The Plumber Is Back
Ah, Nintendo. The father of all videogames. Where would we be without Nintendo? Not sitting in front of a tv watching a plumber jump on mushrooms, that's for damn sure. We've had three generations of Nintendo consoles so far. It started with the NES, then came the SNES, and the N64. For a console that was more powerful than the Playstation, it seemed to be less successful. Well, the GameCube is in it's fourth generation, it's senior year, and it's still getting beat up by a sophomore.
After all these years, it's kind of sad to see Nintendo in last place in the 'console wars', especially when it shouldn't be. It has some fantastic exclusives, and you can't go wrong with Mario, but something has gone wrong, and the GameCube is slowly fading away. But why? This is a great console! Allow me to explain.
First of, this little beauty is capable of some great graphics. Just look at games like The Wind Waker, Metroid Prime and the REmake. These are easily some of the best looking games on any console. Especially coming this early from Nintendo, I'm excited to see what games will look like a year from now.
What can be said about the sound? It supports Dolby Digital 5.1. Anything else? No? Let's move on.
Of the three consoles available today, I would say the GameCube looks the coolest right after the PS2. Not much can be said about it, I mean, it is in fact a cube. It kind of works like the original PlayStation, only it plays mini-discs. Unfortunately, this is where the first of several problems arise. Since it plays mini-discs, this means no CD or DVD playback. Normally, this wouldn't be such a big deal, but when both competitors have this feature, it's only common sense to do the same. To add to this glaring drawback, Nintendo has no clear online plans. It's worse than Sony two years ago. While Xbox Live is going on 1 million customers, and Sony is about to release the juggernaut Final Fantasy XI, you think Nintendo would want something to counter this. They better get their act together, or they'll end up far behind Sony and Microsoft.
The controller is kind of strange. It is situated in a manner similar to the DualShock2, but nothing is symetrical. The analog sticks aren't lined up, and overall, it feels a bit uneven. I wouldn't want to play a fighting game with this controller, but it will do just fine for the majority of games out there.
The game library is fantastic. You've got classic Nintendo franchise in: Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Metroid Prime, Star Fox Adventures, The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker, Super Smash Brothers: Melee. And then you also have some stellar franchises coming up in the form of Resident Evil, Viewtiful Joe, F-Zero GX, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. These are some excellent games, and really even them up with the Xbox. PS2 is clearly ahead of both consoles in the game department, but GameCube is not far behind.
I would like to tell you that the GameCube has a bright future, but the simple truth of the matter is that it doesn't. With a lack of online games, it's going to fall further and further behind Sony and Microsoft. But with the game line-up they have, they'll stay in it long enough to give the Xbox a run for it's money.