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⬅️ Previous capture (2023-01-29)
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Floppy's Domain II
GEMINI VERSION
Until very recently, I never really cared that much for the GameCube. Not just the GameCube; I kind of find that entire generation of consoles kind of boring. I feel like that is where a lot of the bad stuff of modern gaming really came around. By this, I mean things like the over-abundance of first and third person shooters and just way too many big releases being M-rated. Honestly, take a step back and ask yourself if having what seems like a quite large majority of major new releases being M-rated is a problem or not. I believe it is. Not just that, but like I said, it feels like now days, for example, if someone is going to "learn how to make a game," the first thing that the teacher might say is "Ok, these are the kinds of guns to implement, and here is a post-apocalyptic setting". Now obviously not every new major release would classify as an M-rated first or third person shooter, but I honestly feel like there is an infestation of them. If it is not clear, I obviously like Nintendo, and they do not really follow that trend, and yes, companies do put out other games, but maybe think about what I said. Now, let's get back to the 6th generation of home consoles, and eventually back to the GameCube. Like I said, this is where I believe the worst part of modern gaming really blew up, and unfortunately, my view of the GameCube is that it was a home to some of these games. Obviously, the PS2 had loads of these games, and it looks like the Xbox did too (however, there were TONS of games for these systems, so there are obviously TONS of non-M-rated first or third person shooters; Katamari Damacy is a bright and shining example). The Dreamcast is a system I would like to get to know better, but unfortunately, right now, I do not know much about its library. I literally own 3.5 Dreamcast "games", with the .5 of a "game" being a sealed copy of the web browser. However, from what I see, it felt like a SEGA consoel, so I believe it was at least unique. Now, we finally get to the GameCube. My opinion is still not 100% positive (or at least as high as some other consoles), but lately, it is improving (with it possibly being me jumping on the recent GameCube bandwagon). Right now, I own 11 games for the system. 3 of those I have had for a long time; these being LOTR games which I played with my friend CONSTANTLY, and the rest are relatively recent purchases. I bought Wind Waker in the summer of 2019 because I saw it complete somewhere for $15 (they also had Twilight Princess for $15, but I did not realize how good of a deal it was even then .......), and later that August I bought Custom Robo. If you saw the Smash page (at least on the HTTPS website), then you know that I REALLY like Custom Robo. Anyway, after that, I bought Animal Crossing in September 2020. Again, if you saw the Animal Crossing page (HTTPS), then you know that I am starting to like it. I still do; my enjoyment of it has only increased, even if it is only incremental lately. After that, I found a copy of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat complete in a thrift store. I ended up buying the bongos for it. It's not that bad of a game, actually. After that, I got Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. This game was giving me a lot of trouble with the laser. There's a whole story in that, but you can read it on the HTML site; I am copying all of this by hand; vim says I am already at column 3417. During that epic saga of battling GameCube lasers and blazing fast shipments from Japan, I broke a record at that time for the most I ever spent on a game. I paid $80 for Four Swords Adventures. Yes, it was a bit more than it should have been, but I saw it and I really wanted it, so I got it. Let me tell you, so far, this is a really, really good Zelda game (I haven't played it since as of the Gemtext writing of this...). I don't hear as many people talking about it, which is kind of sad. I managed to find Luigi's Mansion in a thrift store half complete; it was in the original box, but there were no manuals. Lastly, I finally found a copy of Super Mario Sunshine at a reasonable price. Anyway, that is where I am at now. I will probably end up getting an American copy of Double Dash instead of a Japanese one, but after that, I will have all of the games that I know I want (Melee is not in there; I will *NOT* pay $80+ for the best selling game on the platform). From there, if I see something interesting in a game store and it is complete for a reasonable price, maybe I will get it (and we finally end at column 4560).
So, we finally got to wheter I like the GameCube or not. The answer is: originally not that much, but my opinion is definitely improving. I always liked Custom Robo since the second I first played it, but I think me liking Animal Crossing along with Four Swords Adventrues is really helping me there. I mentioned that I have some LOTR games, specifically, The Two Towers, Return of the King, and The Third Age. I have had these for almost ten years, if not more. I have nostalgia for these games, but I don't think they do anything to affect my opinion of th GameCube either in a positive or a negative way. So, for now, I am putting those games aside. This leaves Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Wind Waker, Toadstool Tour, Luigi's Mansion, and Sunshine. DK is quite interesting. It certainly does not affect my opinion of the system negatively, but I don't think that the positive effect is massive. I do like it, but it is different. As for Wind Waker, I think I have said somewhere else on this capsule that I really don't like Wind Waker. Specifically, I don't care for the pacing. I constantly feel rushed. The King of Red Lions will constantly say something like, "I will explain ~~~~ later! For now, we have to hurry to ~~~~ dungeon! We are running out of time! Hurry!" I mean, dang! I just wanted to sail around; and yes, I can do that, but I don't know. Now, I really do like the music in Wind Waker, and I don't think the art style is bad. But I don't know, I think the constant telling me to hurry just kind of makes me not like it that much. To be fair, I was expecting something a bit different from this games, even when I pretty much knew that it was not going to be that, so..... As for Toadstool Tour, this is a fun game. I really like the introduction cutscene. So much work was put into making it, and it shows. It really is good stuff. I also like the song that plays on the title screen. The graphics are good, and it looks like there is a TON of stuff in this game. The only issue is my specific disk. I *think* that there is some sort of damage to the disk (as in scratches) that cause the cutscene to crash, even with what turned out to be an over-powered laser. This is the only game I have like that, even with The Two Towers having TONS of scratches. I planned on getting it polished, but that still hasn't happened. Oh well. Lastly, for Luigi's Mansion and Sunshine, I have not played these much, though between these two, I have spent more time in Sunshine. I don't think either of these diminishes my appreciation for the GameCube.
I think another thing that improves my opinion of the GameCube is probably the WaveBird. I saw this once at a store where it was a bit underpriced, so I bought it (with an even LOWER price due to a store membership :) ). It is the platinum colored one, not the grey one, which apparently makes it sime like it was even MORE underpriced than before, considering what PriceCharting has to say about that. But anyway, I don't actually mind having wired controllers, but I will admit that the WaveBird is nice. The only thing I wish it had was rumble, but it makes sense why it is not there. Acutally, the GameCube's controller's feel is quite good. I have always considered it probably the best controller to hold (we can debate the button arrangement), so maybe this is increasing my opinion of the GameCube.
One thing I do want to complain about (because this wouldn't be Floppy's Domain otherwise), is the pathetic memory size of the official memory cards. I own several, and obviously one of them is completely reserved for Animal Crossing. One of the other ones is almost completely full, and there are only like 6 or 7 saves on there. The PS1's memory card size is also pathetic, but that was from the previous generation. Or, maybe the memory size is decent, but the game programmers were not efficient in making their save files. Maybe those are bloated; I don't know. The end result is that it is kind of a problem, but whatever.