another very strong vote for ETERNAL DARKNESS!!! i love my gamecube for the obvious games... the control stick i don't care for as much as the 64, but oh well, take the good with the bad... one HUGE disappointment is that RARE went to microsoft i believe, so the much anticipated sequal to CONKER'S BAD FUR DAY will be on x-box, so i might have to end up with one of those for the halos and conker...

Actually, the upcoming Conker game on the Xbox is just a remake of the N64 title with Xbox Live mutliplayer added in, as far as I know.

Yep, it's just a remake. The single player game is identical, except for much better graphics.

The Mario Party games are a lot of fun, and another vote for the heroin that is Animal Crossing.

I've seen a few recommendations for F-Zero GX in here, and had to throw in my own two cents...

Don't bother with it.

Don't get me wrong, the game has a LOT of potential. The graphics are really good, and most of the time, the racing is pretty entertaining. The problem comes from the difficulty.

The game is way too hard.

Now, I don't mind a hard game. I love a game that requires me to practice and get better in order to do well in the game. However, this is not what makes F-Zero GX difficult. The difficulty in the game comes from the incredibly cheap physics, which tend to go all screwey at random intervals. There will be times when you brush against the side wall of the track, and instead of just taking a little damage and bumping off, your vehicle will get tossed, upside down, into the air and sideways with quite a bit of momentum. There's really no way to recover from this as it happens way too quickly (and you're upside down), so it's time to start the race over.

It gets even worse when, after spending the whole race carefully trying to avoid even brushing against the walls in fear of being randomly tossed into the wild blue yonder, an AI racer will come barreling up from behind you, ramming you into the wall and sending you flying off anyway. Sometimes you don't even need to hit anything to go flying sideways, sometimes it just randomly happens as you're trying to adjust your heading. Your craft will suddenly fly sideways, smacking you into the wall (or just plain off the track, if there's no wall)

The worst part is that it's not a rare event. Every circuit I've won has required at least one restart due to running out of lives in these random occurances, and it usually puts me off playing the game for a few months. I just got finished with yet another frustrating session not more than a few minutes ago, and felt the need to vent.

Two things about the above paragraph... 1.) Physics? You are driving a freaking hovercraft. and as for bumping off walls 2.) You are going 800 mph! You think at that speed you are just going to scratch the paint? I don't think so. Flipping over is more than likely the case.

The game is not for the faint of heart. I never finished it, but I still had a blast with it. I would hardly not recommend something because of difficulty.

Okay... I bought a GAMECUBE today (black friday)The Double Dash pack and they gave Mario Golf FREE with it too.

1.) I only got 1 controller and I thought FOR SURE it came with two.

2.) They no longer make the digital out on the NEW gamecubes so I cannot play 16:9 progressive scan! STUPID!

I am so bummed, I wanted to play Metroid Prime 2 in PO-SCAN. I might take it back and look for a used GC with the digital output :(

But the platinum is sweet!

Your post got me curious, since I recalled seeing the bundle with two controllers at Best Buy. Sure enough, I checked BB's website and there are two controllers.
http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US...6915065_ra.jpg

...but then I checked EB Games website.
http://www.ebgames.com/ebx_assets/pr...ges/245878.jpg
Here's their description of the bundle:
The Nintendo GameCube Holiday Bundle includes:
Platinum Nindendo GameCube console

Platinum Controller

A/V Cable

Power Cord

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

So they rip off consumers again. Typical.

I think difficulty is an important thing to factor in when buying a game, so I usually mention whether I thought a game was too easy or too hard.

I don't like to waste my money on games falling into either category, so I point those faults out to others when reccomending games.

Yes, physics, as in the way things move and are affected by other objects in-game.

And while it may be "realistic" for an object moving at that speed to go flying even if it brushes against a wall, it's quite obvious that that's not what's supposed to happen in-game. If it were, it would happen more often. As is, it's just a random occurance, and most bumps into the wall have the correct reaction of penalizing you a little speed and energy, instead of arbitrarily chucking you completely off the track.

Like I said, it's not the difficulty in and of itself. If the game didn't have the repeated bullshit unavoidable insta-deaths, then I'd actually really be enjoying it. However, the fact that you can lose a race (and potentially a half an hour of work if it happens at the end of a circuit) over a random glitch in the collision detection that you often have no chance of avoiding should be MORE than enough validation for any recommendation against a game.

16:9 and Progressive scan are two totally different things. 16:9 is an aspect ratio, anamorphic widescreen. Most games are not 16:9 b/c it affects the framerate.

Umm the one at EB also comes with $15 gift voucher which can be used towards a purchase at participating retailers, and this weekend at EB you get another game free anything $29.99 or less.

Yep, and since the price on Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles drops in price to $29.99 tomorrow, that would be a great choice.

So to sum up, for $100, you get a platinum GameCube, Mario Kart: Double Dash, a $30 game, and $15 towards the purchase of another game (which, if Best Buy is a participating retailer, will net you a free copy of Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, or any other Player's Choice title).

A pretty incredible deal if you ask me.

I don't care how many regular controllers it comes with, you're going to want to buy wavebirds... :)

On the F-zero sidebar:

Three things I hate about F-zero:

The fact that I'll never seen an F-zero arcade machine in my life, and I'll never be able to download any of that content (or is it available elsewhere?)

The insane difficulty level, which ramps up so significantly that you can breeze through the first three races of a circuit and then lose all your lives on one track, forcing you to start over

The fact that the game is so addicting that I keep on playing it hoping to get lucky one of these times...

You might want to try giving Nintendo a call. Some people have gotten a replacement unit with the digital out by calling and complaining. You'll need to contact Nintendo anyway to buy the component cables. It's definitely worth it. The jump in quality from composite to component was dramatic in some games.

If you call Nintendo, they will sub you a refurbed Cube with the digital a/v out. Someone over on hometheaterforum just got the offer a few weeks ago (although he ended up buying a used cube instead, and giving the new one to his nephew). Typical re-hash console, strip out something to save a buck or two thing that companies have always done. Annoying, though.

Well, considering that they don't even sell the component cables in retail stores at all, and they don't allow anyone else to make them, I'd say that they considered it a feature 90% of the userbase wouldn't ever get. It's not like the slim PS2, which removed the hard drive feature that while overpriced, was at least sold at retail.

While they're at it, they might as well not sell the ethernet port anymore either... only one game supports online play,and really how many people setup LAN parties with gamecubes anyway?

I dunno... NERDS?

http://www.alberttao.com/albums/gcla...1826.sized.jpg

http://www.alberttao.com/albums/gcla...1808.sized.jpg

Wow, that really sucks about stripping the digital video out port. I just got a VGA box for the Xbox and was thinking about getting a Gamecube and a VGA box for it too. I presume you need the digital out for VGA, right?

Other companies are free to make the cables if they wanted, you don't have to have a license to sell wire.

I use mine for running linux on. Additionally it allows all kinds of other fun projects to be run on the cube. But yes, very few games support the LAN or netplay.

What sucks about GC now is that it has NO Digital output! I want progressive scan! Damn it!

This company so pisses me off!

Consumers don't want CDs
Consumers don't want online gaming
and now
Consumers don't want progressive scan!

Where does this company get it's statistics?

I was about to ask Santa for a GC for Christmas…but forget it now. Guess I wont be playing MP2 :(

How does having it in 16:9 affect the framerate? I can see how increasing the resolution (as with 720p and 1080i) would make the graphics chipset do more work-it's just like increasing the resolution on a PC. Do you mean that if you have a true 16:9 mode (like Madden has), the game has to render additional polygons on the sides and that makes the chipset do more work?

In the 16:9 modes I've seen besides Madden, they simply change the field of vision, as if you were using a different camera lens width. In those games, I don't think the widescreen mode is any harder to render than the 4:3 mode. Or is it?

Your loss.

:threadcrap:

Did you even read the thread?

Yes, Holden McNeil I did read it. ;)


I also want to get a GC, but after reading up on it found out that it has NO Digital output. I was shocked because my original GC I got at launch had one; however, since then I sold it.

Mittman is thinking of getting one as am I. But after finding out that it no longer supports progressive scan, I don’t’ think Metroid Prime 2 will look as hot.

It’s no big lose. I was buying the GC for only three games and one game isn’t even released yet. :(