When the gamecube came out, I saw an ad for Mario Sunshine in some magazine and put together a presentation for my parents on why I should be allowed to get one. The deal was I had to trade in my N64, which is kinda sad. We loved playing licensed games on our gamecube. Lego Star Wars I and II obviously, but also Spiderman (the one before the open world one everyone loved) and a Shrek II game I was absolutely obsessed with. I have no shame about loving this trash!
Around here, it was the last hurrah for game rentals, as all the local places closed shortly into the wii/360 era. I have fond memories of renting a _Bionicle_ game everyone said was terrible that I really liked. To this day, my only _Rampage_ experience is the time we rented the gamecube version for a sleepover.
When _Madden 2005_ came out and introduced the "Hit Stick," I had a great time flicking that c-stick.
Rogue Leader is up there as one of the best console launch games AND probably one of the best SW games on a home console, if not in general.
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@“frog”#p119243 the GameCube version of Twilight Princess is a flipped version of the Wii game
the GCN version is, in my mind, the "true" version, as it has left-hander Link and the map correlates to the Ocarina of Time world map. it's still not a game i have much affection for unfortunately!
I like Twilight Princess a lot although it maybe could have benefited from a hero mode and I'm on the lookout for the right AR codes to sort of craft my own.
I just want to stick up for playing Crystal Chronicles alone. I‘ve done it multiple times and it’s totally great, actually. Having it be this more lonesome experience gives it more of melacholy atmosphere, especially with the narrative stuff. Still not ideal, but an absolutely great time regardless.
Seconding this, it's an extremely compelling game developed by Sonic Team, which makes me wonder why it doesn't get talked about more!
I have a GameCube, I've always been a big fan, and I always think of it alongside the GBA. The console itself is one of the nicest looking pieces of game hardware, period, with every bit of it, and every first party peripheral just dripping with its... kinda... toylike?... aesthetic. That's clearly the wrong way to describe it, but at a time when the other two big consoles were dripping with EXTREMEEEEE vibes, the GCN was cool by being anti-cool I guess. Other than Billy Hatcher, I don't really have any specific recommendations. Seeing that prices for physical games are in the stratosphere just like everything else, I guess I can't suggest folks play a bunch of these games on an actual GCN, but I do think it's part of the whole experience if you do.
Mario Sunshine has a pristine aesthetic but deeply incomplete and flawed user experience. Here is the ultimate version of Mario Sunshine that adds QoL elements to make things a little bit less frustrating.
@“Karasu”#p119294 GameCubes might not be easy to mod but they are definitely cheap. Grab a XenoGC chip, an SD2SP2 and a Nick Disk (no laser pot adjustment required) for $10 each or in some kind of bundle and you are off to the races. If soldering the xeno chip directly to the drive board scares you, and it should, you can wire up the connections instead. I would have recommended this a year ago, and did, but Nick Disks don‘t appear to be available on ebay anymore and I can’t find any alternative pressed DVD (it has to be pressed and not burned to be readable by the drive laser at factory-tuned intensity which is important for keeping the drive alive). Folks might be better off doing a picoboot install after all!
@“connrrr”#p119309 I was actually thinking of this just now– only I was thinking of maybe finally springing for ODEs for this and the other optical drive systems I own. Maybe I‘ll finally get around to doing its once I’m done with my deep GBA dive! It stinks that optical drives are such time bombs in terms of failure, but they are also deeply flawed mechanical tech that were probably never meant to survive as long as they have. I will miss physically handling the amazing lil GC discs though!
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@“rearnakedwindow”#p119260 Odama
Ah, hadn't seen you had suggested this till I was about to suggest it myself, but yes it is very strange and great!
@“Karasu”#p119315Picoboot is easy. Just need the $4 RPi pico board and an SD Gecko if you don‘t have the serial port like me. I used some wires from a CAT5e cable. It’s only 5 easy to reach spots:
Will switch to the m.2 ssd when it becomes available.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uxu8anymDg
I repair GC Optical drives and it CAN be done, but it is a pain. A lot of very careful tweaking of the potentiometer. I just swapped out the optical drives in all my GCs for GC Loaders and never looked back. I think I got very lucky though as I got all mine before the parts shortage made them near impossible to get. As much as the drives are a time bomb, so are the discs.
I have coveted the Spice Orange Gamecube for my entire life. One day I would love to get one and ODE the heck out of it.
While I don't hold the Gamecube as highly as I do the PS2 overall I think discovering and playing Animal Crossing is the best gaming memory I have of my childhood. So the console will always be very special to me for that reason alone.
- from SD loader, boots to swiss from an $8 aliexpress SD card adapter with a 256MB SD card in it. ( Difficulty: ☆ ☆)
- SPD2SD with 128GB micro sd card for loading GBI, and my ISO collection. (difficulty: ☆)
The only reason this SD method is ☆☆ and not one, is finding a compatible SD card on the oldest end of the spectrum of SD card tech can be a hurdle for some, but this is the easiest method of modding a GCN and comparatively painless, considering no hard mod or disassembly is required-- it's just plug and play
Since Spice Orange keeps coming up: Word from the store is we should be getting Gamecube replacement shells sometime this year. Which like YAY! the plastic on those shells is pretty brittle after 20 years. But for those of you looking to add a little more flair to your set ups solutions (though likely not cheap ones) are on their way.
i had one of these hori gamepads when i had my gc/gba player going and loved it. the regular d-pad on the gc controller isn‘t the best or most exact so this was great for like, sinking a billion hours into the sonic the hedgehog collection (and unlocking ristar within it) or harmony of dissonance — idk what the current availability or pricing is like, if they’re cheap enough definitely get one
There are a bunch of replicas of the Hori pad out now for about $20 and they are all decent. I did a run through of Mega Man X4 with the Old Skool branded replica and worked well enough.
However I might also recommend the [Raphnet Classic Controller to GC adapter](https://www.raphnet-tech.com/products/classic_to_gcwii_adapter/index.php) as it opens up your options a lot. I did a run through of Tony Hawk 3 on GC with a Wii Classic controller recently and it was a good time. Mostly because I got Raphaël to update the mappings to match the PS2 layout.
@“robinhoodie”#p119366 I‘ve got two of those Raphnets from back when my Wii was my main way of emulating games, one for SNES and one for N64 controllers. Played and completed Final Fantasy VI for the first time using the SNES adapter. And I’d do it again, too!! I was worried they‘d add input lag or something but they’re considerately crafted and super solid.
@“Funbil”#p119367 I have enough stuff that I have tried to sit down and figure out what Gamecube games could you play with 4 NES Style controller via adapters. Its not much! But I figure it would be worth doing one a stripped down Pac Man VS set up so that no one would be intimidated by the controller.
@“Funbil”#p119367 I‘m on the e-mail alert list for when they restock those N64->gcn adapters. I want one to play 64/DD ports on gamecube. Also preordered the blueretro GCN bluetooth adapter, but not sure if I’ll ever be able to nab one of the NSO N64 controllers to use it with.
@“treefroggy”#p119385 How often do those restock? If it takes a long time and they sell out quick, I could probably just send you mine. My use cases are exceedingly rare and I haven‘t even touched it in a couple years. It sounds like you’d certainly get more out of it than I am!
