Games That Push the Limits of the GameCube

Here it is, the GameCube getting the limit pushing treatment. Probably no big surprises on this, but some of the stunning games that make the GameCube so well loved today.
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Games featured:
00:00 Intro
00:40 F-Zero GX
04:16 Need For Speed Carbon
07:50 Resident Evil 4
12:00 Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
17:00 Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
23:27 Patreon Thanks

[@dansalvato]

Would have loved to see Metroid Prime in this list, which has all kinds of clever advanced effects. The appearance of raindrops, fog, and reflections on Samus' visor is an obvious example. But the different visors (thermal visor and x-ray visor) also use unique texture tricks in order to work. On top of that, Samus' shots are each their own dynamic point light that light up rooms and corridors as they travel along. So you always have the scene lit by multiple point lights (up to 8?) and the game runs at a rock-solid 60fps.

[@3dmarth]

IIRC, the raindrops only hit the visor when she's looking up, too! (Or when looking straight ahead and running at full speed.) Even modern games like The Witcher III get this wrong, as they just show water splashing on the camera when it's raining, and no other calculations seem to be involved (maybe turning it off when the camera is under a roof, but some games don't even do that!).

[@crestofhonor2349]

@@3dmarth The Witcher 3 isn't from a first person perspective as it's more supposed to be a cool screen effect, not to be based off where the camera is looking. You don't typically point the camera up in Witcher 3 because it's a third person game. This could be done and has been shown. Look at the wind shield effects in Drive Club

[@3dmarth]

@@crestofhonor2349 Yeah, it is different in some regards: MP puts you in Samus's shoes, with the visor being an actual in-universe object that's supposed to interact with the environment. On the other hand, W3 doesn't have an in-universe object for the camera, but when the artists put in effects like rain splashes and lens flares, it still implies that we're looking through a lens. (Some people hate that in itself, but I don't mind!) When it comes down to it, though, W3 is still simulating the effects of putting a physical camera in that environment, and not quite nailing it. I guess you could say it's needlessly playing by MP's rules, and losing by them. Still a beautiful game, though!

[@M1XART]

Metroid Prime 1 & 2, Eternal Darkness and StarFox Adventures looked more impressive than any other 60fps game on any other system. Also, Zelda Twilight Princess looked and played better than any similar game on other systems at the time.

[@JAGtheTrekkieGEMINI1701]

@@M1XART The OG XBOX had Conker Remake, Riddick, Unreal Championship 2 and Dead or Alive3/2U All these Games Rival the very best Graphics on Gamecube

[@MrPoeGhost]

The most powerful lunch box ever released.

[@buttsexandbananapeels]

I don’t know, man… I got a lot of use out of Daisy Duke on my little brother’s Dukes of Hazard lunch box when nobody was around.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

The Gamecube had the most raw power of its generation. It was held back by the small disk size, which is why Xbox games sometimes ended up a little better. The Gamecube could beat the Xbox but with most games it would require mulitple disks to do so and that was annoying.

[@idoghacker8008]

@@StormsparkPegasus It was also held back by RAM from what I remember

[@BeefJerkey]

@@StormsparkPegasus I thought the Xbox was a touch ahead of the GC.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

@@BeefJerkey Only because of disk space. It had 3-4x the disk space of Gamecube games. So things like textures didn't have to be cut down to fit whereas they did on the Gamecube. The Gamecube's CPU and GPU are more powerful.

[@joshlloyd9698]

I found a gamecube at a hospice shop for $10 NZD with one game and one controller. Probably my most treasured ‘score’ to date.

[@michaeljohn2826]

Love this, hope it's the start of an essential GameCube game collection aswell, thats where you might have to part with some serious cash here and there.

[@dremcfleuve]

Damn I never noticed how much F-Zero GX looks and feel like a Sega Model 3 game

[@barc0deblankblank]

model 3 pushed mad triangles but had nothing on the gc in most aspects. Lockheed’s design was much older and relied on brute force rather than the array of effects found on gc

[@dremcfleuve]

@@barc0deblankblank it's a vibe bruh. But I know what you mean

[@barc0deblankblank]

@@dremcfleuve aye. GX actually uses the Super Monkeyball engine btw

[@fshoaps]

@@barc0deblankblank Gatekeeping is your biggest hobby?

[@ActuallySanFrancisco]

@@fshoaps how TF is stating a fact gatekeeping? does f-zero gx look like a sega arcade game? yes, it does. i mean, f-zero AX (which is literally unlock able in f-zero GX) IS a sega arcade game which ran on the exact same engine - and this sega arcade game was NOT model 3 - not anywhere even close to model 3 - it ran on the triforce arcade board; essentially the arcade gamecube. so um. go off? or is sega themselves gAtEkEePiNg by literally developing the game on a not-even-remotely-connected-to-model-3 platform? not everything has to be an argument or a personal attack. then again, maybe you're just a bot account.

[@Jabjabs]

One additional thing on Rogue Squadron is that they implemented 'Light scattering'. Essentially controlling the lighting conditions on the fog. Something that has become a lot more standard since then. The performance on this was also kept very high by the extensive use of the T&L unit which meant the CPU didn't have to spend much time vertex skinning objects. Big time saver there. It is shame that LAIR ended up crush Factor 5, they had something special in them.

[@TriVoxel]

By the way, if you have a modded GameCube and a component cable, or you've modded your GameCube to have HDMI output, you can actually game above 480p natively. The GPU actually has a lot of headroom for extra resolution, so I typically play my games in either 576p or sometimes 720i or 1080i on real hardware, often with 16:9 patches!

[@extradipboneless]

So the hardware isn't locked to 480i/p + 576i/p only? Very interesting

[@RetroV2023]

Modded meaning mod chip or anything that adds these effects ect allowing higher resolution again with a mod chip

[@TriVoxel]

@@extradipboneless Well, I may have been wrong. There are modes for ~900i and ~1100i (I forget what exactly) but the Pluto II HDMI mod can only output up to 576p. That said, 576p looks really nice because it's slightly above 480p, and it's progressive scan! It may be possible to achieve 1080i or something similar if your GC Video enabled HDMI adapter supports it... who knows.

[@davidmcgill1000]

13:56 These lights are actually not lights at all. They are low poly spheres being drawn on the screen but is only adding to the colors drawn IN FRONT of them through use of blend modes. Unlikely to see this technique being used often, in contrast to the cel shading that was actually used quite often to lesser effect. Super Mario Sunshine was doing it before Wind Waker for instance. 16:19 Now if you want something that is well beyond pushing the limits, have a look at that minimap. That is a 3D object being drawn on the screen with a varying height at very specific levels. This is then captured in the frame buffer and given a color palette based on the grey scale image that the depth of the image had. Very difficult to emulate.

[@1Raptor85]

All lighting outside of ray tracing is "faked" one way or another (and even ray traced lighting is extremely simplified), low poly spheres being drawn over and blended to simulate point lights is just how a deferred renderer works (rendering light volumes into a separate buffer then combining with the G-buffer), how wind waker did it is kinda a proto version of how most games did multiple dynamic lights in scenes until VERY recently (though simplified and limited due to the hardware constraints)

[@elimalinsky7069]

Dolphin was only able to fix the minimap effect to display correctly about 3 months ago. Now I understand why it took so long.

[@TonyStarkCLC]

A per-pixel shadow would've worked better, but since they're not really "lights" but transparent "balls" that "illuminate" its closer surroundings and elements, that would be much more expensive on the GPU than the cel shaded already is. Also, TP works on the same engine the WW has, but without Cel shaded.

[@Interference22]

Rebel Strike is bloody great. It even includes the WHOLE of the previous game's campaign as a set of split-screen co-op missions.

[@Hairyfoot_Studio]

As someone who had Gamecube and PS2, I was always impressed with the quality of GC's graphics and image quality. I still play Luigis mansion, Star wars rogue leader and Wind waker today, I even love Super Mario sunshine. Shame it never really caught on in the way the PS2 did, I think the styling put people off and I dont think the disc capacity helped its cause either.

[@crestofhonor2349]

I think it had to do with the time of everyone wanting mature and gritty games. The Gamecube many people still associated with kiddy games while the PS2 was associated with more mature games

[@BurritoKingdom]

​​​​it has to do with the PS2 being able to play DVDs and it's diverse game library. When the PS2 launched in 2000, it was as cheap as a regular DVD player and it played games. Jak, Rachet & Sly Cooper were "kiddie" games that sold millions on the PS2. Sony published those " kiddie" games and there were at least 2 of them being released every holiday season from 2002 to 2005. If gritty "mature" games was the reason Xbox would have won that generation but everything got wrecked by the PS2. Resident Evil 4 and Metroid Prime were mature games for the GameCube that sadly weren't system sellers. But on the PS2 you had bright colorful unique games like Katamari Damacy, to games as art like Ico, to "gritty" like the GTA series. It was a system for all type of games.

[@nietzscheente1271]

Metroid Prime 2 and Starfox Adventures deserved a mention.

[@Oceanandskylinevidss]

Rare and Retro pushed every machine they ever worked on.

[@Arjay82]

I remember having my mind blown when playing Rogue Squadron and seeing textures actually get MORE CLEAR the closer you got to them, rather than just getting blurry.

[@SonicBoone56]

Gamecube and Dreamcast: Two amazing consoles loved by way more people now than back then.

[@infinity2z3r07]

I look at Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2 and see technically beautiful games, but none fill me with the hope of progress like these 6th gen relics. I wonder if kids today ever have the same feeling I'm talking about. Probably not. My memories of games began as little colored blocks. Games for them have always looked amazing.

[@crestofhonor2349]

Nope. You're probably going off nostalgia and that's something anything recent likely won't give you. It came out in a different time and you've grown.

[@todesziege]

@@crestofhonor2349 Graphics don't advance nearly as fast anymore as they did up to the mid-00's.

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

​@@todesziege now everything outside indie looks like carbon copies of eachother unless they have an actual artstyle

[@todesziege]

@@rinnnnnnnnnnrin That too. Art direction (or at least many aspects of it) seems to be a non-concern these days.

[@ActionGamerAaron]

F-Zero GX is an absolute treasure. Melee should be in here. The amount of stuff you can have going on and still have all the characters smoothly animating at 60 FPS is surprising.

[@thegreathadoken6808]

The Nintendo Gamecube really was the Nintendo Gamecube of Nintendo Gamecubes.

[@superdave3093]

Pretty much the wisest statement uttered by mankind ☀️☀️

[@barc0deblankblank]

No Starfox Adventures? Color me surprised

[@extradipboneless]

That fur shading + water effects while running 60fps

[@renakunisaki]

So much more detailed than Zelda, at twice the frame rate!

[@trulyinfamous]

​@@renakunisaki Shame it's an absurdly mid game, with an exceptionally bad final section. It had potential to be a lot better.

[@timmoman]

When I fired up Wind Waker back in the day, I couldn’t believe that such a great game (graphically & gameplaywise) could even exist! Such an advanced and underrated system!

[@jimmyryan5880]

I heard people complaining at the time but I didn't understand it. I loved that game, it still holds up.

[@JMFSpike]

I've heard people talk about how amazing Wind Waker is so many times over the years. I had never played it until a few years back. It was one of those classics that I missed and had always intended to get to one day. I must say, it is quite good and I can see why it left such a huge impression on people back then. The whole ocean sailing thing is impressive even today, but back then it would have been absolutely mind blowing, especially if you were still a kid. And I absolutely LOVED the whole design and atmosphere of Windfall Island! Even though I was playing the game nearly 20 years later, that place felt so alive and almost magical to me. I really wish it was a real place.

[@BlueEyedVibeChecker]

People complained about it being cartoony and completely overlooked it. Those people deserve the boring, hyper-realistic samey games we have today. Conversely, those same people also complained about not having their favourite cartoony plumber on release too, and many more of them disliked Metroid Prime for it's less fun and bright visuals. It's like they hated everything that wasn't a DVD player back then honestly. Nintendo and SEGA did mostly everything right in the 6th gen, only to be overshadowed anyway.

[@crestofhonor2349]

@@BlueEyedVibeChecker The push for realism was even bigger back in the 2000s than it is today. Also not everything is hyper realistic

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

​@@jimmyryan5880 cause it was released after the amazing "realistic" link vs ganondorf gamecube graphics showcase. So people were pissed that they didn't get what was "advertised" prior to wind wakers reveal

[@cjheeley]

I found my GameCube in the recycling bin at Heeley retail park. The best gaming experience for no dollar I've ever found. Heeley by name and Heeley by nature

[@DuckAlertBeats]

I know you mentioned it, but bro you are REALLY making a meal of those first two zombies 😂 Shoot once, get close, roundhouse 'em

[@3dmarth]

To clarify (as the game doesn't explain this), shooting basically any human enemies in the face or knee will stun them. While they're stunned, you have a few seconds to approach them. If you do this, it'll show the A button prompt, letting you know you can do a melee attack. These are powerful, great at knocking back crowds, and a good way of saving some ammo. :)

[@DuckAlertBeats]

@@3dmarth Yeah, this :)

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

​@@3dmarthbasically required for the castle interior defense section where Ashley is raising platforms

[@Interference22]

The Gamecube's limited discs were less of a problem than you'd think: the hardware could handle S3TC texture compression, meaning it could fit a whole lot of image data into not a lot of space with minimal quality loss (although transparency and gradients could look a bit iffy). The PS2 had its own form of texture compression but it was considerably more basic and files took up more space.

[@jc_dogen]

eventually games did more advanced texture decompression on the vector unit.

[@cube2fox]

Also, 1.5 GB was quite decent for the time when PC games were often still released on CD.

[@lilock33]

Examining the contents of GameCube discs with Swiss it's unusual to see titles come anywhere near using their full capacity. As well as the system's texture compression, I believe Nintendo also offered audio compression libraries as part of the SDK - for the other systems developers either had to make their own audio compression routines or license something from a third party. Typically where the GameCube disc's limitations show is when game includes a lot of FMV, with the quality being cut to fit on the disc. For comparison it's also worth remembering that a significant proportion of the PS2's library still came on CD!

[@BurritoKingdom]

Yeah, out of that generation the PS2 had the worse textures due to its limited memory (4MB) and weakest texture compression system. Even the Dreamcast out performed the PS2 in textures. Also using textures would limit it's pixel filtrate. It seems like the PS2 was designed just to push polygons. Which became a design dead-end when nVidia introduced shaders into commercially available GPUs.

[@raypuiaascii4653]

​@@BurritoKingdomPowerVR GPUs are known for being very memory efficient, the reason why DC can pull high quality textures. No wonder why SEGA didn't doubt in using it, but the PVR2 lacked a lot of basic features other systems and 3DFX already have(one of them being unable to do framebuffer effects)

[@bmwolgas]

F-Zero to me is in a league of its own. It is to the GameCube what Sonic and Blast Processing were to the Genesis. Plus it has aged incredibly well.

[@Ian-ky5hf]

I bought GameCube when it was released! I did in fact love the GaneCube at the time!

[@overwatch761]

Star Wars Rebel Strike 3 is visually insane and runs at 50-60fps on real hardware - it also includes the whole of Rogue Squadron for a 60fps two player mode. Impressive.

[@marklechman2225]

I miss those days. The PS2, Xbox, GC era is probably the single best time in gaming. I miss the magazines, the demo discs, the constant spec comparisons not to mention the immediacy and simplicity of buying a disc, slapping it into your console and being go to go (before fast internet and home networking were a ubiquitous thing, developers had to make sure their games were actually finished at the time of release). It was an exciting time for gamers and I’m so glad I got to be a part of it.

[@crestofhonor2349]

There were a lot of broken games at release then. Some games even had multiple versions where the launch version is different from the later release version with bug fixes. It was certainly less common from big publishers to release broken games though. Smaller games could absolutely be filled with tons of bugs

[@SonicBoone56]

Ayyyyyyy NFS Carbon on Gamecube was how I used to play it as a kid.

[@Bez2112]

My view point that effected the sales of the GC was lacking the DVD playback. If it had that i would have picked it up.

[@adamrogowski2748]

When I was a teenager a DVD player is one of the reasons I went with a PS2 over game cube. That and PS2 had a more interesting line up to me. Now if GameCube had metal gear solid 2....

[@cjheeley]

John Peel of retro gaming is back.

[@LillyP-xs5qe]

Super mario sunshine still looks amazing as well

[@pj3352]

Awesome work as usual fella.

[@Snotnarok]

There already has been a 'new F-Zero' Fast RMX that both does the 60fps like GX but also ups the visuals to an impressive level for the Switch

[@sidearmsalpha]

I remember seeing it at the mall running Super Smash Bros Melee and had to have it. Still a wonderful console to this day.

[@kurisu7885]

Rockstar didn't sleep on the Gamecube entirely. I know Smuggler's run made it to the cube.

[@Steph_7d7]

Warzones on the gc is still a blast to play

[@PancakesTheDragoncat]

I've been watching this series for awhile now, and this was the video I was looking forward to the most- the Gamecube was my first console 4:50 Ultimate Spiderman is the closest game I know of to a GTA type game on the Gamecube. It allows you to free roam around a full sized Manhattan island (as well as some of the surrounding city iirc) as Spiderman, and has random events and challenges sprinkled around the city. Also, as a note about Rogue Squadron 3- I grew up loving the game and I watched the included documentary a few times. One graphical feature you didn't mention was that Factor 5 developed an atmospheric scattering system that simulates how light travels through air, which really helps the appearance of distant objects and the bloom of the sun(s). It's absent from space levels of course, but I think it adds to the look of levels set above planets.

[@someuser828]

Still got my GC. Metroid Prime - best game ever

[@priestfan81]

A classic. Gamecube was a great console.

[@simpson6700]

f-zero gx is still one of my favorites. it runs pretty well for me on dolphin, i beat all cups on the first 3 difficulties and i can count on one hand how many times my computer struggled.

[@jamesprumos7775]

What's amazing about Rebel Strike is that Factor 5 built a completely new engine from the ground up for it despite already having Rogue Leader's engine. If you ever do a sequel to this video, I'd love to see Star Fox Adventures covered. It's one of the best-looking GameCube games, shame Rare didn't make any more for GameCube afterward.

[@illiteratedino]

I wonder if the system lasted longer and had more dev support that we would see more games that push the system even harder than what we're seeing now?

[@goatbone]

Nintendo-developed games seem to be the most technically impressive on their systems so I'm going to say probably not.

[@illiteratedino]

@@goatbone Factor 5 would like to have a word with you. Like, I get it, Nintendo does do amazing work. I feel like Nintendo is amazing at using all the features the system has to offer while companies like Factor 5 push the system beyond what it was built to do. Even on the N64, there were 3rd parties doing crazy stuff on the system. Guys like Rare, Factor 5, and Iguana just to name a few.

[@BurritoKingdom]

The Wii was basically just a GameCube that ran at a higher clock speed and more RAM. Heck the Wii-U CPU was 3 GameCube CPUs duct taped together that ran at 4 times the speed. So basically the best quality Wii game but at a lower framerate and resolution would be the GameCube's max potential. So imagine Xenoblade Chronicles but with slightly worse graphics and multiple discs and probably lower quality textures due to the lesser RAM and smaller disc.

[@DemonzBarberTodd]

Thanks for the post love the game cube ☺️😁☺️

[@KingYoshi93]

Are you still planning on making a follow-up on the DS video? ❤

[@wuoarh0815]

Rebel strike included rogue squadron as coop version! Also in some making of, they mentioned how they improved on outdoor natural/scenic lighting. rip factor5

[@thecunninlynguist]

no surprise seeing RE4, WW or GX there. seeing/playing RE4 the first time back then was such a treat..I was mind blown. and WW...looked like i really was playing a cartoon

[@RightNowMan]

Great video. GameCube was a beast!

[@C3phoe]

Love the honesty in his skill level ar RE4, most make sure they look like the second coming of Sushi-X in any reference footage 😅

[@RyanLeCocq]

True Crime released on GC.

[@todesziege]

Wasn't that great, but it was fairly GTA-like.

[@jumpmadmadness1222]

It’s on record that the creator of the true crime port, half ass the GC port because it didn’t care for the GameCube

[@PseudoWounds]

great vid

[@baulzzzzzzz2278]

It’s criminal that we haven’t gotten a remake of F ZeroGX one of the best racing games of all time

[@AntneeUK]

And of course F-Zero GX contains the arcade F-Zero AX version on the disc, unlockable with an Action Replay

[@M1XART]

-And by simply beating the game. Shame that Mario Kart Tri-Force was never ported home, as NGC was technically same machine as Arcade Tri-Force.

[@jamiemclaughlin6899]

My favourite ever console. I ended up with about 40 games, partly because they were going for £5 - £10 in CEX in the late '00s.

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

The early 2000s was an interesting time for console gaming especially if you had a Gamecube or an Xbox because the games sometimes arguably looked better on console than on PC. Once the ATI and nVidia video cards got substantially better in 2003-2004 and newer game engines like Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 hit the scene then that was the end of that debate and PC has stayed the deFacto leader ever since. I excluded Dreamcast and PS2 for a reason as while charming they were objectively inferior mainly due to their late 90's tech. This definitely needs a Part 2 for games like StarFox Adventures, Super Mario Sunshine, and Metroid Prime that deserve analysis and pushed limits.

[@morganmcgill3169]

I only have one open world game in my Gamecube collection; (2005) Gun. But I don't remember if it has free roaming.

[@kirk123]

Great vid as ever. I would say emulation of F-Zero runs really well on the Steam Deck, all the tracks I've tried are locked to 60fps and I've not noticed any flaws. Definitely worth a try if you don't have any original hardware. It still looks so good I'd love a straight port onto the Switch.

[@TheUAoB]

I don't have a problem running F-Zero @4K/60Hz with an AMD-FX8370E and RX Vega64 under Dolphin (Retroarch) on Linux, so I'm not sure what he's referring to either, I've not exactly got the latest hardware! It's better than running it on my Wii!

[@jaytecx5942]

Currently loving the PS2 / GameCube era. Before micro transactions and online only, but not truly retro, this was a sweet time for gaming and happy to stay here.

[@BurritoKingdom]

They're technically retro since they're older than 20 years. 😂 PS3/360 will be retro a 1 to 2 years.

[@TriVoxel]

Time Splitters and Time Splitters 2 are fantastic games with beautifully animated cutscenes, an interesting story, funny writing, and outstanding graphics. I mean, wow! Also, the multiplayer was pretty fun, and it did a multiplayer map editor before Halo. The Xbox version looked better due to the larger disc format, but the GameCube version is an absolute blast and is still incredible! Please include these games in a future list. Also, play them! Time Splitters has a wonderful co-op campaign experience, (with some 00s jank)!

[@fridgeffs5662]

Just speaking about the ground mesh texture in f zero. If you think about how much computing power it takes just for those meshes to move every frame and recalculate the direction of every wire crossing each other one is insane. Not to mention everything else on top of that.

[@Oceanandskylinevidss]

Wave race blue storm, Resident Evil 1 remake, Melee, Metal Gear twin snakes, Eternal darkness, Starfox adventures. Metroid prime 1 and 2. I want to say Mario sunshine also can push the old lunchbox.

[@tommybahama9350]

Liked, subscribed

[@jrchannel7405]

Another way Rogue Squadron III pushes the limits of the system is that the whole previous game is stored in the same disc of the 3rd one, so basically 2 whole games in one disc

[@PianoBlack62]

The resident evil 1 remake on GameCube is still amazing today

[@rophgames]

I was surprised that Starfox Adventures wasn't included, especially since Twilight Princess was.

[@phorchybug3286]

FZGX looks fun. Gives me Sonic Riders Sonic Transformed vibes.

[@discostu333]

The Gamecube was such a special console.

[@youtubekilledtrustedflaggi9274]

wind waker is great just watching this makes me want to play it again.

[@pnklzr1984]

I loved the GameCube. It was the only console I ever went to a midnight release for. Came away with Luigi’s Mansion, Rogue Leader, and Super Monkey Ball. Adored that unique controller too, but might be in a minority there…

[@dlfon99]

Do not sleep on Final fantasy crystal chronicles! That game uses the efb and the flipper gpu to their fullest. It's even one of the few gamecube games to utilise normal maps, easily seen in the mushroom forest dungeon.

[@CreationBrosZone-km5be]

Cheers.

[@yqafree]

Twilight Princess also had a very powerful graphical showcase

[@LotoTheHero]

8:33 Maybe the Black bars are because they didn't adjust the resolution for the PAL port.

[@Nikku4211]

You going to do Wii games next or PS2 or Xbox 2001?

[@steventechno]

Wind Waker aged so well. WW is a great example of a unique art style that is timeless. WW HD is a great remaster too which up-reses the textures and an improved lighting engine. The OG still looks fantastic! I do agree Twilight's presentation hasn't aged as well, but it's world is still wonderful.

[@gustavogalembeck7711]

For me F-Zero GX is one of the most impressive games of the 6h gen as a whole, not only GC. About GTA on the GameCube, I think the closest thing we got was Simpsons Hit & Run. True Crime was closer in terms of mood and setting, but H&R gameplay was very similar to GTA's.

[@M1XART]

Hit & Run is much better than GTA if you ask me.

[@themeangene]

The black bars on the GameCube version of RE4 are definitely there to keep a stable frame rate. The character models used in that game are incredibly detailed. It blows every other contemporary RE game out of the water in terms of graphical fidelity. Just compare the Outbreak games to RE4. Leon's character model doesn't at all look like a GameCube character model. It's insane what they accomplished in 2004

[@Thesassyiscute]

Metroid prime 2, re4, and twilight princess are the games that really blew me away with graphics

[@Nigel222]

Its good the Gamecube is getting more love these days. I was lucky enough to have the PS2 and the Gamecube back in the day but it was always annoying how impossible it was to find GameCube games as most of the shops only stocked PS2 games.

[@NotOrdinaryInGames]

I am a PS2 Bro, and would normally argue power, console wars style. But not today. I will just say that GC was the easiest console to program for before Xbox came out. PS2 had 2 vector units available for developers, but hard to program for. GC was a much simpler box, easier to wrap your head around, easier to squeeze games in. That is why multiplats looked better on Nintendo's console so often. And I am with you regarding Nintendo today. Gamecube games should be available in unaltered and uncensored state, for legal purchase today.

[@FatNorthernBigot]

It's about time... I was starting to agree with 2 Unlimited.😂

[@endymallorn]

You overlooked the best cel-shaded game on the GC, Killer7 - the other highlight of the Capcom 5 (though I think P.N. 03 is still my favorite of the games)

[@sem_aki]

3:05 that's also the stage that still lags on modern PCs with dolphin

[@AFourEyedGeek]

I struggled for a few minutes to let go of the early comment that graphics have barely improved since the release of F-Zero for the GameCube. Then the next game discussed mentions how far we have come in graphics. My head hurts.

[@Fuuntag]

Gamecube had access to some pretty great Directx 8.1esque features. Rogue Leader aside I wouldn't say these choices pushed the limits...they just took good advantage of the hardware.

[@FzeroVaporeon]

I love f zero gx

[@user-lw4on9vv1i]

i beg of you, please do a video on games that push the limits of the acorn archimedes!

[@3dmarth]

- Need for Speed: Carbon? Seems like an odd choice, considering those awful textures (although that isn't as noticeable in 480p and lower), but it is still an attractive game. Interesting that it's fluctuating between 40 and 60fps there, depending on the scene. I have the Xbox version, and though it looks better, I'm pretty sure it ran below 30fps a lot of the time (and never hit 60)! - From my understanding, the Dolphin stats you're looking for are the "primitives" and "primitives (DL)". The former is used in weird cases like N64 emulation, and most games use the latter (with display lists making the rendering more efficient and preferable on native GCN games, I guess?). I've found that many games push past 100K per frame, with Rogue Squadron II doing over 200K (12M per second!) in the hangar, of all places! - I wish you would have included the Endor level in Rogue Squadron III, as it's one of the most stunning scenes in the game or on the system in general! Though that would involve beating most of the game, so... ;)

[@daviddyer3543]

Pity we can't have a Wipeout/F-Zero crossover game.

[@DuckAlertBeats]

Hmm also, are you capturing from composite or something? My Cube looks a lot better natively on this screen, also I'm seeing a lot of screen tearing, even in your Res Evil 4 footage??

[@infinity2z3r07]

he said it's on the wii

[@DuckAlertBeats]

@@infinity2z3r07 He did? I thought he said this was original hardware. Anyway, I don't think GC Res Evil 4 has screen tearing when played on the Wii. Dunno, curious

[@jimmyryan5880]

For the starwars game it's a Wii which is pretty annoying actually since he drills down on what exact pixels are doing under different lighting it he should be using the real hardware. If he was talking about the story fine.

[@dreamcastfan]

@@DuckAlertBeats Yeah he later on says it’s the Wii, which probably explains the poor picture quality. Despite being the same internally the Wii had much worse output quality for some reason.

[@DuckAlertBeats]

@@dreamcastfan Right yeah, mm I've noticed that myself. Wonder why that was..

[@jeremygregorio7472]

GameCube games look modern because it was the first console that had pixel shaders. Pixel shaders are the basis of all modern graphics

[@SnackCannon]

No mention of Twin Snakes?

[@_yadokari]

Nintendo are the absolute masters of scalable art.

[@willwill2548]

pls do a gc vs ps2 comparison

[@mrburns366]

The Resident Evil remakes were actually the reason I bought a GameCube. It wasn't Mario :)

[@Alinktome]

In 2024 i am still waiting for a game that blast me more than F Zero GX on the gamecube. Wow. OK no HD but I do not speak about resolution.

[@Dosunceste]

Uh, Need for Speed in but no Star Fox Adventure, Metroid Prime 1&2, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (this one anticipate the shading techniques later shown in Super Mario Galaxy) and Resident Evil Remake?

[@johneygd]

I was never a real fan of the gamecube but i do consider it to be the rectified version of the N64 with better controllers,better graphics (no more blurry textures and ugly anti aliassing),more easy to use (no need to swap ram modules or difficulties with adding or removing a power supply to it) I consider supermario sunshine to look amezing as well conpared to supermario 64 wigh more and much sharper more colorful textures and much more polygons, i also do got fond memories of that game since i was reliving and start to live on my own back in 2009, i can’t believe that we are already 15 years futher in time phew, I also do consoder need for speed underground looking amezing, i was always used with the gba version but this ngc version just destroys it in every way.

[@Blankult]

7:18 Wouldn't that be because cross platform games were usually designed primarily for the gamecube, since it's the one with less media storage?

[@utternonsenseproductions2415]

Rebel's Trike

[@wizzgamer]

Nintendo GameCube was a monster 😮

[@MelodyMecato6156]

King Kong on GC looks more impressive to me than RE4 tbh. Sharper at least.

[@nicktheslayer95]

The King Kong official movie game looks like it was made by the Uncharted/Last of Us team but for gamecube, check it out. I am still in AWE that the gamecube runs that game.

[@SillyOrb]

Didn't Factor 5 contribute to the GC's GPU design?

[@jimmyryan5880]

Best controller of any console. Fite me!

[@GerardMenvussa]

They really should have kept that ABXY layout, very convenient. So much easier to introduce it to complete beginners too.

[@todesziege]

Best 3D/dual analog controller. For 2D games you can do better.

[@danvzare6201]

A bit of a tangent here, but you really should see about covering Alone in the Dark The New Nightmare on the PS1. That game HAS to be a limit pusher. It has what appears to be real-time shadows... on pre-rendered backgrounds... on a PS1. I spent a good ten minutes admiring the effect, trying to figure out how the heck they pulled it off. (My best guess is that they have two pre-rendered backgrounds layered upon each other, with a simplified invisible 3D model used for calculating the light and therefore where to cut out a section of one of the backgrounds. But honestly I have no idea.)

[@litjellyfish]

I checked it now and could not see any realtime shadows (apart from the simple blob shadow of the player) I assume you mean the realtime lighting of the players flashlight? That lights up the things it’s light cone hits? If so then yes you are right in think. Although they don’t need to have two different backgrounds (as I never saw and cast shadow disappear or change only the light intensity ) So as you say they have a simplified “light collision” mesh where they check where the light cone hits. And they have a texture of a soft edged light spot that they uv map the polygon then create. So basically ink the polygons from the collider mesh that are in the light cone are created and drawn. And as PS1 do not have any z buffer most likely they need to check what object/polygons are in front of the 2D rect area that the light cone bounds create. And then draw those objects with a screen space texture. This will result with an area that has a light textured polygons This image can then be used as a texture and alpha blender additive mode over the frame buffer. And then the other possible object from the collision mesh and dynamic real 3D objects player etc are draw z sorted. More or less :)

[@litjellyfish]

Checked again. You are right they have two sets of background images. Rest is the same. They create this light cone offset texture that is used as a mask to blend the lit background on the collision mesh polygons

[@litjellyfish]

Haha sorry I checked again in slow speed. It seems the collision mesh is quite detailed so they most likely do not project anything on the collision mesh polygons. They just check what polygons intersect the light cone and set the vertex color alpha to 0 at the intersection outline. And then draws those polygons with the lit background as screen space mapped texture. The vertex color alpha fades it away pretty ok. But if you check it yourself on slow speed you can clearly see typical vertex color triangle lines

[@Blankult]

It's really impressive, too bad the game sucks tho

[@themeangene]

Yeah it uses the Playstation (and Dreamcast) alpha coordinates to swap between different textures. It's incredible. The prerendered backgrounds are also rather elaborate so they definitely compressed those images down on the Playstation version to a significant degree