History
In the late 1990s, when Nintendo began development on the console that would become the GameCube, the once seemingly invincible company had proven vulnerable after all. As we saw in Chapter 3.3, its previous console, the Nintendo 64, was innovative in some ways and oldfashioned in others. It hadn’t been a total failure, but it did allow Sony to rip into Nintendo’s share of the console market and steal a great deal of its thunder. Even though Nintendo was still the undisputed king of handheld gaming (see Chapter 2.4), their mostly G-rated games library, which reassured so many parents and sold many Nintendo Entertainment Systems in the past, was a liability now that the majority of gamers were in their twenties or thirties. Nintendo needed a system that could right the perceived wrongs of the Nintendo 64, whose cartridge-based format, odd controller, and toy-like aesthetics had turned off many gamers and developers.
Nintendo needed a new console that would represent a clear alternative to what the likes of Sony and Microsoft brought to the public. They needed a console with innovative controls and games that would truly appeal to all ages. With such a platform, they could win back third-party developers and reclaim the throne, not only taking back what they’d lost, but expanding the videogames industry beyond what anyone had thought possible. Nintendo would build this system. But this chapter is not about the Wii, but its older brother: the GameCube.
The Nintendo GameCube was a great choice for gamers on a budget, with respectable technology and a selection of great original games. However, it lacked the strong appeal to casual gamers that would propel the Wii to super stardom.
The GameCube was not destined for greatness. Instead, it languished in third place, well behind Sony’s PlayStation 2 (see Chapter 3.5) and Microsoft’s Xbox (see Chapter 3.6). Indeed, were it not for their hugely successful line of mobile devices, Nintendo might well have joined Sega (see Chapter 3.4) in their transition away from console manufacturing to a purely software-driven business.
Animal Crossing (2001, Nintendo)
Animal Crossing is among the most popular, endearing, and unusual games for the GameCube. Like Maxis’ classic PC game The Sims or Zynga’s Farmville, Animal Crossing has no obvious goals or objectives. Instead, players choose whether to perform various activities such as digging, chopping, writing letters, and fishing in an adorable village of anthropomorphic moles, owls, hedgehogs, and other creatures. One neat feature is that the game takes into consideration the actual time and date. Assuming you set the clock correctly, if it’s dark outside, it’ll also be dark in the game. Village life continues while you’re away, too. Multiple players can interact with each other by leaving messages and borrowing tools, and connecting a GBA allows you to visit an island and play classic NES games. Animal Crossing was designed by Takashi Tezuka, a longtime friend and collaborator with Shigeru Miyamoto. It’s hopelessly addictive and well worth picking up a GameCube just to play it.
When Nintendo’s designers first began work on “Project Dolphin,” the company was still driven by a vision of cheap, child-safe, game-playing toys than the general-purpose “media centers” of Sony and Microsoft. Genyo Takeda, director and general manager of Nintendo’s research and development team, believed that making consoles was like making cars. Obviously, not all cars are built for street racing. Most people are happy with cheap, fuel-efficient vehicles that can get them from point A to point B. Much like Gunpei Yokoi’s “lateral thinking with seasoned technology” approach (see Chapter 2.4), Takeda’s approach prioritized serviceable rather than cutting-edge technology. Takeda also held fast to another principle: the various components of a console should work in harmony, with no single element rising above the other. This Taoist tenant put him at odds with the Silicon Valley engineers who developed the console’s components. They wanted to show off, but Takeda demanded moderation. “It was most difficult to ask [them] to swallow their pride,” he told reporters in 2000.1
Takeda might sound conservative here, but he was hardly a slouch when it came to innovation. It was Takeda who had proposed the battery backup in The Legend of Zelda cartridge for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, a critical breakthrough that allowed console gamers to painlessly save and restore their gaming sessions. Back in 1975, he’d designed the first Nintendo arcade game to include a video screen, EVR Race, a monstrous six-player gambling simulation for horse or auto racing based around an early video tape system. While certainly ambitious, the complicated and delicate machinery was easy to break and hard to maintain. No doubt this painful experience contributed to Takeda’s later demand for simplicity and reliability.
As we saw in Chapter 3.3, the Nintendo 64 had been heavily criticized for its reliance on cartridges for data storage. Every other major platform had shifted to optical discs for storage, which had the combined benefits of being cheaper to make, yet holding exponentially more data. They were, however, slower and much easier to copy and distribute illegally. Nintendo had stubbornly maintained that these disadvantages outweighed the perks, but third-party developers disagreed. The cartridges drove up development costs and severely limited the scope of their games.
Takeda realized that cartridges (at least on consoles) were a losing proposition, but his company wasn’t quite ready to embrace a DVD format. To hedge their bets, Nintendo chose a proprietary miniDVD-based format that was incompatible with both audio CDs and movie DVDs. The proprietary format allowed them to avoid the licensing fees associated with regular DVDs, and the 8-centimeter discs were faster. They were, however, limited to a mere 1.5 gigabytes (Xbox and PlayStation 2 discs could hold up to 8.5). Nintendo was greatly concerned (some might say paranoid) about piracy and bootlegging, and implemented a complex disc authentication and data encryption scheme that was thought unbreakable—at least until some persistent hackers found a way to exploit a security vulnerability in Sega’s Phantasy Star Online game to bypass it in 2003.
Nintendo finally embraced optical discs for its GameCube, but hedged its bets with a proprietary miniDVD format. They were much smaller and faster than conventional DVDs, but could not hold as much data. On the right is a PlayStation 2 disc for comparison.
The GameCube’s inability to play movies or audio CDs was hardly a selling point. Takeda was firm, however, insisting that he wanted “users to play games, not to watch movies or access non-game internet sites. Movies and internet are practically competitors to gaming.”2 Although Nintendo would finally add an internet browser to its Wii console in 2007, none of its consoles have supported movie or audio discs.
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat on the Dolphin emulator.
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (2004, Nintendo)
If Maynard G. Krebs of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis had ever designed his own videogame, it would surely have been something like Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. This quirky title lets you beat on a pair of bongos to guide the famous titular ape, making him run, jump, pound, leap, and do backflips to your beat. You can also clap your hands together to stun or knock out enemies. There’s no story or other frills to worry about; this game is just pure, goofy fun. While most critics ticked off a few points for its brevity, everyone enjoyed its unique and addictive gameplay—and who could resist those cool looking bongos?
Another oft-made complaint about the Nintendo 64 was its lack of support for online gaming. The Xbox (see Chapter 3.6) would owe much of its success to its excellent Xbox Live service. Nintendo, however, made baby steps. Instead of built-in support for dial-up or broadband internet, the GameCube required an optional add-on—and there was no unified marketplace or online interface, either. Instead, publishers would have to individually create their own interfaces and online experience. Connecting Game-Cube consoles together locally also required an add-on. As a result, very few GameCube games had support for either LAN or online play, particularly in comparison to the competition.
The Nintendo GameCube did not have built-in LAN or internet support. Instead, gamers had to pony up for a Modem Adapter or Broadband Adapter, shown here, which sat flush in Serial Port 1 on the underside of the console. Image courtesy of Ben Wood.
Nintendo hoped to leverage the massive support for its best-selling Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld by allowing gamers to connect them to their GameCube. Doing so would allow the GBA to function as a second controller and display. It was put to good use in The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, where it was used as a controller, and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, where it allowed for a unique multiplayer mode. Since so many GameCube owners also had handhelds, it was a great idea to marry the two. Nintendo would later use many of the ideas developed at this time in its Wii U console.
Takeda partnered with three different companies to manufacture the GameCube’s components. The GPU, called “Flipper,” was developed by ATI—and explains the codename “Dolphin” for the project. The main processor, “Gekko,” was made by IBM, and could run at 485 mhz. Matsushita Electric Industrial built the disc drives. Cleverly designed texture compression techniques allowed the GameCube to hold its own in terms of graphics power.
The GameCube’s controller was more mainstream than the Nintendo 64’s, but it’s clear from the button and joystick arrangement that Miyamoto wasn’t content to just copy Sony’s DualShock. Also shown here is the GameCube sitting on top of the Game Boy Player.
The Nintendo 64’s unique controller was loved by some and despised by others, so Nintendo returned to the drawing board for the GameCube. Shigeru Miyamoto led the design team, and admitted later that he’d never had so much trouble designing one. It seems apparent that much of the struggle was over how much, or how little, the new design should borrow from existing models—particularly Sony’s DualShock controller, which was widely admired by gamers and developers alike. The resulting “handlebar” design lacked the middle grip of the Nintendo 64’s controller. Unlike the DualShock, whose analog sticks are placed side by side, the GameCube controller’s joysticks are diagonal, with a D-pad in the lower left corner and four digital buttons on the top right. While a bit jarring when moving between systems, the GameCube’s controller was often lauded for its comfort, if not its overall practicality.
Nintendo had felt the sting of rejection from third-party developers with the Nintendo 64. To better woo potential GameCube developers, Takeda and his team developed a memory technology that reduced latency, thereby eliminating the tedious, console-specific optimizing routines required to make games run at a decent frame rate. Nintendo also created a helpful software development kit, but was slow getting them out to Western companies. This, coupled with production delays of the console itself, gave Nintendo’s competitors an advantage in securing and bolstering third-party developer support—a fact that Nintendo president Satoru Iwata attributes to the GameCube’s ultimate demise.
The GameCube was first unveiled at Nintendo’s Space World event. Several of the games shown that day were never completed, including an infamous Zelda game demo called The Legend of Zelda 128, which featured dark, gritty graphics. Many fans of the series saw this demo as evidence that Nintendo was at last ready to shed the franchise’s childish image, but when The Wind Waker was at last revealed—with its cutesy, cel-shaded cartoon aesthetics—some fans felt betrayed by a bait-and-switch. In any case, other games demonstrated that day were much less controversial, including the hits Super Smash Bros. Melee, Metroid Prime, and Luigi’s Mansion.
The Legend of Zelda 128 was one of the demos shown at Nintendo’s Space World even in 2000. The realistic aesthetic thrilled gamers who were eager for a more mature take on the franchise. However, when The Wind Waker was actually released, its art style was even more cartoony and cutesy than its predecessors. Source: Wikipedia.
The GameCube launched in Japan on September 14, 2001, followed by a North American launch two months later. To the shock and dismay of the Nintendo faithful, there was no Mario-title in the launch lineup, and the closest thing to it—Luigi’s Mansion—was criticized for its short length. Early reviews of the system were lukewarm. Some of the criticism was focused on the paucity of launch titles, which consisted of only 15 games. Unlike the Play-Station 2, the GameCube was not backward-compatible with its predecessor. In short, if you didn’t see anything you liked in the launch lineup, there was no reason to buy a GameCube. Precious time flew by as Nintendo struggled to get its own titles and those from third-party developers on the shelf, a situation eerily similar to what would become of the Wii’s waning years and the Wii U’s post launch years.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (2002, Silicon Knights)
Games like Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem show how far the company was willing to stray from the likes of Mario and Princess Peach. This mature-rated game is a masterpiece of psychological horror. Players must carefully monitor the characters’ sanity as well as their mana and health. If the sanity meter drops too low, you’ll be treated to in-game meddling, including a skewed camera and eerie sound effects such as whispers and distant cries. Designed by Silicon Knights (the team responsible for Legacy of Kain), Eternal Darkness boasts a massive scope, with 12 different characters and a story that spans several different time periods. The magic system is also well developed and sophisticated, even allowing you to create new spells by mixing up ingredients. Critics praised the graphics, atmosphere, story, and keen attention to detail. If you’re still convinced that the GameCube is a children’s toy, turn off the lights, put on headphones, and let Eternal Darkness set you straight.
Perhaps the greatest complaint about the system was its squeaky clean, “kiddie” image. The unit was colored purple and shaped like a giant block, an aesthetic that one acerbic reviewer likened to a Fisher-Price toy. Instead of wowing the gamers at E3 2003 with a gritty first-person shooter or sexy open-world crime game, Nintendo showed the assembled mob of 20–30+-year-olds a new take on Pac-Man. Needless to say, the GameCube had more gamers scratching their heads than reaching for their wallets. Many felt that Nintendo was simply oblivious, hopelessly stuck in a 1980s time warp.
Nintendo’s American branch tried to extend the systems’ appeal to adults with a series of unusual partnerships, including a marketing campaign with Heineken beer, shown here.
Beth Llewelyn, senior director of corporate communication for Nintendo of America, squarely placed the blame for the Game-Cube’s dismal sales on Nintendo’s headquarters in Japan, who simply refused to listen to their urgent and persistent requests for more mature-themed games. “[We were] like the misfit child sent off to the strange land full of strange people,” said Llewelyn. Nintendo of America tried to reach out to older gamers, including partnering with Maxim magazine and Heineken beer in a “Cube Club” marketing campaign, but gamers seemed more interested in the scantily clad models, free beer, and musicians on stage than the GameCube.
For their part, Nintendo’s chairman, Hiroshi Yamauchi and Nintendo of Japan were nonplussed by the GameCube’s poor reception. Kyle Mercury, the man in charge of much of the United States marketing for the console, claims that his increasingly desperate pleas for a rapid change in direction were ignored by his Japanese superiors:
No one I talked to at Nintendo could understand why the company was struggling, why the whole brand was in danger of collapsing much like Sega before them. “But we’re Nintendo.” I can’t even recall how many times I heard that as a catch-all excuse… No one could believe that Nintendo was capable of being unseated as Number 1.3
Yamauchi later acknowledged that “the culture of Japan is very different,” and that it was becoming increasingly difficult to “develop software that appeals to everyone,” which he felt was the “lifeline” of their business.4
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles.
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles (2003, Game Designers Studio)
Square, the developer behind the Final Fantasy series, stabbed Nintendo in the back during the Nintendo 64 era, snubbing the console in favor of Sony’s PlayStation. Crystal Chronicles marked the franchise’s return to the Nintendo fold after a decade-long hiatus, but it was a very different game than those that had come before. Gone were experience points and turn-based combat; Crystal Chronicles is an action role-playing game comparable to Diablo. Some versions of the game were bundled with the GBA link cable, which was used for the fun and innovative multiplayer mode. The GBA served as a controller and for personalized menu navigation. Almost every review of the game stresses the need to play this one with friends; solo play pales in comparison. While some critics considered the GBA Link feature a gimmick to sell more handhelds, there’s no doubt that it does genuinely add to the gameplay and is essential to get the most out of the game. If you’ve ever had to kick back while a friend navigates on-screen menus, you’ll see the value of each player having his own screen and interface to work with. While few fans of the series count this game as their favorite, it does show off the potential of the GBA/GameCube link and is a fun take on the genre.
Despite its shortcomings, the Nintendo 64 did boast two amazing games that truly spurred system sales: Super Mario Bros. 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Both were undisputed masterpieces that made significant contributions to videogames as a medium. By contrast, GameCube hits such as Super Mario Sunshine, Animal Crossing, and Metroid Prime just didn’t seem worth the admission price to many gamers outside the ranks of the faithful. By December of 2003, Time magazine had declared the GameCube an “unmitigated disaster,” remarking that far from reclaiming its dominant position at the top of the industry, Nintendo was “struggling just to stay in the game.”5
In September of 2003, Nintendo dropped the price of the GameCube by $99, but sales still lagged behind Sony and Microsoft. However, calling it an “unmitigated disaster” is a wild exaggeration. It ended up selling some 22 million units, which places it just shy of the Xbox’s 24 million (although well behind the PlayStation 2’s 155 million). The GameCube was certainly no NES or Super NES, but it still sold in respectable numbers and represented a viable alternative to Xbox and PlayStation 2. Fortunately, Nintendo’s handhelds would continue to keep the company well in the black, and the Wii’s release in 2006 would shatter records and rocket Nintendo back to the top of the videogames industry for another generation.
In the end, the GameCube proved a brief but interesting chapter in the history of one of the industry’s largest and most influential companies. While Nintendo’s approach with the Game-Cube may have been flawed, the runaway success of the Wii shows that they were smart to focus on games for the whole family rather than just the Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty crowd. With the GameCube, Nintendo tried to play it safe, correcting many of the perceived flaws of the Nintendo 64 with a console more in line with the status quo. Ultimately, however, Nintendo would return to glory not by imitating its competition—but by daring to be different.
Technical Specifications
The GameCube was designed to do more with less, representing a cheaper alternative to the Xbox and PlayStation. Nevertheless, its hardware is actually quite capable and arguably superior to the PlayStation 2 in some regards.
Metroid Prime.
Metroid Prime (2002, Retro Studios)
Metroid is one of Nintendo’s best-loved properties, so it was a shock to some that the company turned to a game developer out of Austin, Texas, to revamp the franchise for GameCube. When fans heard that it was going to be a first-person shooter, eyes were rolling faster than Samus’ morph ball. However, the resulting game was a masterpiece, successfully updating the classic Metroid exploration and puzzle-solving formula with a great first-person shooter engine. It quickly became one of the GameCube’s most popular and endearing titles, and led to a sequel in 2004. The third game, Corruption, was released on the Wii in 2007, followed by a collector’s edition with all three games in 2009. For many fans, though, the first Metroid Prime is still the best.
According to Nintendo’s webpage for the console, the case was intended to be “small, cute, and desirable.” Apparently, someone at Nintendo was enamored with purple blocks. At 11.4 × 15 × 16 centimeters, it wasn’t a precise cube, but it was unquestionably more compact than the hulking Xbox. Its design was minimalist, with a top-loading disc drive and a front panel with four controller inputs and two slots for memory cards. There were three ports underneath the console, labeled Serial Port 1, Serial Port 2, and High Speed Port. Serial Port 1 supported the Modem Adapter or Broadband Adapter, and the High Speed Port supported the Game Boy Player, which allowed Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges to be played on a TV via the console. Serial Port 2 was never utilized.
Internally, the GameCube featured a miniDVD drive built by Matshushita. The discs were 8 centimeters in diameter and could hold up to 1.5 gigabytes. The drive transferred data between 16 and 25 megabits per second. Combined with the excellent texture compression routines, the GameCube was soon noted for significantly shorter loading times than the Xbox and PS2. Still, compared to the full-sized discs of the competition, the GameCube certainly put developers at a disadvantage when it came to storage space for cutscenes.
Pikmin.
Pikmin (2001, Nintendo)
Shigeru Miyamoto was the producer of this off-the-wall title, a hybrid with elements of adventure, puzzle, and real-time strategy games. The player controls Olimar, an alien who has crashed on a strange planet and must rely on the helpful “Pikmin” natives to help him recover the pieces to his spaceship. Much of the gameplay is focused on controlling these Pikmin and coordinating their abilities and attributes to solve puzzles. If you mess up, you can always breed more Pikmin, but it will take time—and the game enforces a strict 30-day time limit (each day in the game is around 15–20 minutes in real time). The game was lauded for its originality, memorable characters, gorgeous environments, and unique challenges. Perhaps more than any other GameCube title, it shows that the company took the “Nintendo Difference” seriously, offering an experience quite unlike any other found on a PlayStation 2 or Xbox. Pikmin 2 was released for the GameCube in 2004, and Pikmin 3 was released for the Wii U in 2013. Both sequels received similar critical acclaim.
The GameCube’s “Flipper” GPU, designed by ATI Technologies, may not have been faster than lightning, but it did hold its own against its rivals. At a standard resolution of 480p (640 × 480 progressive scan) for many games, the GameCube’s graphics are as good if not better than the Xbox and PS2, though the latter consoles can go up to 1080i (1920 × 1080 interlaced), despite few games supporting it. The Flipper ran at 162 MHz compared to the PS2’s 147. IBM’s “Gekko” PowerPC processor ran at 485 MHz, which was slower than the Xbox but a good deal faster than the PS2 (733 and 294.9 MHz respectively). Likewise, the GameCube had 40 megabytes of memory, again placing it between the Xbox at 64 and the PS2 at 32.6
The GameCube’s default controller featured a handlebar design, with staggered analog sticks, d-pad, built-in rumble motor, six digital buttons, and two pressure-sensitive triggers on the left and right (pressing these all the way down resulting in an audible click and a digital signal). The A, or main button, was oversized and placed in the middle of the other buttons. Later, Nintendo released the rumble-less Wavebird, a wireless version—particularly useful given the default controller’s relatively short cord. Compared to the Nintendo 64’s controller, these models were safe bets, even if they lacked the sort of exciting, radical innovations that would play such a huge role in the Wii’s success.
The Wavebird was a wireless GameCube controller. To extend its battery life, Nintendo omitted the rumble feedback feature of the wired version. Image courtesy of Evan-Amos, Vanamo Media.
One of the best GameCube accessories is actually the Game Boy Advance, which can be attached via a special cable. Developers who chose to integrate support for the GBA could do so in a number of ways, including using it as a secondary display—quite useful for multiplayer games. Probably the best such games are The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. The setup is also useful for Pokémon games, which use the link to transfer creatures between games and fight with them using the GBA.7
Another extremely handy accessory was a memory card, used for saving games and transferring data between systems. Nintendo officially released memory cards with 59, 251, and 1019 save blocks (512 KB, 2 MB, and 8 MB, respectively), and larger ones were made by third parties. A few older games had compatibility issues with the larger cards.
While Nintendo’s official memory cards went up 8 MB, third-party cards often went as high as 64 MB, like the one pictured here, or even 256 MB.
Another intriguing add-on was the Mobile Monitor, a 5.4-inch LCD screen with built-in speakers and a car adapter that also powered the GameCube. The unit was attached to the top of the GameCube and could be folded down when not in use. While not as portable as a GBA, a GameCube equipped with this Mobile Monitor (or equivalent) was a great solution for frequent travelers.
By far the most unusual GameCube accessory is the DK Bongos. Patterned after the barrels in the classic Donkey Kong arcade game, the bongos sported rubber drumskins and an internal microphone for detecting handclaps. The drums are used in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and the Donkey Konga games.
These Maynard G. Krebs-approved DK Bongos are an attractive accessory for one of the system’s most innovative games, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.
Star Fox: Assault.
Star Fox: Assault (2005, Namco/Nintendo)
The Super NES introduced us to Star Fox, a brilliant 3D space-shooter that was a showpiece of the console’s graphical effects technology. For its GameCube line, Nintendo commissioned Star Fox Adventures from the UK-based Rare studio. Star Fox Adventures was an action-adventure inspired by the later Zelda games, and while most critics praised it, some felt it wasn’t really a Star Fox game—and, indeed, it had begun life as an original property only to have the Star Fox license grafted on at the last hour. For Assault, Nintendo brought in Namco, who attempted to blend the earlier games’ aerial combat with the latter’s grounded action. Critics blasted the bland storyline and rigid on-rails structure, but most were at least initially intrigued by the ability to switch between the Arwing for flight and the Landmaster tank for ground missions. It’s definitely not the best Star Fox game, but worth a look if for no other reason than to witness the boldness of the design team.
The Nintendo GameCube Community Then and Now
Nintendo tried a variety of tactics to build fan communities around its GameCube, including “Cube Clubs” established in major cities. As the name implies, the idea was to try to associate the GameCube platform with the dance club scene, complete with alcoholic beverages and sexy clothing. Unfortunately, for most of the gaming public, the GameCube was perceived as the system for gamers who were either too young or too poor for Sony and Microsoft’s offerings. In short, most GameCube fans were stereotyped as children who spent their time playing adorably cute games such as Animal Crossing, Super Mario Sunshine, and the various Pokémon titles.
Of course, Nintendo still enjoyed a large number of dedicated older fans, many of whom had grown up playing its first-party franchises and were more than eager to see the latest incarnation of their beloved Mario and Zelda titles. These “platform faithful” were quick to point out the system’s selling points on online forums, even if few Xbox and PS2 fans were listening.
The arrival of the Wii quickly overshadowed the GameCube, and since the early versions of the new console were backward-compatible, there seemed little reason to most fans to cling to the older unit. Still, it’s not hard to find online message boards dedicated to the GameCube and nostalgia for the more straightforward console versus its more exotic successor will likely continue to grow over time.
There is a growing community of GameCube homebrew developers forming, though getting these programs will likely mean modding your console. This procedure can quickly get technical, but for those interested, detailed guides and videos are easily found online. Once your system is ready for homebrew, you can play a selection of original games as well as emulate other systems—including everything form the Atari 2600 all the way up to the Nintendo 64. What nerd could resist a hacked GameCube running a Sega Genesis or PlayStation emulator?
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader.
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (2001, Factor 5)
There have been many games based on the Star Wars license over the years, but arguably this one is the first that managed to perfectly capture the unique essence of the original films. The design team expertly applied the GameCube’s graphics technology, depicting the space battles and imaginative alien planets of George Lucas’ universe in convincing detail. Players take on the role of either Luke Skywalker or Wedge Antilles, and fight their way through glorious space battles in X-Wings, B-Wings, Y-Wings, and even Snowspeeders. If you’ve ever dreamed of flying through the trenches of the Death Star, this game will bring you there. Indeed, the only real complaint anyone had about this marvel was its relative brevity—always a good sign when you’re looking for a fun and compelling experience.
Collecting Nintendo GameCube Systems
As with any Nintendo system, GameCube collectors have many unique and exclusive games and other items to search for. As an additional perk, the small size of the console and game discs makes them easy to store.
GameCubes are also available in a variety of colors. The purple or “Indigo” model is probably the most famous, but there are also black, silver, and even an orange model available. If you’re a beer fan, you might try seeking out a limited-edition Heineken-branded model, but good luck—only 50 are rumored to exist. There were more limited edition models produced exclusively for the Japanese market, such as Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and Mobile Suit Gundam limited editions.
Probably the most useful version of the GameCube is the Panasonic Q, which is the only model that can play DVDs. Low sales scuttled production soon after its Japanese-only release in December of 2001. You probably won’t find one of these in the wild, so be prepared to spend $300 or more acquiring one on an online auction site. As with other Japanese GameCube systems, the Q can only play region-specific games.
Super Monkey Ball.
Super Monkey Ball (2001, Sega)
This superb action-puzzle game is another definitive GameCube title that’s about as far from the mainstream as you can get. Originally an arcade game, Super Monkey Ball lets players control a monkey encased in a transparent ball, which rolls about hair-raising courses comparable to Atari’s 1984 arcade classic Marble Madness. However, instead of controlling the ball itself, players control the tilt of the board. The simple, tight, and intuitive controls, combined with the imaginative and well-designed courses, show off the skill and creativity of its design team. It was widely praised and is certainly a must-have title for any GameCube fan for its clever mini-games alone. Its 2002 sequel added a story-line and even more mini-games.
If you’re new to collecting videogame systems, the GameCube would be a great place to start. Systems, games, and accessories are still more likely found in bargain bins than behind glass. Furthermore, there is still a healthy supply of third-party accessories and replacement parts available if you intend to actively play games on the system.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003, Nintendo)
Nintendo fans look forward to the latest incarnation of their beloved Zelda franchise with the same passion and fervor of… well, nobody else compares, really. However, The Wind Waker arrived amidst some unusual controversy, brought about mostly by a misleading technical demonstration at a major industry event described earlier in this chapter. That demo had shown a realistic aesthetic, but The Wind Waker was something entirely different—a cartoonlike style that seemed to reinforce everything the cynics were saying about Nintendo’s myopic focus on its youngest fans. Fans of the original games had grown up, so why was Nintendo still treating them like kids? Fortunately, gamers willing to put their inhibitions aside found much to enjoy about the new title. It was immaculately polished, and left intact or improved upon many of the gameplay elements that had made Ocarina of Time such a hit on the Nintendo 64. Many fans of the system consider it the best game ever made for the GameCube. It’s no wonder that Nintendo made few changes when updating the game for the Wii U in 2013 as The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD.
Emulating the Nintendo GameCube
Unlike the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, there are several viable options for emulating the GameCube on modern PCs. The best known of these is Dolphin, which also (and less ethically) emulates the Wii. Available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux, Dolphin requires a powerful computer for optimum performance. There are other programs such as Dolwin, WhineCube, and GCEmu available, but Dolphin is the most accurate and full-featured. If you want to use a real GameCube controller, you’ll need a PC controller adapter, which can be found online.
The original Wii model is backward-compatible with GameCube games and controllers, but not the newer ones such as the Wii Family, Wii Mini, or the new generation Wii U console. For maximum compatibility, the most practical solution is still to simply pick up a secondhand GameCube.
Emulation for the GameCube is surprisingly robust thanks to the Dolphin emulator. Shown here is the emulator running Luigi’s Mansion.
1 Yoshiko Hara, “Designers Bring Practical Touch to GameCube,” EE Times, July 9, 2000, www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1224761.
2 Yoshiko Hara, “Designers Bring Practical Touch to GameCube,” EE Times, July 9, 2000, www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1224761.
3 Yoshiko Hara, “Designers Bring Practical Touch to GameCube,” EE Times, July 9, 2000, www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1224761.
4 Gamesindustry.biz, “Nintendo’s Yamauchi Speaks,” July 3, 2003, The Register, www.theregister.co.uk/2003/07/03/ninten-dos_yamauchi_speaks.
5 Jim Frederick, “The Console Wars: Game On,” Time, December 15, 2003.
6 For a handy matrix showing these figures and more for easy comparison, see http://wars.locopuyo.com/cwsystemspecsold.php.
7 A large list of GameCube games that use the GBA link is available at Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Game-Cube%E2%80%93Game_Boy_Advance_link_cable.