The 18 Best GameCube Games of All Time

Can a console simultaneously be a success and a failure?

Launched in 2001, the Nintendo GameCube has earned one of the Big N’s most interesting legacies. Looking at the numbers alone, it was a disappointment sales-wise. The console was the lowest-selling of its generation (just behind the original Xbox and FAR behind the PlayStation 2), and remains Nintendo’s worst-selling home console outside of the Wii U. Its best-selling game wouldn’t even crack the PS2’s top five, and all but 11 titles on the platform would fail to surpass the 2M mark (for comparison, Capcom’s Onimusha: Warlords sold better than the vast majority of GameCube games, and it’s not even in the PS2’s top 50 in unit sales). Despite having strong early years, the GameCube lacked staying power, causing Nintendo to throw caution to the wind and take an enormous risk with the Wii just a few years later.

Despite the downtrodden financials, however, the GameCube’s incredible library of software has garnered a sterling reputation over the years. Several of the system’s most notable releases frequently rank among the greatest games ever made lists (including ours). Nearly ever other major first-party release, meanwhile, has a cult following. Anecdotally speaking, not every gamer I knew growing up had a GameCube, but everyone who did speaks of it extremely fondly to this day, myself included.

Perhaps the strongest indication of the console’s strong legacy lies in the broad level of excitement that arises each time one of its best entries becomes available once again. The shadow-drop of Metroid Prime Remastered in 2023 for the Switch was arguably that Nintendo Direct’s biggest announcement, as well as the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake’s release just a year later. Oh, and remember the big Switch 2 Direct back in April? One of the biggest announcements — again, for a brand new console — was that you could finally access GameCube games via Nintendo Switch Online. Not everyone loved the GameCube, but those who did really loved it.

Admittedly, it might not be that difficult to create a list of the best GameCube games. Still, I think anyone would find each and every game on this list a classic in its own right, if not one of the most iconic titles of the 21st century. I know I certainly do.

– Written by Sam Martinelli

---

Our 18 Top GameCube Games of All Time

Here are The Punished Backlog’s 18 favorite GameCube titles, listed in alphabetical order.

Want to jump to a specific entry? Use our table of contents:

• Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
• Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
• Luigi’s Mansion
• Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
• Mario Superstar Baseball
• Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
• Metroid Prime
• Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
• Pikmin
• Pokémon Colosseum
• Resident Evil 4
• Soulcalibur II
• Super Mario Sunshine
• Super Monkey Ball 2
• Super Smash Bros. Melee
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

---

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem

Despite being a bona fide classic, Silicon Knights’ 2002 masterpiece Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem lingers unplayable on modern consoles. It was Nintendo’s first first-party rated-M game on the GameCube, beginning life as a Nintendo 64 title. Given Nintendo’s lack of M-rated titles since, we unfortunately might not see something like it again.

Eternal Darkness follows a non-linear narrative that moves players between multiple temporalities. The frame narrative follows Alexandra Roivas investigating the unsolved murder of her grandfather at the family mansion. Old mansions are scary enough, but Eternal Darkness thrusts players to Persia, Cambodia, France, and Rhode Island. 

The third-person horror game doesn’t lack for scares, but its 2003 combat mechanics, fixed camera, and “magick” abilities haven’t aged as well as one would hope. What still shines is the game’s sanity system, which impacted the player experience, occasionally breaking the fourth wall. If a player’s sanity meter fell too low, the game’s audio became strange, and anomalies would appear in the background. These effects were bizarre, horrific, and incredible. The sanity system continues to be unmatched in modern horror games, even if studios like Bloober Team have tried to do similar (albeit scripted) effects in games like The Medium and Layers of Fear.

The patent for the sanity system in Eternal Darkness expired earlier this year. I hope an indie director takes advantage of this patent lapse and creates an homage to this cult classic horror game. While I think the game has aged better in memory and legend than in actuality, I don’t know if we are ready for this lost classic to come to Nintendo Switch Online.

– Written by Clint Morrison, Jr.

Back to Table of Contents

---

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Path of Radiance marked the Fire Emblem series’ return to home consoles after three mainline entries on handheld (its prequel, The Binding Blade, was a Japan-only release; Path of Radiance was the first to release internationally, after the more milquetoast but still good Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones). In the years since its introduction to the rest of the world, Fire Emblem has taken on a nature akin to Final Fantasy: Each entry has a somewhat distinct, unique flavor of its own, and while some entries are more well known than others, you’ll find that every mainline entry has its ardent supporters. 

What is it, then, that makes Path of Radiance unique? For many, it would be the world and tone. The continent of Tellius is defined by its central conflict, the tensions between its major races: humans, known as beorc, and sapient but bestial shapeshifters known as laguz. Most fans would likely choose Genealogy of the Holy War as the “darkest” Fire Emblem title — a descriptor I won’t quibble with — but Path of Radiance is the most serious, its world the most fleshed out. There are the traditional high fantasy trappings and Fire Emblem tropes to be had, but there is also certain and deliberate earnestness to the story here. Racism is the primary theme of the game, and it’s almost shocking in retrospect to see how aggressive the writing can get. There are recruitable units who will openly call the laguz “subhuman” or worse, and the unlearning of the indoctrination and biases — or lack thereof — is what makes the character work here the strongest it’s ever been in the series. 

Another element that powers this is the amount of conversation and time dedicated to interactions that don’t take place just among playable units. While most Fire Emblem games fall into this trap of centralizing solely around the playable cast, leaving the world feeling half-baked, Path of Radiance does not. Character dialogue isn’t relegated to main story events or support conversations between playable units, and event conversations that happen during the map preparation menu involve civilians, prisoners, enemies, and more. Fire Emblem games have almost always been about war, and every game touches upon the horrors of such, but none took that responsibility as seriously as Path of Radiance. (Jill’s conversation with the Daein refugee in Without a King might be the most heartbreaking conversation in the entire Fire Emblem franchise.) 

That isn’t to say that Path of Radiance is without weaknesses. While it’s a complete story, it really can’t be judged without its sequel, Radiant Dawn, which is an epic in its own right but with more visible flaws. The characters are great, but also seem to have been viewed less favorably in popularity than other entries. (I chalk some of this up to Path of Radiance mostly eschewing the 2010s-anime trend of the micro-personality menagerie, later adopted in earnest by 2013’s Fire Emblem: Awakening, in which every character adopts some sort of hokey behavioral trope.) Still, I hope we’ll get a remake or a re-release someday. Physical copies are hard to get a hold of, and it’s an underplayed entry in the series despite being maybe one of Fire Emblem’s best.

– Written by Kei Isobe

Back to Table of Contents

---

Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life

This is the game that made me literally get on my knees to beg my father for a GameCube. I was already a huge, nay, diehard fan of the Harvest Moon games (as I wrote in our best SNES games list and our Stardew Valley Punished Chat). Why did I embarrass myself in a public forum for a farming game? Because it had one feature that the franchise had never done before and that it (nor its spiritual homages, including Stardew) has since never done again: It let your kids grow up. 

I was deeply invested in the townspeople of Mineral Valley, the town in one of the Game Boy Advance titles. I wanted to know what happened to them as the years went on. Did they finally reunite with their missing daughter? Did they settle down or travel the world? Did they take over the family business or start a new one? I never got the answers, aside from my imagination. But when I learned about 2003’s Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, it felt like I was finally going to get some kind of closure. In this game, kids grew up past the constant crawling-on-the-ground toddler. They could make their own decisions, pursue their own path. The town and its villagers would evolve, too. I was so curious… what happened next? 

Unfortunately, I did not win that deeply embarrassing fight. I never got a GameCube. After A Wonderful Life, the Harvest Moon series changed ownership in a complicated legal and financial battle. A Wonderful Life remained a “what if?” just as much of my adult life has. There are so many paths, taken and untaken. I try not to have regrets, but sometimes, I wonder. How can we not? 

Twenty years after this game’s original release, a remake was launched on the Switch under the new banner: Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life. It still includes the “life chapter” feature where kids grow up. Even though I have a Switch, I haven’t tried it. I’m afraid it won’t live up to the expectation I’ve had in my mind all this time. In some ways, the fantasy is better than the reality.

– Written by Amanda Tien

Back to Table of Contents

---

Luigi’s Mansion

The original Luigi’s Mansion was special. Maybe that one word doesn’t do it justice (so here’s 300 more), but everything about it radiated an energy that was so painfully charming it’s hard to know how else to describe it.

First of all, you play as Luigi, duh. He may not be the franchise’s mascot, but we all know who’s the real star of the Mario Bros. franchise. To see him step out from Mario’s shadow and into the more intense shadows of a ghost-infested mansion was a delight from the moment you boot up the 2001 game. Watching the sheer terror on Luigi’s face as he slowly navigates his strange environment is captivating in a way that practically transports you directly into his quivering shoes. There’s emotion and depth to his characterization in Luigi’s Mansion that simply doesn’t exist in other versions of our Mushroom Kingdom pals. Immediately, you know there’s something to this game you can’t get elsewhere.

Spooky atmosphere aside, the actual gameplay is without comparison. Unlike in Mario’s games, you’re not jumping on Goombas this time. Instead, you’re blasting spirits with a flashlight and sucking them up with a special backpack vacuum cleaner called the Poltergust 3000. Sure, it doesn’t completely separate itself from something like Ghostbusters, but the way Luigi’s Mansion asks the player to engage with its environment was totally new to me at the time.

I distinctly remember playing the game with my dad the day we bought it, taking turns exploring the mansion together room by room. My mom was out of town visiting family, and our boys’ gaming night became boys’ gaming morning, simply because we couldn’t put it down once we started. We got all the way to the final boss as the sun was starting to come up before it was “time to go to bed,” but I couldn’t help myself and I snuck back downstairs to finish the job as quietly as I could. 

Although it isn’t a long game (six to eight hours on average), it speaks to the quality of the experience that a kid and his dad can turn it on once and play through the whole thing in one sitting. That hasn’t happened for me very often, if ever another time, so for that reason Luigi’s Mansion will always hold a special place in my heart.

– Written by Zack Gulinello

Back to Table of Contents

---

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

It’s been over 20 years since Mario Kart: Double Dash!! took over our collective living rooms, and I still haven’t recovered. Not only was Double Dash!! my first foray into the acclaimed Kart series, but it’s arguably my favorite, even now.

It’s hard to articulate what makes this game so special in a series filled with great entries. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the more robust game, offering what feels like an endless list of tracks to enjoy. Mario Kart World, meanwhile, opened up the franchise — quite literally — by giving players a non-linear world to explore at your leisure.

But dammit, 2003’s Mario Kart: Double Dash!! was peak. The music, whether it be the relaxing “Game Select” theme, the happy-go-lucky “Circuit Theme,” or the unabashedly goofy “Main Theme,” fit the vibes of the GameCube like a glove. The courses — from DK Mountain to the unequivocal goat, Baby Park — were fan-favorites and are still heavily featured in modern Kart titles. And then there was the double-rider mechanic, which let you swap drivers (and their held items) with the tap of the Z button.

Was it balanced? Probably not. Would it age well in today’s digital, 16-player online era? I’m not sure. Did it kick ass at the time, and do I miss it? Yes and yes. 

Please, Nintendo: Bring Double Dash!! back.

– Written by David Silbert

Back to Table of Contents

---

Mario Superstar Baseball

To this day, no baseball game has captured the fun that comes from swinging a bat like 2005’s Mario Superstar Baseball. Sure, MLB The Show allows you to get into the real minutiae of baseball, with pitch zones and swing speeds and complex pitch selection. And sure, the Griffey games have the nostalgic flair and the ability to be beaten by a dog. But Mario Superstar Baseball keeps the focus on the fun of baseball. With some real hidden complexity around bat sweet spots, bat lengths, and pitching angles that aren’t fully surfaced to the average player, Superstar Baseball also keeps the depth needed to have players keep coming back.

I actually came to Superstar Baseball later in life through the amazing work being done by a group of fans known as Project Rio to keep the old game alive. Since 2020, the team has implemented new balance patches, game modes, and even new captain characters for folks to mess around with. Since becoming aware of it, I have been absolutely obsessed. Weekly hangs with friends have devolved into long series; the fight for Birdo keeps everyone on their toes. It’s even caused me to make my best friend so mad he refused to shake my hand. And yet, every week, I get a text that just says, “Baseball?” and the series is on again. My Toadsworth at centerfield is legendary; his Yoshi destroys all comers.

Mario Superstar Baseball on its own has the legs to stand as the best baseball video game ever created. The work that the Project Rio community has done only makes it rise even higher in the pantheon of sports games. Give me a team of Dry Bones and Boo as pitcher over Aaron Judge any day.

– Written by Gary Wilson

Back to Table of Contents

---

Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes

Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes was a 2004 GameCube-exclusive remake of the 1998 PlayStation exclusive Metal Gear Solid. By design, however, Twin Snakes looked and played more like Kojima’s 2001 masterpiece Metal Gear Solid 2. Notably, MGS2 never came to the GameCube and wouldn’t release on a Nintendo system until 2023’s Metal Gear Solid Collection, Volume 1. 

MGS: Twin Snakes is far more over-the-top than the game it’s based on. The story is identical to the original, following Solid Snake’s infiltration of Shadow Moses and conflict with his twin brother Liquid Snake. However, the cutscenes contain incredible choreography even if they do force some folks to break character. These cutscenes seemingly started life as less-dramatic, but Kojima asked the game’s cinematic director Ryuhei Kitamura to “[re]do it his way.” While superfluous, the result is spectacular.

The game was made by Silicon Knights, whose previous title, Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, I highlighted earlier on this list. While there are some technical hiccups here and there, MGS: Twin Snakes is an impressive action stealth game for a console that previously only housed the Splinter Cell series. The occasional additions of Nintendo memorabilia in the background are delightful. 

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes recently. It was a “remake” before remaking games was in vogue. Certain upgrades inspired by MGS2 make the game laughably easy in spots — the boss fight with Revolver Ocelot is frankly made into a joke. With that being said, MGS: Twin Snakes has a certain amount of heart and willingness to evolve that few non-Capcom remakes are willing to risk.

It feels especially appropriate now. I can’t believe I’m writing this blurb mere days before the latest seemingly meaningless but graphically stylish Konami remake, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. Arguably, this new release is the second time in the last 25 years that Konami has made such a choice.

Time will tell if the developers of MGS Delta made any meaningful changes. I doubt we’ll get new Matrix-like cutscenes inspired by Ryuhei Kitamura (but what I wouldn’t give for some KPop Demon Hunters-inspired fight scenes). In that same way, MGS: Twin Snakes is the rare artful remake of a classic game that didn’t need to be remade.

– Written by Clint Morrison, Jr.

Back to Table of Contents

---

Metroid Prime

If ever there was an underdog in Nintendo’s catalog, it’d be the Metroid franchise. Despite co-pioneering the Metroidvania genre and providing one of gaming’s most iconic protagonists in Samus Aran, Metroid itself has never been all that popular. Super Metroid — arguably the greatest SNES game of all time — sold just shy of 1.5 million copies. Even the best-selling Metroid game ever, 2021’s Metroid Dread, moved just 3 million units. (For reference, Hollow Knight has sold 15 million copies to date, albeit across PC, Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.)

The lack of commercial success is regrettable, if understandable. The series has always been a bit of an outlier on Nintendo hardware: moody science fiction with a focus on environmental storytelling and even a touch of horror. Consider also that many hardcore gamers would rather play Call of Duty or Halo than, gasp, a Nintendo game starring a woman, and the rigged odds become clear.

Just like Samus Aran herself, though, Metroid Prime isn’t one to give up without a fight. At the time, the 2001 GameCube entry was the best-selling Metroid game to date; it also went on to become the sixth best-selling game on the platform, period. The change from a 2D sidescroller to a 3D first-person shooter was, and still is, the coolest switch-up for a game franchise I’ve seen. And while 2007 Wii classic Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is my personal favorite entry in the Retro Games-developed series, there’s no denying the original Metroid Prime has it beat in terms of atmosphere, soundscape, world design, and heart.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is just on the horizon — the first fully 3D Metroid in nearly 20 years. Whether it lives up to its lineage remains to be seen, but one thing’s certain: We’ll always have this classic.

– Written by David Silbert

Back to Table of Contents

---

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

Look, I don’t know why Mario being made out of paper makes him better, but the fact is, it just does. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (2004) is easily one of the best games I’ve ever played, and outside of multiplayer experiences like Mario Superstar Baseball or Super Smash Bros. Melee, it’s my favorite way to enjoy the Nintendo GameCube. 

Whereas most Mario titles are short on story and shine brightest when you’re bouncing off the walls, the Paper Mario sub-series is all about pulling the player into an engrossing journey filled with bustling environments and unforgettable characters. The game is set up like a play, with chapters and subtle nods to the audience throughout. You even battle “on stage” in turn-based fashion while trying to impress the crowd of toads cheering you on.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is a full-fledged RPG, not your typical platformer, and with that distinction comes a fantastic suite of features that completely sets it apart from any other Mario adventure. I love the robust badge system, which lets you customize your party down to tiny details like the sounds they make when they attack, allowing for emphasis on different ways to play depending on the situation you find yourself in. The party members, each with their own helpful abilities and distinct personalities, are some of the best allies you’ll ever meet. Shout out my guy Koops, who has gotten me out of trouble on many occasions! 

The Paper Mario series has gone in some strange directions since it perfected the formula with The Thousand Year Door, but the 2024 Switch remaster showed that Nintendo knows what fans really want. There’s magic here in the form of a hammer-wielding version of everyone’s favorite mustachioed plumber, and I absolutely cannot recommend it enough.

– Written by Zack Gulinello

Back to Table of Contents

---

Pikmin

I got into the Pikmin franchise late — so late, in fact, that I missed the original GameCube games entirely. My first experience playing the 2001 classic came about during the COVID pandemic. I was cooped up with my brother and parents in our then-still-existent suburban home. It was still a couple of years before the pandemic would soften and I would move out to the city.

During that time, I binged some games. When I wasn’t delving into modern escapism like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I was digging up the past. While I had long since sold my GameCube, I still had access to my library through the backward-compatible Nintendo Wii. Slowly, I returned to the classics I had never finished before. The aforementioned Metroid Prime was one; Pikmin was another.

It was clear from my opening hours with Metroid Prime that I was experiencing something special. Pikmin, on the other hand, took a bit longer to sink in. Captain Olimar’s adventure was a slower, more strategic and soothing adventure — an odd description perhaps, given half my time was spent herding the sprite-like Pikmin like an overprotective parent. But it’s true: I felt at ease as my troop meandered through massive gardens in search of discarded pieces of trash.

I wouldn’t say Pikmin is the greatest GameCube game of the bunch — there are so many classics on this list alone — but it is certainly one of the most memorable and inviting. At just eight hours to complete, the experience is over before you know it, yet Olimar’s travels feel decidedly larger. Maybe I’m just a softy, but those little Pikmin won over my heart and got me invested in a franchise I never even knew I loved.

– Written by David Silbert

Back to Table of Contents

---

Pokémon Colosseum

Throwing our backpacks to the ground, my friend and I rush into the living room. There, sitting on the floor, is a perfect purple box. Wires scraggle out on the cheap carpet; she gets the cool translucent controller, but that’s fair, it’s her house. Besides, she needs all the encouragement she can get; I’m about to crush her in Pokémon Colosseum. 

I did not own a GameCube growing up, but I had incredibly fond memories of playing one at this friend’s house. I loved getting to see Pokémon battle in 3D and on the big screen — a far cry from my Game Boy Color. Pokémon Crystal, which was released on the handheld a few years earlier, was and is my favorite in the franchise. At the time, it stood out for being the first time I could play a girl in the series. It was everything to me, and I played obsessively. 

Thus, by the time I got to casual matches in 2003’s Pokémon Colosseum, I was an unstoppable force. (There was a main story that’s supposed to be good, but I never got to play it.) The animation in Colosseum was thrilling. Suicune features on the cover and on the battlefield; it’s one of my favorite ‘mons, in no small part because it was the legendary in Crystal. To see Suicune’s icy tendrils flow outward as I hyper-beamed my friend’s poorly chosen rock-type Onyx… so satisfying. Plus, double battles offered double the challenge for combat combinations. 

And don’t feel too bad for my friend. She got me back good in Melee, and she always hogged the controller during Pikmin. Fine by me; I’ll always have Colosseum.

– Written by Amanda Tien

Back to Table of Contents

---

Resident Evil 4

Our dear readers who (of course) read every single Punished Favorites list and recall every single game on those lists might recall that I also wrote about Resident Evil 4 for our best PlayStation 2 games list. It should be no surprise, then, that I’d write about it again here. The game is so nice, I had to do it twice!

Corny jokes aside, Resident Evil 4 (2005) is an incredible action horror title that redefined the third-person shooter and set a new standard for cinematic AAA games. Despite the existence of a tremendous 2024 remake, the original is still a treat, and if I’m being honest, I still believe the GameCube is the best place to play it.

Some may argue the Wii version’s motion and pointer controls make that the definitive version of the 2005 masterpiece, but the game was first and foremost built as a GameCube exclusive. The ergonomic nature of the controller fits perfectly with a game where 80% of your actions are done via the big-ass A button, and the springiness of the shoulder buttons allows for a smooth, seamless transition between aiming with a firearm and holding your combat knife. Anytime I imagine myself playing RE4 again, a phantom GameCube controller appears in my hands.

I know I’m a broken record when it comes to singing the praises of this title. Still, the fact that a game as visually stunning and mechanically innovative as Resident Evil 4 released as a GameCube exclusive at all (even if such exclusivity was short-lived) is remarkable, and the very notion that it’s largely remembered as a GameCube game despite releasing very late in the console’s lifecycle is also an incredible achievement. I truly, seriously believe that every single gamer should give the original Resident Evil 4 a try at some point. If you do, just know that the GameCube version is where it’s at.

– Written by Sam Martinelli

Back to Table of Contents

---

Soulcalibur II

Soulcalibur II is one of the greatest — if not the greatest — 1v1 fighting games ever made. Sporting a roster of different weapon-wielding warriors, all of whom bring their own personality, style, and flair to each battle, the sequel to the legendary Soulcalibur raised the bar for 3D fighters and remains one of the most fluid and immediately engrossing titles of its era by far.

Moreover, the GameCube edition of Soulcalibur II was by far the best one. When the title was released on consoles in 2003, every mainline console at the time got its platform-exclusive fighter. The PlayStation 2 version got Heihachi from Tekken. The Xbox version got comic book legend Spawn. The GameCube version, obviously, got the most beloved swordfighter in Nintendo history: Link from The Legend of Zelda. Players were able to use Link in ways the actual Zelda games — and even Super Smash Bros. — never did, namely as one of the most uniquely skilled 3D fighting game characters in the history of the genre.

I could go on and on about what else I love so much about Soulcalibur II, as I have previously. The Weapon Master single-player mode offers tons of fun twists on the basic mechanics. The variety of fighters and weapons allows for myriad different ways to play. The level design is stunning, with some visually impressive backdrops that truly make the space feel fuller than the small arena platform suggests. Most of all, though, it remains endlessly engaging without the complexity and frills of modern fighters. It’s a mostly straightforward experience for newcomers, but contains just enough depth for veterans to really sink their teeth into. No GameCube collection feels truly complete without Soulcalibur II.

– Written by Sam Martinelli

Back to Table of Contents

---

Super Mario Sunshine

Sadly, I never got into the Nintendo 64 era of gaming. Whereas Sam proudly wears the “old man” badge around here and Amanda bridges the gap between us, I’m a few (emphasis on few) years younger. As the baby on the editorial team, I grew up not on games like Smash 64 or Ocarina of Time, but rather on many of the GameCube games we are writing about here today. While I would eventually go back to play the older Nintendo classics, the GameCube and that silly startup intro are where it all started for me.

Super Mario Sunshine was the first GameCube title I ever played. My parents had surprised me for Christmas with a Costco bundle containing a purple console (my favorite color), a copy of the game, a memory card, and a Nintendo Power strategy guide. I still remember the absurd packaging, which stretched at least three feet wide. Getting the plastic open was a pain in my 10-year-old tush (my memory’s fuzzy, but I imagine I got help). Before long, I was bopping my little head to the music of Isle Delfino as I bounced around as Mario in my first 3D platforming adventure.

Modern day Nintendo fans love to take any potshot they can at Super Mario Sunshine. In many ways, I can’t blame them. Compared to Mario 64 before it, 2002’s Sunshine had clunkier controls, a worse camera, and just in general was less cohesive (that voice acting certainly was a choice). In the wake of one of the greatest games ever made — even by today’s standards — it’s hard not to feel underwhelmed by Nintendo’s big follow-up.

But those who fixate on the flaws of Sunshine miss out on all the good: the gorgeous island setting; the non-linear (if frustrating) sandboxes; the different F.L.U.D.D. nozzles, each with their own inventive mechanics; the ever-entertaining search for Shine Sprites, coins, and other secrets; and, of course, the endless speedrunning potential. I’d also be remiss not to celebrate its incredible, unparalleled, knockout of a soundtrack.

Say what you will about the jank, but you’ll never convince me otherwise: Super Mario Sunshine is timeless.

– Written by David Silbert

Back to Table of Contents

---

Super Monkey Ball 2

Believe it or not, one of the most notable titles on the Nintendo GameCube was Super Monkey Ball (2001). It’s not just that the game — in which you roll a monkey in a ball through various balancing and physics-based obstacles — was a successful launch title and a great showcase for the new console’s technical capabilities; it also marked the very first time a Sega-published game was playable on a system made by its once bitter rival Nintendo.

Sega’s wild creativity during the Dreamcast generation failed, sadly, to draw a wide audience. But lo and behold, the Sonic maker’s one-time foe would find a perfect home for its new projects on the GameCube, and Super Monkey Ball absolutely helped define the console’s zanier side. The game had just the right brand of challenging platformer-ish gameplay and endless charm, allowing it to stand side-by-side with Nintendo’s flagship franchises. However, that was just the beginning.

Super Monkey Ball 2, the 2002 sequel, improved upon the original in just about every regard. The single-player mode offered way more levels and even an actual storyline. The wide variety of hazardous stages (especially later on) challenged the player to constantly think creatively about how to complete them as quickly (and as quirkily) as possible. Even the multiplayer mini-games that helped elevate its predecessor from kitschy launch title to timeless classic were back. Adding new games like baseball, soccer, and tennis made everything even more feature-rich. 

The Monkey Ball franchise still occasionally gets new releases, but nothing to this day can compete with Super Monkey Ball 2. The game took the brilliant physics-based formula of its predecessor and built on it without compromising what worked in the first place. The GameCube was a haven for bizarre, goofy ideas, and few games embody that notion quite like Super Monkey Ball 2.

– Written by Sam Martinelli

Back to Table of Contents

---

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Much of the discourse surrounding Super Smash Bros. Melee in the decades following its 2001 release centers on the competitive community. As I’m sure Kei can attest to, Melee remains a top-tier platform fighter on the esports circuit — to the point that many still prefer it to its more feature- and character-rich sequels — and there’s always more to be played.

That said, as great as Melee has been (and continues to be) in this particular regard, let’s not lose sight of what a tremendous artistic achievement it was. 

While the Nintendo 64 original allowed players to live their wildest beat ‘em up fantasies involving their favorite Nintendo characters, Melee managed to further expand its roster of references without feeling like fan service slop. In addition to the pristine fighting mechanics — which, I must repeat, continue to make for incredible matches at both a casual and competitive level to this day — it had a booming orchestral soundtrack that reimagined some of Nintendo’s most beloved music; featured an Adventure mode, which re-contextualized the gameplay and atmosphere of classic Nintendo games like The Legend of Zelda and F-Zero into a brand new experience; and breathed new life into once-forgotten gaming legends (or, in the case of Roy and Marth, introduced the West to names and faces they had never seen before). Melee wasn’t just a super fun launch-window title with thousands of hours of potential replay value: It felt like the culmination of everything Nintendo had worked toward up to that point, while simultaneously having enough of its own unique charm and vibes to achieve gaming immortality.

Sure, the later Smash games — especially Ultimate — added way more to the mix. More stages, more items, more gameplay options, more fighters. But none of them were quite like Melee. None of them made me feel like I was witnessing a new era of Nintendo (and, if we’re being honest, gaming overall). None of them solely justified ownership of the console on which they were released. None of them struck me with awe quite like Melee did when I first played it that fateful Christmas Day. In all likelihood, no future Smash title ever will, either.

– Written by Sam Martinelli

Back to Table of Contents

---

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Similar to my earlier choice of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is another entry in a series of defensible favorites. No reasonably sampled ranking would ever have Twilight Princess as the best game in the Legend of Zelda series, but it also likely wouldn’t be at the bottom, instead forever lingering near the median. 

Retrospectively, Twilight Princess is mostly remembered for its vibes — uniquely dark for a Zelda game — more than anything else. After the aesthetic whimsy of 2002’s Wind Waker, fans were clamoring for a change in tone. In 2006, Twilight Princess certainly delivered that, even from its very first trailer, which opens with a Lord of the Rings-esque shot of an army of stampeding orcs on the horizon. 

Gameplay-wise, Twilight Princess does very little to shake up the formula. Some of the new items and tools Link has access to are cool, but not especially groundbreaking. The dungeons are well-designed but ultimately don’t stray very far from the conventions established by Ocarina of Time. Like every 3D Zelda game, it’s unfortunately extremely easy, offering almost no resistance to the player. Link learning all sorts of sword techniques is very cool, but also almost trivializes the challenge of the game. 

Primarily, the strengths of Twilight Princess lie in its storytelling and its world. Midna remains one of the most fleshed out characters in the history of the series, and the first — and in my estimation, the only —companion to surpass “tolerable.” This Link is the most badass one yet: The final shot of Link knocking King Bublin off the bridge during their joust to save Colin might be the most cinematic Zelda has ever been. 

Twilight Princess also incorporates horror elements quite effectively for the first time in the series since Majora’s Mask. While I do concede that Majora’s Mask is more existentially horrifying, scenes like the revelation of the Twili or Zant’s final retribution were shockingly frightening moments that stuck with me for some time as a child (and the seconds-long plunge through pitch-black water to reach Morpheel in the Water Temple might have temporarily given me hydrophobia). 

Is Twilight Princess perfect? No. It plays most of its cards too close to the chest, only taking risks in some of the weirder, non-essential parts of the game. Still, Midna might be the best character in Zelda history, and it’s the coolest Zelda by far, so it has a special place in my heart, and makes its way onto this list of the best GameCube games ever.

– Written by Kei Isobe

Back to Table of Contents

---

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

There’s not much to be said about Wind Waker that wasn’t covered by our own Ben Rashkovich in his fantastic piece. But, without further aplomb, I do want to highlight how modern 3D Zelda games would not exist without the proof that Wind Waker brought with it: that gaming needs more somberness. Not darkness, but peaceful sadness.

Wind Waker’s bright and charming world is also a sad, hurt world. The worst has come to pass already, the world has ended, and this novel space is left in its place. Entire species have been upended into new evolutionary paths to adjust for this world. Nothing has been left unscathed. And yet, the world continues on; people love and live like they always will. 

There’s a sorrow in that fact, but also peace and joy. The world doesn’t have to be what it was before; it can always be new. Wind Waker isn’t about restoring the lost land or reclaiming the past: It’s a voyage toward change and the future. 

This narrative arc was discarded for the series’ next games, which focused more on true despair (Twilight Princess) and the beginning of cycles (Skyward Sword), before being picked up again in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. And, I think, all the better for it. The Legend of Zelda as a series is better with some sadness that doesn’t cut off optimism and hope.

– Written by Gary Wilson

Back to Table of Contents

---

What’s Your Favorite GameCube Game of All Time?

Do you agree with our list? What did we miss? Share in the comments! You can also check out other Punished Favorites lists like the best PlayStation 2 games, the best Nintendo Switch games, the best Nintendo DS games, and the best SNES games.