Why you NEED a GameCube in 2022! | Games, Hardware & History of the Nintendo GameCube

now I know there are already plenty of people here on YouTube that have spent countless hours talking about just how great the GameCube was how it was a horribly underappreciated piece of hardware and how it spawned some of the most memorable and beloved titles of a generation and today I'm here to make that exact same kind of cookie cutter content for the YouTube algorithm so here we are I love the GameCube and as a late 2000s kid a lot of the games that I ended up playing growing up were the pre-owned GameCube titles at GameStop because at the time they could be quite a bit cheaper than the Wii games and they were usually more oriented for single player so I didn't have to worry about making any friends but that's beside the point today I want to talk first and foremost about the GameCube what made it such a memorable console for me personally and what really set it apart in such a tight race against Fierce competition so our Story begins in the year 2000 with the PlayStation 2 making its debut in March of that year and the Dreamcast hanging in there were even murmurs of Microsoft joining the Home console Market making headlines and amongst all of these exciting new examples of technology going into the New Millennium was Project dolphin Nintendo's follow-up to the Nintendo 64. dolphin was designed to pack as much power into a small and affordable of a box as possible with Nintendo believing this would help bring third-party Support over to the platform for this the GameCube was packed with the gecko a custom IDM power PC CPU running at 486 megahertz this was paired with a whopping 24 megabytes of system memory and the other big feature of the console ati's code name flipper GPU which had Star Development in 1998. this trip was also far ahead of its time offering a lot of features that put it ahead of the ps2's graphics processor like built-in texture compression the end result of this was a robust and efficient piece of Hardware that offered a lot of performance developers at a very reasonable price dolphin was truly shaping up to be a next-gen system and when it came out that Nintendo was moving to Optical disks to store their games the hype only grew but I'm sure you know the story all too well the GameCube couldn't play the regular DVDs and CDs that the PS2 and Xbox could instead shipping with this mini DVD drive that made the games look a lot more unique and help the vampiracy but for such a powerful console it might have been seen as a big technical limitation the PS2 and Xbox could read plain old CBDs and DVDs which could be anywhere from 700 megabytes for the smallest CD based games all the way to 4.7 and 8.5 gigabytes for the single and dual layer DVD games respectively this gave developers on those platforms plenty of Freedom while making their games if they needed more space they could just go up to a dual layer DVD and call it a day but the gamecube's mini DVDs topped out at 1.4 gigabytes which just wasn't enough space for a lot of titles that were taking advantage of the full-size DVDs in those other systems in the end I think it's debatable how much of an impact this actually had on the quality of games and ports on GameCube I'm sure some games were distributed on sets of two discs but there were also plenty of games across each platform that didn't take up more than a gigabyte or so what the mini DVDs did well however was make the GameCube an incredibly compact console for the time now I admit they cheated a little bit and used an external power brick but that doesn't change the fact that the PS2 still just looks like a couple books stacked on top of each other and maybe I'm just biased but to me out of all of these systems the GameCube just looks the most fun I have the black GameCube here but I'll always have a soft spot for the classic Indigo and platinum models that I used to have matching controllers for and you can probably see where this is going the handle is also a really fun little addition it makes the GameCube stand out at the expense of making it not a cube but as debatable of a cube as the GameCube might have been it needed more than powerful hardware and a cute face to perform well with consumers and when it came time to assemble a library of launch tiles for the new system Nintendo made some interesting decisions what's a little surprising here is the lack of distinctly Nintendo games obviously there's Luigi's Mansion the GameCube was the first Nintendo console to ship without a Mario game at launch to get the point but I'm sorry Crazy Taxi Batman vengeance and Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2 something don't entirely sound like they belong on a Nintendo system not that I'm complaining I'm gonna be up front here and say that I've never played a lot of the games that the GameCube launched with but the ones that I have played are fantastic take Super Monkey Ball for example which is one of the first of many Sega titles to make its way to the GameCube signaling a bit of a change in strategy if you will from Sega I'll talk more about the games in my collection later but overall if you don't count sports games the GameCube ended up with a pretty decent selection of titles at launch with that said there were a lot of multi-platform releases there that didn't exactly make a huge case for investing in a GameCube over a PS2 or Xbox the lack of DVD movie playback on the GameCube definitely didn't help things either while the PS2 was quickly seeing widespread adoption as an affordable DVD player in a lot of homes over a year before the GameCube made it to Market Nintendo had to rely on consumers investing in the hardware purely for the games this resulted in lackluster sales with the GameCube only managing to sell about 22 million units in its lifetime which wasn't bad but it was the worst performing Mainline Nintendo console up until that point just for the sake of comparison the Xbox moved 24 million units which was enough to tell Microsoft that their experiment could work and the PS2 famously sold somewhere around 155 million units making it the best-selling game console of all time so far in the end the GameCube couldn't really bring anything unique to the table it did the same things the other systems did a mistake that Nintendo would evidently realize and try to fix when they threw caution to the wind and came out with Gamecube the sequel now with less Q the Wii remote actually got a start on the GameCube as a minor accessory that never made its market and it was pretty much just used as a way for Nintendo Engineers to test motion control mechanics which must have worked well enough for the idea to show up only a few years later but that's a different story that I already kind of covered in a different video on the topic of controllers though you can't really talk about the GameCube without bringing up one of the most infamous controller designs of all time the GameCube controller is in my opinion of Apple of Nintendo refining their products over time seeing what worked and what didn't where the Nintendo 64 was their revolutionary first step in the 3D the GameCube was an evolution of what they had learned as an example while the N64 controller was made to test out new ideas and see how developers would design their games around the new hardware the GameCube controller was designed to be as intuitive and comfortable as possible there's no question about how you're supposed to hold the GameCube controller or which buttons do what it just feels incredibly natural you get two analog sticks one is gray and one is macaroni five face buttons for a b x y and start a d-pad a couple of triggers and an extra shoulder button it's more than enough buttons for all the games that I've played and I feel like it's easier to remember the layout of the GameCube controllers buttons than it is with other controllers since each button has a deliberate purpose the GameCube itself gives you four of those controller ports above the two memory card slots which is obviously where you'd find all of your save data and I think it's interesting to note here that the sixth generation was kind of the last hurray for these dedicated memory card formats after this the industry really started moving toward built-in storage which is kind of a shame in my opinion memory cards let you quickly move all your save data to another system and games like Animal Crossing made great use of both memory card slots but on the other hand it's also much easier to lose all of your saved data if you misplace a card the GameCube also has a couple of different video output ports depending on the model you have the original doll 001 model that I have here which I got about 10 years ago includes both the regular analog AV out Port that provides low quality composite video along with stereo audio and the digital AV out Port which lets the GameCube output a super crisp 480p video signal using the very readily available and not horrifically overpriced GameCube component cables more recently adapters have become available to let you use the support to Output a true 480p HDMI signal to a modern TV with a lot of other features as well like line doubling but if you don't want to invest in one of those you also have the option of getting a component or HDMI capture from a weir Wii U running GameCube software which is what I've been doing to get the footage for this video and it seems to work pretty well the bottom of the GameCube also has some expansion ports for adding accessories like the Broadband adapter which allowed for online or land multiplayer in some games as well as the Game Boy Player which lets you play Game Boy Game Boy Color and Game Boy advanced games on your TV v through the GameCube what is interesting as all the hardware was I think it's time to turn on the GameCube and talk about the software side of things if you boot up the GameCube without a disk you'll get the infamous startup sound followed by the so-called main menu I think the gamecube's main menu screen here is such a good example of an intuitive purpose-built user interface design it's easy to navigate you just use the control stick and ARB buttons to turn this Cube around and select different settings now I'll admit it doesn't give you many options to work with either all you can really do is change the screen position or audio mixing set the time and date manage the saves on your memory cards and of course actually play a game but it's such an incredibly refined and nicely designed interface that does what it needs to do really well while I was writing the script I probably spent a solid hour just staring at this Cube again as the light shining on it was diffracted in all these different ways and the anime background sounds slowly rolled on the screen was always kind of unnerving when I was younger but now it almost feels like an escape at least it's definitely a lot more relaxing than the original Xbox's dashboard but enough of that it's time to load up a game and start talking about a few of the things that really made the GameCube such a special system for me personally just to get it out of the way we'll start with Luigi's Mansion which famously sold as the gamecube's debut Mario title much like Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64 but it wasn't actually a Mario game instead you're controlling the historical player 2 character for the first time in a Nintendo game since Mario's missing dropped in 1993. Luigi's Mansion was really kind of a strange game in the grand scheme of things it wasn't this massive open 3D platform or like Super Mario 64 was it was just Luigi's Mansion you're Luigi in a mansion with a vacuum cleaner but with that said it's an experience that really does show off how powerful the GameCube was both in terms of its Graphics capabilities with Sony polished lighting effects along with pretty detailed measures and textures and just how skilled Nintendo's r d teams were I'm making some impressive and immersive experiences with their Hardware this game still holds up incredibly well today and there's a reason it's gotten a couple of other sequels despite being quite a bit different from what fans might have been expecting Luigi's Mansion still did a really good job selling the GameCube at least according to Nintendo within its first week on the market it actually sold more copies than Super Mario 64 managed to sell in its first week it's not the longest game but that means it doesn't overstay it's welcome either Luigi's Mansion is overall a really good experience but if you're hoping for a more traditional entry into the Mario franchise you wouldn't have to wait long Super Mario Sunshine came out for the GameCube in July of 2002 and honestly it still stands out to me as being one of the best looking games on the system Sunshine is just one of those games that feels great to play it really shows off how well-designed GameCube controller was Mario just feels really Snappy in natural control flood made a lot of new interesting game attacks possible and the level design was on point throughout each Zone in the game there's plenty to explore and sunshine almost stands as a shining example if you will of Nintendo's Timeless visual design this game still looks incredible the sound design is amazing the gameplay still holds up extremely well and it took a very different approach from Super Mario 64 in terms of Storytelling and the overall progression throughout each part of the game Sunshine got full English voice acting motion video cutscenes and everything just feels a lot more lively and refined in comparison obviously you can't blame the Nintendo 64 for this there were a lot of technical limitations to contend with at the time but the GameCube allowed for more immersive experiences that gave game designers a chance to really stretch their legs and make some impressive games Super Mario Sunshine really doesn't even feel like that out of a game and I can see why Nintendo decided to relaunch it a couple of years ago in the 3D All-Stars collection if you somehow haven't played it yet do yourself a favor and grab a copy and if you have just play it again because it's honestly that good of a game of course there were plenty of other very well put together Mario games that found a home on the GameCube like for example Mario Kart Double Dash the only problem is I never actually had this game playing it now it's pretty fun but there's not as much Nostalgia attached to it as there is to say Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS for me but since we're talking about racing games now I'll take this opportunity to pull a bait and switch and talk about Kirby air ride Nintendo's answer to the GameCube not having curb your air ride this game actually draws its Origins from the Nintendo 64 with some version of it originally planned to be a launch title for the N64 along with Super Mario 64. but that didn't really pan out and it sat around until someone at Nintendo decided to turn it into a GameCube game in 2003 the game gives you three basic modes the one nobody played the one nobody wants to play and City trial a unique PVP mode that lets you compete with up to four other players to get the best vehicle possible and win a randomly selected challenge City trial mode was for a lot of people the entirety of Kirby I ride this one small map and endlessly looping annoying music were literally the best part of the game it's dead simple to play just turn the control stick around and press the a button to break or boost anybody pick it up and have fun there's a well-balanced set of vehicles to choose from and you never know how the game's gonna end even though the gameplay is still pretty repetitive and it feels out of place being the only Kirby game on the GameCube like what is actually happening and why is Kirby involved it's still a ton of fun to play with other people and I've probably sunk hundreds of hours into this game it's also one of the few GameCube titles to have support for the Broadband adapter but according to the manual and all the other sources that I could find you couldn't actually use this to get more than four players in your game and just let everyone play with their own screen which is a little bit of a letdown still though I could see a sequel on the switch with online multiplayer being a great time if you had a few friends in Discord call join my server by the way link down below and I hope Nintendo considers bringing air ride back in some form in the future the next one I'll mention real quick is Animal Crossing another game that got its started on the Nintendo 64 in 2001 as a Japan exclusive and quickly made its way to the GameCube as well in December of that year being a Nintendo 64 Port the graphics and sound aren't all that impressive but if you've ever played Animal Crossing that was probably the last thing you were worried about passing allows you to experience the joys of moving out starting your own life and becoming a slave to a monopolistic raccoon in a horrifyingly accurate simulation of unregulated free market capitalism upon starting the game you're basically forced to choose a house that you can't afford to live in there by signing yourself up for indentured servitude until the value of your labor which is completely made up on the spot by Tom Nook meets the principal of the loan that he also financed for you in all seriousness though this game marked the beginning of a beloved franchise that continues to be a core part of Nintendo's lineup for pretty much every single one of their consoles it's a great concept that works well on the GameCube and it's clear that both the development and localization teams had a lot of passion for the project so I give it a 10 out of 10. another one that I might as well mention is Mario party which made its debut on the Nintendo 64 and later made its way to the GameCube with the fourth installment of the series I've always had this copy of Mario Party 5 since the early as I can remember and well it's a Mario Party game I tried playing a regular 20 round game the other day so I could talk about my experience in the section of the video but honestly while it was probably pretty fun when I was younger I had to play it alone this time and it was just kind of depressing I had all the mini games and I remembered it was the same maps and everything I just didn't care Super Monkey Ball was another one of those GameCube launch titles that really got fans excited it was the first time we'd seen a Sega game on a Nintendo console and in my opinion it's a pretty solid game being pretty much a direct Port from the arcade version Super Monkey Ball is a very easy game to play all you have to do is tilt the control stick around to tilt the entire level around the player you don't get any control over the camera or anything else it really is just a simple game to pick up and play but some of the stages can be absolutely brutal Super Monkey Ball 2 came out the next year and it was actually designed around the GameCube rather than being an arcade port and I've heard it's a really good game as well so I might end up trying it sometime in the future there is one thing about this game that's been extremely unsettling though and you might have already noticed it if not it looks like this game was pretty heavily sponsored by the Dole fruit company at first glance this doesn't seem to be a problem but it kind of makes sense but it's worth noting that they along with Chiquita bananas were the two major corporations involved in the overthrow of democratically elected leaders and countries like Honduras and Guatemala who were then replaced by fascist dictators loyal to the U.S fruit industry with the backing of the CIA and they used the money made from these violent regimes to make Super Monkey Ball so that's neat and since we're talking about third party titles I think I'll wrap up with what is quite possibly the best GameCube with what is quite possibly the best game of all time SpongeBob SquarePants Battle for Bikini Bottom was originally released in 2003 and this is a good example of one of the many hundreds of render war games that flooded the market in the early 2000s as it was a versatile engine that worked across pretty much every platform imaginable at the time at first glance battle for kingy bottom was just another 3D platformer made with licensed cartoon characters he dig just a bit deeper this game is so much more great level design full voice acting plenty of content memorable bosses and a solid control scheme just make this game work I understand it probably sounds a little ridiculous but if you get any console from the time I think you owe it to yourself to give this one a try it's legitimately a work of art and it garnered enough of a cult following for THQ to come out with the 2019 remaster which you should also buy and play after you complete the original there are plenty of other games that I have that I honestly just don't have time to talk about and unfortunately there are plenty of games that I've also never had growing up I would obviously talk about Super Smash Brothers Melee if I felt like I could but I always had brawl and a massive superiority complex for that matter so I'm better off not talking about my opinions on the internet but I think that just about wraps it up this ended up being the longest video I've ever made but I feel like I needed to make sure I did the GameCube Justice even though it never really caught on during its time on the market it really was a great console let's set the stage for literally the next couple of decades for Nintendo and for me it's just a great system that offered so many amazing experiences so I want to give a thanks to the GameCube for all the great times and more importantly I want to give a big thanks to you for making all the way to the end of the video if you want to talk about anything I mentioned here leave a comment or feel free to join the Discord again link is down below and as always have a good one

Channel: Lowest Logan

Views: 34,889

Keywords: nintendo wii, nintendo switch, nintendo gamecube, nintendo wii u, nintendo 3ds, sony playstation, microsoft xbox, nintendo emulation, nintendo homebrew, wii emulation, gamecube emulation, dolphin emulator, cemu emulator, wii sports, super smash brothers, 6th generation, 2022, 2006

Id: wOyLxP5c7yE

Length: 19min 20sec (1160 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 10 2022