As E3 2011 goes on, Lets Take a Look at the Past… The Gamecube

As E3 goes on and the new consoles are announced, and the new games beside them, it got me thinking about my old friend, the GameCube.

When I look at the GameCube, I see many great memories. I don’t think many people had appreciated the games that this console had brought people. Of course there were the Xbox and PlayStation 2 at the time, but I believe that the GameCube holds the best memories for me.

It all started with Luigi’s Mansion. It was an odd game for me but nonetheless it was brilliant and of course the graphics back then weren’t that half bad. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle was next for me and my favourite of the two. My brother and me spent countless hours playing this game, despite how annoying the controls could be.

There would be more games to come that I would consider being some of the ‘greats’ that the GameCube produced. Super Mario Sunshine, with his water-squirting thing, forgot the name of it, Super Smash Bros Melee, which was a great ‘smash your friend to pieces’ game. Animal Crossing for the GameCube was also one of those games that I could not stay away from. I still do not know why this was the way. All you ever did was go around town, collecting things, pay for you’re rent etc. etc. and that was it. But somehow the game managed to draw you back to playing it and I believe that the collecting part played a huge roll in the game, as you needed to wait for each season so you could collect the next insect and fish.

One of my favourite games that the GameCube ever released was Star Fox Adventures. Now, I’m not sure how people saw this game, but to me it was different and resembled what I liked in games, a stupidly great adventure! The fact that you could play as Mr. Fox himself and walk around without having to stay in you space ship was just the beginning. Dinosaurs (I think they were called these) were the creatures that lived on the planet that you were based on. The fact you got to battle T-rexes etc. brought out the best in me and kind of scared me at the time…I never liked a T-Rex in a game.

The Link exclusive Soul Calibur 2 was another of my favourites simply and only because Link was in it. The Legend Of Zelda franchise is my favourite out of any of the game franchises and this was a game I just could not resist. I believe that I played this game countless hours going around a maze fighting opponents and unlocking anything and everything that had to do with Link. The next GameCube game that I enjoyed, but did not love as much in the series was The Legend Of Zelda: Four Sword Adventures.

This game was good but lacked that special Zelda feel you’d get in the one player versions of the games. I mean I loved it and you were meant to play the game as a four player but I kind of completed it all in one player mode. I think that beats the objective of the game. Since it’s been along time since I have played the game I cannot remember exactly what the storyline was about but all in all I did think that the game was one of the few that kept me entertained on the GameCube.

The last game that I will talk about and will most likely drag on with is The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Now, I remember hearing about this game and seeing the graphics and thought ‘Oh My God that looks AWESOME!’ and I was not disappointed when I received the game. Of course it as a big step from Majora’s Mask as a major in the series but I believed that it had great potential. The storyline was brilliant and gripping, with me thinking that the giant bird was going to be the last battle when in fact it was not, and then you get introduced to Ganondorf…again. You thought you killed the guy back in Ocarina but no. Anyway the gameplay itself was slick and beautiful, the graphics (baring in mind it was cel-shaded) where absolutely stunning. I think that the only annoying thing with this game was the search for the triforce piece all over the ocean….that was it really.

All in all, I believe that the GameCube has played a huge and magnificent part in the lives of it’s Nintendo fans but at the same time it was not appreciated for how well the games played and how well they attracted their Target Audience.