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The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC)
by autumnleaf
Wind Waker marked a new graphical direction for Zelda in that it uses cute cell-shaded visuals to present its characters and worlds. Whilst this choice of cell-shaded graphics for Zelda titles appears to have been a one-off for home consoles, the handheld versions of the game released since this title have seen similar cell-shaded ... visuals.
It isn't worth divulging too much into the storyline here, it unfolds before you, all you need to know is that it is your job to battle lots of baddies in both overground- and dungeon-style sections. One of the first things you will notice about this game is how it plays out with this seemingly child-like wonderment as you guide a young link through a world full of caricatures, adventures, mysteriousness and beauty. The overworld in Wind Waker is broken up into individual islands on a predominantly water-based overworld. Each island having its own theme and feel to it. You navigate between islands using a boat and controlling the wind to blow you in the right direction. Some of the sailing sections can get a little dull at times since they are not particularly involving, and a fetch quest that requires you to scour the ocean for crucial quest items feels like it drags out a little too long and disrupts the pacing of the game somewhat.
This game doesn't quite have the challenge of some other Zelda games, but this doesn't seem to matter too much. There are some really clever sections requiring you to use different commands and items and it makes the gameplay very varied and rewarding.
The feel and controls of the game are very similar to the N64 and Wii zelda titles, but a nice little addition in this game is the ability to use the right stick to look around, preventing the need to 'z target' everytime you want to look forwards. For me, this is right up there with the very best Zelda has to offer and I would recommend this game to anyone that has missed out on it so far, there is a fantastic adventure to be had here.
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Metroid Prime (GC)
by autumnleaf
The first 3D version of Metroid got parts of the gaming world buzzing when it was released on the Gamecube many years ago now. It never perhaps got the exposure it would've done had it have come out on PS2 or XBOX, but this still offers a compelling and involving experience even now.
You play Samus and you very soon get ... stripped of all of your weapons and power-ups (double jump, sling shot etc.). This sets the game up nicely for a progression system, carefully allowing the player to have one power back at a time throughout the course of the game, eventually leading to situations where you will have to be proficient in every power-up in your arsenal to proceed.
The game takes you on a variety of different space-ships and alien planets, each with their own unique appearance and features and each with their own mesmerizing background tune that fits the the environments perfectly (Phendandra Rifts, a notable highlight), the presentation of this game is very slick.
There is also a feature called scanning, which will require you to pull down a visor and then pick up extra clues and information in the scenery, essential for some parts of the quest, but mostly optional for completionists.
The controls are relatively straight-forward, but may be a little frustrating for seasoned first person shooter players, since only the left analogue stick is used for movement. Holding a shoulder button will allow you to Strafe. You can also hold a shoulder button to look around. This seems strange at first, but it makes a good fit for a game that has evolved from 2D and allows the gameplay to have a similar feel to its 2D predecessors.
A highly recommended, fun, big and challenging game that would suit all serious gamers everywhere and highly deserving of GamesTM's first ever 10/10 rating.
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Official GameCube/Game Boy Advance Link Cable (GC)
by Chloboshoka
This is another GameCube accessory that I've owned for quite some time now. As you could tell from the image or the product's name, it is a cable used to connect between the GameCube and gameboy advance. Each side is designed to perfectly fit into the corresponding consoles without falling and being lose. Which means you can connect ... between the games safely without any risk of damaging your game. Because of the way the adapter is designed it will only work on gameboy advance and gameboy advance consoles. It won't work with a gameboy micro on normal circumstances. This later inspired wireless connections between future games from Nintendo.
At the time when I bought this, the cable was easy to find, but I honestly can't remember how much the original recommended retail price was. I can only assume it was around a tenner, because I can't imagine that it was cheap. There are cheaper unofficial versions of the cable that can be bought for as little as 99p and some are selling for £30 so I guess it's safe to say it was between the £15 area. I remember it was bought at gamestation around nine or eight years ago. In my experience, it has always been better to use official products because they tend to work better and be more value for money in the long run.
Your need for the cable greatly depends on what games you have on the GameCube and the Gameboy advance. A lot of the pokemon games that were released during this era will use this cable for transporting pokemon from the gamecube to GBA or the other way around. The Harry Potter and some of the sports games can work as well, but you'll find the list of what games use the cable on Wikipedia and I've pasted the link in the review's summary.
I've used the cable for my pokemon games. From my experience, I've found them very useful. The game will usually tell you when you can connect your gamecube and GBA game together. It always tells me when to connect and the connection rarely fails. It's useful for downloading exclusive items or special games onto your GBA.
This is another GameCube accessory that has never failed me. But if you have the gameboy player adapted on the GameCube, you should be aware that the the cable won't work with multi-player modes and you need to use a GBA link cable or the nintendo universal link cable to do multi-player games between those games on the gameboy player.
It hasn't let me down and I think it's been a good device. I think it was worth the money, however much I paid into it. I'd probably would recommend it, but you need to check if you have the games that would support the games first. Do a bit of research on it because this cable is useless if you don't have games that will support it.
It looks like I'll be having more people round often. A lot of my friends have used my cable because this is so rare and hard to come across now.
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