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The Nintendo GameCube Appreciation and Collecting Thread.

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
lol, are you fucking kidding me? Why would they do that? I know there's some minor extra content, but that is the absolute stupidest thing they could do in an HD port.

It's like there's an unwritten rule that ports of Gamecube games have to be bungled somehow.
 
lol, are you fucking kidding me? Why would they do that? I know there's some minor extra content, but that is the absolute stupidest thing they could do in an HD port.

Namco has done several PS2 -> PS3 HD ports already, so they're probably taking the path of least resistance there.

...but that reasoning falls apart considering the HD version also contains the Wii sequel.
 

D-e-f-

Banned
Namco has done several PS2 -> PS3 HD ports already, so they're probably taking the path of least resistance there.

...but that reasoning falls apart considering the HD version also contains the Wii sequel.

Maybe they ported the Wii game to PS2 internally so they could do a PS2 up-port :)
 

Andrew.

Banned
Just picked up the original Baten Kaitos last week in excellent shape. Popped it in for about twenty minutes before I knew I couldnt handle a JRPG like that at this particular moment. Still glad I got it though.

Im picky on my GC library. Currently I only have:

Twin Snakes
Killer7
Thousand Year Door
Baten
Prime
Viewtiful Joe

I really want Skies of Arcadia but that shit is PRICEY
 

koopas

Member
Now I don't know if you have a DC or not but I've played both and I prefer skies on DC against the GCN version.

DC one seems to be a little cheaper as well (but not by much)
 

Jonboy

Member
Finally gave up on my search for a decently priced set of component cables and bought an old wii instead. $6 on Amazon for the Wii component cables, haha. So ridiculous how rare those Cube components are.
 
Any chance you'd post all the inserts disc etc...for Wind Waker?

I will do if I find a better copy. :D

Anyone know/own about this hidden grail?
2B811454-AFF4-661E-C2506EB918686CA9.png
 
What do you prefer about the DC version?

The DC version has the VMU Pinta minigame and slightly better audio quality (two 1.2GB discs versus one 1.5GB disc, audio is a bit compressed on the GC), while the GC version has slightly higher-detail polygon models and some additional content, including some tough optional boss fights -- there are some bounty fights, and several against Piastol if you collect the stuff needed for that. The Piastol part has some plot, too. The tougher boss fights were a great addition because the base game is fairly easy. Overall I think the GC version is better, but the DC version is worth a look too if you really love the game.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
So, I want to play a Gamecube game I haven't played before. My collection is pathetic. However, I do have two candidates I'm deciding between: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. Both are sitting on my shelf, sealed, and have been for more than half a decade (more than 8 years, in Paper Mario's case!)

What has the better music?
 

Rich!

Member
So, I want to play a Gamecube game I haven't played before. My collection is pathetic. However, I do have two candidates I'm deciding between: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. Both are sitting on my shelf, sealed, and have been for more than half a decade (more than 8 years, in Paper Mario's case!)

What has the better music?

mario by far

dat woods music
 

koopas

Member
So, I want to play a Gamecube game I haven't played before. My collection is pathetic. However, I do have two candidates I'm deciding between: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. Both are sitting on my shelf, sealed, and have been for more than half a decade (more than 8 years, in Paper Mario's case!)

What has the better music?
The gamecube paper mario is a fantasic game and coming from someone who's played all of the titles in the series I'd have to say it's my favourite.

I hate opening sealed games, this is just me personally but if I was faced with this dilemma I would be more inclined to pick up a cheap disc only copy off ebay to play the game whist keeping that fresh copy sealed.

Then again; is Mario the Players Choice version?
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
The gamecube paper mario is a fantasic game and coming from someone who's played all of the titles in the series I'd have to say it's my favourite.

I hate opening sealed games, this is just me personally but if I was faced with this dilemma I would be more inclined to pick up a cheap disc only copy off ebay to play the game whist keeping that fresh copy sealed.

Then again; is Mario the Players Choice version?

Black label. I don't have any hangup over opening games, though. I bought 'em to play 'em.
 

koopas

Member
In that case I'd say go for Mario first, crack that sucker open and enjoy. It has some pretty colourful humour in it for a mario game and still holds up graphics wise due to the unique visuals it brings. Love that game.
 

DJ Gunner

Member
Don't go down this road.... only pain will you find


*Considers dropping 200 dollars on gc cables*

I'll try and post screen shots in the next couple days, as I have components for both consoles. I don't know why I've never tried this to see for myself.
 

Pappasman

Member
Hey does anyone know If I can get a replacement for the rubber cap on the control stick?

After a while one of my controller's rubber cap has started to split (too much melee I guess) and I've been looking for a way to fix it.
 
Is there anyway you can do 480p? That's what I'm actually wanting to see.

Right now I can't, though it doesn't matter when you're talking about still images to my knowledge.

480i is the same resolution as 480p, it just refreshes each line alternately. In motion it won't look as nice since every alternate line is a frame behind, but for stills it should still be a pretty good comparison.

480i over component is still a hugely noticable difference compared to 480i over composite, that's the biggest difference. Being able to refresh the entire image every frame is just icing on the cake.

Gonna try to get my hands on a couple of US games and a Freeloader just to make sure of this though, just to be sure.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Well, I'm about 6 hours into Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and... yeah. It's really good. Thought it was good in the first chapter, but the second chapter really amped up the atmosphere, and the game made it clear around that point that there's more depth to it than meets the eye.

Unsurprisingly, I feel like a dummy for waiting more than 8 years to open this game up.



Edit: Also, is Eternal Darkness worth picking up? I played like 30 minutes of it back in 2003, thought it was kinda cool... but I have no idea how the game is beyond that, let alone how good it is these days.
 

DJ Gunner

Member
Well, I'm about 6 hours into Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and... yeah. It's really good. Thought it was good in the first chapter, but the second chapter really amped up the atmosphere, and the game made it clear around that point that there's more depth to it than meets the eye.

Unsurprisingly, I feel like a dummy for waiting more than 8 years to open this game up.



Edit: Also, is Eternal Darkness worth picking up? I played like 30 minutes of it back in 2003, thought it was kinda cool... but I have no idea how the game is beyond that, let alone how good it is these days.

I played ED to completion over ten years ago (and my memory isn't as sharp as it used to be) so I picked it up again awhile back and started a new playthrough recently. I'm almost two hours in, and what I can tell you is that once you get past the first couple of "missions" the game picks up dramatically. At first I was kinda like "why did I love this game so much?" and then a particular set of events brought the memories flooding back and gave me the "oh THAT's right!!" moment. So yeah, definitely recommend, and make sure you give it a few hours to properly hook you.
 

koopas

Member
Eternal Darkness is a slow burn but it has some deep scares in it. I'd recommend grabbing it and it shouldn't cost you an arm and a leg.
 
Absolutely positively recommend Eternal Darkness. Pretty much among my top games of that generation.

I love the complexity, depth and breadth of the narrative, the combat controls were a revelation at the time, the sanity effects are*incredible* for the first time and it's a game that I felt still rewarded me for playing through it 4 times.
 

Slermy

Member
Now I don't know if you have a DC or not but I've played both and I prefer skies on DC against the GCN version.

DC one seems to be a little cheaper as well (but not by much)

Owning both, I too prefer the DC version.

The DC version has the VMU Pinta minigame and slightly better audio quality (two 1.2GB discs versus one 1.5GB disc, audio is a bit compressed on the GC), while the GC version has slightly higher-detail polygon models and some additional content, including some tough optional boss fights -- there are some bounty fights, and several against Piastol if you collect the stuff needed for that. The Piastol part has some plot, too. The tougher boss fights were a great addition because the base game is fairly easy. Overall I think the GC version is better, but the DC version is worth a look too if you really love the game.

The music is the big thing for me. A lot of the songs are created with MIDI instruments, and the instrument samples just aren't the same on the Gamecube. It drove me absolutely bonkers, to the point I couldn't play more than a few hours of the Gamecube one. I'm probably biased though since I fell in love with the Dreamcast soundtrack, and even spent a good deal of money to import the official soundtrack from it's original small print run.

Edit: Also, is Eternal Darkness worth picking up? I played like 30 minutes of it back in 2003, thought it was kinda cool... but I have no idea how the game is beyond that, let alone how good it is these days.

Very much so! It's on my short list of games I immediately started another playthrough after finishing it the first time. I was well on my way to a fourth completion before I started on something else.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
The music is the big thing for me. A lot of the songs are created with MIDI instruments, and the instrument samples just aren't the same on the Gamecube. It drove me absolutely bonkers, to the point I couldn't play more than a few hours of the Gamecube one. I'm probably biased though since I fell in love with the Dreamcast soundtrack, and even spent a good deal of money to import the official soundtrack from it's original small print run.

Wow, you're right. I compared the battle theme between the two versions, and the Dreamcast's instrumentation is definitely different, and a lot better. And here I thought compression was the only reason the sound was better on the Dreamcast. I've been meaning to rebuy the game at some point... does the random encounter frequency really drag the DC version down? I've only played through the GC version (well, and the Dreamcast magazine demo), so I have no idea.
 
The music is the big thing for me. A lot of the songs are created with MIDI instruments, and the instrument samples just aren't the same on the Gamecube. It drove me absolutely bonkers, to the point I couldn't play more than a few hours of the Gamecube one. I'm probably biased though since I fell in love with the Dreamcast soundtrack, and even spent a good deal of money to import the official soundtrack from it's original small print run.
I somehow managed to forget to mention that the GC version has a lower encounter rate, a change that many people highly praised. I don't mind the DC version's encounter rate, but it is better on GC for sure. As for the music, it sounds a tiny bit worse, but I can barely tell the difference; it's close. The graphics are improved more than the music is downgraded, I think. And I really like the additions of the bounty and Piastol fights. The game really needed some hard boss fights -- there aren't really any on the DC.

Wow, you're right. I compared the battle theme between the two versions, and the Dreamcast's instrumentation is definitely different, and a lot better. And here I thought compression was the only reason the sound was better on the Dreamcast. I've been meaning to rebuy the game at some point... does the random encounter frequency really drag the DC version down? I've only played through the GC version (well, and the Dreamcast magazine demo), so I have no idea.
The encounter rate is higher on DC for sure, yes. How much that bothers you depends on who you ask, I think. I thought the onscreen minimap helped a lot, so I didn't mind the encounter rate as much as I would in a game without a map I think.
 

Tablo

Member
So what would be the next best thing to component? Kicking myself for not grabbing some when they were 80~ or less $.
Looking to grab a really nice CRT like a Sony PVM to play some Gamecube again. Already have q black GC might look into buying one or more for the future. I have a very emotional attachment to the GameCube XD
First and best console I've ever had. I do need to buy a bunch of those white controllers before they jump in price. 30$ a piece is great, the cords on my originals are too short and they're worn out.
 
So what would be the next best thing to component? Kicking myself for not grabbing some when they were 80~ or less $.
Looking to grab a really nice CRT like a Sony PVM to play some Gamecube again. Already have q black GC might look into buying one or more for the future. I have a very emotional attachment to the GameCube XD
First and best console I've ever had. I do need to buy a bunch of those white controllers before they jump in price. 30$ a piece is great, the cords on my originals are too short and they're worn out.

Next best thing would be a Wii with Component cables to be honest. If that's not an option for you, I'm not sure there's any video output for GameCube that is better than Composite apart from Component.
 

Peagles

Member
So what would be the next best thing to component? Kicking myself for not grabbing some when they were 80~ or less $.
Looking to grab a really nice CRT like a Sony PVM to play some Gamecube again. Already have q black GC might look into buying one or more for the future. I have a very emotional attachment to the GameCube XD
First and best console I've ever had. I do need to buy a bunch of those white controllers before they jump in price. 30$ a piece is great, the cords on my originals are too short and they're worn out.

If you're going to get a PVM, your best bet might be to buy a PAL GameCube and use RGB SCART, it can't do progressive but you can seldom do that on a PVM anyway, and it'll be a lot cheaper than buying a component cable.
 
Next best thing would be a Wii with Component cables to be honest. If that's not an option for you, I'm not sure there's any video output for GameCube that is better than Composite apart from Component.

S-Video is a huge improvement over composite. Though component beats both.

I also remember something about VGA cables, but those are only supposed to work if you have progressive scan turned on in a game. Otherwise, you get no picture at all...so I wouldn't recommend that. They're not official, anyway. It might have been for the Wii instead, too, not sure. I have no idea if PVM's have VGA support, anyway.
 
S-Video is a huge improvement over composite. Though component beats both.

I also remember something about VGA cables, but those are only supposed to work if you have progressive scan turned on in a game. Otherwise, you get no picture at all...so I wouldn't recommend that. They're not official, anyway.

I didn't think there were any S-Video cables that actually work with the GC though? But yes, if there are S-Video cables that actually work then they would be a step up for sure.
 
I didn't think there were any S-Video cables that actually work with the GC though? But yes, if there are S-Video cables that actually work then they would be a step up for sure.

I use S-Video on my GameCube. SNES, Nintendo 64, and GameCube all use the same composite/S-Video cables. I switch mine between the three.

There are also some rare top-loading NES models that also use the same cables, though I'm not sure if S-Video works on those. Composite does for sure, though.


Anyway, not all GameCube's actually support component video. They removed it from later models. It's a separate connection from composite and S-Video, which is quite strange.
 

baphomet

Member
I didn't think there were any S-Video cables that actually work with the GC though? But yes, if there are S-Video cables that actually work then they would be a step up for sure.

They all support svideo. Unfortunately svideo on the cube doesnt look very good in my opinion. I broke down and had peagles buy me a pal gamecube and ship it to me so i could run it in rgb.
 

TnK

Member
Why are GC component cables so bloody expensive? $200 for those things...

I am surprised that there are no 3rd party alternatives.

Then again, only reason I want them is for my GBA player. I can always play GC games on my Wii.

I actually have Skies of Arcadia on the GC, but it is owned by my friend. I am reminded again that I borrowed it from him almost 10 years ago. Need to tell him again that it is with me, lol.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Official S-video cables are expensive too. Usually $50+.

There are a lot of third party ones but they are usually crappy composite+S-video combo cables that just send a composite-quality signal over Y/C, making the difference negligible.

Why are GC component cables so bloody expensive? $200 for those things...

I am surprised that there are no 3rd party alternatives.

Then again, only reason I want them is for my GBA player. I can always play GC games on my Wii.

Nintendo are dumb and put the hardware for 480p output INSIDE the cable. Because Nintendo never released the info about the chip no third parties could make component cables. Maybe someday it will be reverse engineered and some sketchy company will make reproduction component cables, but who knows.

And GC component provides a better picture than Wii component, there are some comparisons floating around in this thread. If you can't get GC component cables Wii is the next best option.
 

Slermy

Member
Wow, you're right. I compared the battle theme between the two versions, and the Dreamcast's instrumentation is definitely different, and a lot better. And here I thought compression was the only reason the sound was better on the Dreamcast. I've been meaning to rebuy the game at some point... does the random encounter frequency really drag the DC version down? I've only played through the GC version (well, and the Dreamcast magazine demo), so I have no idea.

The random encounter frequency is stupid high, but I still enjoyed it. The GC's rate is an improvement for sure.

They all support svideo. Unfortunately svideo on the cube doesnt look very good in my opinion. I broke down and had peagles buy me a pal gamecube and ship it to me so i could run it in rgb.

As others have said, it's definitely dependent on the cables used. I have an assortment of dedicated S-Video cables (no extra composite plug) and it's a very clear difference.
 
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