Gamecube Top Five: An Alternative List

I’m going to be honest – you lot took me completely by surprise last week. The comments for this little top five list ballooned to almost 100; it seems we have some closet Nintendo fans at TSA.  However – the N64 was easy wasn’t it?  Even without the big hitters it was still full to bursting with quality titles.  It’s time for something more challenging…how about the Nintendo Gamecube?

When I last talked about the Gamecube I described it as one of my least favourite periods of Nintendo gaming – and a top five list without mentioning Zelda, Mario or even Samus is infinitely harder than I thought.  The Gamecube was always seen as the ‘loser’ of that particular console generation – but this is always something I’ve disagreed with.  Microsoft and Sony were losing money hand over fist with the Xbox and PS2, yet Nintendo always made a profit – if that’s losing, then count me in.

Anyway I digress, let’s get back to this list shall we?

Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg

The premise behind this game is absolutely mental.  ‘Morning Land’ has been overcome with evil crows, and is under the control of ‘Dark Raven’.  You play as Billy, a boy in a rooster suit, and it’s your job to save the six chicken elders.  No I’m not drunk, this is the real story!  Saving the elders is all about using eggs – find a colour-coded egg and you can use them to your advantage by rolling  them across the level and squashing enemies, and riding on them across normally impassable chasms and the like.

Running over fruit while holding an egg will cause it to expand until it flashes and is ready to hatch.  Inside each egg is a helper animal which will grant power ups and extra lives – even Sonic and NiGHTS made an appearance!  Care is needed though, as each egg can only take so much abuse before it breaks – meaning a trip back to the egg spawn point.  It all sounds crazy but it was good fun, and got particularly difficult in places.  Check it out – although you may want to mute the commentary (Video source: HiLeonardo).

Star Fox Adventures

Released in 2002, Star Fox Adventures received a fair bit of stick from fans of the franchise.  The problem was the fact that instead of swooping through lush environments, or engaging in fierce battles in space, Fox was plonked into a Zelda like action RPG that took everyone by surprise.  The game takes place on the planet Sauria eight years after Lylat Wars.  Fox is plunged into an adventure as he tries to defeat General Scales who has stolen the EarthWalker Tribe’s Spell Stones.  Of course there is also Krystal – the damsel in distress.

The game also featured Tricky – a little dinosaur who essentially acts like the dog from Fable II, helping you out and uncovering things. It’s a shame this game didn’t get the recognition it deserved.  Whilst not as good as Zelda, there was a compelling, fantastic looking adventure to plough through.

Ikaruga

I wanted this game so badly back in the day that I bought a Freeloader disc and an import copy.  Am I crazy?  Absolutely not as Ikaruga is one of the finest examples of the shoot’em up genre.  Ikaruga’s gameplay revolves around polarity. Only bullets of an opposite polarity can kill you – whereas same-colour bullets can be absorbed and converted into energy for a special attack.

The downside?   Whilst an enemy with the same polarity as you can’t kill you, it takes twice as long to kill them than if you switched to the opposite polarity.  It almost turns into a puzzle game as you switch from black to white in order to scythe your way through a level.  The game also has a chain system, which kicks in when three or more enemies of the same polarity are killed in a row.

Essential stuff – and watching the video below brings back lots of great (and rage filled) memories!  (Video source: metroidrage)

SSX Tricky

In my opinion this is EA Sport’s finest hour – a trick based snowboarding game which is so over the top it’s unreal.  Performing stunts and knocking over rival racers built up your stunt gauge, and when that was full you could unleash an ‘Uber’ trick – which usually involved the rider being contorted into various positions before spinning round several times.

Landing them was..ahem…’Tricky’…but if you managed it the points you could rack up were off the scale.  Pull off six Uber moves and you were granted unlimited boost for the rest of the race.  The game also introduced the rival system, where the computer would treat you differently depending on if it liked you – friends would go easy on you whilst enemies would go out of their way to take you down.

P.N.03

Short for ‘Project Number 3’, P.N.03 is an on-rails third person shooter that is the definition of box office flop – which is a real pity. Players take control of Vanessa Z. Schneider, who has been hired by ‘The Client’ to take out a bunch of rogue robots via use of various ‘Aegis suits ‘ – super powered suits that shoot fiery lasers of death. Players cannot attack whilst moving, and must rely on various evasive flips and spins, plus clever use of cover.

Music and audio also play a part, and if you listen carefully you can begin to predict when enemies are about to attack.  Your suit can be upgraded throughout the game, and there are various new suits to acquire – each with a specific special attack.  P.N.03 is a real old school type of game – relying on set patterns and combo chains, and unfortunately this didn’t go down well with many people.  In my opinion it’s a must play if you see it going cheap.  (Video source: Kaiwii)

So once again we have come to the end of my list.  As with before feel free to agree, disagree, shout, scream and generally run around like crazy people.  What’s your Gamecube top five?