International Winter Sports 2002 - All GameCube Games

[Ashley]

I will admit I thought this was for the GameCube version before I went looking and realised it was the N64 one but whatever...

One little touch I like about the Japanese box art is how it's made to look like a postcard

The stamps are the most obvious of course, but the little red boxes for the postcode is a neat touch. 

 

[Cube]

The Simpsons Road Rage

Move your keister, Meister.

• NA release: 19th December 2001
• EU release: 17th May 2002
• JP release: N/A
• Developer: Radical Entertainment
• Publisher: EA
• NGC Magazine Score: 52%
• Mods Used: Widescreen Code

 

The Simpsons Road Rage is a shameless rip off of Crazy Taxi. Which makes me feel somewhat guilty because I like Road Rage more than Crazy Taxi. The basic premise is identical: you’re in a taxi, pick up passengers and race to their destination before the time runs out, following the guidance of a large arrow at the top of the screen. There are a few differences.

 

 

The core driving is much simpler. Spinning around and turning is very easy, but there are no special moves like Crazy Taxi’s dash. Some of the other nuances of Crazy Taxi are gone, such as how parking close but safely next to the person you pick up is important. In Road Rage, the timer pauses when picking people up, so it’s not something you have to worry about. This makes it simpler to play, so it’s easier to enjoy initially, but not as deep.

 

 

But there are things it has going for it. The game captures the style of The Simpsons extremely well, with loads of references littered everywhere. And as this was made during the golden age of the show, so much stuff was a reference I still remember, even though I haven’t seen the show for many years. The voice acting is also true to the show, and while some lines do get annoying after a while, you unlock new characters at a steady pace, opening up new interactions to listen to.

 

 

Which is another thing the game does right: stuff to unlock to keep you coming back. On top of the large cast of Simpsons characters, there are also six maps to unlock, covering various locations in Springfield. Some have things in small spaces, others are more spread out, and the Power Plant is just awful. Each map has plenty of shortcuts to discover to help you out, so learning the maps is still vital for a high score. One odd thing is that on the minimap, these maps are all connected, so I wonder if they were attempting having them all available in the Sunday drive mode. There’s also a woeful missions mode, only worth it for the cool extra car for Homer.

 

 

While the amount of copying is appalling, it’s just so much fun that you just want one more go, especially with the destruction you cause and being able to hit Simpsons characters and watch them bounce around. Again!

Fun

Quote

But beyond a few smirksome lines from the Springfielders, and the odd bout of engagingly frantic two-player action, Road Rage is disappointingly average. The graphics are straight out of the PlayStation 2 textbook, with no real feeling of solidity or finesse, and certainly unworthy of Nintendo’s glorious new console.

Steve Jarratt, NGC Magazine #68

Remake or remaster?

It would be nice to see a re-release of this in a Simpsons compilation.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play The Simpsons Road Rage.

[Hero-of-Time]

I played the hell out of this back when it was first released on the PS2. Sure, it was a complete ripoff of Crazy Taxi, but driving around Springfield and listening to all of the sound bites was hilarious. I actually preferred this over The Simpsons: Hit and Run.

[Dcubed]

Wow! Road Rage came out that early in the system's life!? I remember it coming out much later!

Wow! Animal Crossing came out that early in the system's life? I remember it coming out much lat... oh... right... Europe localisation... Yeah, that was a rough wait!

[Cube]

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle

High speed battle with Sonic and Shadow!

• JP release: 20th December 2001
• NA release: 12th February 2002
• EU release: 3rd May 2002
• Developer: Sonic Team
• Publisher: Sega
• NGC Magazine Score: 70%
• Mods Used: Widescreen Code

 

With Sega dropping support for the Dreamcast early, it was only a matter of time until Sonic appeared on a Nintendo console, and it was on an enhanced port of his latest adventure with an improved multiplayer mode and many tiny tweaks to smooth things out (such as removing the Big the Cat Easter eggs). With Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic came over to GameCube during his attitude years.

Which means an amazing soundtrack, from Escape from the City to Live & Learn, alongside a snarky Sonic and a gloomy newcomer called Shadow. The story is cheesy but enjoyable, and you play through the story from two angles – the heroes and the villains – before the final part of the story and its epic finale. 

 

 

Each story comes with three main mission types. Sonic/Shadow have the main platforming sections, with Knuckles/Rogue having a treasure hunt and Tails/Robotnik having shooting sections. This does mean that sometimes you can go a bit too long between the proper Sonic and Shadow stages of the game, due to having too much or the other sections in the game.

 

 

Not that those sections are bad. The Knuckles and Rogue sections are mini exploration levels with you hunting for three parts of the master emerald. They’re kind of like little 3D Mario style levels, where you have to use clues to locate the hidden emerald shards. They’re a nice distraction from the main event, and suit the climbing and flying of the characters well.

 

 

The shooting sections for Tails and Dr Robotnik are the main issue with the game. It’s entirely focused on lock on, as there’s not really a proper aiming mechanic. These levels also tend to go on a bit too long, and they really make you long for the next Sonic level.

 

 

Which brings us to the main stages. These definitely feel a bit janky now, but are still great fun. They’re full of spectacle without taking away too much control, with the more automated sections being short bursts. With some wonderful levels, from escaping a giant truck as Sonic to grinding gravity- defying rails as Shadow (who “skates” in a cool way instead of running), it’s an immense amount of fun.

 

 

In addition to the main game is the Chao garden, where you hatch and raise the little animals you find within levels – a great incentive to replay them. There are some hidden types to unearth as well as training them to compete in fights and races. You can also send chao to a Game Boy Advance for extra training, although this isn’t as handy as the Dreamcast’s VMU, as you can’t turn the device off, but it gets the job done. 

 

 

All in all, Sonic Adventure 2 is rough around the edges but still great for the most part. There’s a lot to love and if you spend enough time perfecting the game, you unlock a neat Green Hill Zone level, a level that is still rarely seen in Sonic games.

Great

Quote

And speaking of next-gen, as GameCube owners, we don’t expect to see the pop-up of the DC incarnation. Given that the native version of Sonic Adventure 2 was running the hardware at redline, you might expect some clipping. But with four times the polygon count, GameCube should be capable of a flawless performance.

Neil Randall, NGC Magazine #67

Remake or remaster?

This game needs a bit if sprucing up and a remaster with some effort put into it.

Official Ways to get the game

Sonic Adventure 2 is available on Steam and Xbox, with the Battle features (Chao Karate and multiplayer extras) as additional DLC.

[Glen-i]

4 hours ago, Cube said:

You can also send chao to a Game Boy Advance for extra training, although this isn’t as handy as the Dreamcast’s VMU, as you can’t turn the device off, but it gets the job done. 

I might be misremembering, but was this only if you didn't have a copy of Sonic Advance? Because I know for a fact that I kept a Chao on my GBA for lengthy amount of times.

[Cube]

5 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

I might be misremembering, but was this only if you didn't have a copy of Sonic Advance? Because I know for a fact that I kept a Chao on my GBA for lengthy amount of times.

Looking into it, and it seems that it worked with Tiny Chao Garden which was in Sonic Advance, Advance 2 and Pinball Party.

[Dcubed]

Yeah, if you had any of the GBA Sonic games, you had access to an expanded Tiny Chao Garden that allowed you to save your progress.

If you didn’t have any of the games? Then you could use the Multiboot version of the Tiny Chao Garden (which obviously disappears when you turn the power off).

Speaking of which, kinda crazy that a 3rd party game was the first game for the console to support the GBA-GCN connectivity feature; probably the console’s single biggest hardware USP.

Nintendo really wasted no time securing Sonic for the GameCube and GBA.  Hell, the GCN port of SA2 was announced the same day that SEGA announced they were going 3rd party; a good 5 months before the original Dreamcast version even launched!  As such, the GCN version vastly outsold the original Dreamcast release as a result, and is the platform that most people likely associate with this game.

Needless to say, what goes around comes around; as Nintendo would receive similar treatment with the eventual release of RE4 (where its original GCN release was kneecapped by the annnouncement of an incoming PS2 port before the OG GCN version even launched).

Edited Thursday at 03:43 PM by Dcubed

[Cube]

NFL QB Club 2002

Where the stars play.

• NA release: 20th December 2001
• JP release: N/A
• EU release: N/A
• Developer: Acclaim Studios Austin
• Publisher: Acclaim Sports
• NGC Magazine Score: N/A
• Mods Used: Widescreen Hack

 

With Madden 2002 finally teaching me some stuff to get to grips with American Football, I figured that I wouldn’t have any issues playing later American Football games. But here comes QB Club 2002 to prove me wrong on that. Once again ,I have no idea what I’m doing. While this year’s Madden not only properly teaches you plays, but also displays how they happen clearly when picking them. QB Club takes the opposite approach: only one play is shown to you, but you can select two more based on just their names. Not only is it a big step back from Madden, but it’s also a downgrade from all the N64 American Football games.

 

 

The rest of the game doesn’t fare all that well, either, as not much has improved from the N64, as well as lacking features and options. After a few years of being overshadowed by Madden, combined with the issues Acclaim were having, this ended up being the last NFL Quarterback Club game.

Poor

Quote

Aside from the game’s exceptional QB challenge mode, there isn’t much that really stands out in Quarterback Club 2002. The presentation–from the front-end menu to the field–is solid, but once play begins, the slow frame rate detracts from the overall look of the game. The AI is a bit too predictable, and it’s way too lenient on the pass protection, making the game less realistic. QB Club 2002 is by no means bad, but it’s just not anywhere near the class of Madden 2002.

Ryan Mac Donald, GameSpot

Remake or remaster?

This is just a bad American Football game.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to buy NFL QB Club 2002.

[Cube]

Cel Damage
 

10 psycho toon tear it up in a wild and wacky drive ’em up adventure.

• NA release: 7th January 2002
• EU release: 3rd May 2002
• JP release: N/A
• Developer: Pseudo Interactive
• Publisher: EA
• NGC Magazine Score: 60%
• Mods Used: Widescreen Code

 

Cel Damage is a vehicular combat game with a cel-shaded view. It’s presented as a TV show where these cartoon contestants compete to smash each other to pieces. Screenshots of this game don’t do it justice as everything moves in a stunning way, from well animated characters to the vehicles themselves bending as they turn to capture the brilliant cartoon style. With mayhem flying, it’s quite wonderful.

 

 

The main mode is all about causing as much damage to your enemies. Dying doesn’t have much consequence other than wasting a bit of time, and respawns are very quick. Because of this, the weapons are immensely satisfying to use – especially one hit weapons like the axe, which causes car parts to bounce around. Because getting back into the action quick, these weapons aren’t even annoying to be on the receiving end of either. It’s pure chaos, in a good way.

 

 

Another fun mode is the relay race, where you go between two checkpoints multiple times, while still battling it out. Some levels have multiple potential routes, and there are traps dotted around that are very handy for this mode. The third mode has everyone figuring for flags, but that one isn’t very good. To unlock more stuff you have to win matches playing against the computer with more rules, but really the game is just more enjoyable if you unlock everything and just have fun – it is mainly designed for multiplayer, after all.

 

 

Hidden in the game are also a few different rendering types – I think the “plastic” mode also works really well, and having everyone’s weapons accessible in the game instead of their own special weapon really adds to the chaos and gives you a tun of fun weapons to use. It’s silly, but also a complete blast.

 

Fun

Quote

While Jet Set Radio was a triumph of design, there have been countless pale imitations. Cel Damage is the latest release to adopt the same graphical style, and despite not being outright offensive, it lacks personality and long-term appeal.

Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #66

Remake or remaster?

The game was altered for the PS2 with the name Cel Damage Overdrive. They tried to “balance” things by nerfing the one-hit-kill weapons and adding a health bar. Cel Damage HD is based on that version. I tried that version a few years ago and didn’t think much of it, but enjoyed the original.

Official Ways to get the game

The HD version of Cel Damage Overdrive is available on Steam, Switch, Xbox and PlayStation.

[Jonnas]

I remember seeing this one often on shelves. Since I hadn't heard anything about it, I always assumed it was a mediocre game, akin to cheap licensed ones.

Reading this review, it likely would've been a fun game for multiplayer sessions. But I would still likely not buy it, on account of games at the time (in Portugal, at least) rarely lowering below 40 Euro

Edited Saturday at 09:49 AM by Jonnas

[Dcubed]

Always did like the look of this one, looks like it would be a decent little multiplayer title; but I never did get round to getting it.

Sounds like the GCN version is still the way to go.  Hopefully it comes to NSO.

Edited Saturday at 01:28 PM by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

I actually enjoyed Cell Damage. I'm not sure if I played it on my Gamecube or the original Xbox though. Either way, I put a stupid amount of time into it trying to unlock everything.

There was a sequel in development for the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube but it got cancelled during development.

[Cube]

NBA Courtside 2002

Elevate your game.

• NA release: 13th January 2002
• JP release: 24th March 2002
• EU release: 24th May 2002
• Developer: Left Field Productions
• Publisher: Nintendo
• NGC Magazine Score: 79%
• Mods Used: Widescreen Hack

 

Oddly, the final NBA Courtside didn’t remind me of the previous ones on N64, but rather NBA Jam 2000. Like that, this also includes simulation and arcade modes and, as a result, doesn’t really do either of them too well. Arcade mode is 3-on-3 but doesn’t have much in the way of spectacle other than the court being on top of a building. Circles will appear at various points and heading into one and scoring will net you extra points.

 

 

But the core game doesn’t feel very good. Defending is far more difficult than the previous Courtside games and your AI teammates seem to just stand idly with their arms downwards. On the flip side, passing is also much easier so you have a higher potential for scoring. For being the only basketball so far, this does the job, but it doesn’t bring anything to the table, either.

Fine

Quote

You might find more long-term challenge in other basketball games, but we’ve had more fun with the slick, arcadey Courtside than we have with any of the recent EA titles, and it’s far better-looking than even the Xbox equivalents. Veterans might want to wait to see how Sega’s effort turns out, but if you prefer a Nintendo-style take on the sport, Courtside does the job more than adequately.

Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #66

Remake or remaster?

Better basketball games exist.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to play NBA Courtside 2002.

[Dcubed]

The last game that Left Field productions made as a second-party studio for NOA.  Very much the end of an era here, because this is when NOA started being stripped of much of their autonomy when it came to game production, and when NCL started resuming control over western-developed 1st party productions.

Though it's more likely that the disaster going on in 2001 with Jeff Spangenberg at Retro was the main catalyst for NCL wrestling back control over game development, this game also came out in the US the same month as when Minoru Arakawa resigned as president of NOA.  A move shrouded in controversy, since most believed that Arakawa was to be the man to succeed Hiroshi Yamauchi himself (since Arakawa was his son-in-law), but instead it would be Satoru Iwata who would emerge as the new CEO of NCL in May 2002; the first person to ever run Nintendo who wasn't directly related to the Yamauchi family line.

His departure marked the end of the first era of NOA, while Tatsumi Kimishima took over as president of NOA until around 2006 (When Reggie Fils Aime took over).  Yes that does mean that Kimishima has served as interim president twice in his career now!

You can clearly see that NBA Courtside 2002 is very much a game made in "The American Way", the type of game that Nintendo would stop making and publishing very shortly afterwards; including with NST, as they moved more towards working on NCL properties and away from licensed titles.

[Cube]

ESPN International Winter Sports 2002

10 amazing events on Ice, Snow, and on Nintendo GameCube!

• JP release: 31st January 2002
• NA release: 4th February 2002
• EU release: 3rd May 2002
• Developer: Konami
• Publisher: Konami
• NGC Magazine Score: 37%
• Mods Used: Widescreen Hack

 

Four years earlier, Konami produced the official Winter Olympics game but this time round, Eidos got the license instead. That didn’t stop Konami from still making a winter sports game without the Olympic license though and, just like their N64 game, it’s a small number of events that aren’t much fun.

One additional issue this time round are the control explanations, which are now videos. This means you can’t read them at your own pace and have to wait as it slowly says that you have to go when it counts down and says “go”, and trying to skip to the next instruction skips the entire thing. As there are only 10 events, I may as well go through them.

Downhill

 

A basic but fairly promising start. Head down the slope, staying within the flags. It’s not terribly exciting, but it’s the best part of the game, as it controls quite well.

Slalom

 

You’d think this would be similar to the downhill, but the turning sensitivity is massively increased so you flail about uncontrollably. You need a ton of luck to finish the event, let alone set a high score.

K90 Ski Jumping

 

The instructional video explains that you need to go when the timer starts for every event in far too much detail. But when it comes to explaining complicated stuff, it lacks any detail. This just says “use L and R for balance” without telling you what any of the bars mean. I managed to get it to work once.

K120 Ski Jumping

 

 

This version of ski jumping is more about timing and mashing buttons. It works fine.

Moguls

 

Mash L and R to the timer, then push the sticks to perform stunts. There’s little to no feedback on if you’re doing things right. I thought I did OK, but came 8th. Oddly, I also set the 3rd best score in the leaderboard.

Halfpipe

 

Since the last Konami winter sports games, stunt based sports games have come along massively, with lots of cheap ones. So it shouldn’t be difficult to have a somewhat decent snowboarding minigame here. Instead, you have no control over movement and just select stunts and push the control stick in different directions.

Speed Skating

 

The traditional mash a and b for speed 100m style race. You have to slow down slightly on turns. This one isn’t too bad.

Bobsleigh

 

This feels very different to the rest of the sports. The bobsleigh course is quite unrealistic, which makes it more exciting, and there are boosts on the track as well. In two player, you both go down at the same time, bumping into each other. With downhill, these are the two good parts of the game.

Curling

 

Boules on ice. Matches take ages and this goes in the opposite direction of the bobsleigh, going into a full on simulation as the ice gets damaged throughout the match and impacts how the pucks move.

Figure Skating

 

It’s a simplified Dance Dance Revolution using a controller and with a couple of pieces of classical music.

On top of the poor events, the game feels rather lacking in other areas. The game has set characters with different stats, none of which have any kind of personality. These kinds of games really suit creating your own characters, so it’s a shame there’s nothing like that here.

Poor

Quote

As it is, we’re stuck with this. Not just the worst Olympics tie-in in living memory; not just the least-interesting sports title on GC; but one of the worst games we’ve ever played. The last time we felt this suicidal about a game was… four years ago, when Konami vomited up Nagano Winter Olympics for N64.

Mark Green, NGC Magazine #67

Remake or remaster?

Mario & Sonic do a much better job.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to play ESPN International Winter Sports 2002.