GameCube

Entry posted by EricBall July 5, 2006

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For my birthday my wife and son gave me a GameCube. It may not be the newest console but that just keeps the cost down.

I bought an N64 when it first came out. Super Mario 64 sold me on the system and, at that time, I had the disposible income which meant I didn't flinch at the price. It's a good system, and my five-year-old son has great time playing Mario Party (1, 2 or 3).

But when the GCN came out I wasn't as ready to spend the hundreds of dollars for the system, controllers, memory card and games. Plus, I didn't have as much free time to spend finishing games; facts I tried to remind myself whenever I thought about buying one.

Well, my wife (and her mother, who also bought a GCN after having fun with the N64) decided the price of a used system was within the budget so picked one up at EB Games along with Luigi's mansion.

Now, I probably would have gone the eBay route instead - and a good thing she didn't. The price was about the same (shipping costs) and the first one we got was a lemon; it locked up after 5 minutes of play. It was a simple matter to take it back and get a replacement.

So far I've played four games - Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, Mario Party 4 (well, my son has) and Mario Golf. I'll do reviews of each game in separate entries, but first a review of the system itself. (Expect my reviews to be heavily skewed to the "E for Everyone" games.)

First is the size of the disc - in a word: small. Of course, being an optical disc, they are subject to the same scratch and fingerprint problems as CDs and DVDs. It also makes a memory card a must, which has some interesting pluses when renting games. Not only don't you have to clear out the previous player's saved games, but it means you can continue where you left off if you rent the game again or buy it. Save points also are discrete or manual rather than continuous. No load time frustration so far though.

The controllers are a nice evolution from the N64, although I question the need for the Z button. It made sense on the bottom of the N64 center prong, 'cause that's were your finger was. Maybe N thought they'd need it for N64 conversions. The big A little B is nice, along with the C mini-joy and the analog+click R&L buttons. However, my wife is already complaining that it puts her at a disavantage 'cause she's left handed. Anyone know if anyone made a southpaw version of the GCN controller? A simple mirror with a switch for swapping the R&L buttons is probably all that's needed.

One negative with the GCN is the fan noise. It's not really noticable once you're playing, but it sounds very loud when you first turn it on. And, unlike the N64, I'm not inclined to leave it on unless I'm playing. (Which makes the discrete progress saves a little annoying.)

Graphics wise, it's better than the N64, but not amazingly better. I think a lot of it is better textures, more triangles / surfaces & better lighting. But graphics do not a game make. It's the gameplay which is the base of any great game. The graphics can either add or subtract from that.