It's a Nintendo game, so movements feel fun and sticky, but the meta-game is the real star. Essentially a small-scale strategy game where you use an army of tiny "Pikmin" to lift objects and solve puzzles, Pikmin stretches its high concept to the absolute limits.
The original and best, Pikmin makes the most of its delicately simple ruleset. Sometimes I think we forget how perfectly designed Pikmin was. It was the kind of game to make you reconsider what makes a good video game and I'm always happy for surprises like that. The closest thing Animal Crossing had to a main quest was upgrading your home and paying off your loans, but even that was optional, with no interest or due dates attached to the upgrades. Want to go fishing? Plant fruit trees? Make a tiny garden? Turn your basement into a cement nightmare filled with the discordant music of a dozen gyroids? Sure, go for it. I was no stranger to hanging out in quaint virtual towns, thanks to all the hours I spent in Harvest Moon 64, but I had never played a game that was as laid-back as Animal Crossing. It just dropped players into a lazy little town filled with talking animals and said, "Do what you want." No platforming, no shooting, just some good old-fashioned small-town life. Melee is still insanely fun to play today - if you can find a GameCube controller.Īnimal Crossing feels almost ubiquitous after the release of New Horizons in 2020, so it's easy to forget how quirky the original GameCube version felt. The original N64 title was a lot of fun, but Melee solidified it into a legitimate fighting franchise, a game still played competitively around the world today. It took the original's formula and sharpened it, making it deeper and more balanced. It did a lot for the GameCube, but did even more for the Smash Bros. Melee came just months into the GameCube's lifecycle. Luigi's Mansion was the big launch title, but Super Smash Bros. Melee was the first game many people played on the GameCube. It was one of the system's last exclusives and also one of its best. Now that the game has been ported to almost every console known to man, it's easy to forget that it was originally GameCube-only. I didn't want to see what was around each corner, but I had to do it anyway. But the game was so good I just couldn't. I was scared and terrified throughout most of Resident Evil 4, and often wanted to quit. This proved irresistible for me, despite the deep fear I had of anything horror. It was released just 11 days into the year, yet was named Game of the Year by many publications 11 months later. At a time when everyone had pretty much written the GameCube off as past its prime, Resident Evil 4 launched to widespread critical acclaim in 2005. I scare easily and am totally bereft of courage, it's a problem.ĭespite all of this adversity, I played and loved Resident Evil 4. The reason? I was a huge wuss - and still am. I'd never played a Resident Evil game before Resident Evil 4. and the cute little cartoon clouds explosions make.Īctually a lot of things make Wind Waker unforgettable. But it's the cast of characters that truly makes Wind Waker unforgettable. The ocean provides a glorious backdrop to Link's adventures, both in terms of visuals and how it feels to explore. Roundly criticised pre-release for its stylised "cartoon" visuals, Wind Waker reviewed well once people eventually got their hands on it, but unlike other Zelda games like Twilight Princess (and even Ocarina of Time to an extent) Wind Waker has aged spectacularly. Almost 19 years later, everything else is still playing catch-up. Back in 2002 Metroid Prime felt like it came from the future. Like it was dropped down to Earth by accident from another dimension where video games are different, better. It has no imitators because it's inimitable. There was majesty hidden in every corner. You could scan the environment for lore and details, you could spider-ball your way up previously inaccessible walls and ceilings. Dripping with details and unique, sticky ways to explore those details, Metroid Prime is peerless in the way it allowed you to discover its intricate spaces. Metroid Prime's strength was its world building. But it was set in a universe as intricately designed as a Zelda dungeon writ-large. A first person shooter? Sure, you shoot things in a first-person view, but Metroid Prime looked, felt and played nothing like Halo or its FPS peers back in 2002. Metroid Prime was and is an anomaly that defies definition. Nothing like Metroid Prime existed before and nothing like it's been created since. To celebrate GameCube's birthday, we decided to rank them. There were a huge number of incredible games released on the platform. Still, when you look at the rear view mirror, it's plain to see the quality. Don't miss a minute of the action with our live coverage of Black Friday 2021 deals.
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