Do I Like The GameCube?

Until very recently, I never really cared that much for the GameCube. Not just the GameCube; I kind of find that entire generation of consoles kind of boring. I feel like that is where a lot of the bad stuff of modern gaming really came around. By this I mean things like the over-abundance of first and third person shooters and just way too many big releases being M-rated. Honestly, take a step back and ask yourself if having what seems like a quite large majority of major new releases being M-rated is a problem or not. I believe it is. Not just that, but like I said, it feels like now days, for example, if someone is going to "learn how to make a game", the first thing that the teacher might say is "Ok, these are the kind of guns to implement, and here is a post-apocalyptic setting". Now obviously not every new major release would classify as an M-rated first or third person shooter, but I honestly feel like there is an infestation of them. If it is not clear, I obviously like Nintendo, and they do not really follow that trend, and yes, companies do put out other games, but maybe think about what I said. Now, lets get back to the 6th generation of home consoles, and eventually back to the GameCube. Like I said, this is where I believe the worst part of modern gaming really blew up, and unfortunately, my view of the GameCube is that it was a home to some of these games. Obviously, the PS2 had loads of these games, and it looks like the XBox did too (however, there were TONS of games for that system, so there are obviously TONS of non-M-rated first/third person shooters). The Dreamcast is a system I would like to get to know better, but unfortunately, right now, I do not know much about its library (I literally own 3.5 games, with that 1/2 game being a sealed copy of the Web Browser). However, from what I see, it felt like a SEGA console, so I believe it was at least unique. Now, we finally get to the GameCube. My opinion is still not 100% positive (or at least as positive as the SNES, MegaDrive/Genesis, DS, etc.), but lately, it is improving (and yes, it is bandwagon on me with GameCube being the craze recently). Right now, I own 9 games on the system. 3 of those I have had for a long time (They are the LOTR games, which I used to play with a friend CONSTANTLY on the Wii, but single-player because I only owned one GameCube controller), and the rest are relatively recent. I bought Wind Waker in the summer of 2019 because I saw it complete somewhere for $15 (they also had Twilight Princess on the GameCube for $15 as well, and I did not get it, and now I am mad because I did not realize how much it was worth, and I said I did not want to get it because I have the Wii version), and in August I bought Custom Robo. Now, if you saw the Smash page, then you know that I REALLY like Custom Robo. Anyway, after that, I bought Animal Crossing in September of 2020. If you saw the Animal Crossing page, then you know that I was starting to like it. I still do; my like for it has only increased. After that, I found a copy of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat complete (with a loose Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii in the same case for some reason; I sold it and bought a Wii Zapper with that money) at a thrift store about 1 week ago (as of 3-22-2021). It did not have the bongos, but I bought them on eBay. They ended up being much cheaper in price than I thought they would be. Anyway, after that, I bought Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour last Tuesday (so 3-16-2021), and this game made me go through SOOOO MUCH TROUBLE with the laser. Anyway, I ended up buying a whole new laser assembly (it is being shipped by DHL from Japan and I estimate that it will be here tomorrow; so 3-23-2021), but a few days ago I ended up getting the replacement laser to actually work (I had to adjust the potentiometer to about 100Ω; which for a DOL-001 like I have is WAYYYYYYY TOOOO LOW, but anyway it works, and the second I get the replacement, I will put it in, but I will save this assembly as a backup), so I am playing GameCube games again. But during all of that, on Saturday (3-20-2021) I broke a personal record. I spent the most I ever spent on one game: $80 for a complete (minus the precautions booklet, but I took that from Two Towers) copy of Four Swords Adventures. Yes, that was a bit more than it should have been, but I saw it and really wanted it, so I got it. Let me tell you, so far, this is a really, really good Zelda game. I don't hear as many people talking about it, which is kind of sad. But anyway, that is where we are at now. I will probably end up just getting an American copy of Double Dash and Sunshine, but after that, I will have all of the games that I know I want (Melee is not in there; I refuse to pay $80 for what is apparently the best selling GameCube game; and is also a fighting game when I really don't care that much for fighting games). From there, if I see something interesting in a game store and it is complete and it is priced reasonably, maybe I will get it.

So we finally got to whether I like the GameCube or not. The answer is: Originally not that much, but my opinion is definitely improving. I always liked Custom Robo since the second I first played it, but I think me liking Animal Crossing along with Four Swords Adventures is really helping me there. I mentioned that I have some LOTR games (specifically The Two Towers, Return of the King, and The Third Age). I have had these for almost ten years if not more. I have nostalgia for these games, but I don't think they do anything to affect my opinion of the GameCube either in a positive or negative way. So, for now, I am putting those games aside. This leaves Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Wind Waker, and Toadstool Tour. DK is quite interesting. It certainly does not affect my opinion of the system negatively, but I don't think that the positive effect is massive. I do like it, but it is different. Now we have Wind Waker. I think I have said somewhere else on this site that I really don't like Wind Waker. Specifically, I don't care for the gameplay and the pacing. I constantly feel rushed (I mean the King of Red Lions always seemed to say, "I will explain ~~~~ later, but we must hurry to [Insert Dungeon Name Here]! We are running out of time! Hurry!" I mean dang, I just wanted to sail around; and yes, I can do that, but I don't know. Now, I do really like the music in Wind Waker, and I don't think that the art style is bad. I especially like Link's facial expressions throughout what I have played. Those really add to the game. But I don't know, I think the constant telling me to hurry just kind of made me not like it that much. To be fair, I was expecting something a bit different from this game, even when I pretty much knew I was not going to get it, so... Now we are at Toadstool Tour. This is a fun game. I really like the introduction cutscene. So much work was put into making it, and it shows. It really is good stuff. I also like the song that plays on the title screen. The graphics are good, and it looks like there is a TON of stuff in this game. The only issue is my specific disk. I think (again, think) that there is some sort of damage to the disk (I mean scratches) that cause a (what turned out to be) quite overpowered laser to cause the opening cutscene to crash, even when other games with cutscenes never have a single issue with being played. But again, this is specifically my disk. I plan on getting it polished soon, so hopefully this will take care of that issue.

I think another thing that improves my opinion of the GameCube is probably the WaveBird. I saw this once at a store where it was a bit underpriced, so I bought it (I got the price even lower since I have a membership with the store). It is the platinum colored one, not the grey one, which apparently makes it seem like it was even MORE underpriced. But anyway, I don't actually mind having wired controllers, but I will admit that the WaveBird is nice. The only thing I wish it had was rumble, but it makes sense why it is not there. Actually, the GameCube controller's feel is quite good. I have always considered it probably the best controller to hold (the button arrangement we can debate), so maybe this is increasing my opinion of the GameCube.

One thing I do want to complain about is the pathetic memory size of the (at least official) memory cards. I own two, and obviously one of them is specifically for Animal Crossing. The other one, however, is almost completely full, and there is only like 6 or 7 saves on there. The PS1's memory card size is also pathetic, but that was a previous generation console's memory card. Or maybe the memory size is decent, but the game programmers were not efficient in making their save files. Maybe they are bloated; I don't know. The end result is that it is kind of a problem, but whatever.

Return to Games (ゲームのページに帰る）

Return to the Home (ホームページに帰る）

Should I do a whole page in Japanese somewhere on this website?

By the way, I don't like Tingle.