The WiiChat Top 91 GC Games

34 cygni

WiiChat Member
Jan 28, 2009
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Thought I'd repost this, as there seemed to be a spike in activity in the GameCube forum after Nintendo sold, like, four or five million new Wiis during the holiday season. Below are the 91 GC titles that were called out by wiichatters in "Best GC game"-type threads from 2006 through mid-2008, when I began totting up the votes.

I'll start this time with the list sorted by popularity, since that's the money shot...


Code:
Super Smash Brothers Melee                    TILT
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker                     86
Resident Evil 4                                 68
Metroid Prime                                   61
Mario Kart Double Dash                          41
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door             40
Super Mario Sunshine                            39
Tales of Symphonia                              33
Animal Crossing                                 28
Metroid Prime 2                                 25
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess              23
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem              18
Pikmin                                          13
Luigi's Mansion                                 11
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle                       11
Resident Evil series (...other than RE4)        10
Soul Calibur 2                                  10
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles                9
Super Mario Strikers                             8

Baten Kaitos series                              7
Naruto: Clash of Ninjas 2                        7
Pikmin 2                                         7
Skies of Arcadia Legends                         7
Viewtiful Joe series                             7

Beyond Good and Evil                             6
Custom Robo                                      6
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance                    6
Phantasy Star Online series                      6
Starfox Assault                                  6

Mario Power Tennis                               5
Mega Man X: Command Mission                      5
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes                5
Need for Speed: Most Wanted                      5
Prince of Persia series                          5
Sonic Mega Collection                            5

Sonic Gems Collection                            4

007: Nightfire                                   3
1080 Avalanche                                   3
Battalion Wars                                   3
F-Zero GX                                        3
Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness                      3
Star Wars: Rogue Leader                          3
Super Monkey Ball series                         3
TimeSplitters series                             3
Tony Hawk's Underground series                   3

Chibi-Robo                                       2
Def Jam Fight for NY                             2
Harvest Moon series                              2
Killer 7                                         2
Lego Star Wars series                            2
Medal of Honor: European Assault                 2
Mega Man Anniversary Collection                  2
Mega Man Network Transmission                    2
NBA Street                                       2
NFL Street vol. 2                                2
Pokemon Channel                                  2
Pokemon Colosseum                                2
Simpsons Hit and Run                             2
Sonic Riders                                     2
Spiderman 2                                      2
SSX Tricky                                       2
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter                         2
Starfox Adventures                               2
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland                   2
WWE Day of Reckoning series                      2

007: Agent Under Fire                            1
Bloody Roar: Primal Fury                         1
Call of Duty series                              1
Crazy Taxi                                       1
Dead to Rights                                   1
Donkey Konga series                              1
FIFA 07                                          1
Goldeneye: Rogue Agent                           1
Hunter: The Reckoning                            1
Mario Party 4                                    1
Mario Party 7                                    1
Midway Arcade Treasures                          1
Monopoly Party                                   1
Mortal Kombat: Deception                         1
Mystic Heroes                                    1
Second Sight                                     1
Sims: Busting Out                                1
Sonic Adventure DX                               1
Spartan: Total Warrior                           1
Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly                       1
Star Wars: Rebel Strike                          1
Tomb Raider: Legend                              1
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4                         1
Wario World                                      1
Wave Race                                        1
XIII                                             1


The obvious question is, of course, "Why would any sane person do this when we have Metacritic?"

Call me crazy if you must, but I'm vastly more interested in what the user base says about a game after they've been playing it (or not...) for six months than I am in the opinions of paid reviewers. A title with unimpressive reviews and poor sales that somehow ends up with a loyal following is more intriguing to me than one that gets good press and sells big right out of the gate but doesn't generate quite so much enthusiasm down the road. The "long tail" of my list was thus of particular interest, as I figured any GameCube title that still, years later, had even one or two fans out there willing to speak up on its behalf might be worth investigating.

Besides, reviewing games is a business, and money talks...
 
Last edited:
  • Thread Starter
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  • #2
Next is my original list... I created this in July, 2008, after noticing that the "What is your favorite GameCube game?" thread had been running for over a year.

I'm a "lapsed gamer" who missed a few console generations before buying a Wii, and backwards compatibility with GC software is thus one of my favorite features -- there's a library of 500 games out there! Separating the wheat from the chaff was easy up to a point... When the time came to expand my collection of used GC games beyond that point, the "favorite GameCube Game?" thread seemed like the obvious place to start -- the wisdom of crowds and all.

Below are the total nominations through July 7, 2008. There were further posts after that date, but IIRC the thread was petering out by then and died of natural causes come autumn.


Code:
007: Agent Under Fire                            1
007: Nightfire                                   3
1080 Avalanche                                   2
Animal Crossing                                 21
Baten Kaitos series                              3
Battalion Wars                                   0
Beyond Good and Evil                             5
Bloody Roar: Primal Fury                         1
Call of Duty series                              1
Chibi-Robo                                       2
Crazy Taxi                                       1
Custom Robo                                      3
Dead to Rights                                   1
Def Jam Fight for NY                             1
Donkey Konga series                              1
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem               5
FIFA 07                                          0
F-Zero GX                                        1
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles                3
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance                    4
Goldeneye: Rogue Agent                           1
Harvest Moon series                              2
Hunter: The Reckoning                            0
Killer 7                                         0
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess              16
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker                     42
Lego Star Wars series                            2
Luigi's Mansion                                  6
Mario Kart Double Dash                          17
Mario Party 4                                    1
Mario Party 7                                    1
Mario Power Tennis                               1
Medal of Honor: European Assault                 2
Mega Man Anniversary Collection                  1
Mega Man Network Transmission                    2
Mega Man X: Command Mission                      4
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes                4
Metroid Prime                                   22
Metroid Prime 2                                  9
Midway Arcade Treasures                          1
Monopoly Party                                   1
Mortal Kombat: Deception                         1
Mystic Heroes                                    1
Naruto: Clash of Ninjas 2                        4
NBA Street                                       2
Need for Speed: Most Wanted                      3
NFL Street vol. 2                                2
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door             18
Phantasy Star Online series                      4
Pikmin                                           7
Pikmin 2                                         2
Pokemon Channel                                  2
Pokemon Colosseum                                1
Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness                      2
Prince of Persia series                          0
Resident Evil 4                                 23
Resident Evil series (...other than RE4)         3
Second Sight                                     1
Simpsons Hit and Run                             2
Sims: Busting Out                                1
Skies of Arcadia Legends                         3
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle                       11
Sonic Adventure DX                               1
Sonic Gems Collection                            4
Sonic Mega Collection                            5
Sonic Riders                                     2
Soul Calibur 2                                   9
Spartan: Total Warrior                           1
Spiderman 2                                      2
Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly                       1
SSX Tricky                                       1
Starfox Adventures                               0
Starfox Assault                                  5
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter                         2
Star Wars: Rebel Strike                          0
Star Wars: Rogue Leader                          1
Super Mario Strikers                             2
Super Mario Sunshine                            18
Super Monkey Ball series                         2
Super Smash Brothers Melee                     FTW
Tales of Symphonia                              16
TimeSplitters series                             2
Tomb Raider: Legend                              1
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland                   1
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4                         0
Tony Hawk's Underground series                   1
Viewtiful Joe series                             4
Wario World                                      1
Wave Race                                        0
WWE Day of Reckoning series                      2
XIII                                             0


Note that entries with zero votes indicate titles nominated in other threads and counted in the expanded list, below...
 
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #3
Next, the totals from the peanut gallery when the above numbers are combined with nominations from the following threads (note that no effort was made to eliminate duplicate votes by people who posted in multiple threads):

"Favourite Game" started by Riviet on May 15, 2006

"Best Game you've played on the Gamecube" started by Close on October 23, 2006

"Last GC game you ever buy?" started by otacon138 on November 15, 2006

"The best game for GC" started by SonicFalcoBrawlwii on December 19, 2006

"Old GC Game Recommendations?" started by MasterJedi2U on January 30, 2007

"Best gamecube game" started by zachp18 on March 30, 2007

"The Best GameCube Game" started by Shadow20074 on May 17, 2007

The expanded list is significant because it includes nominations from before and not long after the Wii's launch, when the games in question were still fresh in people's minds, if not actually still being played. It's interesting (to me, at least...) to see, for example, that the "early adopters" stood up for Eternal Darkness, but not Beyond Good and Evil; for Pikmin 2, but not so much for Soul Calibur II; for Prince of Persia, but not Lego Star Wars; and that they stood up not at all for a certain hedgehog, nor a certain spy of renown...


Code:
007: Agent Under Fire                            1
007: Nightfire                                   3
1080 Avalanche                                   3
Animal Crossing                                 28
Baten Kaitos series                              7
Battalion Wars                                   3
Beyond Good and Evil                             6
Bloody Roar: Primal Fury                         1
Call of Duty series                              1
Chibi-Robo                                       2
Crazy Taxi                                       1
Custom Robo                                      6
Dead to Rights                                   1
Def Jam Fight for NY                             2
Donkey Konga series                              1
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem              18
FIFA 07                                          1
F-Zero GX                                        3
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles                9
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance                    6
Goldeneye: Rogue Agent                           1
Harvest Moon series                              2
Hunter: The Reckoning                            1
Killer 7                                         2
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess              23
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker                     86
Lego Star Wars series                            2
Luigi's Mansion                                 11
Mario Kart Double Dash                          41
Mario Party 4                                    1
Mario Party 7                                    1
Mario Power Tennis                               5
Medal of Honor: European Assault                 2
Mega Man Anniversary Collection                  2
Mega Man Network Transmission                    2
Mega Man X: Command Mission                      5
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes                5
Metroid Prime                                   61
Metroid Prime 2                                 25
Midway Arcade Treasures                          1
Monopoly Party                                   1
Mortal Kombat: Deception                         1
Mystic Heroes                                    1
Naruto: Clash of Ninjas 2                        7
NBA Street                                       2
Need for Speed: Most Wanted                      5
NFL Street vol. 2                                2
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door             40
Phantasy Star Online series                      6
Pikmin                                          13
Pikmin 2                                         7
Pokemon Channel                                  2
Pokemon Colosseum                                2
Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness                      3
Prince of Persia series                          5
Resident Evil 4                                 68
Resident Evil series (...other than RE4)        10
Second Sight                                     1
Simpsons Hit and Run                             2
Sims: Busting Out                                1
Skies of Arcadia Legends                         7
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle                       11
Sonic Adventure DX                               1
Sonic Gems Collection                            4
Sonic Mega Collection                            5
Sonic Riders                                     2
Soul Calibur 2                                  10
Spartan: Total Warrior                           1
Spiderman 2                                      2
Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly                       1
SSX Tricky                                       2
Starfox Adventures                               2
Starfox Assault                                  6
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter                         2
Star Wars: Rebel Strike                          1
Star Wars: Rogue Leader                          3
Super Mario Strikers                             8
Super Mario Sunshine                            39
Super Monkey Ball series                         3
Super Smash Brothers Melee                     FTW
Tales of Symphonia                              33
TimeSplitters series                             3
Tomb Raider: Legend                              1
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland                   2
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4                         1
Tony Hawk's Underground series                   3
Viewtiful Joe series                             7
Wario World                                      1
Wave Race                                        1
WWE Day of Reckoning series                      2
XIII                                             1
 
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #4
And, finally, a little useful info for new gamers...

To play GameCube games on your Wii, you'll need a GameCube controller. Nintendo has a well-deserved reputation for building rock solid hardware, so you can't go wrong if you stick with their sticks. Unfortunately, they stopped making Wavebird wireless GC controllers, and their tethered controllers only have 6' cables (except for this white one with a 3m cord that's apparently only sold retail in Japan) though you can get 6' extension cords that can be daisy-chained. And if you're DIY-friendly, it's cheap and easy to splice in some six-conductor, low voltage cable and extend the cord to pretty much any length you want.

This ThrustMaster wireless controller fills the gap in the market and seems to be well regarded by both reviewers and gamers. It's not without problems, but it has rumble and remapping, which Wavebirds lack.

If you're put off by the high prices on some of the "prestige" titles (I've seen Pikmin 2 retailing for $50 in my area, and Ye Olde Game Shoppe only recently dropped the price of SSBM from $30 to $25), be aware that there are some real gems available for $10 or less that'll get your collection started on the right foot, including F-Zero GX, Luigi's Mansion, Metroid Prime, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Soul Calibur 2, and the TimeSplitters titles. In fact, I picked up Viewtiful Joe (a platformer with a great gimmick that was on everybody's "Game of the Year" list in 2003) and 007: Nightfire (which some folks in these parts will tell you is the GameCube's best FPS) for under $5 each.

Can't beat that with a stick.
 
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