TheSlySoul
Member
I had a PS2, GC, and XB which all offered unique gaming experiences.
Then next gen happened which was overall meh except the DS which was amazing. Now this gen I guess 3DS edges out right now. PS4 has most potential if used right.
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man, playing Wind Waker HD is making me miss Nintendo's experimental Gamecube era
- Thread starter enigmatic_alex44
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Then next gen happened which was overall meh except the DS which was amazing. Now this gen I guess 3DS edges out right now. PS4 has most potential if used right.
I was typing out how the Wii was just as experimental and really did just feel a bit more gimmicky. It focused more on iterative improvements or changes focused more so on control schemes and being more inclusive to non-gamers/inexperienced gamers.
That mindset sort of transferred on to the Wii U too. I really this changes because most of it feels less impactful on their franchises. The Gamecube was fucking great for a modern Nintendo console. It's the best non-industry leader console from Nintendo (I'm counting the Wii in this as well even though it was the most commercially impressive of the Big Three that generation).
That mindset sort of transferred on to the Wii U too. I really this changes because most of it feels less impactful on their franchises. The Gamecube was fucking great for a modern Nintendo console. It's the best non-industry leader console from Nintendo (I'm counting the Wii in this as well even though it was the most commercially impressive of the Big Three that generation).
enigmatic_alex44
Whenever a game uses "middleware," I expect mediocrity. Just see how poor TLOU looks.
OK, I kind of get what you're saying? But it's not like open world games or games with exploration WITHOUT time limits were that abundant in the Gamecube library either. That was more of a Nintendo 64 thing, with all the Mario 64 knockoffs like Banjo, Donkey Kong 64, etc. and stuff like Jet Force Gemini.
I have to disagree with your comment about Nintendo fans being sick of 2D games in the series. The mechanics in the New Super Mario Bros. series are solid, I think what people are sick and tired of is the lack of unique art direction for the "New" or 2D series. Like, when you have stuff like Rayman Legends/Origins coming out, which looks hand crafted and unique, whereas Mario has now had four "New" games with the same, bland art style that almost looks like it was put together in a level editor, then it does get stale and repetitive.
I think what people really want from 2D Mario is an aesthetic change, like a brand new visual style. Make the next 2D Mario claymation, or done in pixel art, or just SOMETHING that looks fresh. Correct me if I'm wrong?
yeah, maybe there was more games like mario 64 on the N64 days...
or maybe i still feel they were more abundant in the gamecube days because at that time nintendo still had more 3rd party support than today... and 3rd party games were usually 3d adventure games (not exactly mario, but exploration at least)
I always take people are tired of 2d nintendo games not just because i am tired, but because of the reactions on Donkey Kong tropical freeze. People were PISSED about it. I dont think it sold too well also, because it was the free full game from the last rewards at club nintendo (i got it there... its beautiful, its colorful, its creative, it has tight gameplay, i really hate to play it because its another 2d platformer)
So i think a 2d mario claymation or a 2d mario based on that lovely stage from Smash Brawl could get some positive reception.... but not even close to a real sequel to Mario 64 or Mario Galaxy....
(somehow i remember it being prettier than this... and that was the best picture i got...)
daTRUballin
Member
I'm just going to copy and paste a pretty detailed post I made from the previous page. It was the last post on the previous page, so I just want more people to see it:
Gamecube was just a very weird time for Nintendo. At the time there were just so many management changes at Nintendo and so many of their Western studios left them. I mean, just take a look at all these events:
January 2002 - Minoru Arakawa and Peter Main (President of NOA and VP of Sales & Marketing, respectively) retire and are replaced by Tatsumi Kimishima and Peter MacDougall
March 2002 - Ken Lobb leaves Nintendo and joins Microsoft
May 2002 - Hiroshi Yamauchi steps down as President of Nintendo and is replaced by Satoru Iwata
September 2002 - Rare is bought by Microsoft
December 2003 - Peter MacDougall is replaced by Reggie Fils-Aime as VP of Sales & Marketing (Didn't Left Field leave sometime in 2003 as well?)
2004 - Silicon Knights leaves Nintendo
2005 - Hiroshi Yamauchi retires from Nintendo for good
May 2006 - Tatsumi Kimishima is replaced by Reggie as President of NOA
November 2006 - The Wii is released, and the GC era ends
It's also worth noting that Howard Lincoln also left Nintendo back in 2000, but that was during the late N64 era.
Gamecube was just a very weird time for Nintendo. At the time there were just so many management changes at Nintendo and so many of their Western studios left them. I mean, just take a look at all these events:
January 2002 - Minoru Arakawa and Peter Main (President of NOA and VP of Sales & Marketing, respectively) retire and are replaced by Tatsumi Kimishima and Peter MacDougall
March 2002 - Ken Lobb leaves Nintendo and joins Microsoft
May 2002 - Hiroshi Yamauchi steps down as President of Nintendo and is replaced by Satoru Iwata
September 2002 - Rare is bought by Microsoft
December 2003 - Peter MacDougall is replaced by Reggie Fils-Aime as VP of Sales & Marketing (Didn't Left Field leave sometime in 2003 as well?)
2004 - Silicon Knights leaves Nintendo
2005 - Hiroshi Yamauchi retires from Nintendo for good
May 2006 - Tatsumi Kimishima is replaced by Reggie as President of NOA
November 2006 - The Wii is released, and the GC era ends
It's also worth noting that Howard Lincoln also left Nintendo back in 2000, but that was during the late N64 era.
I like the Gamecube era a lot but mostly because of stuff like Melee, Fire Emblem, and Paper Mario where the games didn't deviate from what the series had usually been. Though I wouldn't mind more experimental spin-offs in the vein of Kirby Air Ride. But I don't really miss stuff along the lines of Sunshine and Wind Waker.
gamerMan
Member
Even with the crappy framerate in places, Wind Waker HD is one of the best remakes and remasters I have ever played. It looks way better than the already gorgeous Gamecube game. You don't even need to look at the games side by side. The lighting looks completely different. I wish other company's would put more effort into their remakes by improving the lighting not just the textures and resolution. Nobody goes as far as Nintendo.
I felt Nintendo was at its experimental peak during the Nes era. I wish Nintendo would return to that era. Mario and Zelda are great but these franchises keep losing their fans year after year. Nintendo has the best game developers in the world, Nintendo should give them a bit more freedom.
I felt Nintendo was at its experimental peak during the Nes era. I wish Nintendo would return to that era. Mario and Zelda are great but these franchises keep losing their fans year after year. Nintendo has the best game developers in the world, Nintendo should give them a bit more freedom.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
notsureifserious.jpg
Beelzebufo
Banned
I mean, they don't necessarily really suck because of a poor purchase decision.
The only thing good about the windwaker is the artstyle. Every other 3d Zelda game outclasses it in pretty much every aspect especially in terms of dungeon design. TP is way better than wind waker.
Sunshine is a fun game but outclassed by every Mario game from level design standpoint. Mario's movement is fantastic in that game though.
All in all GC was great for first party titles.
Sunshine is a fun game but outclassed by every Mario game from level design standpoint. Mario's movement is fantastic in that game though.
All in all GC was great for first party titles.
I think the thing that is different with the Wii, Wii U, DS, and 3DS is that the hardware is intrinsically different. To look at it longitudinally Nintendo has always been experimental, but post-GameCube/GameBoy the hardware has been a driving force to being experimental (with the Wii U I think the power/HD more so than just the tablet).
When it comes to the GCN things were pretty experimental although I don't know if it's anymore of a deviation from the past than Nintendo normally does (e.g. Mario 64 was experimental) but we did get things like Mario Sunshine (which clearly continues to have influence to this point and while I'm not terribly well versed in all the background stories, it's hard not to see elements of Sunshine in Splatoon), Pikmin, Double Dash, Metroid Prime, Four Swords, F-Zero (esp w/the arcade connection), Animal Crossing (to the US at least), Wario Ware (to a home console), Donkey Konga, etc.
I will say this, Wind Waker and it's cell-shading was a BIG deal back in the day. That was a large departure and IIRC even more in contrast to expectations because of the traditional Zelda demo everyone had expected. The hardware was unique and Nintendo certainly took optional risks from a development side that weren't required, but likely part of their culture. For later generations I feel like risks/experimentation was required due to the change in hardware and the unique aspects associated with each one.
That said, the Wii U and the 3DS have largely ignored the unique aspects (gimmicks as some call them) of their system in contrast to the DS and Wii U and on the whole I feel like Nintendo's first party titles have been better this time around (although that could also be due to my state of mind approaching these games). Sure, SM3DL has unique stages, but honestly you could easily beat the game with 2D only (which some people did since until the new 3DS the 3D on the systems wasn't as stable as you'd like).
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Is this the quality vs quantity shit Nintendo fans paraded back in the day? It's been ten fucking years.
Beelzebufo
Banned
What do you mean? It had lots of great games.
Kai Ozu
Member
Yup, it had great games. Not just Nintendo made one's too.
entremet
Member
It actually started with the N64 after losing all those 3rd parties.
Other people can worry about where it ranks amonst nintendo consoles, 6th generation consoles, entries in respective franchises, etc., but let me just say that
Wind Waker
DK JB
Chibi Robo
Animal Crossing
Path of Radiance
Pikmin
Pikmin 2
Thousand Year Door
Metroid Prime
Super Mario Sunshine
Smash Bros. Melee
F-Zero GQ
are some of the greatest and most inventive games that they've released.
Wind Waker
DK JB
Chibi Robo
Animal Crossing
Path of Radiance
Pikmin
Pikmin 2
Thousand Year Door
Metroid Prime
Super Mario Sunshine
Smash Bros. Melee
F-Zero GQ
are some of the greatest and most inventive games that they've released.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
It was ridiculous in the N64 years and it was even worse in the GCN years.
It had a lot of great games, and the console has a great library when looked as a whole. But, back in the day, the droughts were real, , and the lack of 3rd party support didn't help at all.
Meanwhile, not only was the PS2 getting lots of games, it was getting superb games.
Sparrowhawk
Member
enigmatic_alex44
Whenever a game uses "middleware," I expect mediocrity. Just see how poor TLOU looks.
Of all of these points, the Rare getting bought by MS makes me the saddest. They did such great work during the N64 days.
I've always wondered how Donkey Kong would have progressed after Donkey Kong 64 if Rare stayed with N. (Though Retro did a great job with Returns and Tropical Freeze)
Was Star Fox Adventures Rare's only game on the Gamecube? I can't even remember now.
Out of these, I only liked Wind Waker, really.
For having been such a starved system for games, to this day, it is still one of my most played systems. The games that did relese were just that damn good!
You can take my Metroid Prime, when you pry it from my cold dead
My personal list.
Greats:
Luigi's Mansion - still better than Dark Moon
Pikmin - still the best in the series
Metroid Prime - One of the best Metroids just under Super
Chibi Robo - Adictive and charming little game. It's Gamecube's Katamari
REmake
RE4
RE3 port - better than the PS1 ver.
Viewtiful Joe - Best Joe
Gameboy interface - homebrew that is the best way to play GBA games
Really good:
Twilight Princess - second best Zelda of that generation. Okami is first.
Metroid Prime 2
Mario Sunshine
Rogue Squadron II
Games I have to be in the mood for but are still good:
Pikmin 2 - a lot more unforgiving than the first. Frustrating dungeons.
Eternal Darnkess - aged poorly. Magik is still fun, but man is this game ugly!
Rogue Squadron 3 - the foot missions... It's like the problem that Starfox had.
You can take my Metroid Prime, when you pry it from my cold dead
My personal list.
Greats:
Luigi's Mansion - still better than Dark Moon
Pikmin - still the best in the series
Metroid Prime - One of the best Metroids just under Super
Chibi Robo - Adictive and charming little game. It's Gamecube's Katamari
REmake
RE4
RE3 port - better than the PS1 ver.
Viewtiful Joe - Best Joe
Gameboy interface - homebrew that is the best way to play GBA games
Really good:
Twilight Princess - second best Zelda of that generation. Okami is first.
Metroid Prime 2
Mario Sunshine
Rogue Squadron II
Games I have to be in the mood for but are still good:
Pikmin 2 - a lot more unforgiving than the first. Frustrating dungeons.
Eternal Darnkess - aged poorly. Magik is still fun, but man is this game ugly!
Rogue Squadron 3 - the foot missions... It's like the problem that Starfox had.
Great list, but no Luigi's Mansion?
Another great game, but I don't have as strong of an impression about it as the others for whatever reason. Recently rebought it, I should really play it again.
Crayon
Member
Man I liked the gamecube HARD. The main reason the lost me with the wii was that the main games werent all around better for the first time. Especially zelda. Wind Waker was amazing and i thought twilight princess was mediocre. Mediocre like "almost bad". What a poor tone taht set for the whole thing. Prime 3 had little of the first games freshness left. If everything went like mario galaxy it would have been different for me and maybe for others. I feel like nintendo used to make the best games and somewhere between gamecube and wii they lost that title or at least the unambiguous claim to it. I think this has contributed as much to the wii u's demise as any other factor.
daTRUballin
Member
Rare was actually working on Donkey Kong Racing for the Gamecube before the buyout. It was supposed to be a sequel to Diddy Kong Racing. So if they would've stayed, we would've seen that game release.
And yeah, SFA was the only GC game Rare released. Shame really. :/