Why is the Gamecube crap?

[guitarmas]

What is wrong with the gamecube that people have to constantly bash it and have no desire to own one. Is it the controllers? The rumoured idea that it was directed toward a younger audience? What's the deal and why is it considered a block of shite?

 

Please post your thoughts.

Edited July 1, 2005 by guitarmas

[Chickybaby]

We were actually considering picking one up once the games get cheaper.

[JB]

What is wrong with the gamecube that people have to constantly bash it and have no desire to own one.  Is it the controllers?  The rumoured idea that it was directed toward a younger audience?  What's the deal and why is it considered a block of shite?

 

Please post your thoughts.

883987[/snapback]

2 words.

Sony. Fanboys.

 

 

Edit: I've also heard the argument that qunatity of games matters more than quality, and that 20 mediocre games is better than 10 good ones because it gives you more games to play(even if you want to play all of them less).

Edited July 1, 2005 by JB

[sku_u]

I think you're getting confused with the Xbox.

[z28in82]

Yes, the wife and I are (passively)looking for a cube, but the major sticking point for me is the library of games. Not a whole lot out there and shitty 3rd party support for the most party. And 1st party games are alot of rehashes from previous systems.

[Dones]

I think the gamecube is a pretty good console. The system to have if you want to enjoy Nintendo brand games. There never seems to be enough new stuff coming out for it though that isn't kid related. That seems to be true more than ever this year: only two must have games that got my attention (RE4 and Zelda). Assuming Big N doesn't delay Zelda further, the gamecube will only have two must have games spread thin about a year apart (I don't think mario spinoffs count in this category). There is always some new game worth checking out in the other consoles, but not so for GC. To be fair, the trickle of games is not as anemic as it was during the N64 days but it hasn't exactly improved that much.

 

I have noticed in my area how stores are steadily reducing product presence for gamecube in favor of DS. My rental video store has shrinked GC shelf space by half in favor of PSP movies. Loss of interest? Perhaps. Even Nintendo admits interest for the cube is withering away (as reported in their quarterly financial statements). If you like to buy many games a year, then having a GC as a primary or only console will make it very hard for you.

 

The "kiddie" argument always get people's sensibilities off but there is some small truth behind it. Nintendo tries very hard to earn the "E" rating as literally as possible (and with great success at that). 3rd party offerings however are mostly based on children-related franchises. It is very easy and irresistble to mud sling with the kiddie argument.

 

In the end I don't think it matters much. I play gamecube mostly for Nintendo games but not necesarily because of that reason only.

Edited July 1, 2005 by Dones

[Ze_ro]

What is wrong with the gamecube that people have to constantly bash it and have no desire to own one.  Is it the controllers?  The rumoured idea that it was directed toward a younger audience?  What's the deal and why is it considered a block of shite?

2 words.

Sony. Fanboys.

I think one of the problems stems from the younger audience... insecure people think that people will make fun of them for playing a "cute" game like Wind Waker, so instead they choose to become the teasers instead, and miss out on a great game.

 

We were actually considering picking one up once the games get cheaper.

I wouldn't hold my breath on that. With the Revolution (and indeed, all next-gen consoles) being backwards compatible, you won't get fire-sale conditions like the Dreamcast had.

 

--Zero

[sega saturn x]

If i had to pick only one of the big three i would pick the cube. And my reason for this is simple. The game's are fun to play easy to get in to and are for the most part are of exceptional quality. And from the look's of it there are only a few major game cube games comming out. Giest, odama, battalion wars, kirby and zelda 2. But look at sony and microsoft what do they have comming out? A halo map pack? Rachet 4? Wow i'm creaming my pant's with all the awesome games comming out for the ps2 and x-box! The sad truth is sony and microsoft have already started packing up and moving to their next gen systems.

 

I think the next console war will be a real eye opener for sony. They plan to charge around 400$ for the ps3. This price truly is insane it's to high for normal non game fanatics. And even to much for some fanatics. Sony has become more arrogant then I ever could have imagined. They charge ridiculous prices for their new system's and really think people will buy. Microsoft is only going to do some what better. I think they will have good sales in the U.s market but will again be dead on arrival in japan. Which will cause them to do one of two thing's pull out of the game war or just pull their system's from japan. The ladder is almost as bad as the former. Why do i think microsoft will flop horribly in japan? Let me ask you this why wouldn't they? What have the changed to their plan of action to make them any more accepted in the japanese market then before? Nothing that's what. American's love thing's to look great but the japanese also like some game with their graphics. So unless the 360 has more then halo 3 no one will be buying in japan.

 

And i think the psp will last a couple more years then die. The support thus far has been lackluster at best. The game's look great but all have the been there done that feel to them. Not to mention the system and games are prohibitively exspensive. I'm positive the DS will continue to do great in japan and gain more sale's in the united states as well. Thank's to a strong line up of well rounded games comming out. I'm not sure of the revolutions fate right now details are to few. But i know i will get one since knowing nintendo it will be about 200 far better priced then sony or microsoft.

Edited July 2, 2005 by sega saturn x

[shep]

Simple answer: it's not. Just mainstream average joe gamers that only play Halo, Madden, and GTA think it sucks because its not "manly" enough for them.

 

The Cube has rocked my world and is my favorite of this gen.

Edited July 1, 2005 by shep

[AlexKIDD]

I am a big fan of the cube and I prefer it to the other two current gen systems as well as the dreamcast. I like the fact that there aren't tons of games for it but the vast majority of what's out there ranges from decent to excellent,something I can't say about any sony system or the xbox. The cube reminds me of the turbo grafx in this respect because it only had 100 something games but there was a lot less crap than on the snes or genesis. Also I love the graphics on the cube. I don't know the actual specs of the systems but to me it looks about comparable to xbox and quite a bit better than ps2. And it's nice that they have a few 2d games on there(ikaruga,paper mario,viewtiful joe) My only complaint is no metal slug.

[dinovelvet]

What is wrong with the gamecube that people have to constantly bash it and have no desire to own one.  Is it the controllers?  The rumoured idea that it was directed toward a younger audience?  What's the deal and why is it considered a block of shite?

 

Please post your thoughts.

883987[/snapback]

 

 

It got stuck with the "kiddy" label from day one and hasn't been able to shake it off. It also didn't quite manage to come up with a Halo or Grand Theft Auto must-have title to get the Cool Kids interested. No online play was probably the final nail in the coffin. Still, the Cube has plenty of fun and unique titles to interest those who are looking for substance over style, but many casual gamers are easily swayed by hype; its an uphill battle to convince Halo 2 players to check out Pikmin.

[classicgamingguy]

I loved the 'cube when I owned it, and have been giving serious thought of getting one again. Yes, it gets bashed by PS2 and Xbox owners, as their system is for "serious gaming"..bleh...Windwaker by and in itself is an awesome game. The game I most enjoyed on this system (and am looking for again) is Tales of Symphonia. OMG, that game is a RPG'rs wet dream!

 

Yes, and I admit it, the game captivated me from day one. Another great game? Luigi's Mansion. Most fun to play! The Revolution has no set date, the DS is also an awesome system, but for consoles, I'd go with the Gamecube.

 

I know I will...once I get some credit from EStarland, I'm there!

 

Steve

[Flojomojo]

My take: it's not that it's bad, it's just that the others are better. With more exclusive Star Wars games.

 

I haven't touched my Cube in a while; I mostly use it as a Gameboy player.

[shep]

My take: it's not that it's bad, it's just that the others are better.  With more exclusive Star Wars games.

 

I haven't touched my Cube in a while; I mostly use it as a Gameboy player.

884094[/snapback]

 

Its missing KOTOR (PS2 too), Lego, Battlefront, and Academy (PS2 too)? What else?

[Tempest]

It's not bad, I have one that I play on occasion (I actually got it to play PSO eons ago). The biggest problem is that for some reason Nintendo isn't pumping out the unique 'Nintendo Console Only' games that all the previous systems had. It seems that the poor GC is simply getting some half-assed ports of games that have appeared on all the other systems, and even then it only seems to get half as many as it should. Nintendo really needs to make more games that are only available on GC like a new Mario or Zelda (Windwanker sucked).

 

Tempest

[Flojomojo]

My take: it's not that it's bad, it's just that the others are better.  With more exclusive Star Wars games.

 

I haven't touched my Cube in a while; I mostly use it as a Gameboy player.

884094[/snapback]

 

Its missing KOTOR (PS2 too), Lego, Battlefront, and Academy (PS2 too)? What else?

884095[/snapback]

RotS, Republic Commando, KOTOR 2, Obi-Wan, the Starfighters ...

 

(Without Sega and Star Wars, I wouldn't like the XBOX as much as I do. If they supported the Cube more that would be my top system.)

[cimerians]

I have a Cube and I love it but I also like the PS2's variety.

 

Lets not become Gamecube fanboys and completely dismiss what Sony has done with the PS2 as garbage, ok?

 

There's plenty of good games on all the systems.

 

As for the original question, I think it (cube) still has that perception that its for toddlers but its not. There are other reasons too. People who skip it are missing out on Zelda, Metroid and unique titles like Pikimin and Papermario. Simply put.

 

This has been argued countless times but the fact is, it does have great games and they simply have missed out.

 

(Another great one to add to that list is Viewtiful Joe, its now available on the PS2 but it came out first on the Cube).

[joeybastard]

I think it's the same way many people thought the Sega Master System was crap when it was out. They have actually never played it or played one game and chose to go with the more popular choice because they didn't like that one game. That doesn't mean they can't genuinely enjoy the more popular consoles but that doesn't make the GC bad. It's just not as popular. People love absolutes so if A is good, B must be bad. We all know that is nonsense.

 

There's also the incredible phenomenom of people thinking if they don't viciously defend their console purchase it makes them inferior in some ridiculous way. As if buying a certain game console or computer platform has ever made anyone a "superior" person.

[The Eidolon]

The GameCube is a fine little system. It's pretty cheap these days, small and

quite durable. If you love the breadth of titles on the XBox or PS2, the

GameCube might dissapoint, as there are a lot fewer titles. But I would

recommend looking at a GameCube on it's own merits rather than as a

replacement for other systems. A lot of the best GC titles are a year or two old

now, and can be had for $15 to $20 used. So you can pick up a decent

collection pretty quickly. I would start with:

 

Super Monkey Ball 2

Metroid Prime

Zelda Collection

Ikaruga (if you like aerial shooters)

Maybe one of the Mario Party games

Super Smash Brothers

Rogue Squadron II

 

For the non-exclusives there are some gems like the Mega Man Anniversary

collection, but there's no particular reason to pick them up on the Cube unless

you don't have any other current generation system. Some people don't care

for the 1st party controllers (though I'm quite partial to the Wave Bird wireless

one), but you can use a 3rd party arcade stick or the nifty little Hori digital

pad for games that don't play well on the standard controller.

 

If you want live (on-line) play, GC is not a good choice. But if you like

"party" games with up to 4 actual friends, the GC has a lot of possibilities.

 

--The Eidolon

[classicgamingguy]

It's not bad, I have one that I play on occasion (I actually got it to play PSO eons ago).  The biggest problem is that for some reason Nintendo isn't pumping out the unique 'Nintendo Console Only' games that all the previous systems had.  It seems that the poor GC is simply getting some half-assed ports of games that have appeared on all the other systems, and even then it only seems to get half as many as it should.  Nintendo really needs to make more games that are only available on GC like a new Mario or Zelda (Windwanker sucked).

 

Tempest

884106[/snapback]

 

Pardon me if I disagree with you, Tempest about Wind "wanker"...that game was awesome IMO. I found it quite entertaining and "fun". Lots to do, lots of places to go...and hell....boating? Who can beat that?

 

Seriously, the reason I enjoyed Windwaker so much was due to the cell-shading, a feature I'd never seen before. Tales of Symphonia beats it hands down, if you're a RPG-fan (like I am). The battle system on that game is on-par excellence. I do agree with you, though, about the 3rd-party crap that's not really helping sales any. Nintendo needs to devote itself to making only titles for the 'cube, like Metroid Prime. That game rocks my world.

 

Steve

[Malc74]

Not a whole lot out there and shitty 3rd party support for the most party. And 1st party games are alot of rehashes from previous systems.

884026[/snapback]

 

IMO the difference between the GC and the N64 is that, with the jump from 2D SNES to 3D N64 all of Nintendo's rehashes last time around (and that's what Nintendo effectively does, like it or not) were new, innovative and for the most part excellent. Everybody went "Whoah! 3D Mario!" (Zelda, Waverace, etc, etc).

With the jump from 3D N64 to, er, 3D GC all we've gotten this time around are the same games with prettier graphics (Metroid excluded, because it was a leap forward, but would it have been greeted with such delight if there had been a Metroid 64?). In general I've been pretty disappointed with Nintendo's games this time around. Some stuff has been innovative (like Pikmin and the aforementioned Metroid) but a lot has been lazy (Animal Crossing, good as it was, was a barely tarted-up N64 game) or just unimpressive (Mario Sunshine - Mario 64 with better graphics and a water-gun does not a different game make). The cel-shading combined with the sailing IMO made Wind Waker different enough from OOT but it was a close-run thing (hopefully Twilight Princess with be significantly different). Incidentally, "innovation" does not include sticking the Mario characters into every conceivable sport in existence (Mario Sumo Wrestling is in development, I hear).

 

And, of course, 3rd party support has been terrible - indeed the only 3rd party games coming out for the GC now seem to be either sports games or movie licenses, but even a couple of years ago it was common enough to look at game adverts from 3rd party publishers and see the usual "coming soon for PS2 and XBox".

 

Now, I'm not saying that Sony and Microsoft have any less of an innovation problem with their franchises, but with the sheer volume of 3rd party games on the PS2 and XBox you can at least pick a couple of dozen other games if the new Halo or GT isn't to your liking, and that's where Nintendo is falling down this time around, because their 1st party GC games don't have the wow factor that their 1st party N64 games had (again, IMO). There also seems to be this disturbing reliance on using the Mario franchise to shift otherwise humdrum games, which surely can't work for much longer.

 

Don't get me wrong - I like my GC, I'm just glad I also have an XBox to play many of the games I would otherwise be missing.

 

With the Revolution, I'd really like to see Nintendo doing everything they can to get 3rd party publishers on board, otherwise it'll be just another round of rehashes and Super Mario Water Polo.

[maibock]

We have all 3 consoles at home and the kids seem to enjoy the cube more so than I - Haven't really found a game that I liked and if there's a choice between getting a game for each system, I'll usually go with the Xbox because of the better system specs.

 

However, this weekend, I'm planning on starting a Wind Waker game and see how that works out..

[Rhindle The Red]

My take: it's not that it's bad, it's just that the others are better.  With more exclusive Star Wars games.

 

I haven't touched my Cube in a while; I mostly use it as a Gameboy player.

884094[/snapback]

 

Its missing KOTOR (PS2 too), Lego, Battlefront, and Academy (PS2 too)? What else?

884095[/snapback]

RotS, Republic Commando, KOTOR 2, Obi-Wan, the Starfighters ...

 

(Without Sega and Star Wars, I wouldn't like the XBOX as much as I do. If they supported the Cube more that would be my top system.)

I am really upset about the Cube not getting Lego Star Wars. I mean, it's supposedly the kiddie system and it doesn't get the most kid oriented Star Wars game?

 

As for the other system exclusives, only KOTOR is really worth getting uptight about. Obi-Wan, the Starfighters, etc. arten't that good and I didn't care for Battlefront. The Cube still has the Rogue Squadron series to itself and those are better than any of the other flight games on the other systems (even with RS3 being a disappointment). The Cube also has Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (which the XBOX doesn't although the PS2 does).

[Atarifever]

Everytime I talk to other people about videogames and then say I have the Cube I start to feel that either:

A) I am not hardcore enough

B) The people I talk to have an even smaller attention span than me.

 

That's because someone always points out the small library size. Now, small is a relative term I guess, because I think the GameCube library is hugh. I have probably owned or played less than 5% of the entire library for the GameCube and I play it almost everyday. Everytime I walk into EB I am swamped with titles that I want to get. I mean sure, I'd be even more swamped with titles if I had a PS2, but I really have never felt limited by the Cube's library, so I don't see how I'd benefit by having even more games I can't play. And with regards to having a bigger selection, yeah sure, I'd be able to choose from a bigger pool of games, but 3/4 of those titles are simply bad or mediocre, so I'd still only have a small selection of games in any genre I actually wanted to play, limiting the selection anyway.

[Dones]

A lot of the best GC titles are a year or two old

now, and can be had for $15 to $20 used.  So you can pick up a decent

collection pretty quickly. 

.

.

.

If you want live (on-line) play, GC is not a good choice.  But if you like

"party" games with up to 4 actual friends, the GC has a lot of possibilities.

884173[/snapback]

That's a problem right there: It's not a good sign when most games to get excited about are about one-two years old. It supports the idea the console does not get enough new stuff. So if you are into buying many games, gamecube would not be a good choice.

 

The Mario Party games are sure fun when played with friends but am I the only one who feels they have rehashed it long enough? Mega Man would be proud of Mario Party MP series gives new meaning to the word "stale" (even with the inclusion of a microphone).

 

Then theres the online comment. It seems there is always some foot shot to criticize. As long as you conform yourself to the limits imposed by Nintendo then it won't matter (but it's hard to hide the truth about the console's shortcomings).