I grew up with nine siblings, so our family household had all the latest consoles. When I was kid I had the PS2, while my brothers were given the Xbox and Nintendo GameCube. Being the nerdiest of the bunch, I’d always welcome the opportunity to slip into their rooms to play through Halo 2’s campaign or save Princess Zelda in Wind Waker before returning to my own abode to kill Tidus’ genocidal fish dad in Final Fantasy 10.
My childhood was defined by this generation of consoles, and thus all of them have a special place in my heart. But above them all, the GameCube remains something truly unique that hasn’t been replicated since. With only a few select re-releases emerging on Nintendo Switch thus far, the original hardware and enhanced emulation are the only way to access a selection of classics that, to this day, can’t be found anywhere else.
As the console celebrates its 20th anniversary, I want to look back at some of its brightest sparks and how Nintendo should stop disrespecting its own legacy and introduce some of these classics to a new audience. So many of them would sell millions, while others could transform titles that have long held the status of cult classic and morph them into something new.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
Silicon Knights was on top of the world until it decided to waste the better half of a decade making Too Human, a game that is now illegal to sell due to a dispute between the developer, Epic Games, and the publisher, Microsoft. It’s all a bit messy, but that game is rubbish, so let’s talk about Eternal Darkness instead.
Sanity’s Requiem was so ahead of its time, and remains an unsettling survival horror adventure that preys on our psychological fears as we jump between the perspective of several different characters across a selection of time periods - all of which are pursued by a strange, deadly curse that has endured right up until the modern day. While some of its language is problematic nowadays, Sanity’s Requiem played with
psychological horror like only video games can, toying with your depiction of the world as you slowly succumbed to the terrors that surrounded you. Even today, it feels ahead of its time.
So it’s a crying shame that you can’t play it anywhere except the original GameCube. It remains unclear who the rights belong to, but given the game was published by Nintendo, there’s a chance the company is in a position to remaster this classic and provide it with a new lease of life.
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
I don’t think this classic needs an introduction. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker is a masterpiece, overcoming ridicule at the time due to its cutesy aesthetic to cement itself as a deep, engaging experience that pushed the series forward after Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask thrust Zelda into the world of 3D for the first time.
Sailing the ocean atop The Red Lion remains a joy, like you’re embarking on an epic adventure that only the Hero of Time is capable of. Collecting all of those pesky triforce pieces in the endgame grew a little tiresome, but the Wii U remaster streamlined all of these annoying niggles and made the visuals more splendorous than ever.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Wind Waker and Twilight Princess HD are released as fully-fledged exclusives in the coming months, and Nintendo will likely opt for this more profitable route than reviving the GameCube versions for a modern audience. That being said, this remains a classic that deserves a place on modern platforms.
Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
There was so much fear surrounding the release of Metroid Prime. A classic platformer based on exploration and movement was now being transformed into a first-person shooter. Curl into a ball and show yourself out, Samus - this isn’t what any of us signed up for.
But Metroid Prime surpassed all expectations, establishing a new series that has endured to this day. It’s almost haunting, transporting us to all manner of alien worlds to fight enemies, solve puzzles, and explore in a way that felt liberating back in the early noughties.
While we’re still waiting for the fourth game, it will no doubt build upon the original trilogy’s legacy and produce something bold and experimental that isn’t afraid to toy with the darker aspects of this universe. It’s a far cry from Link or Mario, and that’s why we love it so much.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Whenever a new Paper Mario is announced, fans are immediately underwhelmed that it isn’t a sequel, remaster, or remake of The Thousand Year Door. This GameCube exclusive was the perfect Mario RPG, filled with excellent writing and inventive mechanics that further entries in the Paper Mario series would dilute until they became a shadow of what they once were. If you’re going to bring back a classic from the console, this is the one to shoot for.
Resident Evil 4
Yet another masterpiece, but you can buy it for everything including your microwave at this point, so we’ll leave its cultural impact to your imagination.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
This crossover brawler is the game that fans of the series swear by, and it remains a mainstay for fighting game tournaments around the world. Brawl, Ultimate, and other modern entries would strip away certain mechanics that fans viewed as essential, and thus Melee remains essential.
I remember spending hours with my sibling playing this game as a kid, picking characters who would soon become iconic in the growing roster as we duked it out in Pokemon Stadium, watching as the terrain changed before our very eyes. Gosh it was so sick.
Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
Yet another gem from Silicon Knights, Twin Snakes is a complete remake of the original Metal Gear Solid with all of the mechanics, visuals, and characters we’d come to love from Sons of Liberty. It’s so wonderful and remains exclusive to the platform, with physical copies of the game growing increasingly rare as even hardened collectors struggle to track it down.
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Double Dash!! is unique because it tried something different with Mario Kart that hasn’t been replicated since. Firstly, it has two whole exclamation points in its name, but also two characters on a single vehicle gave proceedings such a different feel The visuals and mechanics both reflected this change in strategy, as one character focused on driving while the other hurled items towards unsuspecting enemies.
After this, Mario Kart returned to a more traditional template, but I’d love to see Mario Kart 9 or whatever emerges next to make a return to Double Dash!!, teaming up unsuspecting characters as they rush towards victory praying they aren’t nailed by a Blue Shell.
I’d be here all day listing GameCube classics, so let’s do a lightning round and list a handful of other bangers - Star Fox Adventures, Pikmin, Killer 7, F-Zero GX, Soul Calibur 2, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Pokemon Colosseum, Super Mario Strikers, Star Wars: Rogue Leader - and there we go, a countless number of classics that, to this day, can only be played on Nintendo GameCube.