it had a track editor! It wasn’t good.
the n64 holds up better than people seem to make it out. there’s something joyous and yearning about n64 games that became somehow cynical and overwrought on the gamecube and beyond. compare wave race 64 with blue storm, or 1080 snowboarding with avalanche. compare mario golf/tennis with their gamecube iterations. sm64 with sunshine. ocarina/majora with ww/tp.
the thing about the n64 is that it doesn’t look good on anything but an SD CRT. so if that means it doesn’t age well, then i guess it doesn’t age well. the games themselves, though… man.
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it is definitely true that pretty much everything on the gamecube that was intended as a successor to a beloved N64 title was worse (golf/tennis were basically fine if unnecessary, though; it’s hard to claim they’re actually worse), but that doesn’t mean that the good gamecube games aren’t way better than the good N64 games.
it’s not hard at all. MG:TT has straight up inferior level design to MG, and MPT has the super shots which are busted as fuck and ruin the game
you can just turn those off though
it’s been too long but i could write you up a very detailed argument for why the gamecube versions are not only unnecessary, but strictly worse holistically.
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“holistically” is a good term here, I don’t disagree
as an aside: i’m curious now as to what your list of all-time gamecube greats is
Felix is like The Gamecube Guy, there’s gotta be at least a couple prior threads on that.
Also, the Gamecube podcast episode that he hosted!
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the tip-top list is just
monkeyball 1
f-zero gx
prime 1
melee
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oh i should document in this thread that as far as kart physics on n64 go:
mickey’s speedway usa >>>>> mario kart 64
diddy kong racing and mickey’s speedway usa share an engine, but the one used in mickey’s is far more refined. diddy physics are more appealing and less fucked up than mk64’s, but they are significantly more nonsensical and unintuitive than those of mickey’s.
unfortunately the items in mickey’s are complete and utter trash (i will concede that successfully nailing someone with the baseball feels real good), but the racing engine is just so much better. SO MUCH BETTER. i actually speedrun mickey’s now because the ultimate unlockable character (ludwig) is the most fun and challenging character in the history of karting games, bar none.
oh, the music in mickey’s also arguably comprises a top 5 n64 soundtrack
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door stumbles a bit, but I think it earns its place as Paper Mario’s successor. That said, Paper Mario deserves recognition as a great N64 title from late in the console lifecycle.
thousand year door is also like the only example of a treehouse localization being cute without being cloying, it’s about as much playfulness with one of their big untouchable properties as they’re showing off with the rabbids game now
it’s still a little too facile overall for me to really tout its value to an adult but the script is weirdly good for nintendo
plus the gamecube has tons of not-exactly-great but notable stuff like wind waker and jungle beat and PN03 and the best/first versions of a lot of 4p stuff from that gen like sega soccer slam
seems like a good place to put this:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/n64controllermarket
anyone who likes the n64 knows that the controllers are notoriously prone to wear and deterioration of the analog stick (would have been massively mitigated with a small application of lubricant, which is what you should do yourself if you want a decent n64 stick to last). you can get sticks from the linked facebook group that are essentially brand new. they’ll even generally lube them for you. pretty invaluable if you’re at all serious about the n64
the N64 analog stick was clearly a painstaking effort to create a fully expressed range of motion in 3D space. I played Super Mario 64 recently and i was surprised at how much that game emphasizes careful analog control, it’s way more than you would expect and probably more than the other features of the game are highlighted. Only the camera comes close (also, earlier ITT i called that game’s camera “a train wreck.” I take that back! It’s actually very good for its time & considering it was the first full 3D platformer of its type ever!!)
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Can a discussion of good GameCube games exclude Eternal Darkness and Cubivore and Pikmin and Chibi-Robo?
Although the original on N64 was a better game, the GameCube title includes one of my all-time favorite video game visual design decisions:
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there’s not a thread for this yet but there should be. i would but i’m lazy, DO IT
ANIMAL CROSSING 9which seems like something you would’nt’ve played?)
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Yes it can. Because Eternal Darkness is very very bad. It is like one of the biggest examples of the game getting in the way of the video game. It is like overbearingly obviously bad (much like the game’s systems!) Explaining why it is bad is just a Game Reviewer review of the game where they explain what is in the game to be objective.
And guys I really like 1080 Avalanche :(.
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I bought the Cauterize album because of 1080 Avalanche
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