Archive for the ‘Gamecube’ Category

My Top 30 Favourite Nintendo Franchises: Introduction

Nintendo_125thanniversary

Nintendo. They’ve been around for as long as I’ve played videogames, and they’ve made videogames since before I was born. They are credited with saving the videogame industry from its catastrophic collapse in 1983 and they’ve been producing extraordinarily high-quality games ever since. They possess a wealth of first party development studios that are responsible for some of the most beloved franchises of all time. They are close to the hearts of millions and millions of gamers worldwide. And this month, Nintendo turns 125 years old (Don’t freak out – they weren’t always a videogame company).

To celebrate this momentous milestone, and in anticipation of the release of Super Smash Bros for 3DS on October 4th (itself a celebratory Nintendo party if ever there was one), I will be counting down my personal top 30 favourite Nintendo franchises over the next few weeks. It’s a difficult task to say the least but I’m very close to reaching a settled order, which will of course be my own personal opinion and nothing more.

I hope you enjoy, and long live Nintendo!

By the way, the image at the top of the page was taken from the lovely website TeePublic, where you can purchase it as a shirt from this page! Just saying.

Ten Cubed is…

In some ways it’s hard to believe this day has come. Today is May 17th and that means it is exactly ten years since the launch of the Nintendo Gamecube in Australia.

On May 17th, 2002, ten years ago to the day, my school had a Staff Development Day, so we didn’t have to go to class. It was clearly put on so the teachers could all go grab themselves a shiny new Nintendo Gamecube.

Featuring one of the most comfortable controllers ever designed.

That day represented the first time I had ever purchased a video game console with my own hard-saved pocket money. That little black box was also the first console I had ever taken home on launch day. Its graphical power, quite impressive at the time, blew me away after years playing Nintendo 64 games, but more importantly the Gamecube provided just as many wonderful gaming memories as its predecessor. Its handle and small size meant it never stayed in one place for too long, making temporary homes at friends’ places, where the good times rolled on.

What follows is a list of my top ten favourite Nintendo Gamecube games of all time. Continue reading