Oh, I thought this was the Gamelube? OK, this is good too. (Nintendo GameCube)

Member Name: StarSoldier1

Product:	Nintendo GameCube
Date:	21/01/07 (103 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: There are still tons of great games for it.

Disadvantages: Still there is a better variety of games for the rival PS2 and Xbox.

Nintendo finally ditches its long running cartridge format that served them well for over 16 years and goes with a new Mini CD rom based console that was once called Project Dolphin. The less wussy sounding Gamecube already has over 300 games already available like Luigi's Mansion, Resident Evil 4, Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 to 8 plus there are a bunch of cool accessories for it as well. The GC was famous for being cheaper and has a faster speed processor that the highly popular PlayStation2 so there are some cool things to say about the machine but it isn't perfect though and you should be careful before you lay down the cash first.

If you get the Nintendo Gamecube console by itself you get the system, a GC controller, video cables, ac cord, and instructions for a decent 99.99 Canadian or lower (especially in Europe) but you also get no game or memory card (which you need by the way). One of big selling points of the system has to be the four controller ports in front of the machine just like the N64, Xbox, and the original Atari 5200 do. This is so Nintendo can continue its quest for more offline multi-player games (even though the Xbox is still better suited for that sort of thing).

The GC is juiced with a steady 485 megahertz processor that's actually stronger than the rival PS2 300mh processor but weaker than the Xbox's large 700 mh processor (just look at the three versions of Spider Man 2), but unlike the others you won't be able to play any CD's, DVD's, or other non GC games so you can only play Gamecube games only and nothing else. These GC disc games are surprisingly small too, they are only three inches in diameter but they still hold over twice the data of the standard CD Rom (but far less then DVD's).

Although the Gamecube can't quite match the X-box's graphics engine, if the Nintendo Gamecube has any advantage over its competition is that Nintendo has that huge experience under its belt. For anybody who is too young to remember Nintendo has a list of successful game machines like the Nintendo Entertainment System (the NES), the Super Nintendo, and the Nintendo 64. Each of these systems lasted for years and had games that won a lot of critical acclaim. "Nintendo knows games and it shows!"

I have a question for Nintendo though? Why isn't the Nintendo Gamecube compatible with the older Nintendo systems like how the Sony Playstation2 was compatible with the older Playstation, uh? I loved the N64 and the controller and I don't see why I can't use them on the Gamecube? OK, maybe the Nintendo 64 was a distance second to the Playstation but that doesn't mean it was a failure Nintendo. If you get something called the Game Boy Player for the bottom on the system though so you can get over 400 Gameboy Advance games to try out now.

Nintendo had the plans to have some kind of Modem network like the Sega Dreamcast, Xbox, and PS2 had but sadly there are only two games I know of that supports it (Phantasy Star Online I & II and Phantasy Star Online III C.A.R.D.). Nintendo doesn't believe online gaming isn't very profitable so they skipped on the whole thing for this system. Yeah, that was sure a kick in the teeth.

Bottom-line: Although the Gamecube looks unique, it's really not that original to be honest at least in my opinion. First off you have the twin memory cards slots in front of the system just like hundreds of other consoles and the Gamecube controller looks just like the PS2 pad here but now the C Stick sucks worse then an 90 year old grandma. Despite the newer upgrade many of the launch games are mostly sequels from Nintendo 64 games unfortunately (like Rogue Leader RS II and Wave Race Bull S#^t) and compared to line up of the PS2 and Xbox the GC list of games is a lot smaller. This was still Nintendo's first disc based game system so they are still testing the waters so to speak but there is no excuse for the games to take so damn long. The Gamecube is a good safe bet and it's even cheaper than a Xbox and PS2 and you have to like that but the limitions are just too big to agnore so buy with caution.

Game Cube overall rating: 60/100

This review can also be found on:
epinions.com
videogames101.com

-StarSoldier1
Ryan Genno (2007)

Summary: I still like the Cube but where are all the games?