Dcubed Posted May 2 Posted May 2 What is a mediocre arcade to GCN port turns out to be an amazing arcade to GBA port! Absolutely insane what Raylight Studios pulled off here. Jaw dropping stuff for the hardware!
Cube Posted May 3 Author Posted May 3 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker Join the convoy! NA release: 20th February 2002 EU release: 31st May 2002 JP release: 12th September 2002 Developer: Sega, Acclaim Publisher: Acclaim NGC Magazine Score: 48% Mods Used: Widescreen Code Another arcade port for the GameCube, this time another fun Sega arcade game that had previously had a Dreamcast release. At its heart, it’s an arcade racer, but having to account for the large load behind your vehicle does add a surprising amount of weight to the gameplay. You have to deliver cargo across four routes, although you can go for a higher score by selecting heavier and more difficult cargo. Along the way you’ll smash through traffic and take some alternate routes. Most cars will slow you down but taking out a fireworks van will net you extra time. You also have a rival that ploughs through everything like a madman, but is also handy for getting you a slip stream boost. You don’t have to beat them, but you do get bonus points for doing so, as well as access to a parking minigame that gets you an upgrade. While some new tracks would have made this port more worthwhile, there’s at least a few additional stuff beyond the main arcade mode. There’s an expanded version of the parking minigame, where you have to park in multiple stops in a small arena, which requires getting used to reversing. There’s also a race mode where you smash into bonus cars for extra points. While there’s not much to it, it’s still fun while it lasts. I think it’s a shame not much was added for this version to make it more substantial, but at least there’s a few little things to make the game last a bit longer. Fun Quote iving life in this kind of fast lane is busy and enjoyable for a while, but you’ll probably reach the end on your first go. After a few runs, even the two-player mode won’t be enough to make this disc seem worth the money. And you’ll tire of your mullet pretty quickly, too. Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #68 Remake or remaster? A Sega arcade collection would be great. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to play 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker. 2
Dcubed Posted May 3 Posted May 3 Good game, but it does lose some of its appeal in its home form without its crazy deluxe arcade cabinet... Complete with Trucker Horn! 1
Cube Posted May 4 Author Posted May 4 Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest Be the King of Cubivores! Got Meat? JP release: 21st February 2002 NA release: 5th November 2002 EU release: N/A Developer: Saru Brunei, Intelligent Systems Publisher: Nintendo (JP), Atlus (NA) NGC Magazine Score: 76% Mods Used: Widescreen Code Originally an N64 title called Animal Leader, Cubivore is a very strange game where the objective is to bring wilderness back to the land and defeat the Killer Cubivore to become the King of All Cubivores. The animals are made up of cube-like heads while their limbs comprise of squares in many different layouts to create different forms – called mutations – you can use to your advantage. You start off as a little piggy with one limb. As you battle and eat other cubivores, you’ll gain their colour, which alters your form. Throughout the game you’ll get more limbs, and specific combinations for colours will create new mutations. These various mutations affect how you move, how you attack and how much health you have. There’s also some special type of colours – such as ones with streaks of dark colour – that provide additional benefits. In order to get more limbs, you’re going to have to mate and produce a child, which always has an extra limb. You do this by entering a heart-shaped cave and, based on how many mutations you have, you’ll attract a certain number of female cubivores (which you never see out in the open). Some of these will give birth and you’ll be able to select a new “e-z mutate” form for your offspring, which will then let you morph into that shape whenever you want. These love caves are placed at specific places throughout the game, so you always have to advance at the same places for each playthrough. To progress, you’ll also need to create special parts called “Raw Meat”, which are usually held by powerful bosses. These bosses have rather bizarre names like the “Shoplifter Beast”, “CEO Beast” or “Neighbourhood Watch Beast”. Combat is simple, but also extremely tough. You hold L to charge your lock-on and press A to pounce. Enemies are really good at dodging and you need to get good at it, too. Evading attacks is especially important when you’re up against multiple foes, as they can essentially stunlock you and you’ll be unable to compete. I found the combat rather frustrating by the end. The structure of the game is also a bit strange. You’ll improve your Cubivore before getting killed off as the next “animal”, starting from a single limb again and going through the same set of levels (although with large changes) multiple times. It’s still nice to discover the new mutations, and the bosses and new groups of enemies you face still keep things interesting. The fact that Cubivore was mainly developed for the N64 is very evident in the final product. While the cube and square nature of the animals look great, the environments are all a bit drab. I really don’t like how they’ve used textures with detail on the cube-like environment, it’s an odd mishmash where something much simpler would look much nicer. The camera is also stuck in its N64 form, clearly made for the c-buttons, as a press moves the camera a set amount. The camera also tends to leave your cubivore out of frame in battles, and it adds to the frustration. Cubivore is a frustrating game that still manages to have a lot of charm, in both the character designs and the rather bizarre text in the game. It’s such a strange game that it’s definitely worth trying out, even if you don’t finish it – especially as the task of doing so requires you to discover 150 mutations, which is a bit difficult for me due to mixing up some of the colours. It’s an absolutely fascinating game. Fun Quote The real joy of the game comes from seeing how your latest mutation will move, react and control. The animation is simply fantastic – each individual cubic animal flips, hops and crawls around the spartan landscape in unique, believable ways. At least, if real animals were made of boxes and squares, this is exactly how you’d expect them to move. Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #77 Remake or remaster? A remake would be wonderful. Improve the camera, make the graphics more coherent and add a bit of flair in terms of particle effects and water, then it could look magnificent. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to play Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest. 1 4
Jonnas Posted May 4 Posted May 4 I always wondered what the game behind that weird Melee trophy was. I am happy to learn that it's as exactly as bonkers as I hoped it would be. Heart-shaped caves for reproduction? Jesus, Nintendo and their love hotels... 2 3
Dcubed Posted May 4 Posted May 4 I know I already spoke about this game in the N64 thread, but it really is remarkable how little changed in the transition from N64 to GCN. The only meaningful difference is the bump in resolution from 240p to 480p and the addition of an English localisation. That’s it.
Cube Posted May 5 Author Posted May 5 Jeremy McGrath Supercross World Race as or against Jeremy McGrath in this, the definitive Supercross racing and stunt game. NA release: 26th February 2002 EU release: 7th June 2002 JP release: N/A Developer: Acclaim Studios Salt Lake City Publisher: Acclaim Max Sports NGC Magazine Score: 20% Mods Used: Widescreen Hack If you were to take screenshots of this alongside screenshots of the N64 motorbike games and ask people to guess which one was a GameCube game, they’d probably vote for Excitebike or Top Gear Hyperbike, with Supercross World getting dismissed outright. Hell, even if this was on the N64, I would be criticising the graphics due to the shoddy textures, low poly models and how none of the objects look like they’re part of the world they inhabit. Supercross World has four main modes. Baja gives you open world levels where you have to follow a giant arrow to the next checkpoint, which all seem randomly placed on the map. On more than one map, the very first jump is a large one that’s flat out impossible to make from the starting line. They’re all bland and just a horrible mishmash of textures. Indoor is the next one, taking place on small tracks inside stadiums. As the arenas are smaller, the graphics look slightly better, which really adds to how mismatched the entire game feels. With actual corners to make, you’ll also quickly realise how little control you have over the bikes and, just like the graphics, it never feels like your bike is actually on the track. The outdoor tracks kind of have the opposite problem with the graphs. Objects still look out of place, but now the off-road and track all merge together and it’s extremely difficult to tell which direction the track is going, or where the edges are. Veer off and you have a three second countdown to get back to a place close to where you left before being reset. It’s a truly horrible form of racing. The freestyle stunt mode doesn’t really have anything terrible about it, other than the wonky steering and physics, but there’s no fun or joy in pulling off stunts. To try and get some entertainment from this game, you’ll have to look outside the box. In many games, if you try to go off the map, there will be ways of stopping the player. Either there will be a natural barrier, some fences or blockades stopping your progress, some have invisible walls and others fade you to black to reset you. Supercross World has its own special way. You see, if you try to drive off the map in Baja, you and your bike will get flung back across the map at high speed, as you hurtle in the air for miles until you crash, and then reset close to where you landed. It’s really silly and doesn’t gel with the rest of the game (a common theme), but it’s still by far the best thing about the game, even if it does get boring after the first time. Worst Quote The bikes handle like they’re not stuck to the ground, as if they’re cardboard cutouts attached to sticks, with the terrain rolling below. Steer gently, and the bike and rider slide sideways across the screen, bolt upright. You can get the same effect by sitting in a passenger seat of a moving car and holding a toy bike up to the window. Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #69 Remake or remaster? Remaster the good ones like Excitebike 64. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to play Jeremy McGrath Supercross World. 3
Dcubed Posted May 5 Posted May 5 Bloody hell! That game looks rough! I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually an unfinished pre-alpha prototype that Acclaim pushed out the door well before it was done. 1
Cube Posted May 6 Author Posted May 6 Shadow Man: 2econd Coming Beyond the grave begins the battle for deliverance. NA release: 28th February 2002 (PS2) EU release: 8th March 2002 (PS2) JP release: N/A Developer: Acclaim Studios Teesside Publisher: Acclaim NGC Magazine Score: N/A Mods Used: None When I was playing through All N64 Games, I came across a few interesting games which I’d heard a lot about that all happened to have next-gen sequels that I had never heard about, due to not being released on the GameCube (and not being well remembered on other platforms). As I’m intrigued about these few games, I decided to include them as a bonus – did the GameCube miss out on not having them? The first up Shadow Man: 2econd Coming, the horrendously titled (what’s wrong with 2nd Coming?) PlayStation 2 sequel to the beloved N64 Shadow Man. I absolutely adored the first game, so how does the sequel stack up, and why is it not fondly remembered? Quite simply, it’s probably because it’s not a very good game. One big change is that it no longer feels like a big interconnected world – the metroidvania aspects are gone. Instead, it feels like a few individual levels with backtracking, just following a single path with no exploration. When I reached the hub world, which seemed to be a decent size, I was hoping for those elements to come back, but it was just a small dungeon and the hub is just a round room. The levels themselves also lack the rich storytelling and horror of the first game. Everywhere in the original felt like it had an horrific purpose, and it was something you had to figure out based on what you saw. It made each location eerie yet wonderful to explore. The game is nowhere near as dark in terms of tone, although it is dark in that it is often difficult to see anything. There’s also a day and night mechanic that is just annoying. At night you get to be Shadow Man, but in the day you turn into Mike LeRoi’s human form. Which means that at night, you can use your special voodoo weapons, don’t take damage from falls, can’t drown and produce some much-needed light. In human form, Mike can push blocks, which feels like they created this day/night mechanic and needed at least one reason for people to play as Mike, so took a basic thing Shadow Man could do and gave it to his human form. In the first dungeon you do get a pocket watch that lets you switch the time of day, but this still means that you have to go through the very slow menu to change the time every 5 minutes to keep playing as Shadow Man. The character designs have also been drastically altered. In his human form, Mike being ultra buff makes it look like he and Shadow Man aren’t the same entity, and Shadow Man now being a skeleton instead of a zombie just looks naff. The side characters also look pretty bad, with Nettie now just wearing underwear and Jaunty going from an Irish man to an actual leprechaun. Even his snake form is utterly ridiculous looking. With all that said, Shadow Man 2nd Coming isn’t a bad game (awful character design aside), it just lacks everything that made the first game so special. It’s a shame to see as you can see little peeks of something that could have been special, but they seem to have been buried under troubled development. Fine Quote I had a dream that I was playing a great action/adventure game with dark, adult themes, great graphics, an innovative story, topnotch level design and a good assortment of challenging puzzles. Then I woke up, and discovered that I’d inadvertently fallen asleep while playing Shadow Man 2. Joe Rybicki, Official US PlayStation Magazine #57 Did the GameCube Miss Out? In the long run, I don’t really think so, however, it had come out at the same time as the PS2 version, it would have provided a decent action adventure game to pad out the console’s library. Remake or remaster? With the same effort as the first Shadow Man remaster, some of the annoyance could be sorted, the original character designs brought back and some much needed atmosphere to the game. There are some design documents with some cut content and other potential things to use. But without drastic changes to the level layout, it wouldn’t reach the heights of the first. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get the game. You also have to do some hex edits to the game file if you want to emulate it properly. 2
Dcubed Posted May 6 Posted May 6 Neat idea! Will you be covering the big 3rd party releases that never had GCN versions even start development? (GTA3/VC/SA, FF10, MGS2 etc), or will these selections be exclusively games that were originally in development for GCN but got cancelled along the way? (Kameo: Elements of Power, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Perfect Dark Zero, Too Human etc). 1
Cube Posted May 6 Author Posted May 6 55 minutes ago, Dcubed said: Neat idea! Will you be covering the big 3rd party releases that never had GCN versions even start development? (GTA3/VC/SA, FF10, MGS2 etc), or will these selections be exclusively games that were originally in development for GCN but got cancelled along the way? (Kameo: Elements of Power, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Perfect Dark Zero, Too Human etc). More of the latter. I don't want to do too many. Some are sequels to popular N64 games (like this, I don't think there were any plans for GameCube), but I will be covering a few that were in development for GameCube (like the Rare ones). Although only within the period of GameCube game releases (Too Human took a bit too long). So it's more ones that have a connection of sorts to Nintendo/the GameCube, but there's no strictness to it. 1 1
WackerJr Posted Tuesday at 11:24 PM Posted Tuesday at 11:24 PM On 5/4/2025 at 9:07 AM, Cube said: Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest Be the King of Cubivores! Got Meat? JP release: 21st February 2002 NA release: 5th November 2002 EU release: N/A Developer: Saru Brunei, Intelligent Systems Publisher: Nintendo (JP), Atlus (NA) NGC Magazine Score: 76% Mods Used: Widescreen Code Originally an N64 title called Animal Leader, Cubivore is a very strange game where the objective is to bring wilderness back to the land and defeat the Killer Cubivore to become the King of All Cubivores. The animals are made up of cube-like heads while their limbs comprise of squares in many different layouts to create different forms – called mutations – you can use to your advantage. You start off as a little piggy with one limb. As you battle and eat other cubivores, you’ll gain their colour, which alters your form. Throughout the game you’ll get more limbs, and specific combinations for colours will create new mutations. These various mutations affect how you move, how you attack and how much health you have. There’s also some special type of colours – such as ones with streaks of dark colour – that provide additional benefits. In order to get more limbs, you’re going to have to mate and produce a child, which always has an extra limb. You do this by entering a heart-shaped cave and, based on how many mutations you have, you’ll attract a certain number of female cubivores (which you never see out in the open). Some of these will give birth and you’ll be able to select a new “e-z mutate” form for your offspring, which will then let you morph into that shape whenever you want. These love caves are placed at specific places throughout the game, so you always have to advance at the same places for each playthrough. To progress, you’ll also need to create special parts called “Raw Meat”, which are usually held by powerful bosses. These bosses have rather bizarre names like the “Shoplifter Beast”, “CEO Beast” or “Neighbourhood Watch Beast”. Combat is simple, but also extremely tough. You hold L to charge your lock-on and press A to pounce. Enemies are really good at dodging and you need to get good at it, too. Evading attacks is especially important when you’re up against multiple foes, as they can essentially stunlock you and you’ll be unable to compete. I found the combat rather frustrating by the end. The structure of the game is also a bit strange. You’ll improve your Cubivore before getting killed off as the next “animal”, starting from a single limb again and going through the same set of levels (although with large changes) multiple times. It’s still nice to discover the new mutations, and the bosses and new groups of enemies you face still keep things interesting. The fact that Cubivore was mainly developed for the N64 is very evident in the final product. While the cube and square nature of the animals look great, the environments are all a bit drab. I really don’t like how they’ve used textures with detail on the cube-like environment, it’s an odd mishmash where something much simpler would look much nicer. The camera is also stuck in its N64 form, clearly made for the c-buttons, as a press moves the camera a set amount. The camera also tends to leave your cubivore out of frame in battles, and it adds to the frustration. Cubivore is a frustrating game that still manages to have a lot of charm, in both the character designs and the rather bizarre text in the game. It’s such a strange game that it’s definitely worth trying out, even if you don’t finish it – especially as the task of doing so requires you to discover 150 mutations, which is a bit difficult for me due to mixing up some of the colours. It’s an absolutely fascinating game. Fun Remake or remaster? A remake would be wonderful. Improve the camera, make the graphics more coherent and add a bit of flair in terms of particle effects and water, then it could look magnificent. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to play Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest. Utterly bizarre, I loved this game! You’ve covered its quirks and there were plenty of confusing and frustrating aspects, but I agree that it’s totally worth checking out. NSO maybe….. 2
Cube Posted Wednesday at 08:48 AM Author Posted Wednesday at 08:48 AM Gauntlet: Dark Legacy The journey into darkness continues! NA release: 6th Match 2002 EU release: 19th July 2002 JP release: N/A Developer: Midway Games West Publisher: Midway NGC Magazine Score: 25% Mods Used: Widescreen Code It’s quite amazing how much a control scheme can affect a game. While I enjoyed Gauntlet Legacy for a short while on N64 (it’s a game that’s better with more people), it wasn’t that long until I gave up. Dark Legacy is, for the most part, an enhanced version of the same game, but it plays much better if you pick the right settings. You see, the good control scheme isn’t the default or even the second option. Scroll through the control schemes and there will be one called “Robotron”, this allows you to aim independently of moving. Not only does this make aiming feel much more comfortable, but it also grants you the ability to move and attack at the same time, with a reduced rate of fire and a slower walking speed. These simple changes open up the gameplay a lot for positioning and defending yourself, and thus makes the enjoyment last much longer. I do think that not picking this control option is partly responsible for NGC’s magazine’s rather unfair 25% review score of Dark Legacy. The rest of the game is similar to Gauntlet Legends, you shoot your way through levels destroying enemies and their spawning generators, kind keys to unlock chests and doors, and looking for secrets. Crystals are needed to open levels, golden icons to open parts of the hub world, runestones are hidden and used to open the final portal, and legendary weapons are used to help defeat bosses. On top of all that, there’s a manner of special weapons, magic potions, and gold to find along the way. There are plenty of annoyances, though. The biggest is the camera, which is far too zoomed in, so you’re often shooting at things off-screen. There also isn’t a chance to mix up the gameplay slightly by using different classes, as swapping your character means starting the game from scratch. There’s even some outfits that are only unlocked by cheat code (which also means starting from the beginning), it would have been nice to unlock these and swap without having to reset everything. When playing with three others, some of the players could play around with picking different characters and swap to unlockable ones, as long as there’s a single designated player to keep to the same character and allow for keeping progress. Playing on my own, I made it as far as the 6th world (out of 8). While I still had no trouble getting to the end of the levels, the game had grown too tedious to continue. Enemies streamed out of generators at a rate that took multiple minutes to get through, and the stronger enemies took ages to kill. With four players, this would be much more manageable, but it’s still a lot of fun. Fun Quote Forgetting the one-dimensional play mechanics and horrible slur on a coin-op’s good name for a moment, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy is worth seeing just to remind yourself that not every game is going to be a Pikmin or a Super Smash Bros. Martin Kitts, NCG Magazine #68 Remake or remaster? A cleaned up version of this game, with the ability to change characters and use bonus outfits without resetting progress, online multiplayer and a zoomed out camera would be a ton of fun. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get Gauntlet: Dark Legacy. 3
Dcubed Posted Wednesday at 09:16 AM Posted Wednesday at 09:16 AM This would be a great candidate for GCN NSO... It's not impossible! Warner Bros did allow Nintendo to re-release Quest For Camelot GBC... for some bizzare reason! This would certainly be a great add to the service! 2
nekunando Posted Wednesday at 01:09 PM Posted Wednesday at 01:09 PM 3 hours ago, Dcubed said: This would be a great candidate for GCN NSO... It's not impossible! Warner Bros did allow Nintendo to re-release Quest For Camelot GBC... for some bizzare reason! This would certainly be a great add to the service! I never played Dark Legacy but I'm a little disappointed the N64 game hasn't come to NSO yet. I'm not sure I'd play through the whole thing again but I do have some nostalgia for it!
Dcubed Posted Wednesday at 07:44 PM Posted Wednesday at 07:44 PM 6 hours ago, nekunando said: I never played Dark Legacy but I'm a little disappointed the N64 game hasn't come to NSO yet. I'm not sure I'd play through the whole thing again but I do have some nostalgia for it! From what I understand, Dark Legacy is an expanded version of the original Gauntlet Legends that includes all the content from the original version anyway (same is true of the original arcade release too). So there isn’t really much point in playing the N64 version over the GameCube one. 1
Cube Posted Thursday at 08:29 AM Author Posted Thursday at 08:29 AM All-Star Baseball 2003 Where The Stars Play NA release: 7th Match 2002 JP release: 8th August 2002 EU release: N/A Developer: Acclaim Studios Austin Publisher: Acclaim Sports NGC Magazine Score: N/A Mods Used: Widescreen Hack From what I can tell, this is mostly the same game as last year’s with some slight tweaks. Looking at reviews elsewhere, the AI was apparently the massive change this time around, although I’m not savvy enough on baseball to be able to notice stuff like that. The game did feel slightly nicer to play, and the atmosphere felt more like a sporting event, even if strikes and outs were still very muted, and on close calls you have no idea what’s happened until the next batter comes out. While I was able to actually score some runs, it also turned out that this is one of the downsides of the overhauled AI. I found that if I went long, the CPU would always catch it, no matter how far away they were, while hitting short I could slowly trickle runs by going one base at a time. Every now and then, the people on other bases would mess up and choose not to run on their own accord, which is quite annoying. When checking reviews elsewhere, I discovered that the AI doesn’t target first base and provides leniency for this tactic to work. Fine Quote If you’re looking for a simulation-style baseball game for your GameCube, All-Star Baseball 2003 is the best and only option. Despite the fact that most people will be unable to save the franchise mode, there are plenty of other modes to explore, and playing the game is a deep, engrossing, and realistic experience. The graphics leave a bit to be desired, and there are some slight quirks with the gameplay, but compared with last year’s bug-filled instalment, All-Star Baseball 2003 is winner. Hilary Goldstein, IGN Remake or remaster? Sports games evolve over time. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get All-Star Baseball 2003. 2
Cube Posted Friday at 08:21 AM Author Posted Friday at 08:21 AM Agent Under Fire When the world needs a hero, James Bond answers the call. NA release: 12th Match 2002 EU release: 14th June 2002 JP release: N/A Developer: EA Redwood Shores Publisher: EA NGC Magazine Score: 70% Mods Used: Reloaded After The World is Not Enough, EA decided that sticking to the schedule of James Bond films wasn’t suited to them, So instead of making a Die Another Day film, EA instead opted to create some brand new Bond adventures, starting with Agent Under Fire. Another notable thing is the lack of Pierce Bronson, instead using a unique design that kind of blends all the Bonds together. Agent Under Fire still sticks to the first person shooter format, as the game originally began development as a PS2 version of The World Is Not Enough, which would have been the fourth completely different version of that game. The levels in Agent Under Fire are really well made, offering alternative routes through the use of gadgets. The stealth mechanics aren’t very deep, but are quite fun, and the shooting mechanics are well done, along with the introduction of “Bond Moves”, where you can use parts of the level to your advantage to take out enemies in satisfying ways. Vehicles are also brought into the mix, with a few really enjoyable driving sections, taking place on semi-open maps. The handling feels great and I would actually quite enjoy a whole game based around this – unfortunately we just have the atrocious 007 Racing. It’s a bit strange that there are pickups around the map, rather than just something Q installed in the car, but these are still a blast. The on-rails vehicle sections, however, are not much fun. These seem to go on forever, and while there are a few cool set pieces (like blowing up a petrol station with a helicopter near it), they come across as rather bland. The worst of these is the tank section, clearly only included because GoldenEye had a tank, with Bond conveniently finding one after crashing into a random building in the middle of a city. Agent Under Fire has an enjoyable story, with one major oddity. Bond is not his usual suave womanising self in this, but instead comes across as a creep as he gets caught out due to ogling women multiple times, and even R (EA went all in on Bond’s joke, even though this Q is based more on Desmond Llewelyn’s Q) uses this quirk to trick Bond. The overall plot about clones is still good and has some surprise twists. Agent Under Fire set up a good start for EA’s original Bond adventures. Fun Quote An inspiring, and engaging first-person shooter in the mould of Rare’s classic this ain’t, and, more relevantly, come this September when Turok and TimeSplitters 2 hit the shelves this will be all but forgotten. But it’s still good enough to keep you going if you can accept it for its many problems. It’ll stir a bit, but it won’t be shaking you. Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #70 Remake or remaster? The reloaded mod is a great fan remastering, but an official remaster and rerelease of EA’s Bond games would be wonderful to see. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get Agent Under Fire. 2
Dcubed Posted Friday at 11:43 AM Posted Friday at 11:43 AM Here’s another one I remember coming out much later in the system’s life than it actually did. Maybe my memory is being warped by the very late European release for the console? 2
Cube Posted Friday at 12:26 PM Author Posted Friday at 12:26 PM 41 minutes ago, Dcubed said: Maybe my memory is being warped by the very late European release for the console? Possibly. The GameCube did have a lot of Bond games. I will point out when we reach the European launch in terms of the first game to be released in any region after it. Still have another 10 or so games before we get there, though. 1
Cube Posted Saturday at 07:43 AM Author Posted Saturday at 07:43 AM Pac-Man World 2 The ghosts have unleashed the evil Spooky. Pac-Man must save Pac-Land again. NA release: 12th March 2002 EU release: 21st March 2003 JP release: N/A Developer: Namco Publisher: Namco NGC Magazine Score: 70% Mods Used: Widescreen Code With Namco’s dislike of the N64, Nintendo gamers never got the first Pac-Man World. With it being much easier to port between the PlayStation 2 and GameCube, though, Namco not only supported it a lot more, but even developed multiple games for Nintendo. The Pac-Man World games are a series of enjoyable 3D platformers. They don’t quite reach the heights of Mario or Banjo, but aren’t bad. One thing I did like was how much it captured the feel of Pac-Man. There’s an obscene amount of pellets to collect in each level, often laid out in maze-like patterns. Instead of being tedious to collect, there is an oddly compulsive nature to them and I found myself wanting to collect them – even though there’s not much of a reward other than getting a slice of health for every 50 you eat up. There’s also a load of fruit hidden around the level. Like the pellets, these aren’t an annoying way to gate progress, but at the same time, there’s also no reward, it’s purely for a high score. Yet, even though I don’t care about high scores, I still wanted to hunt for them. Pac-Man controls quite well, and the ledge grab helps with some of the more difficult platforming sections. His ground pound is quite satisfying to use as it makes Pac-Man bounce back up, and you can repeatedly pound the ground. You can also charge up a dash, although I found this to be a bit unreliable. The camera works well for the most part, but sometimes it takes away some of your control or gets stuck so you can’t fully turn it around. Still, this only happens on occasion, so it’s still a lot of fun to make your way around the linear levels. Also hidden in the levels are Galaxian keys, these open up mazes to play. These play like classic arcade Pac-Man, but each with its own layout and a visual style based on the level you’re on. They’re a great reward for exploring away from the main path, and you can also try for a high score by replaying them in the arcade in Pac-Village. There are also a few levels that mix things up. The ice skating and rollerblade levels are fast paced and a lot of fun, although the underwater levels are extremely slow and tedious and go on for way, way too long – and they’re all in the row, with two swimming levels where you automatically move forward immediately followed by two slow arcade style shoot-em-up levels. They should have been spread out more to change the pace throughout the game. One additional collectible hidden in levels are Namco tokens, which unlock some classic Pac-Man arcade games. Pac-Man It’s classic Pac-Man, a faithful port that was also used in Namco Museum. Pac-Attack A falling block puzzle game. You place ghosts, fruit and walls, and then put Pac-Man down in a position to gobble it up. It’s an interesting way to integrate Pac-Man gameplay into a puzzle game, but I wasn’t fond of it. Pac-Mania My first impressions of Pac-Mania was that it was a version of Pac-Man that was far too zoomed in with an awkward isometric view. However, this version focuses much more on the chase aspects, and skilled use of the jump mechanic is vital to evading the ghosts. It’s a fun mix up to the classic Pac-Man formula. Ms. Pac-Man Like Pac-Man, this port is identical to what is seen in Namco Museum. It’s a better version of the original Pac-Man. — Overall, Pac-Man World 2 is a very enjoyable game. It looks great and the classic ditties being used for level completion is lovely. The rest of the music is a bit annoying (one level – Butane Pain – I had to check if it was playing wrong due to how bad it was, but it really is that bad), which is the only complaint with the presentation, as it looks lovely and the sound effects are satisfying. Fun Quote And now it seems as if Pac-Man, suffering from some kind of mid-life crisis, actually wants to be his younger, more sucessful rival. Mario jumps; Pac jumps. Mario butt-slams; Pac makes a valiant attempt to do the same, despite having no discernible arse. Mario turns metallic and walks on the sea bed; Pac steals his idea as shamelessly as a gypsy rifling through and old lady’s biscuit tin. This isn’t the place to come if originality is something you value in your games collection, but it’s actually nowhere near as poor as we expected it to be. Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #78 Remake or remaster? A remastered collection of 2 and 3 would be nice, as this still looks nice, so it doesn’t need a full remake as much as the first game. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get Pac-Man World 2. 1 2
Cube Posted yesterday at 08:33 AM Author Posted yesterday at 08:33 AM SpyHunter Prepare to be Hunted NA release: 12th March 2002 EU release: 28th June 2002 JP release: N/A Developer: Paradigm, Point of View Publisher: Midway NGC Magazine Score: 55% Mods Used: Widescreen Code The original Spy Hunter took the concept of James Bond games and made a fun arcade game about it, which got its own sequel. This version, SpyHunter (no space this time) is kind of a reboot, but does mention that the person inside the car is the same as the original arcade game. However, in the previous few years, James Bond games had ramped up, including its own vehicle based game in 007 Racing. Can the homage do a better job than the original? Well, sort of, as 007 Racing was abysmal and SpyHunter is just bad. The biggest problem by far is that there’s no sense of speed and that there’s no spectacle. Destroying enemies doesn’t feel satisfying. If those things had been done right, then you can kind of forgive a game for shallow gameplay, but shallow gameplay is all there is. The 12 levels (plus two training levels) are all linear affairs where you have to complete a main objective (usually blowing up stuff) and some side objectives (blow up more stuff or collect stuff). None of them are much fun to complete, and it’s very easy to completely miss an object as everything in a level just merges together. I also discovered a handy trick for the few escort sections: rush forward and completely ignore them, as enemies will only attack them when you’re close. The GameCube version also has awkward controls. The game was designed around four shoulder buttons and they were adjusted to the GameCube’s three without much thought. Originally the bottom shoulder buttons fire offensive (right) and defensive (left) weapons, which match the HUD, and the top shoulder buttons swap between the different offensive/defensive weapons. For the GameCube, R is to fire offensive weapons, L is to change offensive weapons and you need to hold Z to do the same for defensive weapons, which feels very awkward. I think it would have been slightly better to have L and R to fire, then holding Z to change. SpyHunter also faced an additional problem on GameCube: it came out after Agent Under Fire, which featured a few Bond vehicle sections that are far better than anything offered by SpyHunter. Overall, SpyHunter is a fairly dull but functional driving game with a bit of shooting involved. The levels all feel the same, and even all the music is similar throughout the game – oddly, almost every bit of music is based on the theme tune of an American detective show called Peter Gunn, which ran from 1958 to 1961. The GameCube never got the two sequels to this SpyHunter (the third of which lets you play as Dwayne Johnson). Poor Quote The definition of the objects and the surrounding environment is so poor that mission-critical targets and sliproads only become visible a split-second before you pass them despite being ringed in red and orange circles. Furthermore, the game is so unfair that it’s near impossible to not take any damage or kill civilians. This results in a level structure so poorly focused, all you can do is memorise the mission and prey that you manage to fulfil all the objectives before you inevitably get blown into pieces. Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #68 Remake or remaster? A complete collection of the Spy Hunter games wouldn’t be bad. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get SpyHunter 1 2
Cube Posted 8 hours ago Author Posted 8 hours ago Doshin the Giant Be a giant, do what you want! JP release: 12th March 2002 EU release: 20th September 2002 NA release: N/A Developer: Param Publisher: Nintendo NGC Magazine Score: 62% Mods Used: Widescreen Code Originally released on 64DD, Doshin the Giant is a game that I enjoyed but didn’t quite understand. Luckily, the GameCube version was released in Europe, so I know more about how the game works, which is definitely a good thing, although the game is also not as deep as I was hoping. Doshin the Giant is a “god” game where you control a yellow giant and help a bunch of villagers construct buildings by bringing them trees and adjusting the height of their land. You can also turn into the evil Joshin to smash stuff up, or to ward away natural disasters. Doing good or bad deeds will make you grow stronger – although only for one in-game day. The main thing I struggled with was building monuments, but the game hints at what you do a bit more here: for them to build a nice monument, you need to give them a flower, obtained by putting around seven trees close together, those trees will die but more will take their place, along with a flower – although there can only be one flower at the time. This tree mechanic is also needed to keep areas green and alive – as all the trees will die over time, you need to keep things refreshed for the villagers. Building the different monuments is also quite simple, the flags in a village indicate the group living there, with different tribes having different colours. Getting the different monuments built (which is the main objective of the game) is a case of smashing the old one, moving some villagers around, getting a flower, waiting for them to build the new monument and repeat. I had envisioned in my head a system where they would build different ones based on the actions you perform, but the reality is far simpler. There aren’t that many ways the villagers need your help, either. They either want a tree, want an object moved from where they’re building (usually the tree you just placed) or want the land levelling, which can be a massive problem, especially if lots of villagers need stuff adjusting, as fixing one area will make the others unhappy. Luckily, you do get a massive amount of hearts, although the bigger you get, the more difficult it is to avoid trampling and killing the villagers. For Doshin’s transition to GameCube, there are a few changes. First of all, nothing from the rather strange expansion is included, which is understandable. The map is also smaller, probably so the game doesn’t eat up an entire memory card. There are some enhancements, though, as the game (especially the water) looks much nicer and there are more animals and building designs to make the world much more vibrant, with the villagers having cattle and birds flying around and hunting fish. The camera controls also let you more closely look at what the villagers are doing. As it stands, Doshin the Giant is the only 64DD game to be remastered or re-released in some form, although a few portions of the Mario Artist series did inspire other things like Miis and WarioWare. While shallow, it’s still an extremely charming game that’s well suited to giving it the odd go every now and then. Fun Quote Doshin the Giant is so kooky-Japanese it almost hurts: the main dude himself, with his little tuft of hair and over-long arms, for a start. He appears out of the blue – literally, right out of the ocean like a jaundiced, philanthropic Godzilla – and wanders onto a tropical island one morning. With the power to tug trees right out of the ground and raise or lower the odd terra firma at will, he (or rather, you) sets about helping the four native tribes to build huts, followed by farms, villages, and so on. Sadly, for a god sim, your actions are pretty limited. Tom Mayo, NGC Magazine #74 Remake or remaster? A remastered version would make for a lovely little downloadable title that you can open up every now and then. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get Doshin the Giant. 2
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