Remembering the Nintendo GameCube

[S.C.G]

And it's up on the front page!

Thank you to everyone who contributed, I did my best to fit as many quotes in there as possible.

And thank you to @RedShell for the fantastic banner and side graphics on the main page.

I would have liked to have done more, put in a few more images but I'm always open to adding more later.

But the videos are there (all credited) Hero's Skies of Arcadia GC pic in in there and I put in some pics of my own GC collection.

Happy May 3rd 2019 and seventeenth anniversary of the Nintendo GameCube!

[Ganepark32]

A great trip down memory lane. It's got me thinking about my time with the GameCube and while I may not necessary play a lot of Nintendo stuff nowadays, I loved that console for the games and memories it gave me.

The GameCube has to easily be one of my most played consoles ever. I was lucky enough to have a PS2 and an Xbox but both of those were shared with my brother. The GameCube, on the other hand, was entirely mine and I loved it.

I didn't get mine on launch but rather a could of days later on May 15th for my birthday. I'd given my parents two lists for what I'd wanted as presents: the first one had a Black GameCube and Star Wars Rogue Leader and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (even though I already had the game on the Dreamcast and had played it to death); and the second list had a bunch of PS2 games, like Onimusha 2 I think. These were given to my parents who were told I'd prefer the first list but if not, to get the second.

Fast forward to my birthday and lo and behold, a Black GameCube awaited with games and a portable TV Screen that clipped to the console and folded down so that I could play it even if my brother was playing one of our other consoles on the TV at the time. That portable TV Screen would come in handy years later when after a Christmas Fair at high school, to which I'd brought my GameCube to help for an activity to raise money for charity, I was getting the train home and ended up sitting in first class as the train was packed. My friend and I spotted a power socket and promptly unpacked the console and screen and proceeded to play Melee before said friend wanted to play Die Hard Vendetta (urgh). Being able to do that as a kid, even though I'm sure I'd have gotten in trouble if the guard in the train had saw, was just awesome.

I still remember jumping into Star Wars Rogue Leader for the first time when I got the console and being blown away by how amazing it looked. Sure, I'd had the PS2 since launch (which my mum had had to get handed to her out the back of Electronics Boutique at the time because of console shortages and just how many people had wanted the console running up to that Christmas period) alongside my Dreamcast so the jump in graphical fidelity wasn't the biggest thing but even still, seeing that game made my jaw drop and I feel in love with it. A few days later, Smash Bros. Melee joined the fray alongside Luigi's Mansion and it quickly became my favourite console, when I wasn't playing Halo or KOTOR back in the day.

A lot of Christmases and birthdays during that time are all filled with memories of playing new games. Getting Super Mario Sunshine and Star Fox Adventures for Christmas one year, Wind Waker for my birthday on another. Geist, F Zero GX, Baten Kaitos, Tales of Symphonia (two JRPGs which sit as some of my favourite all time JRPGs behind Chrono Trigger), Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2, Serious Sam, Madden 2004, Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, Beyond Good and Evil, Billy Hatcher, Viewtiful Joe, Pikmin, R Racing Evolution, Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Resident Evil 4, Eternal Darkness, Time Splitters 2. I'm probably forgetting a whole load of other games that I sunk a stupid amount of time into.

I've been playing video games since the early 90s but in all honesty, the GameCube for me really was the point I started playing more often and I got so much joy out of that console. I do miss that console as it was a time when Nintendo's output really did hook me in as a gamer who was somewhat lost after Sega bowed out of the console market. So many great games from that era that so deserve another chance now, whether from Nintendo or third party titles. And so many memories from playing with friends. An under appreciated console but much loved by those who played them and sorely missed by me.

[S.C.G]

Remembering the Nintendo GameCube in 2020

Well, that's another year gone by then as the GameCube is officially Eighteen years old now since its release on May 3rd, 2002.

I knew this date was coming up again too, the other week, then all of a sudden I realised that it's that day again.

What better way to celebrate than to re-use last years header, add 2020 to the article title, reuse images of my collection and go through the different spines.

Yeah, it's definitely an eleventh-hour idea which I started posting almost in the eleventh hour and just finished it but it still counts.

Anyway, enjoy(?) and if you have any favourite GC boxarts or spines or ways of displaying your games, let us know, I'd be interested to hear about them at least.

[LazyBoy]

To be discussed on a future smashing cast

[darksnowman]

Leading up to launch I had a cardboard Gamecube from NMS folded together and positioned in my bedroom where the GC would go beside the N64. I also had a DVD (maybe several??) the size of a GC disc with game footage, a VHS (I was going to be playing games like Galleon!!) and some grainy, low resolution 2 inch x 2 inch videos downloaded (yes, downloaded) from the Game website for Rogue Squadron, Luigi's Mansion and the like. 

The jump from N64 to GC seemed to be so big. It was exciting to be going from cartridges to those mini-DVDs because it meant the possibility of getting demo discs (!),  it was immense to see more launch games than the N64 had, and it was weird to be anticipating a Luigi game and not a Mario game. I remember I almost completed Luigi's Mansion over the first weekend so I deleted my file and restarted to make it last longer. (Which is something I also did with GoldenEye on N64). I remember needing to find someone to borrow ISS 2 from asap.

Around that time, I also remember trying to stay up late on Wednesday or Thursday nights to watch a games programme on Channel 5 to hopefully catch a glimpse of upcoming Gamecube games. Can't for the life of me remember the name of that programme! I think it was all CGI backdrops with no presenters onscreen. I remember barely being awake and seeing the Smash Bros. Melee opening FMV on this show around E3 time and having my mind blown. 

The way the Gamecube launch just predated the explosion of game info and footage online really made it something magical and mysterious. 

[euroninfan]

@S.C.G is there a homebrew scene anywhere, making gamecube games? i got this book off amazon called the games machine encyclepedia and it said there still making some games for gamecube. i did do a bit of searching on the internet but nothing showed up.