I missed the boat BADLY the past six years

[MJ4H]

This may be a somewhat lengthy post, so I'll say up front it is about consoles, previous-gen and current.

I never had a playstation or N64 when they were the current generation. I was in college at the time and very caught up in the growing PC gaming market. I knew about the playstation and remember seeing mario 64 in a demo in a store, but didn't know much about it at all. I did, however, own an original NES and then later an SNES. I loved those consoles. I discovered computers in college and forgot about them, basically.

Fast-forward to around 2000 or 2001. I am married and have a real job. The wife and I are discussing getting a DVD player. If I remember correctly, DVD players were still pretty expensive at the time. We eventually decided that we would get a playstation 2 because they weren't that much more expensive than a DVD player and we would get a cool new console that people were crazy about, also (I have conveniently left out the part where a year earlier I wigged out and blew my tax return on a $300 Dreamcast after seeing one at a buddy's house).

I had a ball playing Gran Turismo 3 on the PS2, we used it as a DVD player a couple of times a month, I played Tekken Tag Tournament for a couple of months and didn't like it much and sold it. Then the EA Sports games started rolling into my house. NCAA Football 2002 I think was my first. After a season or two of those I was pretty much disgusted at how close these games were to awesome but how annoyingly little progress forward they were making each year. After one time to many of the inexplicable 14 fumble games and 30 point 4th quarter CPU comebacks, I sold all my EA Sports games and swore them off.

In the past probably 4 years I've played maybe 4 different PS2 games, and rarely for long. Basically, the system is collecting dust.

Moving forward in time again, my wife asks me about a month ago what I think of this idea: how about instead of getting each other presents this Christmas, let's just get each other a Wii. I was amazed. Here is my wife suggesting we buy a new console. One I had barely even paid attention to until that moment. Well, this piqued my interest and I did some research into this new console.

I was blown away. Here is something I could really get into. And these great game franchises I remembered from my SNES and NES days: Zelda. Mario. Metroid. METROID MY GOD I LOVED THAT GAME. They were all going to have games on Wii. And the sports game that it shipped with looked interesting, too. After a day or two of looking around at Wii stuff including video trailers, video reviews of actual Wii games on gamespot, etc. I was hooked.

Only problem was that the Wii was very hard to find. We had the cash in hand to pick one up every time we left the house, but of course EVERYONE was sold out. No chance of getting one. It was very frustrating, of course, but I finally landed one when my father-in-law lucked into picking up the last one in a shipment to Wal-Mart while picking up a prescription. Got home and played it that night, Wii Sports and Zelda. Hooked. Absolutely thrilled. Wonderful fun.

Then, last night, dinner at Friday's with my wife for her birthday. We started talking about the Wii and I mentioned that it was backwards compatible with the Gamecube games. We stopped off on the way home and picked up a Gamecube controller and Metroid Prime (both cost $8). I was FLOORED. Where the hell had I been that I hadn't even realized Metroid Prime was out there and this good? And it has SEQUELS. Then I stayed up with my wife and watched the video review of Zelda: Wind Waker on gamespot. Holy CRAP. These games are AWESOME. In short, the Wii is worth the purchase to me if for nothing else than I can play all these Gamecube games I COMPLETELY MISSED (yes, I realize an actual GC is cheaper, you get the idea, though).

In short, I am an IDIOT for not realizing that I am a Nintendo guy 10 years ago. Even 5 years ago. The downside is I just suffered through 5 of the most boring gaming years of my life. The upside though is the future looks bright. The Wii itself is awesome, I can pick up AWESOME Gamecube games that are brand new to me for cheap ($8 for Metroid Prime and it's like brand new to me).

I was thinking to myself before I bought the Wii that even if I wound up hating it I wouldn't be mad about wasting the money because I wanted to support this direction that the Wii was taking gaming this generation. Here I am 5 days after purchase and I feel like a kid on Christmas morning.

And Metroid Prime is jaw dropping. The Wii Metroid that will come out soon has me in full drool mode.

I can't believe how badly I have missed the boat on this stuff. Nintendo has me for life.

[sabotai]

I just played the Wii last night at a friend's house. As soon as I have the money to buy one (month or two), I'm picking one up. Wii Sports is insanely fun.

[Philliesfan980]

Great post. I think your feelings sum up a lot of feelings here. I know I'm pretty much sick of the entire video game sports console market. I really don't see whats so hard about developing a coach mode in ANY game, but thats another rant.

Text sims for sports, nintendo for button mashing. I've finally found the sweet spot.

Playing a "generation off" is also a great way to save tons of cash. As I progress into my later 20's, its getting harder and harder to justify spending $60 on a game that I might play 2-3 times and then let it sit on the shelf.

[Philliesfan980]

As an aside, when is the Wii going to be readily available? I'm just now seeing that the PS3 is pretty much stocked wherever I go, can I expect the same for the Wii?

[MJ4H]

Doubt it. From what I understand it may be several more weeks to a month or two before they will be easy to get. Still possible, though. Best time to check is in the mornings to just before noon.

[Poli]

I missed the boat badly. I've been a Hogs fan the past 6 years, but now I'm realizing how great the Vols are.:eek:

[MJ4H]

haha nice.

[spleen1015]

Metroid Prime is the reason I bought a GC.

[Glengoyne]

...

Playing a "generation off" is also a great way to save tons of cash. As I progress into my later 20's, its getting harder and harder to justify spending $60 on a game that I might play 2-3 times and then let it sit on the shelf.

I'm just now giving thought to buying a PS2. I'm hoping the PS3 gains some traction, as I want the PS2 experience to be a cheap as possible.

[MJ4H]

Made a little bit of a tactical error on Metroid Prime. Bought the game and an off-brand controller last night, but did not realize GC games require a memory card to plug into the Wii. So I played the first level of Metroid Prime (so awesome) but I will have to just do it all again when I pick up a memory card.

[Craptacular]

Damn you ... now you're making it hard for me to resist a Nintendo console again. I have an NES, and shared an N64 with my roommate at the time, but haven't played a console since then, other than an hour of Gamecube Zelda at a friend-of-a-friend's house a few year's ago.

[kingnebwsu]

Buy the memory card 251 for the Gamecube. It's a bit extra and it's worth it. I'm sure your local game store will have them used.

[MJ4H]

Can you tell me what is worth it about a "251" memory card? Does it hold more? I know zero about GC memory cards and I'll be looking to get one fairly cheaply today or tomorrow so if you can give me the lowdown of what I need and what I don't need I'd appreciate it.

[TRO]

If you didn't buy a Wavebird controller, take back the one you bought and get one. Battery life is very good and experience is much better without wires.

[MikeVic]

I think there's a memory card 1051 too? The numbers 251 and 1051 represent the number of blocks a memory card can hold.

[MJ4H]

Thanks for the advice on the Wavebird. I will probably pick one up eventually. I agree about wireless. I'm not taking the one I got back, because we will eventually want 4 for Mario Kart games. But it is good to know that Wavebirds are good.

[GoldenEagle]

Ping: LSG

[Schmidty]

I gave Nintendo another shot when I bought my DS. What a mistake. Cutesy fruitsy is good as an occasional snack, but that can't be my entire diet. Unfortunately, that's all Nintendo seems to offer. PC for me all the way.

[sterlingice]

And Metroid Prime is jaw dropping. The Wii Metroid that will come out soon has me in full drool mode.

To be fair, it's easily a top 5 game for the Gamecube. I contend, to this day, that it's like playing video game art- the design is that well done.

SI

[sterlingice]

Playing a "generation off" is also a great way to save tons of cash. As I progress into my later 20's, its getting harder and harder to justify spending $60 on a game that I might play 2-3 times and then let it sit on the shelf.

I pay full price for maybe 1 game a year and usually there's a special reason (preorder bonus, something like that). I need to introduce more of you to Cheap Ass Gamer- it's a great board for tracking down cheap games. There's not a ton going on right now except for KMart and Sears if you can find ones that haven't been picked over, but I've added a ton of *good* games to my collection for $10 and under over the last year with various clearance deals, etc.

SI

[sterlingice]

If you didn't buy a Wavebird controller, take back the one you bought and get one. Battery life is very good and experience is much better without wires.

Agreed 100%. The Wavebird is one of the best investments you'll make for a Gamecube/Wii.

SI

[sterlingice]

I think there's a memory card 1051 too? The numbers 251 and 1051 represent the number of blocks a memory card can hold.

Yes, this is what it is. If you're starting from scratch, go get a 1051. The base 59 block cards, if you can find them, are $20. You get 4x more with the 251 for $25. Or you could just skip that and get 4x more than that for an extra $5 at $30. The choice is pretty clear to me.

SI

[Groundhog]

Nintendo has always stuck to their guns and made fun games that can be played by all the family, and they are definately the better for it. Sony and Microsoft concentrate on beefing up the realism of their graphics, while Nintendo is happy to have cutesy looking cartoon characters in insanely fun games.

I love my xbox 360 because of the sports titles, but most of my all-time favourite games would be SNES or N64 titles. I never had a gamecube, but now that we've got a wii I'll pick up some cube titles, the Zelda one in particular.

[sterlingice]

Maybe I need to revisit a couple of my old Nintendo fanboy rants and throw together a list of 20-30 "must have" games for the Gamecube.

SI

[MJ4H]

Please do. I am clueless about Gamecube titles. Direct me to your Nintendo fanboy rants as well. I would be pleased to read more of the gospel.

[Poli]

The Nintendo DS was never too far away from me in Africa.

[Synovia]

Doubt it. From what I understand it may be several more weeks to a month or two before they will be easy to get. Still possible, though. Best time to check is in the mornings to just before noon.
I think theres been something like 4 million Nintendo Wii sold at this point, compared to 390,000 PS3s, so theres a reason Nintendo can't keep them on the shelves. They've pretty much already caught up to Xbox360 in 3 months.

[IMetTrentGreen]

get smash bros melee. never met a person in my entire life that doesn't love the hell out of it. people still play it. its like street fighter, but there can be a bunch of people in a fight, and the goal is to knock people off the levels. a ton of depth and replay value.

luigi's mansion is only like half a dozen hours long, but it's a ton of fun. very moody and well designed. if you can get it cheap, do.

super mario sunshine i don't remember a lot about other than it was totally awesome.

wind waker is cool. might as well just get the wii zelda though, i liked it better. the wii remotes make the game pretty unique.

then of course, resident evil 4 is a masterpiece. the first half of the game is probably the best video game i've ever played. 2nd half has more japanese goofiness that has a lot more in common with the previous games, but is still nerve wracking. even if zombie horror isn't your thing, at least rent it, just to experience it.

[MJ4H]

Ok some comments on those game recommendations (and questions):

1: smash bros melee i will get if i can pick up cheap. not a big fighting game fan but super smash was ok on n64. i think i played this gc version at a friends house and it was alright.

2: this friend had luigi's mansion and i dont remember enjoying it much but it was ok. i will borrow it from her if im inclined later

3: mario sunshine is a definite get for me, especially if its cheap at game xchange. i hear it has some problems but i think it still looks cool and i like mario crap.

4: wind waker looks effing sweet to me. i love the graphic style of this game. the cartoony look really appeals to me. seems like a very clean look. im excited about it. i already have twilight princess for wii, and my wife is playing the hell out of that. i dont like to play it while she is working her way through it because then when i play it it seems like im just working to catch up to where she is (she plays zelda for HOURS and HOURS and is always further ahead than i am). the plan is to acquire wind waker and play it while she is playing twilight princess and then switch.


5: what sort of game is resident evil 4? i keep hearing how its really good, under-rated, etc. if thats the case i may get it, but if it is a kind of game i dont particularly like, like an rpg or horror/adventure, ill probably pass.

thanks for the recommends.

[3ric]

I'll confess - I've never owned a console. That's likely to change in the future when my son grows up, though. I'm looking forward to it - I love the concept of playing with the Wii and its physical controls.

[sterlingice]

I'm not sure when I'll get to the complete writeup, but here's a thumbnail sketch of the Gamecube game list. The idea is as follows- there's a top 20 but only the top 7 have actually been ranked and then there's a blob of 13 that I have yet to rank. Then there's a top 50 (48 currently), sorted only by genre (there's nothing to be read into what order they are by genre as it was just the order in which they were cut 'n pasted into categories).

I just don't give much stock to generic sports games or YAFPS's. I think the gaming media is just finally starting to catch up with how to rank sports games as not everything this year is 8.5 and up. You don't just start at 9.5 for a steaming pile of crap with "Madden" on the label and knock it 0.1 point for a lack of innovation and a couple of 0.1's for rebalancing gameplay every year (read: "last year it was too easy to run, this year we'll correct that and inadvertantly make it too easy to pass").

Even worse, it seems to be going backwards in how to rank FPSs. I swear, anything with any hype or pedigree these days gets a 9.0 slapped on it from the mainstream gaming media just for having a name and looking 10% prettier than the last one. So, in short, for a game to make a list that I'm drawing up, it has to be one of the couple best for the genre for a system (for instance, Halo and Halo 2 are still no-brainers for an XBox list) or bring something else to the table.

In what kind of fair world, do 3 Madden editions (9, 13, 17) for a system that is admitedly not very good at sports games outrank (using Gamerankings aggregate average) Super Smash Bros Melee (18), Rogue Leader (19), Pikmin 2 (23), F-Zero GX (24), Beyond Good and Evil (29), Paper Mario (31), Mario Kart (36), Animal Crossing (38), Pikmin (39), etc? It's just plain stupid and clearly a ranking outlier trend.


Top 20
------
Metroid Prime
Resident Evil 4
Zelda: Twilight Princess
Super Smash Bros Melee
Mario Kart
Viewtiful Joe
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Soulcalibur II
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Tales of Symphonia
Mario Sunshine
Metroid Prime 2
Animal Crossing
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Pikmin
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
F-Zero GX
NBA Street Vol. 2
Super Monkey Ball 2


Genres (48 so far)
------

Action Adventure
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil

Adventure
Beyond Good & Evil
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Star Fox Adventures
Luigi's Mansion
LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy

Platformer
Super Mario Sunshine
Viewtiful Joe
Viewtiful Joe 2

Traditional (Japanese) RPG
Tales of Symphonia
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
Skies of Arcadia Legends
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II Plus

Other RPG
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
X-Men Legends 2
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness

Simulation/Strategy
Animal Crossing
Battalion Wars
Pikmin
Pikmin 2
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader

Party Games
Super Monkey Ball 2
Donkey Konga
Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix

Sports
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
NBA Street Vol. 2
SSX3

Racing
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
F-Zero GX
Wave Race: Blue Storm

Fighting
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Soulcalibur II

Shooter/Tactical
TimeSplitters 2
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Killer 7
XIII
Ikaruga

Retro Collections
Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Sonic Mega Collection
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time / Master Quest

[sterlingice]

BTW, for avid Gamecube players- I'm definitely curious if you see any huge omitions or weird rankings that you badly disagree with.

SI

[spleen1015]

BTW, for avid Gamecube players- I'm definitely curious if you see any huge omitions or weird rankings that you badly disagree with.

SI

That's a great list. I don't see any glaring omitions. The only thing I think that should be recommended that you didn't is Mario Party. If you like playing games against other people, these games are fun to play. My wife, son and I have spent a few hours enjoying these games together.

[IMetTrentGreen]

4: wind waker looks effing sweet to me. i love the graphic style of this game. the cartoony look really appeals to me. seems like a very clean look. im excited about it. i already have twilight princess for wii, and my wife is playing the hell out of that. i dont like to play it while she is working her way through it because then when i play it it seems like im just working to catch up to where she is (she plays zelda for HOURS and HOURS and is always further ahead than i am). the plan is to acquire wind waker and play it while she is playing twilight princess and then switch.

then by all means, go for it. don't get me wrong, ww is a great game, even if all that sailing can get frustrating at times. the side quests and exploration are a lot more fun in ww than any other zelda game i've ever played.

5: what sort of game is resident evil 4? i keep hearing how its really good, under-rated, etc. if thats the case i may get it, but if it is a kind of game i dont particularly like, like an rpg or horror/adventure, ill probably pass.


its like working your way through a horror movie, really. it's slower paced than most third person games, because you really don't want to go rushing around a corner into some terribly scary thing. there are some classic moments (like being trapped on the 2nd floor of an old house while the zombie dudes are lifting ladders to all the windows and climbing up in large numbers.

honestly it sounds like our tastes are a little dissimilar, but i think you should at least rent resident evil 4 just to experience the first half. it's a masterpiece of game and cinema.

a couple comments on the game list:

tales of symphonia is one of my favorite games ever. don't know how i forgot it. it's the most fun in co-op mode, so you and your wife could play. it's an rpg with random (and avoidable) battles that are fought on a linear battlefield, a lot like smash bros. there are combos and stuff you can do with your team. just a great amount of fun. tales of legendia is single player only, and i didn't even finish, so it might just be the co-op mode i liked so much.

viewtiful joe is woth a rental. beautiful game, although i didn't spend much time with it. fast paced side scroller.

paper mario, of course. that game is a must buy. don't even bother stopping at red lights to go buy it.

f-zero sucked. skip it.

if you are into monkey ball, get the wii version. way more party games.

mario kart was kind of boring. the n64 version was so good that i was kind of let down by the gamecube version. could just be me though.

killer 7 is a creepy first person shooter with a unique, cell shaded look. confusing as hell story line and a steep learning curve, but was really good once i got used to it. lost the 2nd disk though so i never beat it. this is a personal taste thing, so i'd read up on it.

last game i can think of is that jedi outcast 2, i think. played it all the way though, and although there are better third person games out there, if you like star wars, i'd check it out. takes a while to get the jedi powers, but its awesome once you do.

[sterlingice]

mario kart was kind of boring. the n64 version was so good that i was kind of let down by the gamecube version. could just be me though.

SA and I were talking about that earlier today via AIM. Mario Kart and Mario Sunshine are both in the same boat- good games and some of the better games for the system. However, both aren't quite up to the snuff of their pedigree and both series had better outings on the DS than on the Gamecube.

SI

[MJ4H]

Son of a...

Got out in the ice this morning to buy a gamecube memory card. I play through the first mission of Metroid Prime and get a #*$ disc error 3 times in a row. Gigantic effing scratch on the disc. I guess I will take it back tonight.