After feeling like the N64’s life was a little too short (because I had missed 2½ years of playing it), the next console was due out. About 8 months after getting married and moving to Ogden, the GameCube was released in November. Because I was recently married and we were just starting out in life, I wasn’t planning on getting the GameCube right away. We were still trying to buy normal things every household needs, as well as pay off a little debt.
My friend Edgar called me up and shoved it in my face that he got one on release day. He kept me on the phone while he set up the menu. I was a little jealous, but not so much that I had to run out and get one. I played the demo at Wal-Mart, and really, really liked Rogue Leader. I picked up a small demo disc that showed small clips of 6 launch titles. I was amazed at how much smoother the motion was, and how much better the 3D models were.
We went to visit our old stomping ground, and I hung out with Edgar. We played some Smash Bros., and I got to play Rogue Leader on a non-demo disc. I started to want one, and eventually we got one in February a few weeks before our 1st wedding anniversary.
Like the N64, it didn’t come with a game, so I bought Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. I must have put 2 hours a day into that game after work, and 5 hours a day on weekends. I also had to buy a memory card so I could save my files. I had done so with the N64, but it was almost unnecessary as all the games I had saved their files to the cartridge. But in this case it was absolutely necessary.
The GC had the same multi-out connection as the N64, but now that we had a TV with RCA jacks, it was nice to not need an adapter. But it also had component cable connections, making me once again wish I had a better TV. We set the console on top of the stereo speaker (which was on the floor of the apartment) because it fit perfectly, and we didn’t have any kids who could destroy it. But eventually when my son Avery was old enough to crawl, we had to move the speakers onto bookshelves and move the GC into the TV stand, where we could lock it.
To make things more convenient, we bought a selector switch so that we could have multiple inputs because we had a VCR, SNES, N64, GameCube, and DVD/Surround Sound system all hooked up to the TV. Later we would get rid of the selector switch (I think we gave it to my brother Chad) once we got a proper receiver and a TV with even more inputs.
The N64 had some semblance of stereo and directional sound, but the GameCube seemed to be better. One thing I loved doing is the Sound Test on Rogue Leader. It flies a TIE Fighter around the player’s head. You can only see it when it’s right in front of you, but you can follow it by the sound around the whole room.
I brought the GameCube to work to show my manager and coworker. We hooked it up to a little TV/VCR combo that one of the salesmen there had in his office. They were both fans of Star Wars, and had seemed excited about the demo disc I had shown them previously. My manager asked me, “What’s the setup?” meaning how much does it cost to get everything he saw. I didn’t understand his lingo, and thought he was asking how it was connected to the TV. I later ended up also showing him Rogue Squadron 3 (borrowed from my brother Brady) because I had told him it included the original arcade game. He thought I was too young to remember it and must have been referencing something else, so I brought it and showed him that we were talking about the same game.
A few months later after seeing the first Spider-Man movie, I had to get the game. Previously, the only Spider-Man game that had “felt” like Spider-Man was the GBA game I had borrowed from my brother Mitch. Then I had rented the N64 Spider-Man game, and this one truly captured what it would be like to be the Web Head. This new GC version was based on the movie, but kept the same feel.
When our first child was going to be born, it took a little over 24 hours from the time my wife was admitted to the hospital before he was delivered, so we had a lot of time to kill. The hospital was only a couple of blocks from our apartment, so I ran home frequently. On one trip I brought the GameCube back and hooked it up. Some of the nurses were a little amazed that I knew how to hook it up, for some reason. But it was nice to play Rogue Squadron and some GBA games while we waited.
The next game I bought was Super Mario Sunshine. I got it mainly because I thought it would recapture the magic that I had felt with Mario 64. It was a great game, but the magic wasn’t quite the same. But I did get a sense that the graphics were kinda what the programmers had in mind when they were making Mario 64.
In November I got excited for Metroid Prime. I had enjoyed the previous Metroid games, but they hadn’t made one for a long time because the creator had died. I hadn’t been aware of the GBA game Metroid Fusion, and thought this would be the fourth Metroid game. Prime was made in a FPS style, which was very different from the others, but it was really great. Unfortunately I didn’t have Fusion or the GBA/GC connection cable to take advantage of some of the additional features.
The next game I anticipated was The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. I found out that if I pre-ordered it from Toys’Я’Us, I could get a copy of Ocarina of Time on a GameCube disc, and it came with a Master Quest made from what was to be released on the N64DD. I had a few days to play it before Wind Waker came out. When I got Wind Waker, a couple days later I also bought a link cable so I could take advantage of the connectivity for the Tingle Tuner. I really loved Wind Waker, and considered it a nearly perfect Zelda game. My brother and his girlfriend (now wife) came down around this time. He played as my Tingle buddy when I tried it out for the first time.
Later purchases included Lego Star Wars 1 and 2 for Avery at consecutive Christmases, and also The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures for me. I played that a little, but thought that the 4 player version was significantly different, so I was going to wait until I had multiple GBAs. I also bought a second memory card; it was a 3rd party item, but it held more memory. Having two made it nice so we could have one in the GC and one in the Wii (eventually).
Although I ended up with 12 games (not too shabby), about half of those came later in the GameCube’s life when we were financially established a little more, and some of the later ones were bought used. I ended up getting some kind of gift card for Best Buy. I went to get a game but the only thing they had that was the right price and looked good was Return of the King. I only ended up playing it for about 15 minutes. I also bought Splinter Cell on clearance, years after it was first released. I had played Splinter Cell 1, 2, and 3 previously, borrowing them from my brother Brady. Finally, we got Soul Caliber 2 for Avery, who wanted it because it included Link as one of the playable characters.
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| The bottom of the GameCube with serial ports uncovered |
We had bought a second controller when the first one started acting a little funny (control stick problems), so we had 2 to play the two player Lego games. But after owning the Wii for a while, we downloaded Mario Kart 64 from the Virtual Console. We found third-party white controllers at Family Dollar for $10 each and bought them to have 4 GC controllers for Mario Kart. Those had their problems, but I guess you get what you pay for. Occasionally they wouldn’t work, and the stick would randomly need to be re-calibrated. Eventually they broke enough that I took the good parts of each of them and frankensteined a decent one together. I also tried another 3rd party controller; this one’s problem is that the main control stick is too stiff and too sensitive. Instead of gently transitioning through 8 degrees of pressure, it seemed like the stick was either straight up or at full blast. Something else that happened was that the Player 1 controller port stopped giving the rumble signal. Perhaps cleaning it will fix it.
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