November 20, 2011 by

Initially, I had thought about doing a blog where I just tore people new assholes for their insistence on constantly bringing up drama, then I realized that doing that would only make me guilty of the same thing they are. Instead, I'm going to write a normal blog about the awesome games and memories from the GCN in honour of it's 10th birthday.

When the GCN was released, most people were belonging to one of two camps. The one side loved Nintendo and gladly bought the GCN, and the other side had a "WTF is that" reaction to the purple lunchbox called the Gamecube. I belonged to the former, although out of the 3 consoles, I personally feel as if the PS2 had the best library. The GCN was the first console I purchased with my own actual cash that I had earned through working and saved up. This alone probably explains why I have such love for the GCN, but even with that aside, it's undeniable that the purple box had an amazing library. Let's look at some of the highlights that others seem to have overlooked, shall we?

Baten Kaitos

This game, and the prequel-sequel Baten Kaitos Origins were released exclusively for the GCN by tri-Crescendo. The games are JRPGs with the turn-based battles using cards to represent attacks and items instead of the normal menus. This adds an element of luck and strategy to the battle system because you have to balance the decks you make so that you can get the most out of them and not be completely screwed if you hit a bad streak of misfortune during a battle. The cards you receive are completely random, which is why it's so important to use strategy when creating the decks. As far as the story is concerned, these games are phenomenal. The story is rich and the whole world is filled with its own lore that goes into incredible detail. There are also a ton of optional side quests in both games, giving the player something to do when they feel like exploring or taking a break from the story. The depressing part is that very few people have enjoyed these games, but if you ever get the chance, I encourage you to at least try them.

Custom Robo

See that screenshot? That's what a whole lot of chaos looks like in Custom Robo. The premise of the game is that you're in a world where people have these tiny robots that fight against each other in virtual reality cubes. There are a bunch of different arenas, all sorts of different styles of robot, all with different strengths and weaknesses, and so many different weapons that you're sure to find a combination you love. The story seems fairly simple at the beginning, but becomes much more complex as you get further in. Really, this game shone in the combat, especially if you had three other people playing with you. It was essentially chaos because there were bullets, missiles, and bombs everywhere, your robots were flying and running around, and you were trying to be the last one standing. They made a handheld sequel for this game, but sadly, a console sequel never saw the light of day.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

Among the subpar Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong games on the GCN, there was a shining gem that was rated M. The game put the player primarily in charge of a woman who had inherited a mansion from a deceased relative, and while exploring the house, was experiencing the stories of multiple people throughout history. You play as each of these people, and you come to learn more and more about the mysterious and incredibly strange forces at work. The game itself is designed to mess with your head while you play, doing things like decapitating your character limb by limb as you walk through a room, making it seem like your memory card has become corrupted and erased, showing your TV's volume dropping down to nothing, making it seem as if your TV just turned itself off, all sorts of fun stuff like that. It was a huge mindfuck, but it was a lot of fun to play because it was so different. Sadly, this game sits on my shelf unbeaten, but it still remains one of my favourite GCN games.

Of course, these aren't the only great games on the GCN, if they were it would've been a shitty console. There are many more great titles, but they're ones that you already know about because everyone went ga-ga for them. There are some games that I really despised, such as Wind Waker, Mario Sunshine, and Pikmin, but there was apparently a market for them because they all did fairly well. The GCN wasn't for everybody, although there were at least a couple games on it that you would've loved regardless of your taste. I think it was an underrated system, but then again, it's hard not to be when a powerhouse like the PS2 is your competition.

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