looking for advice: Nintendo Gamecube

[FrogMan]

Let me preface this by saying that I am just about totally clueless when it comes to gaming consoles. I've never owned one, unless you count the Intellivision as a gaming console ;) and because of that was never really attracted to follow the gaming scene all that much.

Here's my story. While thinking about Christmas gift for Andrew, our 8 and a half year old, and after seeing a Toys R' Us flyer, the price for the Nintendo Gamecube struck me as kind of cheap: on sale at $120 cdn, or about $105 US. In fact I just saw the platinum edition at Wal-Mart for $97 cdn, or about $85 US.

Being that I'm cheap (and that we're on a budget) I'm thinking this could be a console that could do the trick for a 8 year old. My question to people who either own one, or follow the console scene is this: am I thinking right? Would my son have fun with the kind of games available for the Gamecube?

Then, looking at some game selling sites, I'm seeing that there are versions of Madden 2006, NHL 2006, and other big names, available on the Gamecube. Are these good version, or does the fact that they're for the Gamecube makes them kind of low quality? If they're half decent, then I'm thinking that the Gamecube could make a toy for son and daddy as well ;)

Price is very important in that decision. We have a computer, as you would expect ;), but it's coming to a point that while it can do the important stuff (i.e. run FM2006 :D and surf the net) I'd have ton upgrade a couple little things in order for it to run the newest games for the kid. I tried running the demo for Lego Star Wars and got the message that my graphics card was unable to run the game. (Add to the story above that my son is really into Star Wars and there is a version of said Lego game for the Gamecube.) As I said, the PC is doing everything it needs to do and I don't plan on changing it in the next 6 months to a year, and I don't want to go spend about $500 cdn for the new XBox that is coming out in a couple of weeks...

Anyway, any input is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

FM

[Galaxy]

What is your son into? Nintendo does make the best "kid-friendly" games out the three systems. As for the sport games, never played them on the Cube.

[terpkristin]

Paging SI.... :D

Sorry FM, I don't own a GameCube nor have I played one, so I'm really not much use to you. :)

/tk

[FrogMan]

What is your son into? Nintendo does make the best "kid-friendly" games out the three systems. As for the sport games, never played them on the Cube.
don't know what you mean by into though he loves sports, soccer in particular. As I said, Star Wars is big with him right now as are his Legos, making the SW Lego game an incredible fit. Spider-Man and superheros in general are also a big hit...

FM

[sterlingice]

FM, you have my AIM address (or can easily see it underneath my name on the board). Unfortunately with this whole car thing at the moment, I don't have a lot of time to type out a giant mess of reviews of what games you might like, etc. But I can answer pretty much any question you have, if you send me an instant message.

SI

[Galaxy]

don't know what you mean by into though he loves sports, soccer in particular. As I said, Star Wars is big with him right now as are his Legos, making the SW Lego game an incredible fit. Spider-Man and superheros in general are also a big hit...

FM


Sorry, should of been more clearer. I meant what type of games would he enjoy. Sounds like you cleared that up.

[FrogMan]

Sorry, should of been more clearer. I meant what type of games would he enjoy. Sounds like you cleared that up.
well, what kind of game he'd like is a bit unclear to me since as I said, we've never had a console in the house, and he's only 8, so just about any game looks cool to him right now ;)

FM

[Galaxy]

well, what kind of game he'd like is a bit unclear to me since as I said, we've never had a console in the house, and he's only 8, so just about any game looks cool to him right now ;)

FM

Color me stupid for not fully reading the first post more carefully. Long day. :D

[FF]

the EA games are fine and are of no less quality, its just that the controller isnt as friendly as ps2. thats not to say its not playable, its just that its a little different.

if he likes soccer, super mario strikers just came out (i think) and im willing to bet that its atleast pretty entertaining for an 8yr old. all of the other mario games (save mario baseball which was kinda lame) are really fun too.

[FrogMan]

the EA games are fine and are of no less quality, its just that the controller isnt as friendly as ps2. thats not to say its not playable, its just that its a little different.

if he likes soccer, super mario strikers just came out (i think) and im willing to bet that its atleast pretty entertaining for an 8yr old. all of the other mario games (save mario baseball which was kinda lame) are really fun too.
Good, thanks for the tips, especially the EA games comments...

FM

[Airhog]

I think there are very few brand specific games for the gamecube that you can go wrong with. Any of the zelda, mario, metroid, other games, are all pretty appealing. If the gamecube has came down that much in price, I might have to pick on up, just so I can play all of those games now.

[Eaglesfan27]

Personally, I dislike EA sports games on the Gamecube, mainly because the controller, but also some other minor things. That being said, if I had never played them on the Xbox or PS2, I probably wouldn't mind playing them on the Gamecube. I do know that my 9 year old step-brother has a blast playing his Gamecube and there are a nice number of kid friendly games for the system.

Also, with the Revolution coming out in the next year or so, the price of Gamecube games should theoretically drop at least a bit.

[Airhog]

Ive always had a soft spot for nintendo, since my first real console was the NES. and I also had a super NES. Didn't own a n64, but my friend had one, and I borrowed it for a few months.

[FrogMan]

Personally, I dislike EA sports games on the Gamecube, mainly because the controller, but also some other minor things. That being said, if I had never played them on the Xbox or PS2, I probably wouldn't mind playing them on the Gamecube. I do know that my 9 year old step-brother has a blast playing his Gamecube and there are a nice number of kid friendly games for the system.

Also, with the Revolution coming out in the next year or so, the price of Gamecube games should theoretically drop at least a bit.
You're coming to the same 2 conclusions as me. (1) I've never played any console, so how bad can Madden be on the Gamecube, lousy controllers or not? (2) my son isn't really a connoisseur of console either, so about anything will be cool for him at least for a little while...

Thanks everyone. Also great thanks to SI who helped me a great deal over AIM...

FM

[Hurst2112]

Funny, I have a gamecube with a handful of games that is sitting around collecting dust. Got it new for xmas 2 years ago. played super mario sunshine and 2 splinter cells to death. don't use it now.

pm me if you would like to discuss a transaction.

[Fidatelo]

You can't go wrong with the GC, especially for an 8 year old that has never owned a console. He'll love it, and likely so will you!

[vex]

FM, the Gamecube is perfect for an 8 yr old.

[Galaxy]

Super Mario Kart is a fun game.

[Eaglesfan27]

Super Monkey Ball (I think that is a title) is also a fun game for the Gamecube.

[sterlingice]

I pointed him towards Mario Kart, Smash Bros, and Super Monkey Ball (1&2) when chatting on AIM as those are perfect games for the situation.

SI

[MikeVic]

I find more of the "fun, play it for a bit" games on the Cube. The MegaMan Anniversary Collection is awesome. :) And I play NCAA 2004 on my Cube, and enjoy it as well.

[FrogMan]

thanks for the help guys, the wife is about to agree with another computer thingie kind of new toy for son (and daddy ;)).

The comments from Fidatelo and vexroid were about what I was looking for.

Hurst2112, thanks but I'll pass, as it will be for a Christmas preesent for the kiddo.

EF27, as SI said, he pointed me toward the Super Monkey Ball game and that was pretty funny, since that game was the first I took in my hand from the bargain bin at Wal-Mart last night. Looked interesting enough that I thought I could have fun with Andrew with it :)

Thanks again!

Now if you know more interesting games, even from and maybe mostly from the bargain bins, let me know...

FM

[Shkspr]

Make sure that you pick up Eternal Darkness far a little daddy time after the kid goes to bed. Don't buy the strategy guide or read any walkthroughs for at least a week or two. :)

[Airhog]

Just wanna echo what someone else said, get mario kart. The one game my parents actually enjoyed playing with me...

[Fidatelo]

The Mario Party games are fun for the whole family, it's like a board game with all sorts of little easy to pick up mini-games thrown in around the board. You should be able to get Mario Party 4 or 5 pretty cheap, as they are up to #7 now but time doesn't hurt the old ones at all.

Super Monkey Ball was a great suggestion.

[vex]

And SuperSmash Brothers is great for multiple people to play, lot of fun.

[Eaglesfan27]

thanks for the help guys, the wife is about to agree with another computer thingie kind of new toy for son (and daddy ;)).

The comments from Fidatelo and vexroid were about what I was looking for.

Hurst2112, thanks but I'll pass, as it will be for a Christmas preesent for the kiddo.

EF27, as SI said, he pointed me toward the Super Monkey Ball game and that was pretty funny, since that game was the first I took in my hand from the bargain bin at Wal-Mart last night. Looked interesting enough that I thought I could have fun with Andrew with it :)

Thanks again!

Now if you know more interesting games, even from and maybe mostly from the bargain bins, let me know...

FM
I had fun playing Super Monkey Ball with my brother-in-law, so I think you'll enjoy it some, and the kiddo will most likely love it :)

I'll also second Eternal Darkness as a great Daddy game. My wife's father bought it and I played it for a few hours when visiting him once. Definitely not a game for the kiddo, but it is a fun game ;)

[Philliesfan980]

Is the gamecube making a comeback? It's nice to see this thread emerge, I'd like for people to share fun game playing experiences that are less than the $60 alternative (360).

[FrogMan]

The Mario Party games are fun for the whole family, it's like a board game with all sorts of little easy to pick up mini-games thrown in around the board. You should be able to get Mario Party 4 or 5 pretty cheap, as they are up to #7 now but time doesn't hurt the old ones at all.

Super Monkey Ball was a great suggestion.
Funny you mention Mario Party #7, the local wal-mart has a bundled kit with the console, MP#7, 2 controllers and some sort of microphone for $130cdn. Compared to $100cdn for the console alone, that's not a bad deal I think, since i it's got an extra controller and the game for $30cdn...

Thanks for the suggestion.

FM

[FrogMan]

Is the gamecube making a comeback? It's nice to see this thread emerge, I'd like for people to share fun game playing experiences that are less than the $60 alternative (360).
Don't know about a comeback, to me it'd be making an entry into our household ;)

Sharing fun games that could be found in the bargain is my aim for now though :)

For example, I could be tempted to get some of the 2005 version of some of the EA games unless there are outrageous advantages at getting the latest version...

FM

[FrogMan]

got another question for you all: is a memory card a must or not? What is its purpose? Is it simply to save your games to replay later?

FM

[sterlingice]

Yeah, a memory card is a must. For instance, as you play though Mario Kart and beat levels, you unlock more levels and more racers. Same with Smash Bros- you unlock more fighters as you play along. This is the type of data saved. If it's anything like here, the little 59 cars run ~$20 while the 1019 cards run ~$30. Pay the extra few bucks and get the big one. If you play any sports games or any other large save games, you'll need it.

SI

[FrogMan]

SI, I saw the 1019 for $39cdn in the Wal-Mart flyer we got this week. I'm taking your word for it and would get the bigger one, but what's the difference between the two? Simply more space? In what proportion (1.5 times, twice, more)?

Thanks again.

FM

[MikeVic]

SI, I saw the 1019 for $39cdn in the Wal-Mart flyer we got this week. I'm taking your word for it and would get the bigger one, but what's the difference between the two? Simply more space? In what proportion (1.5 times, twice, more)?

Thanks again.

FM

17 times more. :)

59 means 59 blocks, while 1019 means 1019 blocks.

[FrogMan]

17 times more. :)

59 means 59 blocks, while 1019 means 1019 blocks.
is that right or are you pulling my leg? :confused:

Seriously, this is pretty big in terms of difference between the two...

FM

[Philliesfan980]

This thread makes me want to get a cube, I'm 25, will these games keep me entertained?

[Super Ugly]

Probably too late for this thread, but I have a GC - I bought it so I could play games like NCAA Football without buying a modified console. Sadly, it seems as though Gamecubes are on their way out (at least, they are over here), but I've had fun with mine. The controller's a bit weird at first, but you soon get used to it.

[MikeVic]

is that right or are you pulling my leg? :confused:

Seriously, this is pretty big in terms of difference between the two...

FM

Yeah, it's true. The 1019 came out not too long ago I believe... when I first got my Cube, only the 59 and 251 were available.

[FrogMan]

This thread makes me want to get a cube, I'm 25, will these games keep me entertained?
can't really speak for him, but SI is 25 and the way he spoke about it on AIM, I'd say you can become quite passionate about it... Guess it depends on what you are looking for. Try hitting SI on AIM if you can see him online...

FM

[FrogMan]

Yeah, it's true. The 1019 came out not too long ago I believe... when I first got my Cube, only the 59 and 251 were available.That's cool. Don't know how much the 59 is going for around here, but if the difference in price is really as small as what SI was hinting, then the 1019 really is the one to get...

FM
PS: just checked on amazon.ca and they have the 251 for 21.99 and the 1019 for 39.99, still much better to shell out the 10 extra bucks to quadruple the memory, imo...

edit: and they have the 59 for 14.99, would be crazy to go for the really small one at that price....

[FrogMan]

Probably too late for this thread, but I have a GC - I bought it so I could play games like NCAA Football without buying a modified console. Sadly, it seems as though Gamecubes are on their way out (at least, they are over here), but I've had fun with mine. The controller's a bit weird at first, but you soon get used to it.
never too late, that's good input you're giving. Thanks for sharing.

FM

[FrogMan]

got another silly question for you: what about racing games, are they any good?

I'm not looking for anything super realistic in terms of physics, simply something enjoyable and maybe a bit more realistic than Mario Karts (which I'm sure would be tons of fun with my son). I see that Need for Speed is available on the Cube, is it any fun?

FM

[sterlingice]

The 251 might do just fine for you but it depends on what games you end up playing.

Here's a couple of sample lists:
hxxp://www.tendofire.com/home1.html
hxxp://www.planetgamecube.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=10&threadid=704

So, for instance, Super Monkey Ball takes less than 10 while Smash Bros takes just over 10. You can fit 25 games on that 251 card at that rate. However, for instance, a Madden or All Star Baseball franchise can take over 100. Not many non-sports games take nearly that much. The only couple of things I can think of are Animal Crossing (59) and Sims 2 (147).

SI

[sterlingice]

can't really speak for him, but SI is 25 and the way he spoke about it on AIM, I'd say you can become quite passionate about it... Guess it depends on what you are looking for. Try hitting SI on AIM if you can see him online...

FM
Well, this really is what it all comes down to. If you like the nicest looking sports games and FPSs, you're going to be disappointed with anything that's not the big black paperweight. If you want the Sony exclusives like R&C or Jak or stuff by Square, get a PS2. If you like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, and other Nintendo-exclusive stuff like Animal Crossing, Pikmin, F-Zero, Tales of Symphonia, etc- then get a Cube. In the end it's all about the games you like to play.

SI

[FrogMan]

The 251 might do just fine for you but it depends on what games you end up playing.

Here's a couple of sample lists:
hxxp://www.tendofire.com/home1.html
hxxp://www.planetgamecube.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=10&threadid=704

So, for instance, Super Monkey Ball takes less than 10 while Smash Bros takes just over 10. You can fit 25 games on that 251 card at that rate. However, for instance, a Madden or All Star Baseball franchise can take over 100. Not many non-sports games take nearly that much. The only couple of things I can think of are Animal Crossing (59) and Sims 2 (147).

SI
thanks for the info. I had a brain fart comparing the prices of the 251 and 1019 (21.99 vs 39 is NOT 10 bucks, duh) so I may go with the 251 for now.

Another stupid question (I'm good with stupid nintendo questions, I've found ;)): Are these memory cards like flash memory stick for the PC? I mean, could I have many of them?

I'm asking in case we discover in a year from now that the son is really having tons of fun with the cube and we need more storage, then would it be possible to get a second one and have two of them that we swap in and out...

Thanks again!

FM

[FrogMan]

Also, anybody has any answer to this one:

got another silly question for you: what about racing games, are they any good?

I'm not looking for anything super realistic in terms of physics, simply something enjoyable and maybe a bit more realistic than Mario Karts (which I'm sure would be tons of fun with my son). I see that Need for Speed is available on the Cube, is it any fun?

Any good racing game you've enjoyed in your nintendo gaming?

FM

[Raiders Army]

Not sure if they have it for the GC, but SSX is pretty good.

[Ramzavail]

thanks for the info. I had a brain fart comparing the prices of the 251 and 1019 (21.99 vs 39 is NOT 10 bucks, duh) so I may go with the 251 for now.

Another stupid question (I'm good with stupid nintendo questions, I've found ;)): Are these memory cards like flash memory stick for the PC? I mean, could I have many of them?

I'm asking in case we discover in a year from now that the son is really having tons of fun with the cube and we need more storage, then would it be possible to get a second one and have two of them that we swap in and out...

Thanks again!

FM

There are two slots for memory cards and you pull them in and out and you can have as many as you want.

I have the GC and its perfect for an 8 year old kid. There is no question in my mind that you should buy that.

I'm not into racing games, so I have no frame of reference but Mario Kart is a blast. :)

[FrogMan]

There are two slots for memory cards and you pull them in and out and you can have as many as you want.
Thanks, exactly what I wanted to be sure of.


I have the GC and its perfect for an 8 year old kid. There is no question in my mind that you should buy that.
We're pretty much set to go that way. Until last xmas, we really didn't think he was ready to understand us limiting him on the playing time and because of that, we had shunned him on the nintendo request. While he's talked about getting a Gamecube from time to time (at first calling it a Gamecute, we're French speaking ;)), he's not bugged us about it for xmas this year. I do know that he's having a very sweet time every time he goes to my sister's and play with her on her N64 on which she's picked up a ton and a half of bargain bin games, so I thought he'd enjoy the Cube. Now with everybody's comments, I know he'll enjoy it, and probably I will too :D Now the trick will be to keep it a secret and not have him get way too excited about the Lego catalog he just received, from which he's making a list to aask about everybody in the family for outrageously overpriced new trend legos. He's already got tons of legos which are all taking a lot of space floor in his playroom. The Cube will serve two bill: (1) have parents and aunts give him games and not space taking new toys, and (2) free the computer a little so daddy can have it a bit more ;)

Then if I can play with him with some of these games, this could be very cool. I'm a big kid too :)


I'm not into racing games, so I have no frame of reference but Mario Kart is a blast. :)
Mario Karts is almost a given that we'll have to get at some point. He's played it on my sister's N64 and he had a blast...

FM

[sterlingice]

Yeah, unfortunately, I don't really know much about racing games. I know there are a couple of Need For Speed games released for Gamecube. Obviously there's Mario Kart but it's not a pure racing game. I have F-Zero GX which is really fun with great level design but it's tremendously hard and is futuristic racing- again, not typical racing game. I also have Wave Race, but same thing- not a race car game but water ski racing- pretty fun but it was pretty difficult.

SI

[FrogMan]

Yeah, unfortunately, I don't really know much about racing games. I know there are a couple of Need For Speed games released for Gamecube. Obviously there's Mario Kart but it's not a pure racing game. I have F-Zero GX which is really fun with great level design but it's tremendously hard and is futuristic racing- again, not typical racing game. I also have Wave Race, but same thing- not a race car game but water ski racing- pretty fun but it was pretty difficult.

SI
The F-zero GX is one I saw and found it interesting. I'm not really looking for real racing (not in the Nascar vein if you know what I mean) and maybe that F-zero could be worth a try. I'm asking about racing games more for me than for kiddo, so the difficulty aspect, I think I could deal with. :)

Thanks for the tip.

FM

[sterlingice]

By hard, I mean hard for adults. It has a really wicked degree of difficulty in that I still have yet to beat any but the first cup on expert difficulty. That said, the lower ones are beatable and I just love the track design- some are evil, but they're very good.

SI

[FrogMan]

didn't think about difficulty levels. If you set it to the easiest, would a kid be able to play it? Just took another look at the box cover and it looks like a bunch of superheros, falling in Andrew's style ;)

FM

[sterlingice]

I'm not entirely sure about how "kid difficulty" rates these days, but I have no problems beating the lowest levels at this point despite not having picked up the game in a couple of months.

SI

[FrogMan]

Not sure if they have it for the GC, but SSX is pretty good.
that's a surfing/skiing game, right?

looks kinda cool, would have to see... thanks for the suggestion!

FM

[FrogMan]

I'm not entirely sure about how "kid difficulty" rates these days, but I have no problems beating the lowest levels at this point despite not having picked up the game in a couple of months.

SI
yeah, you with no problem with probably mean a nice challenge for him, but probably playable. Thanks, that gives me a feel for it...

FM

[FrogMan]

This "project" is taking an interesting turn. Last night when my parents were at our place, I talked to my mom about xmas gifts for Andrew, knowing she usually likes to get that out of the way early and that he'd already started bugging them with requests. I asked her if she and my sister (Andrew's godmother) knew what to give to Andrew and she said that no they didn't but were about to ask us, especially since he'd started asking for stuff :)

I told her we'd thought a Gamecube could fit the bill as a sort of group purchase (I don't want my parents to buy too much since they're paying for great parts of the finishing of our basement, and my sister's got their expenses of their own) to which she almost immediately replied that my sister was ready to buy him one last year when we subtly hinted that he was probably too young to enjoy it :)

Anyway, I had found a pretty good deal on the Gamecube at a Canadian subsidy of Best Buy called Future Shop. They have a bundle that includes the console with an extra controller and Mario Party 7 going for $120 cdn (http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10068346&catid=11163&logon=&langid=EN) so I pointed this out to my mom (fyi, bestbuy.com has the same at $99us (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7565805&type=product&productCategoryId=cat02163&id=1128990079013)). We'll probably pay part of it and have my sister give it to Andrew while we'll buy the Star Wars Lego game and give it on our side. Giving is so much better than receiving at Christmas, especially as a kid grows a tad older. He doesn't believe in Santa anymore, yet can appreciate when he's recieving something nice. I can't wait to see his face when he'll tear the wrapping paper and he'll see the gamecube logo inside :) Then again when he'll see the Star Wars logo on the other game :)

I kept shopping and found this memory card from MadCatz (http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10067201&atab=&spviewed=&newlang=EN&logon=&langid=FR). They seem to say it's the same as a 1019 but only selling at the price of a 251. Another question: is a MadCatz card as good as a Nintendo brand card?

I also read a little about the Revolution and saw that it should be fully backward compatible. Kinda cool...

Anyway, thanks everyone for all the help. I now have a list with a bunch of games I'll be looking for in the next few weeks ;)

FM

[Ramzavail]

I would just like to state that the Star Wars Lego game is the best Star Wars game ever made. Its fantastic.

I used to buy Madcatz controllers in college for the lack of $ I had. They were awful, I don't know if it translates to memory cards but I'd avoid them like the plague.

[FrogMan]

I would just like to state that the Star Wars Lego game is the best Star Wars game ever made. Its fantastic.
The trailers looked pretty sweet and funny with semi-bloopers inserted in there (like anakin having trouble getting his light saber to light up ;))


I used to buy Madcatz controllers in college for the lack of $ I had. They were awful, I don't know if it translates to memory cards but I'd avoid them like the plague.
Okay, note taken for the controllers and I can understand how they could be awkward/plain bad to use, but what anybody else knows about their memory cards? I mean, it's not as if we'll be handling it all the time.

I used to have a racing wheel from MadCatz on my old pc and while it was the cheapest available, it ran kinda well...

FM

[Ramzavail]

They are $15 off Nintendo's version. I'd go for it but don't be surprised if something evil happens :)

[FrogMan]

They are $15 off Nintendo's version. I'd go for it but don't be surprised if something evil happens :)
My thoughts exactly ;)

Wal-mart is the cheapest I've seen a 1019 go for and it's at $39cdn (bestbuy.ca has it at $40cdn), so that $20cdn is a good $19cdn off the price of a Nintendo brand.

As a comparison, the 251 is selling for $22cdn at amazon.ca, that MadCatz1019 is cheaper than a 251 from Nintendo...

FM

[FrogMan]

dola, just saw that futureshop.ca has the Nintendo1019 for $35cdn with an instant $5 rebate...

FM

[sterlingice]

I'd go with the Nintendo branded cards and controllers, if you can. I have 4 memory cards and 4 controllers (including the Wavebird) and and have had no problems at all. I know this is from a while ago, but I only had 3 memory cards for the PSX and one of mine was an off brand and it died but the two Sony ones were just fine so I've been skittish to go off brand ever since.

Lego Star Wars looks really fun :)

Oh, as an aside, if you see one on sale- get a Wavebird. They are easily worth the cost of a cheap game which is about how much they are ($20-$30). They're the Nintendo wireless controller and they have a range of about 100 miles or so :p Seriously, there is no place in my apartment that I can't play from. And the batteries last forever. I have a set of rechargeables that I rotate in and out and it takes at least 50 if not 100 hours for them to wear out.

SI

[FrogMan]

thanks for your input SI. I'll keep that in mind for the memory card... As I said, the deal looks incredible although I wouldn't want the thing to die on me a couple months from now...

Lego Star Wars does look fun. I'm sure I'll have fun with it too :)

I have seen the wavebird going for $39cdn at walmart and while it probably won't be for now (since he'll have 2 controllers from the start, better than only one), I thought it could be something to get him for his birthday which comes in March...

Thanks again for your input...

FM

[sterlingice]

That's a bit high. Retailers around here have been marking it down to $20 or sometimes less, which is on par with a "greatest hits" game and at that point, it'd be worth jumping on.

SI

[FrogMan]

That's a bit high. Retailers around here have been marking it down to $20 or sometimes less, which is on par with a "greatest hits" game and at that point, it'd be worth jumping on.

SIgreatest hits, or "player's choice" as they call it seem to be selling at $29.95cdn unless they do some real good sale. I talking about online sales, as I didn't check the price the last time I was at wal-mart (when I had Super Monkey Ball in my hands).

I just saw that amazon.ca has the wavebird at $33.96cdn (http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005BOSF/qid=1132684735/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/701-8005150-4069108) and that's really the lowest I've seen it. At the same time, to compare, they have Smash Bros Melee also at $33.96cdn (http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005Q8M0/ref=pd_sim_dp_3/701-8005150-4069108). I've some supersavers out there at $20cdn, but they're kinda rare...

FM

[FrogMan]

Well, it's a done deal although Andrew will only know about it on xmas day :) My sister bought the console a couple days ago, the day after I told my mom about it in fact. Kinda funny, she got to talk to some Nintendo enthusiast (my mom says it was a representative from Nintendo that was at a Wal-Mart although I doubt her memory ;)) that talked to her about the upcoming Revolution. My mom was all proud to tell me that any game we'd buy for this console will be completely playable on the new one when it comes out and that that person told her to sort of hold off on buying the more expensive games as price will be coming down with the coming of the new console (that's what makes me doubt him/her being a Nintendo representative ;))...

And yesterday, I picked up three games from the bargain bin they had at the local Wal-Mart. For $18.93cdn each, I got Super Monkey Ball 2, Sonic Megacollection, and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. Super Monkey Ball had been recommended by many in here and after looking carefully at the box, I was reminded why I though it looked cool. It's got some funky sports played by them monkeys like baseball, soccer, tennis, bowling and even billiards. Should be cool to play with the kid :)

The two Sonic game, well I thought would be good startup games. The Megacollection is what the name implies, a collection of about all the early Sonic games all crammed into one box. The Sonic Adventure 2, well I didn't know much about it but thought it looked interesting.

Sad thing though, they were out of the Lego Star Wars even though they had it on shelf last weekend. bummer. That's the one game I really want to get him and I'll be hunting it down in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks again everyone for your comments and suggestions. I know I sort of made it look like a big deal, but to us, it is a big deal. As much the "giving a console to a 8 year old" as the "we don't want to spend too much" part...

If you got any good game suggestions, please feel free to share them. I'm taking notes :)
FM

[Fidatelo]

Awesome to hear! I'm sure you'll all have loads of fun!

You mention the sports in Super Monkey Ball, amazingly the one that I had the most fun with was the 'hang gliding' one where you run off a cliff, open the ball up like a little glider and then try to land on the landing zone. Not sure why, but that one is a blast!

[FrogMan]

Awesome to hear! I'm sure you'll all have loads of fun!

You mention the sports in Super Monkey Ball, amazingly the one that I had the most fun with was the 'hang gliding' one where you run off a cliff, open the ball up like a little glider and then try to land on the landing zone. Not sure why, but that one is a blast!
Was that in the "2" or the first one? I'm sure we'll discover much stuff in that game as it seems loaded with a whole lot of stuff. The sports were simply what I saw first. Loads of fun, I'm sure :)

And you know what, I'm looking forward to butting head with my son on these games, actually excited. Almost feels like I'm the one who's the kid getting the toy :D

FM

[Philliesfan980]

Was that in the "2" or the first one? I'm sure we'll discover much stuff in that game as it seems loaded with a whole lot of stuff. The sports were simply what I saw first. Loads of fun, I'm sure :)

And you know what, I'm looking forward to butting head with my son on these games, actually excited. Almost feels like I'm the one who's the kid getting the toy :D

FM

Yeah, this gift is like the guy getting their wife a bowling ball for their birthday ;). Congrats on the purchase. I'm really considering getting a refurbished one since they are getting pretty cheap (around $60), just for Mario Karts and other Mario games that are out there.

[FrogMan]

Yeah, this gift is like the guy getting their wife a bowling ball for their birthday ;). Congrats on the purchase. I'm really considering getting a refurbished one since they are getting pretty cheap (around $60), just for Mario Karts and other Mario games that are out there.
hahaha, hey! I'm not Homer! :D

The one big difference is that my son will be excited about the gift too. Not sure I could say the same about my wife and a bowling ball ;)

FM

[Fidatelo]

Was that in the "2" or the first one?
I think it was in both of them.

[Marc Vaughan]

Good call in getting the GC - my sons had one for a year or so and loves it (although he enjoys stealing time on his big sisters Xbox also ... if only to wind her up ;) ).

I'd suggest one of the Mario Party versions as a game which the family can enjoy (its basically a board game with lots of small arcade games in it) - get one of the slightly older ones second hand and it'll be just as much fun as the 'newer' ones ..

[FrogMan]

thank Marc, always good to hear from a daddy "in the know" ;)

Everything you said is about what I'd pictured about the Gamecube. I'm sure we'll have tons of fun with it.

And don't worry, cutting edge, other than for sports sim ;), isn't really what I'm looking for. Easy entertainment will do it :)
FM

[FrogMan]

hrm, you edited your reply right as I was writing mine :)

The bundle he will get comes with Mario Party 7 and that too I'm sure will be lots of fun. Even more so that my sister and her husband have a N64 and enjoy playing it, so they'll be sure to stop by every once in a while to come play with me and Andrew :)

FM

[sterlingice]

Was that in the "2" or the first one? I'm sure we'll discover much stuff in that game as it seems loaded with a whole lot of stuff. The sports were simply what I saw first. Loads of fun, I'm sure :)
The hang gliding one is in both but it's more refined in the 2nd. Basically, it's like Pilotwings and really fun. Had a lot of competition among us science and engineering dorks- trying to play with the physics of it all to get better. Btw, never play a pool or golf game against physics dorks. The four of us who got the most use on it are myself (comp sci), a theoretical physics grad student, an astronomy grad student, and a history major.

I have Sonic Collection. Loved playing particularly Sonic and Sonic 2 again. The Sonic Adventures are a little more iffy- Sonic team just hasn't been able to adapt that well to the new 3d world.

SI

[FrogMan]

The hang gliding one is in both but it's more refined in the 2nd. Basically, it's like Pilotwings and really fun. Had a lot of competition among us science and engineering dorks- trying to play with the physics of it all to get better. Btw, never play a pool or golf game against physics dorks. The four of us who got the most use on it are myself (comp sci), a theoretical physics grad student, an astronomy grad student, and a history major.

I have Sonic Collection. Loved playing particularly Sonic and Sonic 2 again. The Sonic Adventures are a little more iffy- Sonic team just hasn't been able to adapt that well to the new 3d world.

SI
Cool.

I don't have many physics dorks amongst my friend to be honest so we should be all right. :D I may be a geek, but not that big a geek :p

Good to know about the Sonic games. We'll see how much playing time they'll get :)

Thanks again!

FM

[sterlingice]

Yeah- the physics students are scary when playing those types of games. You just can't win very often against them.

Also, I have the Mega Man Anniversary Collection and it's got Mega Mans 1-7, I think. Those are a bit harder than Sonic, tho.

SI

[FrogMan]

Also, I have the Mega Man Anniversary Collection and it's got Mega Mans 1-7, I think. Those are a bit harder than Sonic, tho.

SI
I saw the Mega Man collection, if not in that bin, somewhere on the net. Harder, but are they fun/entertaining? As prices could drop and as Andrew picks up skills with the Cube, I may include it in my must have for the future...

Funny thing about that bargain bin yesterday. I went to wal-mart during Andrew's karate class that lasts an hour. Had a bunch of other stuff to get in the wal-mart plus had fill up the car prior to that, so I was running almost short on time when I got to that bin. Now, I'm sure you've seen bins like that, games for about every possible gaming console, at least I saw some xbox, PS2, and GBA games in there but at first I couldn't find the one I really wanted to get: Super Monkey Ball. I had seen it last Friday and it right on top. That copy probably got sold or something and the copy I bought yesterday was almost at the very bottom of the big bin. Got it, paid my stuff and got to the karate class with about a minute to spare, games well hidden under the front passenger seat :)

FM

[Airhog]

Mega man is quite tough. I don't think I ever beat most of them. Probably one of the most difficult side scrollers around...

[Eaglesfan27]

And yesterday, I picked up three games from the bargain bin they had at the local Wal-Mart. For $18.93cdn each, I got Super Monkey Ball 2, Sonic Megacollection, and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. Super Monkey Ball had been recommended by many in here and after looking carefully at the box, I was reminded why I though it looked cool. It's got some funky sports played by them monkeys like baseball, soccer, tennis, bowling and even billiards. Should be cool to play with the kid :)
FM

I really enjoyed playing the soccer, tennis, and billiards with my young brother-in-law. They should be great fun for you and your kid :)

[sterlingice]

Yeah, they're not quite as impossible as the original Ninja Turtles but they are hard and you kindof need to read up on them before you play (ie when you beat a boss you get their weapon and some are strong against other bosses and some of the bosses are impossible to beat unless you have one of the weapons that's strong against them). Beating Mega Man 3 is still one of my best gaming accomplishments to date.

As for getting both Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2- it's not all that necessary if you have 2 and he plays that first. It's almost always better to start with the older one and work your way up to subsequent ones because in good gaming series there are quite a few refinements that are added from one game to the next and the interface and gameplay for the older one almost always seems cumbersome by comparison.

SI

[FrogMan]

Yeah, they're not quite as impossible as the original Ninja Turtles but they are hard and you kindof need to read up on them before you play (ie when you beat a boss you get their weapon and some are strong against other bosses and some of the bosses are impossible to beat unless you have one of the weapons that's strong against them). Beating Mega Man 3 is still one of my best gaming accomplishments to date.
Ok, thanks for the info, I may have to think twice about getting that one then. Also thanks to Airhog, re: difficulty.


As for getting both Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2- it's not all that necessary if you have 2 and he plays that first. It's almost always better to start with the older one and work your way up to subsequent ones because in good gaming series there are quite a few refinements that are added from one game to the next and the interface and gameplay for the older one almost always seems cumbersome by comparison.

Yeah, once I got my hand on #2, I kind of thought we'd forget about #1. Will spend the money on other games instead ;)

FM

[FrogMan]

I really enjoyed playing the soccer, tennis, and billiards with my young brother-in-law. They should be great fun for you and your kid :)
Thanks, I'm sure they will be great fun, especially in the holiday break, where I expect we will play quite a bit :)

FM

[terpkristin]

Yeah- the physics students are scary when playing those types of games. You just can't win very often against them.
HEY! I resemble that remark! ;) :D :)

Meanwhile, sounds like you and Andrew are going to have a blast with the new toy, FM. :) Just don't be like my mom was with the original NES and Dr. Mario.

My mom and I are both very competitive. Well, she grew sort of addicted to Dr. Mario and wanted to play head-to-head against me all the time. Needless to say, I always won. At some point, she wanted to win so badly that she kept me up, playing against her until midnight or so (on a school night, when I was about 10), just so that I was tired enough that she finally beat me. :D

I don't think it harmed me in any way, but sure as heck is one of the things I'm not likely to forget--ever! ;)

/tk

[FrogMan]

HEY! I resemble that remark! ;) :D :)

Sorry tk, I forgot you in my physics major friends, but you're not close enough to come play with us :p


Meanwhile, sounds like you and Andrew are going to have a blast with the new toy, FM. :) Just don't be like my mom was with the original NES and Dr. Mario.

My mom and I are both very competitive. Well, she grew sort of addicted to Dr. Mario and wanted to play head-to-head against me all the time. Needless to say, I always won. At some point, she wanted to win so badly that she kept me up, playing against her until midnight or so (on a school night, when I was about 10), just so that I was tired enough that she finally beat me. :D

I don't think it harmed me in any way, but sure as heck is one of the things I'm not likely to forget--ever! ;)

hehehe, funny story. Don't worry, I'm much more the dictator when it comes to screen time. Right now, Andrew is kind of kept to 30 minutes of computer time on school night and he usually gets them while we're getting dinner ready. On the weekends it's something like 30 minutes in the morning and another 30 minutes later on in the day, except if it's a bad rainy day... That was one other reason why we decided to hold off on getting him a console last year. He was asking to go to the computer all the time and was getting whiny/pissed off when we'd explain to him that he had this much computer/TV he could do in a day and he had all used it in the morning. We even had instituted this "coupon" system where every day was worth six 15 minutes coupons. Two of them were PC/TV while the last four were TV only. He got the picture after a week of using them or so. We ditched the coupons a couple months later and now, he doesn't even bother asking for more computer time once he's done with his 30 minutes in the day... For that reason, I thought it would be easier to reason with him about not spending ALL of his time in front of the Cube...

FM

[Craptacular]

You guys are making me want to run back out and buy a GameCube and every Zelda game available. Last year (two years ago, I don't know), I had one in my hand at WalMart, walked around with it, and just couldn't get myself to buy it. It was the console with the Zelda package for $90. I still have my NES, and a friend and I bought an N64 together when it came out (I sold my share to him later). The Zelda series is my favorite series of games ... period. Arcade, consoles, board, computers, anything.

Damn you. ;)

[sterlingice]

I don't suppose I should point out that there's Windwaker for Gamecube. Then there's Four swords which is kindof a co-op/competitive Link to the Past looking game (sort of, not quite). Then there's the two combo discs with Ocarina of Time/Master Quest and Zelda (NES)/Zelda 2 (NES)/Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask. And then there's the gameboy player and you could play the old SNES Link to the Past, or new offerings like Link's Awakening (GB), Oracle of Ages/Seasons (GBC), and Minish Cap (GBA). Plus there's the all new Twilight Princess that will be out sometime next year and will no doubt be one of the top three games for the Gamecube ever with Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4. But that would just be wrong to bring up. ;)

SI

[FrogMan]

well, just heard from my mom who's gone to her local wal-mart. She bought two games at $18.93cdn a piece and was lucky enough to get two that I had not bought, without even talking to me beforehand! :D

Anyway, she bought "Sonic Heroes" which, from what I read on ign.com, looks like a fun 3D plateformer, and a "Spyro" game. Couldn't tell which one it was (there are two out for the Cube) but it seems like a kid oriented 3D plateformer that Andrew should fun playing...

After recommendation from my sister, she also got the "Namco Museum: 50th anniversary" game for $28cdn. My sister has a similar pack for her N64 and being the child of the late 80s/early 90s that she is, she likes :) Funny thing is, when I told my wife about the games included in that pack (Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Pole Position), she went like "oh wow, I used to play these all the time!". I'm sure she'll log in some Cube time with her son herself ;)

I still have not been able to get my hands on a copy of "Lego Star Wars" but I'm pretty sure we'll see some show up at one point. I just saw that it was released on the Cube much later than on the other two consoles, October 27 in fact, so it should still be on the reorder list of most stores. Even though Andrew's already set to start with many games in his collection (plus two more to talk about in a moment), that one is a must buy. I'll keep hunting for it until I find it. I could go online but when I saw it at Wal-Mart, it had a French title on the front of the box, something like "Lego Star Wars, The Video Game, Le Jeu Vidéo" and since it could turn out to be an adventure like kind of game, I'd rather try to find a game with a French track on it...

The other two games are ones that I ordered from futureshop.ca with a $10cdn rebate when you buy two Gamecube games. I bought Andrew "Spider-Man: The Movie" that even though I've read that the one for the second movie was better and the "Ultimate" one was even better, I know he will flip simpoly because it is Spider-Man :) The second game was the first "daddy" game I bought and I got "Need For Speed Underground". That's the first of the series. Read an interesting review at IGN and thought this could make for some fun. Spider-Man was selling for $20cdn and NFSU was going for $30cdn but with the $10cdn off, I got both of them for $40cdn total and free shipping...

Including the Mario Party bundled with the console, Andrew will have 10 games to choose from, should be plenty to keep him entertained for a while ;)

FM

[Eaglesfan27]

FM, sounds like you a really hooking Andrew up :)

As far as the spyro game. I don't know which one my Brother-in-law was playing, but he loved it. However, he had difficulties with a lot of areas and needed to ask for fairly frequent help. Andrew might end up needing your help as well to get past certain parts.

[FrogMan]

FM, sounds like you a really hooking Andrew up :)

As far as the spyro game. I don't know which one my Brother-in-law was playing, but he loved it. However, he had difficulties with a lot of areas and needed to ask for fairly frequent help. Andrew might end up needing your help as well to get past certain parts.
If you read most of the thread carefully, you'll see I'm about as giddy as he would be shopping for these things :)

I'm sure I'll end up trying most of the games either before him, or with him watching me so I'll help him out I'm sure...

FM

[Craptacular]

I don't suppose I should point out that there's Windwaker for Gamecube. Then there's Four swords which is kindof a co-op/competitive Link to the Past looking game (sort of, not quite). Then there's the two combo discs with Ocarina of Time/Master Quest and Zelda (NES)/Zelda 2 (NES)/Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask. And then there's the gameboy player and you could play the old SNES Link to the Past, or new offerings like Link's Awakening (GB), Oracle of Ages/Seasons (GBC), and Minish Cap (GBA). Plus there's the all new Twilight Princess that will be out sometime next year and will no doubt be one of the top three games for the Gamecube ever with Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4. But that would just be wrong to bring up. ;)

SI
Urge to kill: RISING!

[DeToxRox]

I am getting a GC for the new Zelda, which is out next year.

I am pumped for that f'ing game.

[Galaxy]

They're the Nintendo wireless controller and they have a range of about 100 miles or so :p Seriously, there is no place in my apartment that I can't play from.



Can you see the TV with the console from the toliet? Would certainly be an awesome thing if you could. :D

[FrogMan]

would be awesome until the day happens where you drop the controller in the bowl :D

FM

[sterlingice]

Can you see the TV with the console from the toliet? Would certainly be an awesome thing if you could. :D
No, unfortunately there is a wall in the way. Same with the fridge http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/images/smilies/mad.gifhttp://www.operationsports.com/fofc/images/smilies/mad.gif

SI

[sterlingice]

The Museum and Anniversary collections can be fun. As I said, I have the Mega Man and Sonic ones. Tho both actually have 2 collections (there's a Mega Man X set and a second Sonic collection but all it has is Sonic CD and some junk). I also have the Zelda ones but those are somewhat unique.

SI

[Galaxy]

would be awesome until the day happens where you drop the controller in the bowl :D

FM

I did do that once, not with a controller, but a piece of medical equipment ,that is in my body and I CANNOT lose, flew out as I was flushing the toliet....

I don't think I ever reacted as quickly as that day.

[FrogMan]

Time for another stupid question... How's the Cube hooked up to the TV? Is it with the same kind of A/V cables as for a DVD?

I'm asking this after seeing this RF adapter over at toysrus.ca (http://www.toysrus.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10054&productId=36921). They say that "The Nintendo GameCube RF Switch Set allows you to connect your Nintendo GameCube to an older television or VCR that does not have Audio/Video inputs." I'm thinking that either of the two TVs we currently have would qualify as older TV as one is about 20 years old (19", was used as my C64 monitor, I'm 35, had my C64 when I was 15, you do the math ;)) and the other is easily 15 years (a small 13" that my wife got about two years before we started going out together and in two weeks, it'll be 13 years, again you do the math ;)). In fact, I had to get a box like that to connect our DVD player, although our digital TV box connects to the 19" one through regular coaxial cable. Yeah, I know we're not getting super digital quality by connecting it that way but we're getting a new 27" flat screen JVC for Xmas (my gift, been saving money for a little while now :D).

Then, if I really need an RF adapter thingie, would any adapter of that sort do? As I said, we already have one to hook up the DVD player to the living room TV (the 19" one) and we won't need it once we change the TV, which should happen around xmas time. Could I take that one and hook the Cube through it. What it basically does is take the A/V input from the DVD and puts out a coaxial connection that I then connects to the TV. I'm thinking this should do the trick for the Cube too...

Thanks again for any help...

FM

[sterlingice]

I'm not entirely sure if the nuts and bolts of your current RF adapter will work but by the sounds of what you describe, it should. That said, I've never tried it so I can't be certain. In other words, I'm useless for knowing about this

BTW, if you know any place that has N64 stuff on clearance, the N64 RF adapter is identical to the Gamecube one so if you can pick up an N64 one for $5 on clearance, do that instead.

SI

[FrogMan]

I'm not entirely sure if the nuts and bolts of your current RF adapter will work but by the sounds of what you describe, it should. That said, I've never tried it so I can't be certain. In other words, I'm useless for knowing about this

BTW, if you know any place that has N64 stuff on clearance, the N64 RF adapter is identical to the Gamecube one so if you can pick up an N64 one for $5 on clearance, do that instead.

SI
if the N64 is the same, I'll ask my sister if she doesn't have one by any chance. She's got an N64 and they changed their TV recently, meaning she had the N64 before changing TV, so she probably needed an RF adapter to hook it up to their previous TV...

I'm think ours could do the trick too, will have to take a look at it after Andrew's gone to bed tonight. He probably wouldn't know why I'm looking at that black box sitting on top of the TV but is curious enough to ask what's the use of it ;)

Thanks for the info...

FM

[FrogMan]

Well, the shopping has sort of slowed down as I received the two games ordered from futureshop.ca yesterday (Spider-Man and Need For Speed) and my mom was able to find the Lego Star Wars game and she brought it home last night, with the good news that she found it with the price dropped $5cdn to $35cdn. I'm still unsure if it's got a French track inside but everything on the outside of the box seems to indicate so, with every presented both in English and French.

These last three games bring us to 10, which I *think* should be more than enough for now ;) I still would like to find a memory card, quite possibly a Nintendo brand 1019 card as I read too many little negative reviews about the MadCatz to try my luck at having one die on us after 6 months...

Among other good news, I found out a couple days ago that futureshop.ca had discounted the exact same bundle my sister had bought from $119.99cdn to $109.99 and I told her, since they have the same kind of minimum price guaranteed policy as Best Buy has. She went and was able to get $10 back :)

I was looking for a way to let my parents know what game we have, in case they stumble upon a bargain bin deal in the future as was the case with my mom last week, and came upon www.ign.com (http://www.ign.com). Wow, pretty sweet setup they got over there. I've set up a wish list and collection over there and will send the link to it to my parents :)

sterlingice, speaking of ign, I found a user named "SterlingIce" with a frightening wishlist and collection of mostly Nintendo stuff and who seems to be a big Nintendo enthusiast. Could only assume it was you and I added you to my "watched users" list. ;) I'm QcFrogMan over there fwiw...

If anybody has an account over there, let me know and I'll add you to my list of watched people, not that I'm really the stalker type :)

FM

[sterlingice]

It's not frightening. I only have ~250 games. ;)

Actually, the frightening thing is that I have even more than that on my want list.

SI

[FrogMan]

It's not frightening. I only have ~250 games. ;)

Actually, the frightening thing is that I have even more than that on my want list.

SI
well, it is frightening to me ;)

FM

[sterlingice]

To be fair, over 100 of those are NES and SNES and those cost peanuts (mostly).

SI

[FrogMan]

To be fair, over 100 of those are NES and SNES and those cost peanuts (mostly).

SI
that's what I said, you're a Nintendo nuts, err enthusiast :D

FM

[sterlingice]

To be fair, I have quite a few PSX and Dreamcast games, too. And I'll get a PS2 at some point when the price starts dropping even more. Not sure if I'll ever get the big black paperweight- it has some good games but I think my list of those is about 10 deep. If you don't care about having the latest and greatest shooter or sports game, there's not much there.


SI

[FrogMan]

To be fair, I have quite a few PSX and Dreamcast games, too. And I'll get a PS2 at some point when the price starts dropping even more. Not sure if I'll ever get the big black paperweight- it has some good games but I think my list of those is about 10 deep. If you don't care about having the latest and greatest shooter or sports game, there's not much there.

Yeah, well as I said before, this will be the first console to enter our home so we'll take it from there. I'm sure that Andrew will guide whatever way we go in the future as he's the oldest of our two sons by almost 7 years. The Andrew of now at 8 and a half will probably evolve into a much different Andrew in only 2 years so we'll see how it goes from there. Looking at you (and my sister with her N64), I'm pretty sure he can grow with the Gamecube for a couple years more ;)

FM

[hukarez]

sterlingice, speaking of ign, I found a user named "SterlingIce" with a frightening wishlist and collection of mostly Nintendo stuff and who seems to be a big Nintendo enthusiast. Could only assume it was you and I added you to my "watched users" list. ;) I'm QcFrogMan over there fwiw...

If anybody has an account over there, let me know and I'll add you to my list of watched people, not that I'm really the stalker type :)

FM
Wow, I can't believe I actually still have an account there! Anyways, my lists needs updating (I know I'm omitting a ton more PC and NES and regular GB games), but it's still there! http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/images/smilies/biggrin.gif (Hukarez)

[FrogMan]

well, Santa has come and delievered ;)

Andrew kinda froze when he saw the Gamecube which was the very first gift we had him unwrap. Usually we would have waited a bit but many of the next gifts where related to that one, so it was probably better to give him the console before any of the games, or the memory card :) I say he froze, maybe because he wasn't expecting it at all and didn't quite realize it was a gamecube at first, hehe...

We had a great blast playing the Lego Star Wars for a long part of the afternoon and early evening yesterday. He likes it even more because its a cooperation game as I take over a character and he takes over another. My wife had a blast hearing some of our comments from the other room: "hey, could you please put away your lightsaber, you're hurting me" or "hey thanks, you just killed me" :D This game replays Episode 1 to 3 and say what you want about the movies, the action is pretty good and a lot of fun. The podrace of Episode 1 was quite cool...

Thing is now, he absolutely wants me to play with him and not against him, so he doesn't want to play Monkey Ball against me, only games with me... Oh well, he'll grow with it :) I played Need For Speed Underground a bit last night and had a blast. Is with most thing console wise, I've never seen anything else, so this games does the trick for me, pretty cool. Took me a while to even unlock to underground (you need to win one race to unlock) but once I did it, I got to try some other types of races and had fun. I'm not sure if Andrew will not find it a bit tough, but hey, he'll learn...

Now, if you'll excuse me, Andrew Skywalker is waiting for me so we can tackle Episode 3 ;)

FM

[FrogMan]

dola, and I had bought a MadCatz RF for about 7$cdn switch that works perfectly. Got the thing connected in no time.

I also settled for a Nintendo brand 1019 card. Andrew recognized the thing right of the wrapping paper, making her mom sigh that he knows more stuff than her in the electronic world ;)

FM

[Eaglesfan27]

Glad to hear that the kiddo likes his gift, FM!

[FrogMan]

Glad to hear that the kiddo likes his gift, FM!
oh, both the 8 year and the 35 year old kiddo love it so far ;)

FM

[Cringer]

I think I may try to talk the wife into getting a Gamecube for my daughter. As I posted in the gift thread, one of my family members gave her a Gamecube game, but we don't have one. She likes to play my PS2, but I really have no games for her to play.

That and I saw they have a new Mario Soccer game I know she would love. She just had her first year of real life soccer and is into it a lot right now.

[Marc Vaughan]

I'm not sure if Andrew will not find it a bit tough, but hey, he'll learn...
If he's anything like my older two he'll spend a week pestering you for help every five minutes, then one day you'll work late and not be there to help, that evening you'll come home and find they're doing things on the game you wouldn't have a chance of emulating ;)

PS> Been enjoying playing WarioWare with my older son and daughter over xmas, great game (in between bouts of hearing Haley training her Nintendog and watching 'Help I'm a fish' for the 14th time* ;) ) ..

*Keegan's (my youngest) current favourite film ...

[Airhog]

I have to agre with Marc on this one. At that age, it will be a matter of weeks before he is out gaming everyone :D

[FrogMan]

I think I may try to talk the wife into getting a Gamecube for my daughter. As I posted in the gift thread, one of my family members gave her a Gamecube game, but we don't have one. She likes to play my PS2, but I really have no games for her to play.

That and I saw they have a new Mario Soccer game I know she would love. She just had her first year of real life soccer and is into it a lot right now.
Mario Strikers is on my "to get" list once the price will come down a bit. Andrew has been playing soccer for three years now and we should have a blast together. Now I have to play Super Monkey Ball a bit and get enough point so I unlock their soccer game...

FM

[FrogMan]

Marc and Airhog, I also agree that he will be doing stuff much better than anything I could ever do and probably before the two weeks holiday break is even over :D

Right now, he's indeed in the stage Marc as described, asking for help about every 5 minutes... While he requests that I play with him on the Star Wars game, he got through the Darth Maul and the Count Doku stages by himself, making me a little mad since these would have been fun stages to do with him ;)

FM

[sterlingice]

Sounds like it turned out really well :D

SI

[FrogMan]

Sounds like it turned out really well :D

SI
it sure did, look at us, unshowered, unshaven (well for me ;)), sitting in our jammies amidst a see of toys and lego blocks, but we don't care, we got our cube :)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v354/QcFrogMan/misc/100_5473.jpg

[FrogMan]

well, Andrew'S been playign the Star Wars Lego game almost exclusively, without any of my help thank you very much :)

We've also brushed with Super Monkey Ball, the Monkey Racing is a whole lot of fun and the first game he's agreed to compete against me head-to-head. He gets a whole lot of fun out of launching bombs and what have you at me :)

The latest news for me is that while paying a visit to our local Wal-Mart, I found that they'd regarnished their bargain bin and I bought two "daddy" game for under $20cdn each. The first one that caught my eyes was Terminator 3, simply because it looked like a sorta cool shooter. This one will definitely remain as a daddy game for a while, although I can't even say what it looks like as I have not played it yet. We, my wife and I, are pretty big fans of the Terminator series of movies, including the last one and I thought it would be a cool one to try, if I was to play a shooter kind of game.

The other game that I bought is Soul Calibur II and I must say, WOW!!! I played this game for about 40 minutes on New Year's Eve (been visiting relatives for the last two days) and I must admit that when I bought it, I had no clue what it was about. I even thought it was a Zelda-like adventure kind of game. especially seeing the advertised presence of a Zelda character in the Cube edition. I was kinda surprised when I read the reviews on IGN after getting home and learning that it was a fighting game. I must says I was pleasantly surprised though, very well done game. I'm still a newbie with console games, so I'm experimenting with what I like and don't like and I must say, I though I'd like a good fighting game, and wow, I love this one. I like fighting with whoever it is that uses the bo staff as a weapon as I practice with the bo in kenpo karate and seeing him striking the way he does, doing kicks and what have you kind of tickles my mind ;)

This game, I could probably see letting my almost 9 year old son play with, as it is kind of cartoonish and he also does kenpo, and practices with a bo himself, mostly to compete in katas, but still, I'm sure he'd get a kick out of it...

FM

[Cringer]

We are starting to keep an eye on EBAY for a cheap Gamecube for my duaghter, but will not be getting anything for a few weeks atleast.

[sterlingice]

Soulcalibur 2 is excellent. Easily my favorite "traditional" fighting game this generation (counting SSBM as non-traditional).

SI

[stevew]

We are starting to keep an eye on EBAY for a cheap Gamecube for my duaghter, but will not be getting anything for a few weeks atleast.


I think that used consoles are about 59 at EB.

[sterlingice]

Your best bet on ebay is to do one of those lots where you get the system and ~10ish good but used games for <$150.

SI

[Cringer]

I think that used consoles are about 59 at EB.

I will have to look into that. I would feel better doing that then buying off of eBay. We went to a place yesterday attatched/part of Hollywood video but they didn't seem to have any used ones at the moment.

[stevew]

Luigi's mansion was pretty fun. Should be dirt cheap. I see you got the lego star wars game, that one is great.

[FrogMan]

Kind of late update to the story... :)

More than three months later, the Cube is still getting tons of playing time for Andrew, in fact, yesterday was his birthday party (he turns 9 today :)) and we decided not to fight nature but go along with it. We knew he would want to play with his friends on the Cube so we decided to plan a little tournament with it. We didn't want him to have an unfair advantage so using one of the game he already had was out of the question and we decided to give him Mario Karts Double Dash for his birthday since it's been so highly recommended and with it, we gave him a wavebird (wireless controller) and an extra controller, giving him a total of 4 controllers, all set to race. :)

He had 4 guests, making 5 racers in all with him, and I set a schedule of 5 races in which for every race, one kid would be off. I the compiled positions and had the winner of the tourney have the right to select first from a bundle of dollar store toys. We had 10 toys so we did two tourneys. The kids had a blast with a whole lot of "Hey, who blasted me" or "woah, whole lot of banana peel around here". Was pretty fun to hear them yell and scream, especially winners gloating, all in good fun. A fun afternoon in all...

Among other news, an EB Games store opened about 15 minutes from our house and we stopped there last week, him and me. Andrew's eyes were wide open for the half hour we spent in there. He started scanning the wall of used games for any Star Wars title and spotted Rebel Strike (Rogue Squadron III). I told him his birthday was coming so we wouldn't buy it that day but sure enough, I was back the next day, all alone, to get to give to him as birthday gift. :) From what I've read about it, it's a well done game and since it's probably the only one we'll be able to find nowadays, I'm sure Andrew will have fun playing around with it...

My mom who was in charge of finding Mario Karts for me also came up with the wonderful idea of taking a chance on SSX 3 since it was in the bargain bin. I say wonderful idea since from what little of it I tried last night (after Andrew was in bed ;)), it seems like an amazingly deep game, very impressive and well done. When she told me that she had bought it, I didn't know much about it, but I got to read the review on IGN and found it impressive. It only hit me how nicely it's done when I fired it up last night. I didn't play for long and I didn't grasp much of the controls for the game, thus ending 6th of 6 in the few races I did with absolutely no style points. :D Sure enough, Andrew picked it up this morning and in his second race, moments before we left for school/work, he was doing 360s, 720s and crazier moves :D I'll set us up with both a character so I can see how bad I look compared to him :)

Among other games he got, actually his first since Xmas, my mom gave him Sonic Heroes and my sister gave him Mario Sunshine. Even though most reviews for the Sonic games are not always the best, he still loves Sonic Adventure 2 and I'm sure he'll have tons of fun with Heroes. Mario Sunshine, I know nothing about, but being from the famed franchise, I'm thinking he should have fun with it too.

From that trip to EB, he spotted Sonic Riders and I'm sure we'll end up getting that one at one point. It just came out and is selling for too much at the moment, but we'll keep checking on it...

Anybody else picked up some fun ones lately? Anything worthy from the bargain bin?

FM

[stevew]

doh, timestamp.

[FrogMan]

Luigi's mansion was pretty fun. Should be dirt cheap. I see you got the lego star wars game, that one is great.

wee, timestamp bug! :rolleyes:

I'll have to see about Luigi's Mansion. If not in the bargain bin, it must be close.

And yeah, the Lego Star Wars *IS* great. He still plays it pretty often, has unlocked most of the special thingies and now plays with invincibility on :cool:

FM

[Marc Vaughan]

Among other games he got, actually his first since Xmas, my mom gave him Sonic Heroes and my sister gave him Mario Sunshine. Even though most reviews for the Sonic games are not always the best, he still loves Sonic Adventure 2 and I'm sure he'll have tons of fun with Heroes. Mario Sunshine, I know nothing about, but being from the famed franchise, I'm thinking he should have fun with it too.
This is one thing which 'annoys' me with regards to game reviews - they're often done by people who aren't the 'target audience' for the game in question.

Sonic Heroes reviewed 'averagely' but is actually a great game from a kids perspective, my kids have played it a huge amount and love it.

Mario Sunshine is pretty cool - but darn hard (at least for an old git like me ;) ) ...

[dubb93]

I don't know if this is the best place to post this but I'm looking at selling my gamecube. It doesn't have any game with it as I've sold all the ones I've ever had.

Also, besides setting on my VCR since launch it has only been played for about 6 hours tops. Just no games I've ever wanted. Gamestop said they will give me $30 bucks for it. If any one is willing to pay that and shipping(any way you want it) I will send it out to them. PM me. If you need assurance PM astrofan, me and him traded games not to long ago.

[dubb93]

EDIT--Forgot to mention it will come with 2 controllers, a memory card, and an adaptor for old school TVs.

[FrogMan]

I don't know if this is the best place to post this but I'm looking at selling my gamecube. It doesn't have any game with it as I've sold all the ones I've ever had.

Also, besides setting on my VCR since launch it has only been played for about 6 hours tops. Just no games I've ever wanted. Gamestop said they will give me $30 bucks for it. If any one is willing to pay that and shipping(any way you want it) I will send it out to them. PM me. If you need assurance PM astrofan, me and him traded games not to long ago.

that's not the worst place you put that kind of ad but I'd also pm Cringer. He's mentioned in this thread that he was looking to get one for his daughter. Maybe he found one, but maybe not, who knows...

Good luck...

FM

[FrogMan]

This is one thing which 'annoys' me with regards to game reviews - they're often done by people who aren't the 'target audience' for the game in question.

Sonic Heroes reviewed 'averagely' but is actually a great game from a kids perspective, my kids have played it a huge amount and love it.

Mario Sunshine is pretty cool - but darn hard (at least for an old git like me ;) ) ...

yeah, being new to console and well, other than FM, to gaming in general, I'm learning to read reviews. Same went for Mario Karts Double Dash. IGN had it at 7.9 but mostly based on the fact that it doesn't bring much compared to the N64 version. WHAT DO I CARE??? We only have a cube, and that game is very, very nice, nice enough for us anyway...

I played SSX 3 for about an hour and a half after my karate practice last night. Was getting the hang of it but the kiddo is still already years beyond his daddy :) I was all proud of finishing 3rd in a race last night. I set his character up and he goes and finishes 1st in all of his three heat. Got out of the way dad, sonny's taking charge :D

FM

[sterlingice]

yeah, being new to console and well, other than FM, to gaming in general, I'm learning to read reviews. Same went for Mario Karts Double Dash. IGN had it at 7.9 but mostly based on the fact that it doesn't bring much compared to the N64 version. WHAT DO I CARE??? We only have a cube, and that game is very, very nice, nice enough for us anyway...

Well, and this is what we were talking about online the other night during hattrick and via PM. Reviews are written by gamers, hardcore gamers. You aren't buying for a hardcore gamer so get what you think he'll like. Unless it gets a Superman 64 (http://ign64.ign.com/articles/151/151957p1.html)-esque review, then it's probably ok. That said, as the scores go down on game sites, the number of annoyances tend to go up. But, for instance, like you were talking about with Sonic, I'm sure he'll overlook some of them and enjoy the game anyway.

Specific to Double Dash, it's a great game and I've gotten tons of hours on it. Play a few hours of Mario Kart for the DS or even N64 and you'll see that the driving control is nothing compared to its predecessors and successors. Doesn't mean I haven't put well over 100 hours into it with myself and friends.

Then, of course, there's the issue that gaming sites aren't infallable. Fran probably got up on the wrong side of the bed to give MKDD a 7.9. For its flaws, it's still better than most stuff out there. But to come back to the point before, most "professional" gaming reviews are like the Oscars- they're done by people who have played a heck of a lot more games than we have so standards are going to be different. You may not have seen a a particular feature in a game before but it may have been done and implemented better so something you see as a plus may be a minus and so on.

Ultimately, as I also said, if you want to like a game, you're going to like a game unless it's hugely flawed.

SI

[TargetPractice6]

I recently picked up Super Mario Strikers for my Cube. My friends and I can't stop playing it. I highly recommend it.

[FrogMan]

Well, and this is what we were talking about online the other night during hattrick and via PM. Reviews are written by gamers, hardcore gamers. You aren't buying for a hardcore gamer so get what you think he'll like. Unless it gets a Superman 64 (http://ign64.ign.com/articles/151/151957p1.html)-esque review, then it's probably ok. That said, as the scores go down on game sites, the number of annoyances tend to go up. But, for instance, like you were talking about with Sonic, I'm sure he'll overlook some of them and enjoy the game anyway.

Specific to Double Dash, it's a great game and I've gotten tons of hours on it. Play a few hours of Mario Kart for the DS or even N64 and you'll see that the driving control is nothing compared to its predecessors and successors. Doesn't mean I haven't put well over 100 hours into it with myself and friends.[quote=sterlingice]

Yeah, agreed 100% and furthermore, for Andrew, since we've never had a console in the house and he's relatively young, I read the reviews trying to get tidbits of information about how it would play for a kid like him. I think I can now usually get a pretty good feel for what he'll like and what will leave him cold.

btw, eeesh and that superman review :)

[quote=sterlingice]Ultimately, as I also said, if you want to like a game, you're going to like a game unless it's hugely flawed.


and that's possibly the best way to see it. I know he'll probably like any superhero game, or at least major parts withing a superhero game, even if sometimes the gameplay is flawed, or the game is too easy, etc.

Thanks for your input SI, always appreciated.

FM

[FrogMan]

I recently picked up Super Mario Strikers for my Cube. My friends and I can't stop playing it. I highly recommend it.

Mario Strikers is definitely very high on my "wanted" list, is not Andrew's. It's still selling for close to 60$cdn and right now, with Andrew getting 3 games for that price, we will be waiting a little bit. Such is the life of balancing the budget in a family of four ;)

Thanks for the recommendation though...

FM

[sterlingice]

I know you've said you can't find it for cheap, but when you can, I can't stress strongly enough how fun of a party game Super Smash Bros Melee is. It came out about a month after the Gamecube launched but is still the best selling game to date on the system, iirc.

SI

[FrogMan]

I know you've said you can't find it for cheap, but when you can, I can't stress strongly enough how fun of a party game Super Smash Bros Melee is. It came out about a month after the Gamecube launched but is still the best selling game to date on the system, iirc.

SI

well noted (for like the sixth time ;)). Seriously, I can't seem to find it for less than about 35-40$cdn and as I said before, we can get about two games for that price so we'll build a bit of a game library before we "indulge" with it :).

And the thing is also that we're coming in kinda late into that generation of consoles that there are so many games we could get. I was playing SSX 3 last night and was simply amazed at how beautiful and vast the mountain is, and I only got one peak unlocked, the standard one. Then it hit me, the darn thing was released in 2003! :eek:

Also, after playing the EHM demo up until about December (in-game), I've decided not to get it and will spend a bit more time with the Cube. With the money unspent there, I'll probably go to EB and get NFL Streets 2 that I saw there. Should be fun :)

FM

[sterlingice]

I never have played an NFL or FIFA Street but I loved NBA Street Vol 2. From what I've read, it's probably the best of the 3 NBA Streets that are out and I played it a ton. Most fun I've had with a basketball game since NBA Jam Tourney Edition back in the arcade/SNES/Genesis days.

SI

[FrogMan]

I'm really not a fan of basketball in general but I used to like playing whatever basketball game I had on my commodore. :) Don't laugh, what I mean is that basketball seems to lend itself well to gaming, from what little I remember. It's kinda fast paced and you can have tons of tricks that you can include around dunks and such.

I'm know I'm repeating myself here but I'm really having fun with SSX 3. The freedom you have in simply roaming down the mountain is liberating to me, kind of makes me relax. Kinda weird feeling and really the first time I've felt this, in this way anyway. I unlocked peak 2 last night, after winning the peak jam of peak 1, a top to bottom race against my rival. Funny enough, as we were getting close to the finish line (or station as there not a real line, more like a finish lodge), I could see him right next to me and I must have finished ahead of him by only a few tenth or hundredth of seconds since when they showed results, both boarders had the exact same time, to the second. :)

That second peak killed me in what little I roamed through it. Will need to go around and get used to the backcountry :)

fwiw, I've played for a few sessions of maybe 1.5 hours each and I've only uncovered something like 7% of the whole mountain with peak 3 still to be unlocked...

FM