Spotlight: GameCube and my Gaming Adolescence

GameCube: My Gaming Adolescence

A NOSTALGIC ADVENTURE BY PETER FRANKO

Before I start an article about nostalgia, the "good 'ol days", and the games of my childhood, I feel it necessary to get some things off my chest. No, I am not 20+ years of age, nor am I part of the high council of gaming connoisseurs. I did not grow up with the iconic games of the 90's, and I have not played Golden Axe or Doom. I am merely a 16 year old kid with a knack for gaming. However, any gamer loves and cherishes the games they grew up with, and for me those consist of the lovely games that the Nintendo GameCube had to offer.

But bear in mind that I did not start my gaming career wielding the purple, black, silver or even orange controllers of this cubic console. Not at all. It started with the Humongous Entertainment classics. Pajama Sam, Freddie Fish, Putt-Putt, Spy Fox, these are the gems that I truly associate with my early childhood. As I got older, I moved into RTS and FPS games like Age of Empires, Rise of Nations, and Star Wars: Battlefront II to name a few. In this list, I am focusing on the games of the GameCube, solely because when I played these games I was actually more or less coherent.

I sold the GameCube and all my cherished games roughly 4 years ago in exchange for my Xbox 360. It was a great sacrifice, and I suffered the repercussions. Most of these games I have not played in quite a lengthy time, so this will be written from my not so vivid memories.

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10. SSX: Tricky

In this time period I was far from a good video gamer, if anything I was actually pretty bad. To me, this was one of the hardest games in existence. And looking back on going to dinner parties, and immediately bolting downstairs to claim sticks on a game of SSX Tricky certainty makes it a worthy contender on this list. My vague memories are.... vague, but all of the ones I can conjure of this game were delightful. All I can remember was a fucking awesome nighttime course called "Pipe Dream", a bunch of douchey snowboarder characters, and the infamously insane "Über Moves". And though I never actually owned the game, it still has a special place in my heart.

9. StarFox Assault

Ahhh yes, StarFox. This game I never actually owned either, but there were extensive hours of SF Assault bingeing had at my friend's house. We mainly played the multiplayer segment of the game, and needless to say it was one of the greatest on the entire GameCube system. Played in third person, Assault consisted of four players collecting tons of weapons, driving big bad vehicles, engaging in frantic space battles, and ultimately wrecking shop. And as any player of Assault knows, violence is bad. That's why upon the death of a player, their body was fully covered up by a blaring "GOTCHA" ensuring no signs of violence were shown whatsoever. Which is odd, because as I recall the game still received a T rating. It was also one of my introductory games to the shooter genre, along with Halo 2 and Metroid Prime.

8. Sonic Adventure 2: Battle

My relationship with Sonic A2B was a weird one. Some levels of the game I remember as a nightmare. Being trapped in some ancient tomb while being forced to listen to some punky upbeat song about Sonic and his friends was less than favorable to say the least. And that's basically all I remember from it. Shitty music, shitty level design, and sumo wrestling with Chaos. But though the memories are grim, I surprisingly do remember having my fair share of good times with this game as well. I just wish I could remember them.

7. Mario Kart: Double Dash

For most of the iconic Nintendo titles on this list, little needs to be said. Mainly because they were staples; if you had a GameCube, you most definitely had these games. Mario KDD I have played recently, and it still remains incredibly fun. Also I will never forget that fateful afternoon where I beat All Cup Tour on Mirror Mode with my brother. Good stuff.

6. NHL Hitz: 2002

Midway's Hitz, Blitz, Hoopz, series were some of the only sports games I have ever been willing to play. NHL Hitz 2002 was the standout of the crowd for me. The actual gameplay mechanics (as I remember) were superb. The satisfying slap-shots, the hand to hand brawls after almost every play, and the ridiculous ways you could modify your game. Throughout the course of the single player you would earn cash, which you could put towards real famous players to boost your team, and a multitude of absolutely ridiculous shit. You could make your team always be on fire, have gorilla heads, or even play on a pirate ship or in space. This game was fucking madness, and that is why everyone loved it.

5. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

This game was incredible if you had two people. The ability to play as your favorite Lord of the Rings characters in your favorite scenes, committing mass Orc murder was sheer nirvana. The game also had an awesome level up system in which you upgraded individual characters as well as the squad by buying new moves. But the game did have one fatal flaw, and that was the incredibly awkward camera system. Also everyone knew Legolas was OP.

4. SSX: On Tour

SSX: On Tour was the arcade junkie brother of SSX Tricky. It made the game more gnarly, had better music, more insane tricks, a spunky and unique style, and layers and layers of character customization. The game kept you playing for extensive periods of time, reason being, it was unbelievably addicting. You were always trying to one up your friend/brother by completing more ridiculous challenges, getting higher scores, or just trying to unlock a goddamn robot head for your character. Plus, you had to love those "board behind the back quintuple back-flips". I have fond memories of this game and the endless hours spent on these virtual slopes. I cherish every second of it.

3. Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime could easily be the best game I played on GameCube. It was in so many ways, just simply fantastic. It had amazing lore that was explained from scanning objects as well as an awesome form of exploration that the Metroid series is known for. It had incredible enemies, level design, bosses, weapons. Ooooh, the list goes on and on. Thinking back to my younger self playing this game just gives me goosebumps. It was also the first game I played that was awe inspiring. And even to this day, it remains one of my favorite games ever.

2. James Bond 007: NightFire

Nightfire to me was the defining multiplayer shooter for the GameCube. Building largely off of what was successful from Goldeneye, Nightfire's stealthy campaign and gadget filled multiplayer proved to be an abundance of good times. But the defining feature of the game was the ridiculous gadgets. The ability to grapple using your cellphone to the top of a building, drive mini tanks and helicopters to dominate your opponents or to fire guided/remote rockets are what made this game for me. Also you could play four player split screen with the addition of CPU bots, which at the time was like magic. Oh yeah, and no Odjob. His one hit KO hat was pure murder.

1. Super Smash Bros. Melee

While this may be a slightly cliche choice, I just had to do it. The game's legacy pretty much speaks for itself. And it was easily the best local multiplayer experience I have ever had. My best character was Dr. Mario, I beat every mode, unlocked every trophy and character, could beat level 10 Links, and realistically clocked like 15 days within the game's golden walls. I never did play SSB Brawl, but I know there is no way it could even hope to top Melee. I don't feel the need to elaborate on this game, because it was a staple of console gaming for a time frame of roughly four or five years, and realistically, still is. If I am at a friends house and they have a GameCube, my first words will most likely be: "do you have Melee?" This was the greatest game on the GameCube, and I'm sure on this we can all agree. But in all the time I played this game, I never heard about the "Black Hole" glitch until a year ago. What's up with that?