \about the details that are key to Strike games. The AMAC games are not as good as the 5th gen Strike titles (Soviet, Nuclear), but they are fun, simple arcadey shooting games, and that's more than enough for me to enjoy them. They really are fun games, and this one is no exception! Unfortunately, unlike Army Men: Air Combat for the N64, this GC game is two player only, not four, so the multiplayer isn't improved. That's too bad, because the 3/4 player multiplayer mode in Air Combat was quite fun! The various two-player modes in this game are good fun as well, but it'd be better with more players. Oddly one of the multiplayer modes in the PS1 version isn't present on the GC and PS2, and they added nothing to make up for that, but still, what's here is good -- there are still five multiplayer modes in this version, including two player co-op and versus types. Overall, MAC: TES is a decent game, but not a great one. The simple but fun basic gameplay is good enough to keep me going in this game, though it is unoriginal and very similar to the first one, so it's much less unique, and it feels more dated too since it didn't start out as a 6th gen game. Even so, I kind of like this game. It's okay. Also on PS1 and PS2 as Army Men Air Attack 2.
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance - 2 player co-op. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is an overhead-style 3d hack and slash action-RPG from Snowblind, somewhat inspired by Gauntlet but somewhat more complex by that game. The game was a great success, and spawned a genre that was quite popular on 6th gen platforms -- from Hunter: The Reckoning to X-Men Legends to D&D Heroes and Everquest: Chronicles of Norrath and more, there are quite a few of this style of game on these systems. The GC has fewer games of this style than the PS2 or Xbox do, but it does have some, including this one that started it all. As a fan of both D&D and Gauntlet, I had to get this game back in the early '00s, and I bought it in '02 or so. I liked the game, but it's not perfect; the simplistic design and some porting issues hold it back a bit. Even so, I can see why the game was popular, and did have fun with it for sure. In BGDA, you play as one of several heroes who are off on an adventure to save the city of Neverwinter from evil forces. The game is broken up into three acts, each in a new area, so it's not all that long. First you're in the city, later a snow area, and there is one more beyond that. There is some replay value though, and unlockables, so there are some things to keep you coming back for a while at least. Gameplay, as in all of these games, is simple: Kill everything, collect the loot, and upgrade your character's equipment along the way. The monsters are all classic D&D foes, and there's a good variety of them in the game. Of course you start out fighting rats, but move up to gelatinous cubes and much more dangerous enemies later on. The controls are simple, with an attack button, potion buttons for your crucial magic and healing potions, and a block button that might be useful if you get used to how to use it well. I mostly played as a ranged character, though, but sometimes you will have to fight up close of course, since in single player this is a solo adventure. The game has some pretty nice graphics at times; I particularly liked the water effects. Thanks to the overhead view everything is small, of course, but the monsters and environments all look good. Music is fitting for the genre.
I did have a few issues with BGDA, though. First, it takes far too long to save your game! That progress bar really creeps along; it's like this is a PS1 game or something. Load times are sometimes too long as well. I imagine that the game was not too well optimized when they ported it over to GC. And yes, BGDA definitely feels like a quick port. Few third party GC games were actually designed with the GC in mind, and that is one of the things I dislike most about the Gamecube when compared to the N64, since that system has a much higher proportion of third-party titles actually designed for the N64. Ah well, at least this game released on the GC! Its sequel did not, sadly, and it's expensive too, so I have yet to play it. Also, while there is a challenging 'gauntlet' dungeon that you unlock after beating the main game where you play as Drizzt, famous Forgotten Realms hero, and higher difficulty levels to try, the short length of the main game was kind of disappointing. I'd rather see more new things, rather than playing through the same short-ish game repeatedly! Also, the simple hack-and-slash gameplay gets repetitive after a while. Whether it's in caves, town, or a snowfield, all you do is kill monsters and, occasionally, buy new items to kill monsters with. Don't expect much depth here, you won't find it. D&D stats may exist in this game, but they don't do much beyond the basics. Still, BGDA is a good game, and it's well worth playing for anyone who likes this kind of game. As a huge Gauntlet series fan I like real Gauntlet games more, but this style is good too. Also on PS2 and Xbox.
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean - 1 player, 480p progressive scan support. Baten Kaitos was one of the relatively few Gamecube-exclusive third-party titles on the system. Nintendo apparently liked the game so much that they paid for a sequel to be made and bought the developer, Monolith Soft, but while Monolith Soft's Xenoblade is pretty good, I've never liked this game at all. Baten Kaitos is a JRPG, and, like many JRPGs from the time, it has a card theme. All of your items and skills are on cards too, and the game has a card-battle element to its combat. All of your items are also on cards, which is an interesting visual touch but doesn't affect gameplay all that much. You can combine items and the like. In battle, each character draws a hand of cards that you can use, so what you can do at any point -- attacks, defense, what have you -- depends a lot on luck. the card element adds some complexity to the game, but I didn't like the battle system all that much either; the card system has too high of a learning curve, and I wasn't having much fun even once I did get it. I like Lost Kingdoms and Phantasy Star Online III, two other GC RPGs with card systems, but definitely not this one. JRPG battle systems are usually too simplistic, but this isn't really better, it's just as bad but in a different way. The story and characters are worse. The main character, Kalas, is an unpleasant person I really do not like, and the rest of the cast aren't that great either. The game has some depth and plot twists, but this only makes the characters, Kalas particularly, look worse. This isn't my kind of story at all; it's dark at times, kind of serious, and the main character is kind of a jerk. Give me Skies of Arcadia over this any day! Baten Kaitos definitely does have great production values, though. The first thing most anyone who plays this game will notice is how great it looks! Baten Kaitos has polygonal characters on very nice looking prerendered backdrops, and the look works. The games' art design, particularly character design, isn't my favorite style of anime-style artwork, though. This is of course entirely a matter of opinion, but even though the graphics are good the art in this game isn't something I like as much as, say, Tales of Symphonia's or Skies of Arcadia's. The soundtrack is good for sure, though. Unfortunately the voice acting is quite bad, in English at least, and this is distracting at times. As far as the gameplay goes, honestly I never got all that far into Baten Kaitos; at first it seemed interesting, but the battle system didn't get me nearly as interested as I was hoping, and I really disliked the characters and story, which was a major negative. After playing the game a little, I was very glad that Tales of Symphonia was the GC Namco RPG I paid full price for, and Baten Kaitos the one I got cheap. Baten Kaitos Origins, the sequel, is supposedly a good game, but with how much I disliked the first game, I never bought it. Maybe I will someday, I'm not sure. What I do know, though, is that Baten Kaitos has a somewhat annoying battle system which relies too much on those cards, a very unlikeable main character, a somewhat disturbing at times story, and more. Other than the graphics, there's not much else I like about this disappointing game.
Battalion Wars - 1 player, 480p progressive scan and 16:9 widescreen support. Battalion Wars is a third-person shooter with some strategy elements, and as the name suggests, it's a more action-oriented spinoff of the Advance Wars series of turnbased strategy/wargames. I like strategy games more than third-person shooters myself, so I didn't get this game at release, and haven't played it anywhere remotely near as much as I did the GBA and DS Advance Wars games. Those games are amazing, but this one is just decent. Still, for a third-person shooter, this is an okay one.; this just isn't one of my favorite kinds of game. It is kind of nice to see all of the unit types from the GBA games in 3d, though, and the game has a nice cartoony graphical style that fits in well with the style of the GBA games and the first DS game. Battalion Wars has pretty good graphics and art design. This may be from Kuju and not Nintendo, but it got some Nintendo polish for sure. The game also has a story of course, and much like the GBA and first DS games, it's kind of ridiculous. The game tries to be funny, and often succeeds. It's funny enough, for sure. The characters are amusing caricatures, much like the ones in the GBA/first DS game. The main three are the "cheerleader" guy, the "drill sergeant" older guy, and the black air force guy. This games' developers were a Western team, and you can tell, but they did a good job giving it an Advance Wars theme and style. These people are all crazy warmongers... but that's the joke. At least this time it's more obviously crazy than the GBA games, which sometimes had some serious tonal dissonance between the story and gameplay. This silly style fits the series well.
Battalion Wars is a third-person shooter where you control a squad of units, and have to get them through the many levels that form the campaign. The basic unit type is an infantry unit, but you'll also be able to control tanks, jeeps, and more. Each handles differently, and the basic shooting/driving action works well enough for a console third-person shooter -- that is, thanks to auto-aim help it's playable. The strategy-game element in the game is that you can give some basic orders to the other units in your team, and also can switch between your units at any time. There's no overhead view though; you can just tell units to stay in place, or go to a point you can see. I've seen shooter/wargame hybrid titles before, but this game is not as complex as those; you're not managing a whole battlefield here from both first person and a zoomed-out strategic view, or building a base and commanding a large force, as in strategy/shooter hybrids like Uprising or Battlezone (PC&N64), but instead are just getting through some fairly linear levels with your squad of units. This is a simpler game. Even so, since you do have multiple troops to command, some strategic thinking will be required, and that's great. There is a bit more to this than your average third-person shooter, though, and the added strategy is welcome. I only wish the game required more of it, but it doesn't; you won't need too much in the way of complex tactics here, for sure. Overall, while this game is good for its genre, I'd rather play Advance Wars. I like that kind of game more. Still, Battalion Wars is a good game. The game has a sequel for the Wii, which is largely similar but added a now-gone online multiplayer mode. Sadly neither game has a splitscreen mode. Ah well.
Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball - 4 player simultaneous, 480p progressive scan support. Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball is the only console port of Sega's arcade women's beach volleyball game of the same name. Women's beach volleyball games got popular in the early '00s, probably thanks in part to the bikinis and in part to the sport reaching the Olympics, and Sega decided to make a volleyball game too. The basics of this game were taken from Virtua Tennis, except modified a bit to fit with a volleyball game. The result is that this game is really good! Beach volleyball games like Tecmo's DOA Xtreme aren't very good at all as actual volleyball games but instead are all about the scantily clad girl fanservice, but Sega's game 's core is its fantastic gameplay. Just like Virtua Tennis, Beach Spikers is a very good arcade-style sports game. Just like Virtua Tennis the controls are simple, but the game has depth. Each team has two players, and a symbol will mark where the ball is headed. One of the two team members has to get there and hit it up to the other player, who will then either hit it back for a return, or will return it herself. You can return the ball immediately, but that will be a much weaker hit sure to be returned. You can aim shots easily, and there are weak or strong hits as well. When serving to begin each volley, a standard power meter determines shot power. The games' controls and gameplay are fantastic, and are every bit as good as the best Virtua Tennis games. The games graphics are good, but it's easy to tell that this game was originally a Sega Naomi game -- this looks like the enhanced Dreamcast game that is essentially is. The Gamecube can do better than this, but still, it is a fairly good-looking game with that great classic Sega style.
You can either play a championship with a pre-created team, or create your own characters and go through a new more 'RPG-like' mode. In this mode you can only play as your character, and have to work with an AI ally, instead of switching between them based on context as you can do in the other modes, unless it's a 4-player multiplayer game, of course. You choose a country for your team, and can customize their looks in a character creator. You'll unlock many different bathing suit uniforms to choose between as you play. Both characters in this mode have RPG-like stats as well, and you'll slowly get better as you play more. This is both a good and bad thing, though, because your AI partner is TERRIBLE at the beginning of the game! Seriously, no matter where you put her stats at the beginning, she'll be near-useless until you manage to win some matches mostly on your own and increase her stats. And even when you do that, this mode is tough! Yes, Beach Spikers is not an easy game. Once you get farther into it the opposition gets strong, and managing to lay down some shots that land for points can be difficult and frustrating. In the 'RPG' mode, you also have to deal with managing your partner's mood too -- several times a game you can say something to your AI partner about how she's doing, and that can affect your team togetherness and thus how well she'll play. Guessing what's the best thing to say is hard and I'm no good at it, though, so this element isn't something I like that much. It's also kind of weird; how many other sports games have anything like it? Would they ever have had something like it in a sports game with guys, or is it an example of Japanese sexism at work? Probably the latter. Unfortunate. Apart from that, though, Beach Spikers is a great game I highly recommend to anyone who likes simple but fun arcade-style sports games. Enhanced Arcade port.
Big Air Freestyle - 2 player simultaneous, 480p progressive scan support. Big Air Freestyle is a dirtbike motorcycle racing game from Paradigm and published by Infogrames. It's decent fun, and looks alright as well. I didn't play this game before just before writing this, but I like it, and will return to this game for sure. Paradigm was an N64-exclusive developer the previous generation, and made their name based on somewhat simmish games like Pilotwings 64 and F1 World Grand Prix, but this game is quite arcadey and simplistic. That doesn't mean it's not fun, though! Sort of like another Paradigm game, Indy Racing 2000 on the N64, Big Air Freestyle is a fast and fun arcade-style racing game based on a real-world racing circuit, except it's a supercross and motocross (dirtbike) motorcycle racing game this time. This game is an altered version of MX Rider for the PS2, with supposedly simpler gameplay and no official licence this time. I haven't played the PS2 version, but I the way this version plays. Big Air Freestyle has simple controls and fun, challenging gameplay. There are three modes, Freestyle, a stunt arena mode; racing championship mode, the main mode; or Challenge mode, where you have to do specific tasks in order to win a variety of missions. Freestyle mode is in the title, but it's not too complex. Once you get used to pulling off stunts -- hold L, and then press the required buttons (or in one or two cases stick movements) in order and you'll do the stunt. So, it's not as complex as some games. I rarely find these stunt arena modes compelling, though; I've never liked these "hit specific buttons in the air in order to do stunts" games. Give me Rush 2049 car-spinning any day! As for Challenge mode, it's fun, but surprisingly isn't all that hard.
Race mode is the main challenge in the game. It takes the form of a traditional points championship, which is nice. Have the most points at the end of the fairly long season (~20 races) and you win. In races, the main challenge is simply staying on the track -- many jumps try to throw you off the track, and some memorization will be required to succeed. When you go off course you get reset on the track, but the pack stays unrealistically close together in this game, so even one crash will put you in 9th or 10th out of the ten-car field. Because of this I found the game somewhat frustrating, but otherwise the game would be far too easy because of the extremely simple driving model, so it's probably more good than bad -- at least this way, you have to work to win. You certainly won't be crashing much otherwise! Excitebike 64's driving model is many times more challenging than this one; Big Air is extremely forgiving. Actually crashing on the course is quite rare. If not for the jumps, it would be far too forgiving. Race mode has two different game modes, which you have to select between before starting, easy or realistic. There are multiple differences between them, but the most important ones are that in easy mode you only do a few laps per race and can reset races as often as you want, but in realistic, each race is a long 8 laps and you can't reset, so your only reset would be to reset the game and load your last save. You can at least save between races, though.
Graphically, the game betrays its PS2 origins; it looks only okay. However, the game does have fluid 60fps gameplay and progressive-scan support, which help a lot. You won't find those in the PS2 game, I'm sure! This game looks very sharp and smooth. The art design is decently good as well. As a result the game is sharp and clear-looking, and looks pretty nice, really. I may not often be able to tell the difference between 30fps and 60fps, but I can definitely see how progressive-scan makes a game look better! As with MX Rider, this game is set in Europe, though as I said earlier, without the official license here. Still, the tracks are all European. This makes little practical difference in the game, though, except for the many European flags flying along the courses, and the track names. As for the music, well, it has the same kind of music as every other motorcycle racing game of the era. Yeah, it's that same type of rock music they've all got. Very generic (and American, I expect) stuff. I don't like it of course, but you expect this stuff with motorcycle games, unfortunately. Ah well, could be worse. It reminds me a bit of Crazy Taxi's soundtrack, but not as amusing. Overall, Big Air Freestyle is a good game. I don't have MX Rider so I can't directly compare it to its predecessor, but the game has simple controls, a fair amount of challenge thanks to all those turns which throw you off the track if you don't moderate your speed, decent graphics, and it runs at a fluid 60fps with progressive-scan support too. This is a simple game, and it gets frustrating and does not have depth, but it's definitely worth a play for arcade racing fans, for sure. Big Air Freestyle is a fun, above-average game. It's too bad that Paradigm isn't around anymore. Gamecube exclusive, but it is adapted from MX Rider on the PS2.
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg - 2 player simultaneous, 480p progressive scan support. Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg is a cute and somewhat original 3d platformer from Sonic Team. The game was made in between Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, and it's a good, and GC console-exclusive at the time, game. As with most of Sega's games at the time Billy Hatcher looks more like a Dreamcast game than a Gamecube (or Xbox, for their Xbox games) game, so that means dated graphics. As with all Sonic Team games from the time, this one also has the poor camera you expect. However, Billy Hatcher is a fun and somewhat original game. This is a Sonic Team 3d platformer for sure, and while that means graphical issues, short-ish length, and gameplay that's not quite on 3d Mario's level, it also means fun. Billy Hatcher is also an original title, which is a quite rare thing from modern Sonic Team; ever since Sonic Adventure, their platformers have almost exclusively been Sonic games, except for this one. Here, you play as, well, Billy Hatcher, a boy with a rooster hat who rolls around giant eggs. Naturally, you've got to save your world, Morning Land, from evil forces; only the boy in the chicken suit has the powers needed to defeat the villains! Yeah, it's a basic story, but it's good enough. The key mechanic here is those eggs; otherwise this would be a fairly standard game, but the giant eggs that are all over this game make it a bit different. This game isn't anywhere near as hard as Glover, another game with a character rolling around a ball, though. You will need to figure out some basic puzzles, but for the most part this is a simple game, and that's okay. You get eggs, roll them around, run over enemies with them, push them into places to solve puzzles, and with your rooster hat birth the baby chicks in the eggs. The game is mostly linear, with linear stages followed by occasional bossfights. It's fun, but not amazing. I don't love Billy Hatcher, but it is a average to good game and it's great to see a GC-only 3d platformer; the system had very few good exclusive platformers, unfortunately. Also on PC and Mac, both released several years later and only in Europe; elsewhere the game is GC-exclusive.
BlowOut - 1 player. BlowOut is a 2.5d side-scrolling platform-action game. Clearly inspired by the likes of Contra and Metroid, and made for a very low budget at a time when there were almost no side-scrolling console games, BlowOut is an interesting, and fun, title. For a game that originally retailed for $10, new, this game is far better than you might expect! In BlowOut, you play as a cigar-chomping space marine who's in an alien-infested space station, and you're there to wipe them all out. So, in each level, you've got to kill the aliens, find your way through the stage, and ultimately defeat the boss at the end. Standard stuff for sure, but it's fun. Each level is a large mazelike environment, and you'll need to hit switches, find keycards, and go up and down elevators as you try to find your way to the boss. You've got full aiming control with one stick, so you can shoot in any direction at any time, and you'll need this power, because the enemies are numerous. There are several different weapons to use though, so you have some choices, and the controls are good enough. I like exploring through the levels and finding my way through. The game has simple, repetitive graphics with little variety, but for the price you couldn't expect more. What is here is modeled fairly well, though; BlowOut's graphics are simple, but okay. Just get used to that space station environment, because it's the only one you get in the game; all levels have the same tileset. Each one has a new layout, though, so that's okay. There's also plenty of challenge here, because your health is limited and the enemies are numerous. This is a tough game, but it's doable; the challenge adds to the fun factor. You won't just blaze through this game, but will have to think a bit. Overall BlowOut is a fun little game that most people have probably forgotten about, if they ever knew about it to begin with. This is a fun little 2.5d platformer/shooter which is well worth a couple of bucks if you find it sometime. Also on PS2, Xbox, and PC.
Bomberman Generation - 4 player simultaneous (in battle mode only). Bomberman Generation is the first of two very similar 6th-gen 3d Bomberman action games. These games may be the successors to Bomberman 64, but they pale badly in comparison to that pretty good N64 classic, unfortunately. Bomberman Generation is a game I got in the early '00s, and it seriously disappointed me. With an overly cutesey style, mediocre, linear gameplay, saccharine visuals and audio in the multiplayer, okay-at-best graphics, and more, Hudson didn't do a particularly good job in moving Bomberman to the 6th generation, unfortunately. Bomberman's 5th-gen outings got mixed opinions, but most of them are better than this, I'd say. Apart from Atomic Bomberman and especially Bomberman X360 the series has always been cute, but these GC/PS2 games go overboard in that department, and in a direction I found annoying. Kirby games or classic Bomberman is great, but this... not this. So, I don't like the character sounds or graphical design very much. As for the gameplay, this game is a much simpler game than the first Bomberman 64, unfortunately. Of course all of its sequels have been -- the other N64 Bombermans are all linear games as well, for example -- but still, it's unfortunate that after showing that they could do a solid Mario 64-style 3d platformer in Bomberman 64, Hudson abandoned that in favor of simpler things like this game. Bomberman Generations has plenty of levels to play through, but it's just not fun. In the main game, explosions are circular, Bomberman 64-style. Hitting enemies with low-power bombs is tricky, but you get used to it with practice, and some bomb powerups. The game is completely linear, and in each level all you need to do is follow the route around the stage, killing enemies and solving way-too-easy 'puzzles' along the way. It's all too bland, to average, and too uninteresting to be worth much time. Level designs are bland, 'puzzles' are barely there, and the story's nothing worth mentioning either. Bomberman stories never are, sure, but it sure doesn't help when the gameplay is so average too.
In multiplayer, this game goes for a more traditional, 2.5d classic Bomberman style. Bomberman 64's 3d arenas are gone, never to return. I like both classic and Bomberman 64 style multiplayer, so it's really too bad that they couldn't have included both styles. Otherwise though, this is perfectly decent, average 4-player Bomberman. It's fun, but there's no real reason to play this over any other classic-styled Bomberman game. Many of them are better than this, and many of them don't have annoying music and voices and blah graphical design, either. Overall, Bomberman Generations is a disappointing, completely average game that probably isn't really worth playing. Some people seem to like this game, but I don't at all.
Bomberman Jetters - 4 player simultaneous (in battle mode only). Bomberman Jetters is essentially Bomberman Generations 2. Same graphics engine and graphical style, same gameplay, same battle mode, just with some anime cutscenes in the style of the Bomberman Jetters anime, and new levels. So see that review above and read it again, because there's really nothing else to say about this game -- they didn't improve things over the first one, it's just more of the same. In fact, this game might even be WORSE than Generation -- Bomberman moves even slower this time (and he wasn't fast in Generation), load times are worse, and they added a mostly-useless character switching mechanic with Max which is badly handled as Max is mostly useless. Otherwise, it's the same thing again. And yes, the music and sound effects still aren't very good and get annoying. It's worth noting that in Japan this game released late in the same year as Bomberman Generation, which explains a lot -- in the US this released several years later, and it was confusing that it'd changed so little. The short turnaround in its original Japanese release explains that. Unfortunately that means that it's just as uninteresting as Generations is, or worse. Don't bother with this either. Also on PS2.
Burnout - 2 player simultaneous, 480p progressive scan support. The first Burnout game began a great racing game franchise, and it's still a very good game! Criteron's Burnout introduced some new ideas to the racing game genre when it first released, and while it has some issues, this is still a game well worth playing. It is different from its sequels in important ways both good and bad, but some essentials of the later Burnout games began here. Burnout is not a particularly great-looking or sounding game, but the fantastic gameplay holds up even if the graphics and music definitely do not. Burnout's graphics are quite bland and average; they're not bad, but not great either. The music is oddly bland and doesn't fit the game very well, in my opinion; this game doesn't have the expected up-tempo soundtrack, but something quieter and blander than that. The gameplay is the reason to play this game. Burnout is an arcade-style car racing game with very long tracks full of traffic as well as the cars in the race. The cars are all fictional, but are based on real vehicles, and many are identifiable. Central to the game is its then-original boost system. Your boost energy charges when you powerslide, drive in the oncoming traffic lane, or pass a car very closely without actually hitting it. If you do hit a traffic car, however, the game punishes you HARSHLY: you're forced to watch two replays of the crash (which you can save to a memory card!), and then finally you'll be reset on the track. The saveable crash replays are cool, but the long delay of watching them means that every crash sets you back a lot. Later in the series this would be entirely reversed and you get the ability to just smash traffic cars out of the way, but this game is the polar opposite from that. The long races are thus long minefields, full of constant danger as you try to build your boost meter and finish in as high a position as possible while crashing the least you can. Yes, Burnout is a difficult game, it wore on me after a while -- much like Star Wars Episode I Racer on the N64, having to redo nine or ten minute long races because of one or two little mistakes late in the race REALLY gets old. As a result, as much as I liked Burnout, I didn't manage to finish it. There are many races to win in this game, so Burnout will take a good while to beat, if you do manage to finish it. It's well worth playing, at least; Burnout 1 has a style all its own, and its sequels aren't quite the same as the original. As much as the graphics, sound, and action improved in the later Burnout games, the first Burnout still is a really great racing game and certainly one of the best in the series. Also on PS2 and Xbox; the GC version isn't considered to be the best, but it's the only one I have.
Burnout 2: Point of Impact - 2 player simultaneous (Race mode) or 4 player alternating (Crash mode), 480p progressive scan support. Burnout 2, the last Burnout game on the Gamecube, is similar to Burnout 1, but with better graphics, more modes, a removal of the multiple-replays-of-every-crash system, and many more changes. It's a very good game, and is another fantastic game from Criterion in this great series. Burnout 2's races are still very long, but with slightly easier play, more ways to get boost, no repeated crash replays after every crash, and more, it's not quite as hard this time. I'm not sure if I like Burnout 2 more or less than the first game, but most people probably prefer it. Either way, this is the last of the first style of Burnout game; with Burnout 3 the series changed, for a faster, more action-packed style. Those games are great fun as well, but the first two games are more challenging and require more serious focus to beat. For the most part the main game is similar to the first game, though. The tracks are all-new, but they are long again, and while there aren't multiple crash replays this time, you still need to pay attention because crashes will set you back for sure. Other than the main game, the biggest addition in Burnout 2 is Crash mode, a mode entirely dedicated to crashing! This mode would become quite popular, and was expanded on in later titles, but in its first form the way it works is that each player tries to do as much damage as possible based on a single crash into one of several pre-designed intersections. The challenge of trying to set up the perfect point to hit, angle, and speed, and the fun of watching the chaos that results, are quite fun, and I can see why crash mode was so popular. Crash mode is mostly just a multiplayer mode, though; it's not something you do in the main campaign. It'd have been nice to have some Crash stages every once in a while in the main single player game, but ah well. I have a few other minor complaints about Burnout 2. First, I wish that there were more shorter tracks -- three-minutes-per-lap races really are too long. Also, better music would be nice as it's still not improved. Also, it's disappointing that they never attempted a four player splitscreen mode. Better racing games should have that. That's about it, though. With more content, more cars, a great new mode, better graphics, and more, Burnout 2 is a great game that is absolutely still worth playing. I don't know if there's been a racing game quite like the first two Burnout games since. Also on PS2 and Xbox.
Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO - 2 player simultaneous. Capcom vs SNK 2: EO is the only Capcom fighting game on the Gamecube, and one of only two on Nintendo home consoles since the N64, the other one being Tatsunoko vs Capcom on the Wii. Yes, ever since the SNES died Capcom has mostly ignored Nintendo consoles as far as fighting games go. Fortunately, however, we Nintendo fans didn't miss out on this one! CvS2 EO is a great, great game, easily one of Capcom's best fighting games ever. The large number of playable characters includes equal numbers from Capcom and SNK, and quite unlike the Marvel and Tatsunoko vs. games, the Capcom vs. SNK games are traditional fighting games, more in the Street Fighter Alpha vein than anything. This is fantastic, and it's easily one of the best things about the game -- I love traditional fighting games like SF2, SF3, or SNK's games, but don't like the Marvel vs. games at all. In my opinion those games are all kind of awful, and I'm absolutely terrible at them. But this game, this game I love! CvS2: EO for the GC was easily one of my most-played games of the generation. And yes, it's entirely playable with normal Gamecube controllers, that small d-pad is fine once you get used to it.
CvS2's game engine clearly looks like something derived from SFA3, except this game has fully polygonal backdrops behind the mostly SFA-style sprite characters. While not all of the characters are in that style, most are. Capcom also chose a unified look for the special moves in this game; instead of using the animations from the games the characters come from, here all have similar white attack-swing animations. This is particularly noticeable when comparing characters like the Last Blade and Samurai Shodown characters to their original games; the white flashes in CvS2 just don't look quite as nice as SNK's animations in the Neo-Geo games. And because the game mostly uses SFA-style character sprites, many have less animation than characters in SF3, Last Blade 2, or other such games. Looking at Hibiki's sprite sheet she may seem to have as many frames of animation here, but there is much less actually changing between frames, and it doesn't look as good as it does in Last Blade 2. Capcom characters also in SF3 turn out even worse, since these are the Alpha versions. And a few characters, such as Morrigan most obviously, were not redrawn; Morrigan's old Darkstalkers sprite stands out badly here. But despite these issues, overall CvS2 looks pretty good visually. It could be better looking, but this is a good, solid classic 2d fighter. The music is not so fortunate; like most Capcom fighting game soundtracks from the early '00s, CvS2's music is an ear-bleeding assortment of mediocre and awful music. Overall SF3: 3S and MvC2 have even worse soundtracks, but that is not much in the way of praise, not with how bad some of CvS2's songs are! I've always hated the London song so much, for example, that I was always kind of annoyed when I had to fight in that stage because it meant being subjected to that awful song again...
Fortunately though, that fantastic gameplay more than makes up for any visual and aural flaws. I like many of both SNK and Capcom's fighting games, but in CvS2 I mostly played as SNK characters, most of all Last Blade 2's Hibiki. The game allow you to select between six different "grooves", or power-bar systems. Each changes the way you play significantly, so in one you have to charge up supers, while in others you build up supers by attacking or being attacked, for example. I liked the more conventional S and C grooves the most, but the other ones are interesting and are worth a look. This is also a team fighting game. You can choose between 1 and 3 characters in your team, and when selecting multiple characters can choose which one gets the stronger power; the game tries to keep everything balanced by making each character weaker in a 3-person team, and stronger in a 1-person team. CvS1 (Dreamcast, PS1) locked each character to a specific groove and power level, so it's fantastic that in CvS2 that's all open, and you can set any character to any groove and power level. The Gamecube and Xbox versions of this game, the "EO" versions, add an 'Easy Operation' mode where you can control the character with the analog stick and easily do specials and supers with just a press of the right © stick. It's a moderate amusement, but isn't for serious players, and I almost never used EO mode. There are few other changes versus the earlier versions, but I do like the change that simplified character selection on the order-select screen -- now you just need to press one button for each character, instead of two together as you have to do on PS2 and DC. Otherwise, it's the same fantastic game. One last thing to note is the way to fight the two real bosses, Ultimate Rugal and Shin Akuma. You must meet some requirements to fight these two very tough bosses, including not losing, getting multiple super special KOs, usually getting the first hit in, and more. It can be tricky with some characters, but I didn't mind this; it adds some replay value. The extreme challenge of those bosses, Ultimate Rugal particularly, adds challenge as well for sure. He will kill you a LOT unless you're quite good. Overall, CvS2 is a great, and deep, fighting game with an impressively large cast and fantastic gameplay. Do not expect a fast beam-spam-fest like the Marvel vs. games here, this is a real, traditional fighting game, and that's fantastic. This game deserves its place in my GC top 10 list. Enhanced Arcade port also on Dreamcast (in Japan only), Xbox, and Playstation 2. Only the GC and Xbox have EO mode.
Cel Damage - 4 player simultaneous, 480p progressive scan support. Cel Damage is a cel shaded-style car combat game. You choose a car, play the campaign or do a single battle, choose an arena to fight in, and go blow up some vehicles. I'm not exactly a big fan of this genre, but this one is fun. Perhaps the most unique thing here is that the cars in Cel Damage don't have health bars. Instead, one hit kills in this game. Between that, the high speeds the vehicles move at, and the small-ish arenas, this game is faster and more chaotic than many car combat games, and I like that about it. This keeps the game interesting, though the nice, cartoony, sometimes Looney Tunes-esque graphics help as well. You're constantly picking up weapons, blowing people up, and then getting destroyed. There are a lot of different weapons and abilities here, all comical in some way or another. The characters are all amusing as well, of course. Arenas are small-ish, but just large enough to be interesting. This is a very simple, straightforward game, but it's an entertaining one. The game has a few different game modes, including a mode where you win by getting enough points (that you score with kills), capture the flag (get all 4 flags and get to the goal), and a mode where you go to checkpoints around the level instead of just ...