Nintendo Gamecube Review

Released just before the Wii, the Gamecube was met with mixed reviews, as some said it was good and some saying bad. Nintendo learnt from good - and bad - feedback from their N64 controller to make this controller, and the Gamecube was mostly bought for it's cheap price (being only £20 now for all plugs, a controller and the system), but is that all it was bought for?

Let's start with the memory. It's a strange thing. Instead of saving on a hardrive, you have to buy a memory card separately. I don't know if thats for all Gamecubes but it was for me. Due to this, it does make it lighter, but on the downside it will cost you a whopping £20 for a memory card with only a few GBs of memory. Not that that matters, though, the games take few memory.

The controller looks strange, but it's actually quite simple. Just like an Xbox controller, the d-pad and joysticks are in the same place. That's simple, because I'm used to the Xbox controller. DualShock users will have to get used to it though. The start/pause button is in a good place, too, and it's great there's one button for pause and not two. Buttons are somewhat unique, with two buttons at the top, and a B button diagonally below the A button also being slightly smaller. What I don't like about it, though, dosen't lie with the console; and instead the games.

The games have some okay but awkward controls. Usually, the trigger button is used for nothing or moving, and the A button to shoot. That's fine, but why not have the trigger button to shoot? I mean, it is called the trigger button. Whilst there is an incredibly small library for games, there are some great games on the Gamecube, such as Mario Kart, True Crime: Las Vegas, Resident Evil 4, Legend of Zelda: Windwaker, and much more. Saying that, they missed the chance to put on games like Half Life.

Let's talk about the console design. It's a square console. I guess Nintendo messed up with the Wii, and forgot it was good for a square console and not controller...? I don't know. It definatley makes good use of the small size, wasting no space to put on the fans, controller ports, and disk holder. What's strange though is how small the disks are. They have cases the size of Xbox 360 ones, but in reality, they only need to be as big as DS cases to fit in the game, and the manual can be shrunk down.

A downside is the lack of accessories. Aside from different colour controllers, there's... NOTHING. You have no plugholes for coolers, no special things, or anything else. That's a shame. With the N64, you had transparent controllers to small controllers. Same with Wii, but I'm NOT saying Wii is good.

Gamecube was great, but nothing special. If you want a full-out beast-looking hardcore machine, give it a pass, but if you just wanna enjoy some retro games, get it. It is only £25 at the smallest.

CONSOLE SUMMARY AND SCORE: Nothing special, but definitely fun. 7.5/10, aka 3 stars.