The best GameCube games of all time

A new console from Nintendo was unveiled in 2001. However, despite all the anticipation, the product never managed to achieve the company’s high expectations for sales.

It was the bizarre Nintendo Gamecube, a bold, purple box that placed third in a three-horse race, behind Sony and Microsoft, who were holding their own in first and second, despite having many fantastic games.

Nevertheless, despite these dismal sales results, many of Nintendo’s console owners fell in love with it, as is frequently the case with Nintendo’s few spectacular failures, because of its fantastic lineup of largely first-party software.

Here are some of the best GameCube games to honor the variety of this sadly underappreciated console’s game selection.

Best GameCube games of all time

Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes

The GameCube remake of the original Metal Gear Solid, now known as Twin Snakes, is still a fantastic illustration of why it’s worthwhile to revisit an old game on new hardware, even though they may have added a few too many flips for its own good. Improved enemy AI and first-person targeting, among other new gameplay mechanics from the MGS sequels, gave Snake’s journey through Shadow Moses new life and helped the Metal Gear franchise gain whole new fans, flips, and all.

Ikaruga

A two-year-old GameCube port of a Japanese-only arcade game did appear unusual for release in 2003. Ikaruga was a sophisticated game that required more thought than just quick reflexes thanks to its polarity mechanic. Ikaruga urged you to embrace the bullets (or at least half of them), while every other arcade shooter obliged you to avoid them, and it felt revelatory as a result. Almost two decades later, we are still insatiably hungry for Ikaruga’s clever arcade pleasures.

Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing: The Original on the GameCube, which had the title Population Growing (or, in Portuguese, Population in Growth), revolutionized the social simulation game genre by using animals to represent people in it. He maintained and expanded the themes of Doubutso No Mori, a Nintendo 64 game that was launched eight months earlier. He is known to the Japanese as Doubutso No Mori+.

Animal Crossing achieved international renown via the GameCube and its widespread distribution for offering a world of options and control over a full, pulsating life on the beautiful tropical island that homes the animals of the region. By relying on the accuracy of the device’s internal clock, the game was also able to replicate genuine dates and hours of the day. It also made it possible for other players in your area to visit you by interacting with two memory cards on the same device.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem

Eternal Darkness was created by Canadian Silicon Knights (Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain), who were skilled in fusing puzzles, difficult situations, and scenes set in actual locations like hospitals and ruins with a gloomy atmosphere laced with frightening events. The title introduces an insanity meter bar as a novel feature to manipulate psychological characteristics in the player, occasionally playing with details from this sensor, and bases its plot on the narrative of 12 controllable individuals.

Mario Kart: Double Dash

There is one game that is a must-have for any Nintendo platform, and its name is Mario Kart. The franchise, which has been around since the Super Nintendo, is to blame for high-pitched “cracks” between friends and numerous objects being thrown left and right in an effort to win that podium spot. By letting a second player control the kart while the first drove it through novel and breathtaking scenarios in the rear seat of Mario Kart: Double Dash, we created a revolution. Despite being a logistically challenging effort, this edition also made it possible to play for up to 16 players via conexo LAN with more Gamecubes connected.

Luigi’s Mansion

While maintaining the humor and charm that comes with a terrified protagonist like Luigi, the original Luigi’s Mansion was able to conjure a genuinely eerie look. When you combine Luigi’s time in the eerie spotlight with a fantastic loop of his ghost-hunting games, it’s no surprise that his time in the eerie spotlight resulted in an enduring franchise.

Beyond Good And Evil

There are many positive aspects of Beyond Good & Evil. Beyond Good & Evil combined sci-fi with a vaguely anti-corporate political atmosphere, and it also had incredibly complex stakes. It had a gorgeous aesthetic, and the action was entertaining whether you were engaging in combat, flying around in your hovercraft, solving a puzzle, or taking pictures of nature. Since then, a lot of games have included the latter mechanic, but it hasn’t been surpassed in terms of how satisfying it was to “get the shot.”

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. is a popular game. It’s easy to see why Melee is considered the best Super Smash Brothers game. Any other Smash Bros. game lacks Melee’s distinct vibe. Characters feel more substantial, there are numerous advanced skills that drastically change the way the game is played, and some melee versions of characters are just more enjoyable to use. Regardless of how Melee is perceived in comparison to other Smash Bros. games, it is undeniably one of the most significant games ever to be released on the platform.

Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader

At launch, Rogue Squadron II unquestionably served as the GameCube’s graphics showcase and continues to rank among the console’s best-looking games. It takes everything we adored about the first Star Wars game on the N64 and amplifies the realism and intensity. The closest approach to truly being in a Star Wars movie is to replay the first Death Star level.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has persisted as one of the most distinctive entries in the Zelda franchise in spite of its numerous critics prior to its release. Even if the Wii U remaster enhanced the sailing speeds, one of the GameCube’s best experiences still involves Link sailing from island to island while uncovering new characters, amazing new dungeons, riches, and talking fish. It’s a Zelda game that makes great use of time passing and the hero’s tale repeating itself across generations, bringing a rich layer of storytelling to the series while also offering one of its most colorful experiences to date.

Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4 redesigned the core Resident Evil series at a time when it was beginning to feel a little stale, but it also changed the third-person action game genre as a whole and set a new standard for years to come. One of the first-ever genuinely enjoyable video game escort mission scenes were included in Resident Evil 4 along with a ton of action, absurd movie-style set pieces, and the horror and ammo conservation components that made the brand famous. Even now, it’s stressful, exhilarating, campy, and endlessly replayable (and quotable).

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Twilight Princess took a darker tone than other Zelda games, both in terms of visuals and narrative. It was full of cinematic flair and had some of the most creative dungeons and enemies in the whole series. Link’s naughty friend Midna, who is unquestionably one of the best sidekicks ever, only served to enhance his unique ability to battle and move in wolf form.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Throughout Mario’s long career, there have been a number of RPG variations, but the Paper Mario series may be the most creative. The Thousand-Year Door enhances the RPG experience that was first introduced in Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64 and has become an all-time classic thanks to its continuously humorous, clever, and pun-filled writing. Along with a brilliant cast, exquisitely planned and created worlds and self-aware storytelling that differs from Mario’s many other adventures, the great turn-based combat returns.

Killer7

In a time when expansive open-world action games and 3D platformers with tons of trinkets were really taking off, Suda51’s Killer7, a small, on-rails game that was utterly insane, stood out. On the peppy and sugary GameCube library, a game where seven serial killers (all of them were separate personalities inside of one guy) roamed a sleek, eerie world in search of assassination targets felt wildly out of place. However, Killer7 is so different and special that it was immediately adored by a ton of Nintendo fans at the time, many of whom are still pleading for a modern port or remake of the game on Nintendo Switch. Despite being bloody, violent, and full of foul words you’d never hear Mario, Zelda, or a bunch of Pikmin say.

Viewtiful Joe

The apex of the 2D action genre could be found on the GameCube, while the 3D action genre had prospered on other systems with titles like Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, and God of War leading the charge. As you would alternate between slow-mo to slow down and reflect bullets, fast-mo to punch so quickly that you would ignite flammable objects, and a zoom-in effect to increase the damage you would deliver for each punch, Viewtiful Joe’s clever implementation of movie-inspired powers gave it a one-of-a-kind feel. Along with the other skills that Joe could buy and upgrade, the interaction between these three unique VFX abilities created an incredible experience that is still unmatched to this day.

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We hope this article has helped you learn about some of the best GameCube games of all time.