My Formulative Years With The GameCube

 

My Very First Video Game Console

The 6th generation of consoles contains a steep amount of monumental moments in video game history stored within them. The Sega Dreamcast would mark Sega’s final attempt at the console market, before they would retire from the competition and become a 3rd party publisher. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Microsoft would take its first steps into the console market with the launch of the original Xbox. The absolute juggernaut of the generation however was Sony’s PlayStation 2 (PS2). It’s backwards compatibility with the original PlayStation, stellar launch window lineup containing heavy hitters such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy X, and the ability to play DVDs at a time where those where the hot ticket item with DVD players costing a premium, all contributed to the PS2 dominating the market and becoming the highest selling console in video game history. With so much going on in the background of this generation, the Nintendo GameCube (GC) stands as the odd man out in comparison. The system was outperformed by the PS2 and Xbox in sales by the end year of the generation, although an estimated lifetime sales of approximately 22 million isn’t anything to scoff at. Nintendo finally made the switch from cartridges to disks for their games, though the discs for GC games were proprietary for the system with a smaller form factor compared to regular DVDs, so it still received lackluster 3rd party support compared to its competitors. By all means, one could consider Nintendo a bit of a background player this time around. Yet, I could never view the GC in that light. Not only because of its stellar library, but because the GC was my first ever video game console. In honor of that, this week I’d like to take the time to look back on this pivotal console in my life.

My parents had purchased the GC a little bit before I was born in 2003. My dad had a GameBoy and had an attachment to Mario, so he brought a GC as a way for him to bond with my brother and eventually me.  The GameCube has always been a constant in my life because of this. To me it was this weird little box that gave me direct input in these crazy and unique worlds. While our personal library was small, most of the games my family owned were super colorful and inviting. For a while it was my main source of fun and entertainment, even if I lacked a memory card for a large chunk of my early years with the system. At first I didn’t really notice or mind as I had no concept of what saving a game even meant. However as I grew older I eventually did see the need for one and asked my mom to buy it.

We had the silver colored GC and two controllers, one silver and one purple. The silver one was the one I generally used, while my brother used the purple one. Despite having two controllers, we oddly didn't have a lot of multiplayer games. We had Sonic Riders for a very brief period, but we prematurely lost it after I scratched our copy causing it to become unreadable (my bad). We also had a Mortal Kombat game for a time. Don’t remember exactly which entry it was or how we even got it, but we played it a decent bit. That would also be lost to time however, and this time I genuinely don’t know what happened to it. The game just straight up vanished one day and we were so confused. Not even angry or upset, just straight up lost as to what could’ve happened to it. The final multiplayer focused game we owned was SpongeBob SquarePants: Light, Camera, Pants, which was basically a Mario Party clone based on SpongeBob's world and characters. The game had a story mode that had voiced cutscenes with the original voice cast, though we never fully completed it. 

As one could probably guess, multiplayer wasn’t exactly a big focus during my time with the GC. Two of the three multiplayer centric games we had ended up out of our hands, while the last remaining one we didn’t put a lot of time into. We didn’t have any of the GC Mario Party releases, nor did we have Super Smash Bros. Melee.  Most of my time was spent on single player titles. As I noted earlier our library wasn’t the largest, but what we DID have would end up becoming formulative experiences in one way or another. I’ll go over the games in chronological order from when I first played them. To start us off:

Sonic Heroes: 

Where It All Started

Those who read my first full blog post at the beginning of the year would know that Sonic Heroes was my introduction to gaming as a whole. The game first released in the US on January 6th 2004, exactly one year after I was born. Maybe that was why my parents brought it? My dad was a Mario guy as I stated earlier, so I don’t actually know the reason behind why he chose to buy Heroes. Regardless, this purchase would inadvertently set the trajectory of my life permanently, for better or worse.

I couldn’t give anyone what my absolute first impressions of Heroes were since I was so young, but for a while it was the GC game I found myself returning to the most. The game just had so much life breathed into it. It had all the color and charms of the cartoons I saw on TV, with a sense of style and attitude that was wholly unique to it. The soundtrack, from the vocal themes to the level tracks to Crush 40’s contributions, carried such a strong energy that really made everything I saw stand out to me in some way. The characters were all so new and cool to me, they felt so different from what I had ever seen in my life up to that point. That Sonic guy was so confident and could run super fast! What does it mean for Shadow to have lost his memories (I didn’t understand the concept of amnesia at the time)? Why does this Amy person chase Sonic around everywhere? What does that crocodile mean when he says the agency is in debt? Every team and character stood out to me for a variety of reasons, and the end result was a fascination I never even knew I could feel before.

The Group That Would Permanently Define My Life

Of course, due to not owning a memory card for a long period of time as a child, the amount of progress I was able to make through the game was heavily limited. Once I turned the GC off everything was gone, so inevitably I’d be watching those intro cutscenes and playing Seaside Hill again for the 100th time. But in all honesty, it never bothered me for the most part. The introductions to each team demonstrated so much character that I was always entertained, and Seaside Hill is a phenomenal introduction level that was endlessly replayable. I was obviously excited to have a way to keep my progress upon getting a memory card, but I never regretted all the times I replayed through those beginning stages.

All of these elements melded together to create an experience that I simply couldn’t find anywhere else. I didn’t even know if something like it DID exist anywhere else. Sonic Heroes flourishes in an incredibly strong identity, one that stuck with me through the many long years to come. I may be harsher on the game nowadays, nostalgia can only push my grievances with it back so far, but I will always hold my childhood memories with Heroes in high regard. The feelings and sense of wonder it gave me paved the way for the person who I am today. I quite literally wouldn’t be me if I never played it. An invaluable GC title to me.

Super Mario Sunshine:

The GC's Premiere 3D Mario

Considering my dads fondness for the guy, it was inevitable that Super Mario Sunshine would be another one of the GC games that’s been with me since the very beginning. Growing up, my family actually had two copies of the game. To this day I still don’t exactly know why that was. It’s likely we lost a copy and ended up rebuying the game, only for one of us to unearth the game again. Whatever the case, Sunshine is another game I’d sink some time into, though not nearly as much as Heroes.

To be frank, I just felt the game was harder to play than Heroes. People tend to consider Sonic the tougher franchise to come to grips with thanks to how fast he can be when operating at top speed, but I had gotten so used to how Heroes played that Sunshine slowing things down tripped me up hard. Aiming with F.L.U.D.D. (The Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device) also gave me a lot of trouble as a child. This was likely how I first discovered that over the shoulder aiming in video games isn’t my forte, as aiming with an over-the-shoulder camera still trips me up today. Combine this with how we didn’t have a memory card, Super Mario Sunshine became a game that I liked the aesthetic of, but never made an active effort to get far in as a kid.

My older brother on the other hand flourished with Sunshine. He loved the game, and his desire to complete it was another driving force in us finally investing in a GC memory card. Once we got it, he made a strong effort to complete it and would eventually pull it off. Watching those end credits for the first time was a formulative experience for the both of us. It was the first time either of us had ever beaten a video game in our lives. A core memory I keep with me to this day. Even if Sunshine wasn’t the game I always gravitated to, the memories I had made with it alongside my brother mean so much to me that I wouldn’t ever replace it from our original collection.

Sonic Mega Collection & Sonic Gems Collection:

A Video Game Compilation Masterclass

No child is perfect and I was certainly no exception. Sonic Mega Collection was a “gift” I was totally given organically after annoying them about wanting to play it a lot. Regardless of how I got my copy, it didn’t change the fact that Mega Collection would become another title I sunk a lot of time into as a child.

This was a compilation of most of Sonic's classic 2D outings on the Sega Genesis, along with some bonus Genesis titles such as Ristar and Comix Zone. This was the main way I experienced the classic games as a child, and the collection made an impression just as strong as Heroes. Firstly, the presentation of the collection was nothing short of perfection. Every menu had such a unique and calming aesthetic to it. I’ve never seen or played a game with menus quite as compelling to navigate as the ones found here. Accompanying the menus is the absolutely stellar original soundtrack they composed for Mega Collection. Each dedicated menu section has a personal theme associated with it, and every single one of these pieces are some of the most tranquil and comforting songs in the franchise. I’d totally understand thinking that it’s odd that I put a lot of focus on the aesthetics of the collection itself as opposed to discussing the games first, but the aesthetics was a major part as to why I love this collection. They had so much thought and care put into them that it resonated with me deeply. Off these alone, the game became a happy place for me. A way for my little kid self to completely lose himself and have a space dedicated to relaxing. It’s the standard I hold most game collections to in terms of presentation, and most honestly still miss the mark.

Of course, the games themselves were also really fun to play. As with the previous two entries here, my lack of a memory card prevented any meaningful progress from occurring until I got one. Since classic 2D Sonic games are generally made with the intent of being short and replayable, plus most of the games originally didn’t have a save function originally, so the loss of progress was even less noticeable to my younger self here. Even then, I didn’t make much progress as a kid because I frankly sucked at the games. I could make it past the first two zones of each game, but soon enough I’d find myself staring at the title screen after running into everything and botching jumps all the time. Time was on my side as a child however, so I had ample opportunity to continually learn the ropes of what the games asked of me. While I never became a master, I did eventually learn to hold my own. Nowadays the classics give me much less trouble since I have years of experience under my belt.

It wouldn’t be until a couple years later when I brought Sonic Gems Collection, which was a compilation of some of the “lesser-known” titles in the series. The main three attractions here were Sonic CD, Sonic R, and Sonic the Fighters. The collection also had a large amount of GameGear Sonic titles packaged alongside it. Being another mainline 2D entry in the series, Sonic CD was a notable exclusion in the Mega Collection. While it was nice to finally have that final missing piece of the puzzle, CD wasn’t what I wanted this collection for. I was mainly interested in Sonic the Fighters and Sonic R.

A More Unique Flavor of Sonic

I wouldn’t properly start showing interest in the fighting game genre as a whole for a couple more years, but Fighters mainly appealed to me because of the art style. I adored the polygonal models of the characters and how animated and expressive they were, and I still do today. I like it for similar reasons as to why I adore the models for Mega Man Legends. They moved and expressed themselves in all the right ways, with all the squash-and-stretch and over-exaggerated attacks, that I wanted the game off those alone. Fighters was easily the game I put the most time into in Gems Collection. The game itself wasn’t hard at all to pick up and play, though most of my strategy was simply button mashing to victory. I had fun regardless, and this game probably would go onto sow the seeds in my subconscious that inevitably led to my delving into the wider fighting game genre as I got older.

Sonic R would be another game I poured a decent chunk of time into. A racing spinoff and to my knowledge the only Sonic racing game with the characters running on foot. I mainly played this one as I wanted to unlock everything, mainly the playable Super Sonic. The game itself wasn’t too hard. Each race had a handful of participants in total, and while the control felt a bit wonky I did have a smooth time in my journey to essentially 100% the game. Nowadays, most people only bring up R to talk about the soundtrack, and for good reason. There’s only about 6 songs in total, but even as a kid I knew all of them were great in their own way. A wonderful collection of late 90s tunes that I still seek out when I need a mood booster.

While I wouldn’t say that Gems Collection has as much of an impact on me as Mega Collection, both were games I loved to own and are some of the major highlights of my early GameCube collection. They served their role perfectly, to introduce me to the origins of the Sonic franchise and make me a fan. I never even discussed aspects like the many different promotional artworks and videos included in the collection, which only gave me further incentive to become a life long fan of the series. The GC Sonic collections are some of the best to ever be put out there, and an instrumental part of my childhood experience.

Luigi’s Mansion:

One of My Last Games, And It Was The Launch Title

For the last game I’d like to highlight, I’m focusing on one of the last GC games we purchased, despite the fact that it was a launch title. This pickup was an idea from my brother, who had been watching some lets plays on YouTube about the game and decided that he wanted to get it. Mom found a cheap copy available online that came complete with the case and everything and the rest is history. 

Young me was terrified of horror, and I still am to this day. Despite the fact that Luigi’s Mansion had an incredibly cartoonish artstyle that wasn’t actually meant to be super scary, I still couldn’t stomach getting far past the opening few rooms of the game. Just like Luigi himself (fitting that we’re both younger brothers) I wanted nothing to do with this mansion, so what little glimpses of gameplay I saw were from what my brother played. I remember always being worried that one of the ghosts would just pop out and jumpscare me while watching. Time would work its magic however, as I grew less afraid of the game as I grew older. When we had eventually unearthed the GC from storage  around 2019 - 2020, I would take the opportunity to actually attempt to beat the game.

My Safe Haven

The decade gap between when we first got our copy to when I actually decided to play it for real certainly allowed for me to enjoy the game more. Instead of focusing solely on the idea of a ghost jumping out at me, I could instead take the time to appreciate just how well designed the mansion itself was. Every location has enough visual identity to be memorable, and the mansion was big enough to feel intimidating but not overly large and exhausting. Plus, the core gameplay loop of using the Poltergust 3000 to suck in ghosts was fun. Each ghost has a different way of trying to counter Luigi’s attempt to absorb them in the Poltergust, such as Purple Punchers trying to hit Luigi or Speedy Spirits attempting to flee at an incredibly fast rate. The act of exploring the mansion and catching ghosts never gets old, and combined with the game's short length it makes for an experience that delivers on every front without faltering.

I was incredibly late to it, but despite that I was still able to thoroughly enjoy Luigi’s Mansion from beginning to end. For a game that’s such a departure from what one would normally expect out of Mario, the dev team put their all into it and made something special enough that it would get two whole sequels. One of the GC’s finest, and it was a launch title!

Conclusion - An Unending Appreciation & Love:

While I there are other GameCube games I’ve experienced such as Metroid Prime, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance; I experienced them through separate means such as rereleases, and for this piece I wanted to place attention solely to the games that thorough defined my time with system while I actively played it. Not to say that these games aren’t great (Twilight Princess in particular stands incredibly strong), but they weren’t the pillars that defined the system for me. Even with their exclusion, nothing changes the fact that the Nintendo GameCube firmly defined most of my interests for life.

From my earliest years, I had discovered a whole new realm of joy and fun that left a permanent mark on me forever. I often question just who I would be today had my dad not decided to get us a GC. What would my interests even be? Would I have ever gotten invested into video games or creative work in general? Who would be the people I interact with today? So many fundamental aspects of my life would be radically different had I not had what I did as a child. The thought of that honestly horrifies me a lot, more than any genuine horror could. I’m no perfect person and my life had its many hiccups, but I wouldn’t trade those experiences I had with the GC for the world. The system continues to stand as a pillar in my life after 23 years, those memories serving as a source of comfort and tranquility in the increasingly hectic play of my life. The thought of not having something instrumental to my life like that is devastating.

The Nintendo GameCube was a mere background player for most of its generation. It didn’t completely take the world by storm like the PlayStation 2, it wasn’t the beginning of a radical new shake up like the original Xbox, and it never served as a closing act for the company like the Sega Dreamcast. While it sold well enough and had multiple big time releases, it ultimately was considered a modest success at best for Nintendo. But to me, the GameCube will always be one of the quintessential video game consoles of my time. I internalized so many new aspects of my tastes from that system, and for the first time began to form a semblance of identity for myself. An identity that I would expand as I continued to seek out new games as well as new people to discuss those games with. While it was far from the only activity I enjoyed as a child, it will always be the most influential, the most impactful. I’ll hold love and appreciation for the GC in my heart until the day I die, and I’ll forever scream towards the heavens of just what it did for me.