Games That Push the Limits of the GameCube

[@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

[@nietzscheente1271]

Metroid Prime 2 and Starfox Adventures deserved a mention.

[@Oceanandskylinevidss]

Rare and Retro pushed every machine they ever worked on.

[@dexlab7794]

Crazy to see anyone say adventures deserved a mention. I agree, I just remember the hate it got.

[@NelsonJ1031]

@@dexlab7794 starfox adventures even used a new hair and grass render tecnology on the game

[@SianaGearz]

@@dexlab7794 oh it may have been a disappointing game, which would have been better off as its original concept Dinosaur Planet instead of being retooled last minute to be a Starfox entry, but everyone praised the visuals and just how much it's able to pull off, right?

[@jakel7319]

he did mention them at the end of the video

[@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.

[@SockyNoob]

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

[@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.

[@zergilli9719]

Gamecube had a lot of solid games.

[@austincarter9523]

What was the game?

[@okseby]

@@austincarter9523also curious

[@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.

[@lennyvalentin6485]

The GC T&L unit featured fixed-function geometry processing, which was fine for static geometry like landscapes, buildings, spaceships and so on, but it can't deform a model's mesh dynamically, like say, a person bending their arm, or a car crashing into a wall. So that excludes vertex skinning on the GPU, you have to run those calculations on the CPU instead. Btw, basically all GC games used the T&L unit; it's how you draw 3D graphics on the GC. :)

[@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.

[@Chaotic818]

​@@crestofhonor2349it was a combination of that, and the fact that it lacked DVD playback, music CD playback pushed the ps1, dvd playback pushed the ps2, back then at the advent of the 1st dvd players, they ran about as much as a ps2 if not more, most people would buyva ps2 since it was a console, music and dvd player, it was the most bang for your buck

[@alibabaschultz352]

@@crestofhonor2349 Glad that dumb phase is over.

[@jclkaytwo]

​@@crestofhonor2349ah yes, because katamari damacy is so gritty and eternal darkness is so kiddie... man, people were so immature back then lol

[@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.

[@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.

[@PomPomMeowMeow]

​​@@TriVoxel480p and 576i are the maximum without adding some kind of mod that could upscale the image I guess. 480p is going to look better on any game that plays over 25fps. 60fps games at 576i are going to actually be half that resolution. That's why you don't see many interlaced resolutions anymore.

[@TriVoxel]

@@PomPomMeowMeow Well, my Swiss is reporting 576p, and I can even select progressive scan in most games at this resolution. I also haven't noticed any interlacing from playing. 576p looks pretty good to me, maybe I am just crazy though? idk, I just set everything to 576p. Maybe I need to do some more thorough testing...

[@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.

[@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?

[@adesignersperspective]

@@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.

[@zataritamods7499]

henlo, long time RE4 modder here! The game is rendered in 4:3 and the bars are actually just an overlay to add the cinematic look to the game. -The game has a limit of 6 lights interacting with one object at a time, and one of those lights is capable of being dedicated for dynamic directional shadows. The light system and camera system were built to work together. You would walk into trigger areas and that would determine the characteristics of the camera for that area. This would also toggle light groups on and off. -It wasn't able to handle traditional transparency, and actually broke up the drawing of things into 5 passes. This simulated transparency. You can see the side effect of this as the developers messed up the hierarchy in some places like in the bushes in the farm. -The game actually doesn't have traditional "collision" there is a collision mesh that is used to determine where the player can walk, and another collision mesh that determines where bullets can hit. This means if you happen to clip out of the SAT (the player collision area) you can just sorta wander around in the void no problem you won't fall into the abyss. - RE4 had inverse kinematics where his feet would actually collide with the floor, and rudimentary DoF (like Windwaker) -Another cool thing is the game actually used bones dedicated to cloth physics. You can see it on leon's jacket. This was part of the lighting system for some reason though? This game wasn't very "dynamic" All of the rooms were hard coded. They had functions that were called when a room was entered (room_init functions), and once per frame while in the room (room_main functions). This was how they got away with a lot of what they did. This made it really difficult to mod :c Another thing too is a lot of the levels had copies of each of the textures, animations, effects, etc in them. This kept all of the data close together on the CD reducing load times; however, it is one of the reasons the game ended up having two disks. Some things were shared between levels, but that was typically reserved for characters, enemies, etc. I can pretty much tell you anything about this game if you're interested. I have reverse engineered most of the file formats and I have actually created an entire suit of modding tools for the game. In fact I have done so with GC, PS2, and UHD (Steam). Each of them have unique changes to them. FUN FACT - A lot of the developers who worked on RE4 ended up moving over to platinum games and made NeiR: Automata. The game has a surprising amount of similarities to how RE4 systems worked. albeit significantly more refined.

[@cjh0751]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@The_Prizessin_der_Verurteilung]

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]

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

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrinRinOnishi]

​@@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

[@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.

[@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)

[@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.

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrinRinOnishi]

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

[@todesziege]

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

[@brzt4256]

Considering kids aren't playing those games and instead flock to Minecraft and Roblox, I'd say they know exactly what you're talking about.

[@Ian-ky5hf]

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

[@thegreathadoken6808]

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

[@superdave3093]

Pretty much the wisest statement uttered by mankind ☀️☀️

[@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.

[@alexshadowfax1119]

Just found your channel, going through your videos now, and yes, I read the channel description, always.

[@KingYoshi93]

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

[@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.

[@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 :)

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrinRinOnishi]

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

[@GreyWolfLeaderTW]

Another game worth mentioning in terms of pushing the limits of the GameCube is Rareware's swansong for home console games for Nintendo, Star Fox Adventures. That game is graphically gorgeous with fantastic visual effects, from reflections on polished stone surfaces to fur-bearing characters having detailed hair strands that react to momentum and wind, to its rain, snow, fire, water, and depth of field effects, all running at 60 FPS and stream-loading level and entity asset data from the disc without any loading pauses or hiccups.

[@caioleite5579]

I am glad you remembered Rogue Saquadron. I was a kid when the Gamecube launched and my dad was a huge star wars fan, so he had the N64 Rogue Squadron game and also got the gamecube one. It was mind blowing how much of a massive upgrade it was

[@ZEKESPILLEDINKMUSIC]

I'm surprised that Eternal Darkness wasn't on this list. It's also one of the many games that Nintendo likes to ignore. To this day, there hasn't been a single re-release or remaster of Eternal Darkness since it debuted on the GameCube.

[@codezero7981]

Eternal Darkness is not a graphical showcase nor represents the full power of the GameCube.

[@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.

[@cjh0751]

John Peel of retro gaming is back.

[@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.

[@SockyNoob]

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

[@hyakin7818]

Star fox adventures is impressive in it's own rights as it started developement on the n64 even and quickly had to switch Metroid prime for a near launch title still looks gorgeous for today and wouldn't have needed a remaster graphic wise but the remaster still managed to look so good without very heavy lifting that some might call it limit pushing for the switch

[@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

[@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....

[@LillyP-xs5qe]

Super mario sunshine still looks amazing as well

[@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

[@LotoTheHero]

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

[@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.

[@RightNowMan]

Great video. GameCube was a beast!

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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?

[@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.

[@RazzRG]

There is still tuns about rogue squadron that was ahead of its time even in today's games . It still is such a marvel of a game.

[@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.

[@morganmcgill3169]

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

[@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

[@HellTantrumbull]

1:49 for a moment there I thought Batman was a racer in the game because of how the image in first place looks. 😆

[@pj3352]

Awesome work as usual fella.

[@the.real.Deano.]

The metroid prime games most definitely deserved a mention i think on of them actually won a couple best looking game of the year awards when they released.

[@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.

[@iamjoehill]

Had PS2 sweating most of the time!

[@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

[@Dinosaur_News_Center]

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.

[@Dinosaur_News_Center]

@@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@DigitalNomad765]

Thanks for the post love the game cube ☺️😁☺️

[@sem_aki]

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

[@jeremygregorio7472]

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

[@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.

[@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!

[@chemergency]

True Crime is an impressive achievement for Gamecube hardware. Closest thing we had to GTA on it.

[@SnackCannon]

No mention of Twin Snakes?

[@michaelsilveira3909]

Bro I can't tell if you're just trolling with that weird voice, or if it's natural lol. I couldn't stop laughing the whole time 😂😂

[@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.

[@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…

[@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.

[@SianaGearz]

ATI did not develop Gamecube's video chip, that was ArtX, a group of engineers that originally worked on N64's video processor at SGI, and then founded a new company when SGI started falling apart. Between the video chip being taped out, and the Gamecube actually coming out, ArtX got acquired by ATI. Of course ArtX then contributed to engineering of Radeon products.

[@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 😅

[@matt92hun]

The GC could have been bigger, Nintendo just decided to not make it able to read normal DVDs and play movies.

[@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..

[@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.

[@tinyhato]

It's so weird to hear bump-mapping and self-shadowing described as "subtle little things". At the time, these felt like huge and obvious differentiatiors; games with these effects seemed enormously upgraded to those without.

[@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

[@baulzzzzzzz2278]

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

[@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.

[@Nikku4211]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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?

[@SillyOrb]

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

[@adesignersperspective]

i still hold to this day that the gamecube at its best absolutely ran rings around the original xbox. i swear nintendo purposefully downplayed the gamecube's specs in their marketing and microsoft artificially bloated theirs (which they do have a habit of doing). the best games on the gamecube just looked way beyond literally anything else of that console generation, and still hold up better than almost anything else from that generation today.

[@xtr.7662]

Absolutely not quite the opposite the best looking xbox games looked miles above anything on gc or ps2 conker and half life 2 for example

[@adesignersperspective]

@@xtr.7662 i mean, you're wrong, but ok. i owned both consoles. not a single xbox game - including half life 2 - came anywhere near the amount of visual fidelity and poly counts that we saw in titles like rogue squadron 3 and metroid prime 2 on the gamecube. it isn't even close. the closest the xbox ever got was splinter cell or doom 3, and neither of those are on the same level as stuff like rogue squadron 3 or metroid prime 2, even though the gamecube port of that splinter cell was handled quite sloppily (thanks ubisoft)... there are MANY titles that were developed exclusively for the gamecube, including some in this video, that not a single xbox game could even touch. you apparently haven't played them. i played both consoles equally. the xbox had some great games for what it did, and some great exclusives as well, but when it comes to what both consoles were capable of graphically at their peak, it wasn't even a contest. sorry. the gamecube did a hell of a lot more - and there are other cross-port titles that did more on the gamecube visually too. soul calibur 2 and burnout 3 come to mind. both looked better on the gamecube than the xbox. the gamecube could also do more texture effects and layering than the xbox could, beyond the fact that, well, i reiterate everything i already said on visual fidelity and poly counts. there's not a single game on the xbox that does everything titles like rogue squadron 3, metroid prime 2, and f-zero gx are doing. not to mention resident evil 4 and plenty of others. the xbox was better than the ps2, sure. it absolutely did not achieve the same heights the gamecube did visually, though. and that's just an objective fact to anyone who actually played both consoles extensively. hell a lot of xbox games had poly counts that seemed as though they were barely an upgrade over the N64. it was powerful in some areas and certainly could outperform the ps2. that's as good as it got. also citing half-life 2 is ridiculous - that wasn't even the best looking game on the xbox, or anywhere near the best looking game of that generation. it did a lot well, but it was hardly the graphical powerhouse even other xbox titles like doom 3 or splinter cell were. and again, there were gamecube games that did more than either of those did. FFS rogue squadron 2 did everything doom 3 was doing graphically all things being equal, and it was a damn LAUNCH title for the gamecube.

[@xtr.7662]

@@adesignersperspective half life 2 does have a significantly higher poly count than either of those games all characters for example are 10k+polys no gamecube game achieves that

[@adesignersperspective]

@@xtr.7662 ok. you're literally just making shit up out of whole cloth now. half-life does 2 not have a significantly higher poly count than anything i just mentioned. you can tell this just looking at the damn game. HL2 doesn't even model its water - it's all just a flat textured surface, as are many other things in the game environments. and multiple gamecube games feature characters at or higher than the same detail level as HL2's characters. FFS you're just making shit up. i'm sorry, but the early source engine, while certainly capable of making very pretty stuff, and half-life 2 being a visually unique and stand-out experience from an overall mood standpoint (as are all valve titles), was still a far cry from the amount of geometric complexity or graphical fidelity of any of the titles i just mentioned on the gamecube. you either know this and you're lying to work backwards from your own false conclusion, or you've literally never done a real comparison yourself. and you saying no gamecube game achieves that shows me you've never played or looked at any of these gamecube games in your life and you're just fanboying for the xbox for... reasons. also as i said half life 2 isn't even the highest fidelity xbox game in terms of visuals so i have zero reason why you're even trying to use that as a benchmark. plenty of gamecube titles not only do more than HL2 does visually, but they also do more than doom 3 or splinter cell which BOTH do a hell of a lot more than HL2 does even on the xbox. have you even played any other game from that generation? anyway. i'm done, and your argument is absolutely stupid on its face. i'm not going to keep reiterating the same point while you keep going "but half-life 2 though!!1" - that's not the winning argument you think it is. have a nice one. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@xtr.7662]

@@adesignersperspective alright then your eye guessing is better than actual facts it doesnt matter you really think polygon counts are the only thing to measure game fidelity its obvious hl2 is a much more visually advanced game than anything on the gamecube unless youre blind

[@kameoosama]

The GameCube did get at least one GTA clone: True Crime Streets of LA. Which I'm actually a bit surprised clocked in at under the 1.8 GB of a GameCube disc. Unless there were secret double density discs or something

[@kameoosama]

Also I think the GameCube was the first system Nintendo had where people were just expected to have it alongside something else, which probably didn't help that 7:1 PS2 ratio

[@johnrickard8512]

INACCURACY! Nintendo DID care about the GameCube - enough to give it a generational refresh in the form of the Wii. That console was a runaway hit and was an upgraded GameCube at heart.

[@rophgames]

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

[@daviddyer3543]

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

[@PianoBlack62]

The resident evil 1 remake on GameCube is still amazing today

[@cruxinc]

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

[@TBoneTony]

StarFox Adventures would be among those games on the list that pushed the Nintendo GameCube to it's visual limits.

[@Astrawboy_NameAlreadyInUse]

1:21 You mean like Bethesda?

[@4g1vn]

Stretched like a Philistine! 🤣🤣

[@PaperBanjo64]

I believe F Zero has native wide-screen, haven't watched the whole video yet.

[@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... ;)

[@phorchybug3286]

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

[@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)

[@yqafree]

Twilight Princess also had a very powerful graphical showcase

[@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.