It has so many gems for being so overlooked.
When you look back, the GameCube was the only Nintendo machine that seemed to be living in a strange world. Even though it had a lot of great first-party and exclusive games, it was the least popular system of its time. This isn’t about the Wii U because the GameCube library is better than the Xbox’s as a whole.
It was also the last Nintendo device that didn’t feel like a novelty item but instead played games normally, and its hardware was on par with other consoles of the time. Since the GameCube is so unique, many of its games can only be played on it, with no current ports.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
Eternal Darkness is likely the game that people remember most about the now-defunct Silicon Knights. Eternal Darkness is basically the studio’s take on the Cthulhu Mythos. It’s a great Lovecraftian horror game with a new and useful sanity system. People will remember this game for that, and for good reason: it was done so well.
Being crazy tricks will almost all work, but the best one is when the game “blue screens.” Back then, it seemed real because the GameCube was made with IBM’s Gekko engine. Eternal Darkness is getting a little old, so it really needs to be redone. It had a huge effect on Cthulhu games, though, and the sanity meter concept has been used in a huge number of horror games since then.
Super Mario Sunshine
This version of Mario 3D for the GameCube is really crazy, but still amazing. The controls for Super Mario Sunshine are still some of the smoothest I’ve ever felt in a game. Sunshine’s levels are so different from one another that the game never gets dull. In fact, you look forward to the next one.
It’s fun to explore, and if you played this game as a kid, Delfino Plaza would keep you busy for a long time. Also, the game world is just the right size. Mario Odyssey is a great game, but it’s too big and there are too many moons to seek out. Sunshine, on the other hand, is so much fun that you might play it more than once.
Super Monkey Ball 2
Super Monkey Ball 2 is a much better follow up to the original GameCube launch game. To begin, it’s still very hard, but the new lives system makes it much more fair than the first game. You only had three lives to begin with in the original, which was way too few for how hard it was. You can get 99 lives when you first start Monkey Ball 2.
For the Expert and Master stages, this makes things a lot easier to handle. There’s also a story mode, which is nice, and the party games are still great. Because of this and the fact that it is one of the best handling games ever, it is a must-play for the system.
The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Now that I look back, the fuss over Wind Waker was silly. It was true that people wanted a more mature Zelda game. This was especially true at the time when Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies were so famous. But Wind Waker had the best fighting in the series so far, and it was better than the N64 games.
Even though Ocarina and Majora are a bit out of date now, the sword fights are still really fun. There are still some really good levels and boss fights, and the final Ganondorf boss might be the best in the whole series. Even though Twilight Princess is better than Wind Waker, it won’t count because it came out a month earlier on the Wii.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Both Metaroid Prime 1 and 2 are great games, but Echoes is a little better because it has a dual-world concept. Being able to explore and solve puzzles in two different worlds makes it so that you can almost never go wrong with this type of game.
Some of the best boss fights in the series can be found here. With all the great things that made the first game so great, Metroid Prime 2 is a must-play Metroid game. It’s too bad that only the first Prime game is on Switch. Hopefully, the second and third games will also be remade.
Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing is interesting and fun now as it was then, and it may even be one of the most important games ever made for the GameCube. It was a life model that set the standards for many important parts of the genre in the years to come.
Even things like Nintendo putting out old games started here, since Animal Crossing has 19 NES games that can be unlocked. This isn’t one of those games where the better versions make the first one seem less important. No matter how new the Animal Crossing games are, Animal Crossing 1 still holds up very well in the life simulation genre.
F-Zero GX
A lot of Nintendo fans really want F-Zero to come back, but let’s be honest: F-Zero GX for the GameCube is the best game in the series. It’s so much fun driving around these tracks, and it’s one of the best racing games ever made.
Just like Super Monkey Ball, this game is very hard. In fact, it was made by the same people who worked on that game, so F-Zero GX is actually a Nintendo product that was made by Sega. When I saw that, it was crazy, but now I see how amazing it turned out.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is the best Mario RPG ever made. It’s very good in many ways. The battle system is one of the best in any RPG, and anyone can use it, even if they’re not good at fighting or even just like the genre. Great writing, funny parts, and interesting personalities make Geometry Dash World even more fun to play.
Mario’s story is very varied, fun to remember, and moves along very smoothly. The only real problem with the game is that there isn’t much material after the game is over. Thank goodness Thousand-Year Door is being remade for Switch. Now is a great time to play one of Mario’s best journeys ever.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
When people talk about the best fighting game of all time, these three names come up most of the time. These games are Super Smash Bros Melee, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. Melee is one of the best follow-ups ever, and it’s likely the longest-running fighting game that is still played professionally.
It really turned a plain N64 party game into one that could be played competitively at high levels and still be a lot of fun. Not to mention the good controls—this is the main reason why GameCube controllers can still be used with any other Nintendo home system.
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4 is a true work of art, and it may be the most important and significant game of the 2000s. You already know that third-person games would not exist without RE4. The over-the-shoulder camera and many other familiar features of the genre were first used in this game. For example, you could stun an enemy with a headshot and then attack again.
You should still play the original GameCube version even though the graphics aren’t as clean as they are in the HD ports. Since you can’t move and shoot at the same time, playing the original RE4 is still fun because the fighting is based on spacing. Also, blowing off heads gets old every time.
