Product Review: Nintendo GameCube – Most Underrated Video Game System Ever
Lately there has been much discussion on the Internet about how Nintendo is not as good a manufacturer as Sony or Microsoft. I just don’t get this. I am not a Nintendo ‘fanboy’. No, I am not that close-minded. Fanboys usually ONLY like one particular system and hate all others. Fanboys are similar to those people who vote strictly Democrat or Republican, regardless of who is running or what they say. I am an individual. I like games from each system (except maybe X-BOX). PlayStation 2 has some of the greatest games ever, games like Katamari Damacy, Guitar Hero, Dark Cloud 2,FinalFantasy X, Kingdom Hearts1 and 2, Grand Theft Auto – Vice City, just to name a few. I love the PS2. But I also love the GameCube.
Why so much negativity surrounding it? How can anybody hate Mario Sunshine or Zelda Windwaker. They are two of the very best games from their respective franchises. It seems that people who complain about Nintendo are just hardcore nerds. People who want a game to be nothing but nonstop anime, or 250 hours with 30,000 sidequests, or massive online geek fests. These people don’t just want a great game. GameCube provides so many great games.
This will be the main reason why Nintendo will win the next generations’ console wars. The PS3 is way too expensive and the X-BOX 360 only has one game that anybody cares about – Halo. Sony needs to learn that when gamers want to play a game, they want to play a great game. We don’t need BlueRay technology, online this and that, dvd players…JUST MAKE GREAT GAMES!! That is why Sony’s rule as the king is about to end. Nintendo is coming back. With Sony asking $600+ for the PS3 this fall and Nintendo asking $200 (reportedly), the prediction is easy to make.
But what about the GameCube? Why has it gotten lost in the shuffle? People complain about everything on it. They complain that Zelda Windwaker is too easy or too cartoonish, or the controllers look like ‘alien vomit’ or the games are too childish. This just shows their ignorance. Have these people actually played these games? Probably not. they are probably too busy in their X-BOX nerd ’06 chatrooms discussing how many Orcs they trampled with their Cavetrolls or how Boba Fett just destroyed 100 Ewoks. Guys, lighten up, women don’t like uptight obsessive freaks like you. Games are fun, games are supposed to be fun and a form of relaxation. Embrace the Nintendo GameCube. It is a softer, gentler, easier console filled with enough challenge to satisfy even the most obsessed X-BOX fan.
I love RPG’s. They are my favorite genre of game. The GameCube has quite a few worth playing. Games like Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, Paper Mario 2: The Thousand Years Door, and Zelda Windwaker. I cannot stress enough how great Windwaker is. I have probably never had as much fun playing an RPG as I had with this game. The graphics are above and beyond any I’ve yet to see. Yet, it is usually ranked as the least favorite Zelda game ever. This…is…ridiculous. Everybody loves Zelda: A Link To The Past for the SNES, but why? That was probably the worst RPG (if not game) I have ever finished. The story was nonexistent, the style was dark and repetitive, and the action was boring. I hated it. I sold it as soon as I won it. As for Windwaker, I will have it forever.
I can see this trend carrying over to the release of Nintendo’s Wii system this fall. People will not want to play it because they think that it is childish and only for kids. This type of elitist, overinflated egotistical attitude just makes you look like a spoiled, immature, nerd. When Mario Galaxy is released, I will be first in line to play it. I don’t care if everybody else is under 14, I’ll be there. Same for Zelda Twilight Princess.
Nintendo has always made the best games on each of their systems, even the N64 (although only Worms Armageddon is worth keeping). From NES to SNES to N64 to GameCube and to the upcoming Wii, the games are what drives this company. Embrace them people, especially the GameCube. It is much better than you give it credit. Everybody loves the NES and the SNES, including me. They are my two favorite systems ever, but GameCube is probably third.
In today’s rough and tough, no smiles, all seriousness, all the time, world, it is great to know that there still is a company that cares to lighten up, a company that values game play over gadgets. Thank you Nintendo.
