The best GameCube games of all time

What if a comic book, panels and all, were a video game? That’s exactly what the Hideki-Kamiya-helmed Capcom project Viewtiful Joe set out to do in 2003 when it launched on GameCube. The side-scrolling beat ’em up put players in the red suit and cape of Joe, a young man who is transported into Movieland to fight villains and save the world. A comic book art style and the melding of both comics and film made for one of the most visually interesting games of the era. It also helped that the game had solid, tough combat. It’s disappointing that after one sequel and a couple of spin-offs, Viewtiful Joe ceased to exist as a franchise. The original still holds up, though.

No one could have expected that Metroid’s jump to 3D would prove to be one of the best Metroid games of all time, especially considering that Retro Studios created Metroid Prime as a first-person shooter. We’re placing it in the action-adventure category of our list, however, as it leans heavily on exploring its intoxicating landscape for new secrets, abilities, and baddies to blast into smithereens. Remarkably, Prime captured the essence of what made 2D Metroid games so great — an open world that is retraced repeatedly as you gain new powers. Somehow, Retro and Nintendo managed to convert this model to 3D without it ever feeling repetitive. Smart controls, powers that feel like joys to discover and even greater to use, and all of the novel atmosphere that put Metroid on the map, made Prime an absolute triumph. Seriously, play this game if you haven’t already, especially with a fourth game coming to Nintendo Switch. We’re hoping the Prime Trilogy comes to Switch, as well, but who knows if that’ll ever happen.

Prime set the stage, but Echoes delivered the narrative goods. The only knock on the original is that it was light on story. Echoes fixed that with a story steeped in Metroid lore, complete with two different versions of the same world that harked back to what Nintendo has done with The Legend of Zelda franchise on numerous occasions. Echoes is every bit as good as its predecessor, though the difficulty was ratcheted up a few notches. We’d also like to forget that Echoes introduced multiplayer to the series in the form of a tedious split-screen deathmatch mode. Play Prime first of course, and then follow up Echoes by completing the trilogy with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. And we’re probably not alone in hoping Nintendo re-releases the trilogy on Switch before Metroid Prime 4 arrives.

F-Zero GX was the first entry in the classic high-speed racing series to introduce a true story mode starring Captain Falcon. That alone elevated it past its predecessors. But the added power of the GameCube allowed for a more fluid racing experience featuring more detailed tracks and ships. At its core, it was still the hectic 30-racer showdown fans had come to know and love, but the quality of life improvements made it the best entry in the series yet. It was notoriously difficult; however, it never felt unfair.

Yes, Burnout 3: Takedown was a better game, but the GameCube never received Takedown. Burnout’s support for the mainline entries on Nintendo platforms ended with Burnout 2: Point of Impact. While disappointing, Burnout 2 was still a great racer that was even better when playing on the couch with friends. Thanks to Crash mode, which allowed players to earn points and boosts from ramming into other vehicles, Burnout 2 eschewed the conventional wisdom of racers. It was better to run into others than to play it safe. For that reason, it easily comes in as our favorite car racer on GameCube.

The fourth entry in the Mario Tennis series, Mario Power Tennis offered a solid mix of traditional tennis gameplay with zany Mushroom Kingdom twists, including courts with strange hazards, and alternative game modes such as hitting the ball in rings. Out of all of the Mario sports games on GameCube, it’s probably the least impressive. Still, we believe it firmly belongs on this list for being both fun when played in single and multiplayer.

A spinoff of the wonderful turn-based series Advance Wars (RIP), Battalion Wars combined real-time tactical gameplay with a third-person action game that felt decidedly different from the Advance Wars series. Set in an alternate world, the game takes place during the rekindling of a global military conflict. The story was somewhat disappointing and could be tedious at times, but the mix of action and real-time strategy kept the game somewhat interesting. The gameplay and strategic aspects of the game were accessible and challenging at the same time. A quality sequel, Battalion Wars 2, was released on Wii two years later. Since then, Battalion Wars and its parent franchise, Advance Wars, have sadly remained dormant.