Why the Gamecube was sort of terrible - Off-Topic

Posted by Decoy Elite (28581 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

I love Paper Mario 2, I love Luigi's mansion. The Gamecube was still sort of terrible.

Graphics: Don't even get me started, can you honestly think of a non-Nintendo game where the graphics were really used to their fullest? Heck some ports somehow found a way to look worse on this system(Sonic Adventure DX) It's just shameful that when you're graphics are your big selling point and you still have PS2 games that blow you out of the water.

Games: There just weren't enough games on the Gamecube plain and simple. It had the same problem as the original Xbox, it just didn't have the 3rd party support of the PS2 or past Nintendo consoles, this was where Nintendo started to go downhill in that regard and it really shows. I mean there's barely any really great 3rd party titles to be found.

Memory: It didn't come with a memory card and none of the games used passwords, what a bunch of s***.

The cases were terrible: Try getting out a Gamecube game out of it's case and have fun hoping you don't snap the tiny little thing in half.

In summary, I love the Gamecube, but it was sort of terrible.

#1 Posted by Big_Nasty (320 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

I had a gamecube, you can drop that of a cliff and it will still play your games.

#2 Posted by Decoy Elite (28581 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

@Big_Nasty said:

I had a gamecube, you can drop that of a cliff and it will still play your games.

The durability was nice.

#3 Posted by Captain_Yesterday (807 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

Luigi's Mansion was awesome! But yea, the Gamecube didn't have much going for it. In fact that's about the only game I can really remember playing on it.

#4 Posted by Uncanny_Doom (282 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

The Gamecube was more powerful than the PS2 and not far behind the Xbox. I don't feel the graphics complaint is really legitimate. Stuff like The Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, the Metroid Prime games, Resident Evil 4 (which was downgraded for it's PS2 port), and Viewtiful Joe look as good or better than the best looking PS2 games. But the Xbox had the best games visually anyway.

It did lack 3rd party games (mostly due to the disc format limiting space for direct ports) but the first party Gamecube selection was honestly the best of all the consoles that generation. I don't remember anything about memory with that generation of consoles other than the Xbox having an awesome hard drive and the other systems having memory cards. The PS2 may have come with a memory card but damn did the thing lack space. I always had to buy new PS2 memory cards but I stuck with the same Gamecube card for it's entire lifespan.

#5 Posted by BiteMe-Fanboy (6513 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

It had a select few games.

#6 Posted by god_spawn (30404 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

Tales of Symphonia. Your opinion is irrelevant.

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#7 Posted by Edamame (26166 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

I agree. Also, those are some interesting points.

I didn't even like Super Smash Bros. Melee, for some reason.

#8 Posted by joeagentofhand1 (3273 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

Can't you say the same for the Wii though?

#9 Posted by Decoy Elite (28581 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

@joeagentofhand1 said:

Can't you say the same for the Wii though?

Nah, I'd say the Wii is just plain outright terrible overall.

#10 Posted by KINGJAMES447 (1190 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

@god_spawn said:

Tales of Symphonia. Your opinion is irrelevant.

this and metroid prime

#11 Posted by VercingetorixTheGreat (2480 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

I haven't liked a Nintendo Home Console since the N64

#12 Posted by Decoy Elite (28581 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

@VercingetorixTheGreat said:

I haven't liked a Nintendo Home Console since the N64

I liked the Gamecube, I just accept that it was sort of terrible in a way.

#13 Posted by Xanni15 (5923 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

Nintendo has never really been about the greatest graphics, that's more Sony and Microsoft that like to trump each other. Nintendo? They just sell the most units.

#14 Posted by VercingetorixTheGreat (2480 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

@Decoy Elite: I enjoyed it but it really wasn't that good.

#15 Posted by JediXMan (22919 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

Melee? Prime? Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door? Mario Sunshine?

There were some great games on the Game Cube. In fact, I recently played some GC games with friends (had to play on my Wii, though; GC isn't working well).

I loved my PS2, but I think I preferred the games for the GC, despite the fact that the PS2 had better graphics.

Wii kinda sucks, though; as I just said, I used it to play GC games.

#16 Posted by Vance Astro (88648 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

Gamecube>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Wii.

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#17 Posted by Decoy Elite (28581 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

@Vance Astro said:

Gamecube>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Wii.

If I made a blog post about the Wii it would be titled "Why the Wii is absolutely terrible". I've honestly grown to hate the console.

#18 Posted by Vance Astro (88648 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

@Decoy Elite said:

@Vance Astro said:
Gamecube>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Wii.
If I made a blog post about the Wii it would be titled "Why the Wii is absolutely terrible". I've honestly grown to hate the console.

Gamecube is one of my favorite consoles. It was my first console of that generation. Of course I liked PS2 more because it was easy to mod myself and had tons more games but Gamecube was pretty good.

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#19 Posted by 7am_Waking_Up_In_The_Morning (3575 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

The Gamecube was AWESOME!!!

Some people haven't been playing much of it's games. I would not be surprised though since Nintendo relies on its 1st party developers. However, there are some 3rd party games that were exclusive for the Gamecube that made the Gamecube a really great system. The controls were innovated and fitted the best in my opinion.

#20 Posted by 7am_Waking_Up_In_The_Morning (3575 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

All of the flaws of the 2000 generation consoles: AKA 128-bit era

Gamecube:

3rd Party developers. The 3rd party were actually they're weakest point. Although they had great 3rd party exclusives like Resident Evil Zero, Resident Evil: Remake, Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil 4, and some others, they still didn't have a large library of 3rd party titles.
3 MB of dedicated Video RAM. The Gamcube's RAM technology being only 3megs was more efficient (faster at what it does: distributes data as it writes) than the PS2, but less efficient than X-Box's shared 64-megs of RAM.
No online play

PlayStation 2:

PS2's most messed up con is it's 4 MB of dedicated video RAM. The 128-bit Emotion Engine was extremely powerful and even more powerful than X-Box's CPU & GPU, but Sony really messed up with the machine's potential by only giving the Graphics Synthesizer just 4 Megs of dedicated RAM for the graphics. This forced developers to stream texture data from the systems 32MB RAMBUS Main memory, and it bottle necked the games performance when not done correctly. The 4 Megs are the number 1 reason why X-Box games looked slightly if not, alot more better than PS2 games.... However, developers like Konami, Square, SCEA, Naughty Dog, Koei, and Capcom were known to use the PS2 out of it's most potential without bottle necking the system. For example: Final Fantasy X looked better than some of X-Box's games.
The PS2's second con, was the idea of Sony creating add-on peripherals to milk the sales. For example: PS2 doesn't have a HDD, you have to buy it separately; PS2 didn't have 4-player slots; you have to buy an adapter separately.
Online capabilities: At 1st, PSN was limited.... Back in the 1st 3 versions of PS2, you have to buy an modem adapter separately.

X-Box:

Microsoft's 3rd party developers where not as strong as Sony's.
Controller were too bulky (they fixed the hamburger control sometime later) for those that don't remember: It looked like this:
Over heating problems. The X-Box's Pentium 3 was working so hard distributing data around that the system overheated easily
The fan of too loud!
You have to pay to play online --- Back then....

Dreamcast:

Dreamcast was a great system with many great games..... Only one major problem... Piracy!!!!
You can easily burn Dreamcast disc into blank CD-R disc
You can play the disc you've burned on PS2......

#21 Posted by ARMIV2 (4751 posts) - 2 months, 25 days ago - Show Bio

I loved my Gamecube. Shoot, the only reason I stopped playing it was on account of that stupid memory card constantly erasing everything. Something about Madcats gear and me...I must keep picking up their crap products...

#22 Posted by YourNeighborhoodComicGeek (13821 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

I never play my GameCube because I'm afraid I'll get far in a good game, then get all its memory deleted. I use emulators :P

#23 Posted by Gambit1024 (9878 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

Melee. That alone makes the GameCube a titan for me. I loved that system, and Nintendo home consoles have never been as good since.

#24 Edited by FalconPuuunch (939 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

Super Smash Bros: melee. and Def Jam: Fight for NY was all you needed to make the Gamecube relevant. The wii sucks.

#25 Edited by Blood1991 (8098 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

@god_spawn said:

Tales of Symphonia. Your opinion is irrelevant.

This.

And Paper Mario 2, Mario Sunshine, Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Legend of Zelda Wind Waker, and Pikmin.

I get Nintendo for quirky games not for hardcore stuff, That is what my Playstation is for.

#26 Posted by YoungJustice (5668 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

Die Hard Vendetta>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Your Favorite New Gen Game

#27 Posted by Nefarious (16243 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

It was not so bad.

#28 Posted by texasdeathmatch (12564 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

Gamecube is great. If you wanna complain about a Nintendo system, let's talk about how shitty the 64 was in retrospect.

#29 Posted by Xanni15 (5923 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

@texasdeathmatch said:

Gamecube is great. If you wanna complain about a Nintendo system, let's talk about how shitty the 64 was in retrospect.

Let's. N64 is top 5 all time. Mario 64 was seriously legit. Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie were both awesome, Perfect Dark brought it big time especially in the multi-player, Goldeneye is one of the GOAT, Turok, Mario Kart 64, etc. Tons of great games, but sure it wasn't built for power.

#30 Posted by texasdeathmatch (12564 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

@Xanni15 said:

@texasdeathmatch said:
Gamecube is great. If you wanna complain about a Nintendo system, let's talk about how shitty the 64 was in retrospect.
Let's. N64 is top 5 all time. Mario 64 was seriously legit. Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie were both awesome, Perfect Dark brought it big time especially in the multi-player, Goldeneye is one of the GOAT, Turok, Mario Kart 64, etc. Tons of great games, but sure it wasn't built for power.

Hah, I agree, those were all great games (you left out Smash Bros and Mario Party!).

But that's about it. Of those 6 or 7 games you called out, there were HUNDREDS of awful titles. Many of which I foolishly purchased, since it was better to judge a game by its cover instead of following magazine reviews in those days. Did you ever try Starcraft on it? Or maybe Hybrid Theory? Or Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero? I understand every system has terrible games that come along with it, I just remember there being a significant amount of atrocious releases from long gone studios that just kept pumping out these games before going bankrupt or were bought out. And I remember buying lots of them, haha.

And that controller. That controller:

Who has three hands???

Did anyone actually use the D-Pad option other than for awful FPS titles that forced you to move with the D-Pad and look with the joystick? Though, I will admit, when the Rumble Pack came out, it f*ckin blew my mind as a 10 year old.

But in retrospect, I wish I grew up as a Playstation kid.

#31 Posted by Xanni15 (5923 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

@texasdeathmatch: Very true, I'm really blinded by those games, cause like you said they were really top notch. And I forgot Star Fox too!

I only tried Sub Zero Mythology of those you listed, it wasn't terrible, but I rented it from Blockbuster (lol) because I saw a promo video for it. I used to get Nintendo Power Magazine, one time they sent me a video showing off the Rumble Pack and it was the coolest thing ever.

Yeah, the controller did suck, but like you I mainly stuck to the joystick. lol

Oh, no. I've never enjoyed the Playstation personally, just wasn't nearly as user friendly as a kid, plus Nintendo had Mario. :D Of course, it's changed recently, the WIi's not as great and neither are the games, so X-Box and PS3 it is. :(

#32 Posted by texasdeathmatch (12564 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

@Xanni15: haha wow, I totally remember that VHS with the Rumble Pack intro. In fact...I just found it on youtube:

A-Mazing. Look how evil Sony and Sega are! I wish ads could go back to blatantly bashing other competitors.

I'm glad someone else agrees with me about the controller. I remember hating games that tried to implement the D-Pad.

I digress and agree, since Playstation wasn't "kid-friendly" , I steered more towards Nintendo products. I mean don't get me wrong, I love Nintendo because SNES is easily the GREATEST system ever, only because it produced Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG. But yeah, its a shame that Nintendo is on its last limbs these days (the WiiU had less sales than the X360 this past holiday season). Lot of classic memories, but I think that generation of gaming (Zelda, Mario, etc) is coming to an end.

#33 Posted by Xanni15 (5923 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

@texasdeathmatch:

Oh, my. That brings back sooooooo many memories. LOL

It was pretty bad, and I recently tried to play it again and found that having bigger hands makes it even more uncomfortable, and squishes your fingers. :\

I do agree regarding SNES, Super Mario Kart is my favorite game ever. And I also agree with you about Nintendo, they've found their niche and they're content with just selling to a certain audience. It's sad cause those franchises still have so much potential.

#34 Posted by jeanlucpicard (1820 posts) - 2 months, 24 days ago - Show Bio

Gamecube had supersmash bros. melee, one of the best games ever. had wind waker, also really fun.@god_spawn said:

Tales of Symphonia. Your opinion is irrelevant.

Also this ^