130 public reviews
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With the fun sounding name and Sega at the helm, I was expecting something much closer to Sega Soccer Slam. Instead, this is a fairly regular baseball game. It does, however, have one big difference to all the other baseball games I’ve played: I could actually perform well. One big difference is that the CPU isn’t perfect, they won’t catch everything you hit, and they won’t hit the ball into the perfect gaps in your…
As I’ve been playing through N64 and GameCube games, I’ve played plenty of over the top arcade style sports games – but it’s surprising that this is the first Football one I’ve covered. Sega Soccer Slam gives us a very small amount of 3 player teams (although there is a cheat for some fun costumes) for you to launch into each other. One big problem with Sega Soccer Slam is that tackling is far too easy, so you can…
Originally released on 64DD, Doshin the Giant is a game that I enjoyed but didn’t quite understand. Luckily, the GameCube version was released in Europe, so I know more about how the game works, which is definitely a good thing, although the game is also not as deep as I was hoping. Doshin the Giant is a “god” game where you control a yellow giant and help a bunch of villagers construct buildings by bringing them…
The original Spy Hunter took the concept of James Bond games and made a fun arcade game about it, which got its own sequel. This version, SpyHunter (no space this time) is kind of a reboot, but does mention that the person inside the car is the same as the original arcade game. However, in the previous few years, James Bond games had ramped up, including its own vehicle based game in 007 Racing. Can the homage do a…
After The World is Not Enough, EA decided that sticking to the schedule of James Bond films wasn’t suited to them, So instead of making a Die Another Day film, EA instead opted to create some brand new Bond adventures, starting with Agent Under Fire. Another notable thing is the lack of Pierce Bronson, instead using a unique design that kind of blends all the Bonds together. Agent Under Fire still sticks to the…
It’s quite amazing how much a control scheme can affect a game. While I enjoyed Gauntlet Legacy for a short while on N64 (it’s a game that’s better with more people), it wasn’t that long until I gave up. Dark Legacy is, for the most part, an enhanced version of the same game, but it plays much better if you pick the right settings. You see, the good control scheme isn’t the default or even the second option. Scroll…
When I was playing through All N64 Games, I came across a few interesting games which I’d heard a lot about that all happened to have next-gen sequels that I had never heard about, due to not being released on the GameCube (and not being well remembered on other platforms). As I’m intrigued about these few games, I decided to include them as a bonus – did the GameCube miss out on not having them? The first up Shadow…
If you were to take screenshots of this alongside screenshots of the N64 motorbike games and ask people to guess which one was a GameCube game, they’d probably vote for Excitebike or Top Gear Hyperbike, with Supercross World getting dismissed outright. Hell, even if this was on the N64, I would be criticising the graphics due to the shoddy textures, low poly models and how none of the objects look like they’re part…
Originally an N64 title called Animal Leader, Cubivore is a very strange game where the objective is to bring wilderness back to the land and defeat the Killer Cubivore to become the King of All Cubivores. The animals are made up of cube-like heads while their limbs comprise of squares in many different layouts to create different forms – called mutations – you can use to your advantage. You start off as a little…
Another arcade port for the GameCube, this time another fun Sega arcade game that had previously had a Dreamcast release. At its heart, it’s an arcade racer, but having to account for the large load behind your vehicle does add a surprising amount of weight to the gameplay. You have to deliver cargo across four routes, although you can go for a higher score by selecting heavier and more difficult cargo. Along the…
Virtua Striker 2002 is a home port of the arcade football game Virtua Striker 3. Unlike many arcade ports, this has a lot added to it – including a comprehensive 4-years “road to International Cup” management mode where you have to train your players, play practice matches and try to make it to the next totally not World Cup. Get a high enough score in the ranked mode (or download a save file) and you can also play…
Four years earlier, Konami produced the official Winter Olympics game but this time round, Eidos got the license instead. That didn’t stop Konami from still making a winter sports game without the Olympic license though and, just like their N64 game, it’s a small number of events that aren’t much fun. One additional issue this time round are the control explanations, which are now videos. This means you can’t read…
Cel Damage is a vehicular combat game with a cel-shaded view. It’s presented as a TV show where these cartoon contestants compete to smash each other to pieces. Screenshots of this game don’t do it justice as everything moves in a stunning way, from well animated characters to the vehicles themselves bending as they turn to capture the brilliant cartoon style. With mayhem flying, it’s quite wonderful. The main mode…
With Sega dropping support for the Dreamcast early, it was only a matter of time until Sonic appeared on a Nintendo console, and it was on an enhanced port of his latest adventure with an improved multiplayer mode and many tiny tweaks to smooth things out (such as removing the Big the Cat Easter eggs). With Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic came over to GameCube during his attitude years. Which means an amazing soundtrack,…
The Simpsons Road Rage is a shameless rip off of Crazy Taxi. Which makes me feel somewhat guilty because I like Road Rage more than Crazy Taxi. The basic premise is identical: you’re in a taxi, pick up passengers and race to their destination before the time runs out, following the guidance of a large arrow at the top of the screen. There are a few differences. The core driving is much simpler. Spinning around and…
Animal Crossing was a game born from the 64DD. The extra space for saving games led to the idea of a game that not only grows with the player, but also grows on its own, which led to a clock being implemented into the 64DD. As development of the 64DD struggled, many features were cut for the initial Japan-only N64 release. There are a few different versions of Animal Crossing. For the original Japanese release, many…
Often said to be the worst game on GameCube. I’ll have to see how it compares when I’ve made it further into my GameCube games, but it’s certainly the first terrible game on the GameCube. You’re a boy visiting Universal Studios, with free reign of the park. Well, sort of. Navigating Universal Studios is apparently utter hell. This game features pre-render backgrounds and fixed camera angles, with no care taken on…
When it comes to basing your game’s identity on a single song, it has to be a good one. Thankfully, “It’s Tricky” by Run-DMC is up to the task and the song shines through at just the right moments, successfully making it feel special when you hear it instead of getting annoyed by its repetition. The SSX games are snowboarding racing games that focus on tricks and my only prior experience is SSX Blur. I didn’t even…
Alongside Rogue Leader, Extreme-G 3 was the other game I got with my GameCube on launch day. An immensely stunning futuristic racer that also manages to be a little soulless at times. The Nintendo 64 had lots of great futuristic racers, and Extreme G, F-Zero, Wipeout and Episode 1: Racer all managed to feel completely distinct at the same time. Instead of improving upon what worked well for previous games, XGIII…
While the N64 Super Smash Bros was a wonderful novelty, Nintendo realised what potential the game had and decided to go all out with Smash Bros Melee, bringing more characters into the fold and adding in a load of extras to make it a love letter to Nintendo’s history. Melee solidified Super Smash Bros as an important franchise for Nintendo, with each game getting bigger and bigger. Singleplayer has gained a few new…
After going through N64 games and its versions of Tony Hawk games lacking a bit in presentation, it’s nice to finally play a full version of the game. The full, good quality songs really add so much to the game, and the soundtrack for Pro Skater 3 is no exception. When I was younger, I played a lot of Pro Skater 4, and a lot of the muscle memory from that still applies to Pro Skater 3, and it still feels great. The…
One thing that Rogue Leader does impeccably well is putting you into the Star Wars universe. Factor 5 captured the look of the films perfectly, and it still looks quite spectacular to this day. One thing I especially love is how well the cockpits are made, different for every ship in the game and each one fully 3D modelled with the ability to look around, seeing parts of your fighter out the windows. It’s an…
Read the full review Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
With the success of NFL Blitz and NBA Jam, it’s quite surprising that it took this long for ice hockey to get the same treatment. With the tackling and actual fighting that goes on in ice hockey, it really is the perfect sport to turn into an other-the top nature, and it works incredibly well here, making this a highly enjoyable ice hockey game. One aspect that Hitz does extremely well are the unlockables. As you…
While Madden 2002 also came out on Nintendo 64, that was just the previous game with some stat changes. The GameCube got the full fledged sequel, which feels like a much different product, even starting off with personality with its own rap song. Knowing nothing about American Football, I was expecting to mess around with it a bit and then move on, but this one features a training mode. While the training mode…
Out of all the Tony Hawk clones, Freestyle BMX 2 is probably the one I’ve seen talked about the most in a positive light. It takes the structure of Tony Hawk games and applies it to another trick-based sport. The biggest thing going for this one is that it has a good amount of levels and isn’t horrible to play, instead being good fun. The biggest difference is that you now have three minutes instead of two.…
Crazy Taxi is a classic arcade game that takes the simple task of driving a taxi and makes it incredibly frantic and hectic. Your taxi is very fast, and you have a very short amount of time to get your passenger to their destination. A large arrow hovers above your head guiding you to your destination (sometimes really well, sometimes a bit off), although you’ll need to learn the routes, shortcuts and locations of…
Batman Vengeance is a video game based on The New Batman Adventures, which is essentially season 3 of the classic Batman: The Animated Series, but with a new visual style to match the Superman TV show. By the time this game had come out, it had ended and had already been replaced with Batman Beyond, which previously had a terrible video game on the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation. On top of this, Batman Vengeance is its…
The All-Star Baseball series trundles onto GameCube but, despite better looking players during gameplay, lacks the presentation of FIFA. It all sounds very muted and unenthusiastic at all, like nobody in the crowd wants to be there. The calls for no ball or strike are also very quiet, with no big on-screen text, leaving the random numbers on the UI the only thing to help you try to follow the game. The batting also…
With how long it took the GameCube to be released in Europe, and how often FIFA games come out (especially in World Cup years), this version of FIFA 2002 never came to Europe, as the next FIFA game was a launch title over here. EA also managed to become masters of illusion with FIFA 2002, as I thought the game looked great when I played it, but the screenshots look really bad. During openings and replays, the game…
I think Nintendo always planned Pikmin as an extra game for just after launch, considering it didn’t become a launch title in any region. Pikmin is an incredibly charming take on the RTS genre of games, where you command a troop of adorable little critters called Pikmin and try to not send too many to their doom as you play. You play as Captain Olimar, a tiny spaceship captain that crashes on a strange planet (which…
With their long rivalry during previous generations, there’s something special about Sega being the only third party to release a GameCube game for its Japanese launch. Sega’s first big third party game wasn’t one of their classic icons, but instead based on a very recent arcade game, all about rolling around monkeys trapped in balls. The core concept of Super Monkey Ball is that you don’t control the monkey…
Wave Race 64 showed how water physics could work in 3D, and how the movement in the water can affect controlling a Jet Ski. Blue Storm, on the other hand, focuses more on just how stunning water can look, being a wonderful technical showcase of what the water can do. There’s so much detail not just in the water itself, but under the water and the surrounding area as well, such as an immense amount of different…
For a launch title, Luigi’s Mansion was an odd choice. It’s a child friendly horror themed game starring the brother of Mario, and isn’t the kind of game you see people buying consoles for. I got a GameCube on launch day (with the EU’s later but bigger launch line-up) and didn’t buy any of Nintendo’s own games with it. I kind of dismissed Luigi’s Mansion altogether, although much later I played Luigi’s Mansion 3.…
Starting off with a bang, one of the Nintendo 64’s launch titles just so happens to be a revolutionary game that’s one of the best games on the system. It didn’t just show the world how platform games could work in 3D, but it set the standard for movement in 3D as well. Despite its legendary status, Nintendo have never given us the port that this game deserves. Super Mario 64 doesn’t need a full remake, just a…
