Listosaurus Rex

This is a guest post by my good friend,  littlefoot.  This is his first post as a contributing writer.  Leave him some nice comments!

So when raptor asked me to write this, I wasn’t really sure what to think. I got my GameCube late in the generation, and have been at college during much of my time owning a Wii, so relative to the size their libraries, I have a somewhat limited experience with either console. Now — trust me — I like video games as much as the next guy, probably even more. It’s really just been a time commitment issue more than anything else. 

So what authority did I have when it came to video games, I wondered? And then it came to me: It’s true I’m the Joe six-pack who only bought a couple games for their systems. However, I read the reviews, talked to friends, and did thorough research before I shelled out the cash.  I’m well-versed on games for the systems.  So with that, I present to you…

If You Only Buy 5 Games For Gamecube and Wii, You Should Buy… 

When reading this list, you have to keep in mind that it’s not strictly a top 5 best games list. These are the games that you play when your friends come over and say, “hey, you have a Wii, let’s play something!”. These are the games your family breaks out at Thanksgiving when they’re tired from stuffing their faces with Turkey. But no, that doesn’t just mean the best multiplayer games. Your younger cousin could get hours of amusement by watching you play through a hard single-player game. These games are the ones that you can get the most hours out of playing through and attempting to master. 

Also, a quick note: the majority of this list happens to be Nintendo exclusives, strictly because in general, 3rd party games released on multiple consoles are best on one of the other consoles. Also, the Wii offers an original control scheme, which few 3rd party games have managed to implement into a game so that it improves its overall quality, so it’s usually a better idea to just opt for the improved graphics of the other versions of multiplatform games.

So now, the lists. 

GameCube

5. Mario Kart: Double Dash

Not a lot needs to be said about this one. On one hand, it’s another great Mario Kart game, but on the other hand… it’s just another Mario Kart game. It doesn’t add much to the N64 version besides new maps, the “double” feature (which really doesn’t change the experience very much), and improved powersliding. If you have a Kart game for the N64 or an SNES this probably isn’t a must-buy, but otherwise it’s well worth the money.

4. Metroid Prime

The start of the Prime series. My personal experience with the game is limited, but that’s mostly just because I’m not a fan of first person shooters. From what I understand of the genre and system, it’s an absolute classic. Winner of multiple game of the year awards in 2002 and recipient of rave reviews, it should be a shoo-in for this list. However, this game is single-player only and has (to my knowledge) little replay value outside of speed runs. The game itself was incredibly well done, but its play is limited.

3. Super Monkey Ball 2

An excellent single-player game in its own right, this game is also a good party game. It’s incredibly simple to pick up, and has a cute charm to it. What could be more fun than rolling a monkey around in a ball trying to get bananas? It’ll take you a while to beat the 100 different levels on your own, and if you’re REALLY dedicated, you could continue working to improve your times.

2. Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door

One of my favorite games of all time, and this is probably the only reason why it’s on this list. It’s a ~30-hour single player game with many different ways to play. It’s an RPG that you don’t need a long time to get into the storyline. It \uses characters that are already familiar and has a fairly simple plot. However, the combat has a lot of strategy and the puzzles require creative thinking to get through. Before very long, you’ll get absorbed by it and will hopefully enjoy it as much as I did.

1. Super Smash Bros. Melee

One of the best multiplayer competitive games ever (at least, since the home console era). I’ve put countless hours into this game, and I still can’t consistently beat a level 9 computer. So much strategy and practice is involved to master this game. And even once you master one character, there are 20-some others to work on. Not that I ever got that far… It takes an awful lot of practice to get good. This game is a multiplayer classic. With 3 or more other friends, you can play this game for hours and still not be even slightly bored. 

Screenshot courtesy of GameSpot.com

Wii

5. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

I picked this game up a week ago, and have fallen in love with it. The graphics are a generation behind (not to say that they’re bad though), but the storyline and the gameplay make up for it. Not to mention that you will get a solid 40+ hours of gameplay out of it. Rumor has it that there’s another Zelda game coming for the Wii in 2009, and if that game is anything like what I think it will be, Twilight Princess may get kicked off of this list.

4. Wii Fit

Wait, what? Did Wii Fit really get on this list? The main audience of Wii Fit is the family just trying to stay healthy. That’s part of the appeal, though. Like Wii Sports did, it gets the entire family involved in an activity that was once reserved for the kids. Also, what’s so bad about a game that promotes a healthy lifestyle? I know there will be people who say that it doesn’t help as much as going outside for a run, but it’s still better than nothing.

3. Super Smash Bros. Brawl

I have a hard time putting Brawl this low on the list, but it needs to be done. In most Nintendo fanboys’ opinions, Brawl doesn’t have quite the competitive atmosphere that Melee did. This argument wasn’t what prevented it from reaching the top of this list, though.  There are other problems.

In terms of raw gameplay, Brawl didn’t improve much over Melee. Sure, there was a graphical update and then there were a bunch of new characters and stages, but — unlike the jump from the original to Melee — nothing added much to the experience. For example, I doubt anyone was playing Melee one day and said, “gee, I really wish I could play as Wolf or Lucas”.

2. Mario Kart Wii

Unlike Brawl, this game took a popular series and made game-changing improvements to it. The addition of the wheel by itself turned the game into something you can just pick up and play. They added motorcycles into the mix as well. Various shortcuts and tricks make the game difficult to master. Also, Nintendo made the environment competitive by allowing you to upload your high scores and send them to your friends. Sure, the battle mode still sucks, but why would you even bother with that when you can race your friends around 32 awesome tracks?

1. Super Mario Galaxy

Of course. The graphics are spectacular, the music is fantastic, the gameplay is unrivaled. Seriously, a platformer game where the platforms are tiny planets? The physics must have been a royal pain to program. Regardless, it was executed exceptionally well. If you just want to rescue the princess, 60 stars isn’t that hard to obtain (though still rewarding). The real challenge is collecting all 120 stars. Although the multiplayer capabilities are limited, who cares? You can still trade off with friends trying to beat various levels. Multiplayer isn’t the point of this game. Go ahead and enjoy this fantastic game for what it is: the most essential Wii game.

Screenshot courtesy of 1UP.com

Pretty much every major video game site or blog put together big “best-of” lists for the last major console as the next generation of games started to come out.  The most interesting of these was the Gamecube lists, for a few reasons.  First of all, it had the fewest cross-platform games, making the lists the most insular.  Next, the Gamecube games continue to live on because of the backward compatibility and ‘Cube controller compatibility of the Wii.  Finally, Nintendo has always had the most obsessive, hardcore fans, the type of fans who will compulsively rank and debate their favorites because they love them so much.

I found a few lists I liked across the net and decided to assemble them into one ultimate, comprehensive top ten list.  There was a suprising amount of consitency, though nearly every list had its unique picks not seen on the other lists.  With some number crunching and weighting in a spreadsheet, I was able to come upon a final order for the games.

Without further ado, the lists, and my tabulation of the concensus Top 10 Greatest Gamecube games.

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