Nintendo GameCube Console - Jet Black with 3 Games

Product Details

• ASIN: B00005QIR9
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (126 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,662 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

To help you start your GameCube collection, we've created this special bundle, which includes the adventure game Luigi's Mansion, the football simulation Madden NFL 2002, and Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II, a space-combat game. This value pack also comes with an additional controller so you can challenge a friend, a memory card to save your progress through the games, and a six-month trial subscription to Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine to help you keep track of all the latest games.

Though it looks like a toy, don't be fooled: the Nintendo GameCube is a powerful video game console that rightly deserves its place among the other next-generation game systems. In fact, its playful, appealing design and small size (the unit is a not-quite-cubed 6 inches) aren't the only features that set it apart from the others.

For starters, Nintendo has quite clearly made this a game-only machine. It doesn't try to play your CD collection, run your movies, read your e-mail, or store your MP3 files. The company has concentrated its efforts on games. The prelaunch titles we've seen play uniformly smooth, with bright, fast graphics and great sound. Nintendo says its engineers have removed traditional "bottlenecks" that have, in the past, slowed down processing. New components designed by IBM and MoSys, as well as a large-capacity secondary memory cache, keep instructions moving through the system's microprocessor (MPU) at peak levels. In English: the GameCube is optimized to push speed up while pushing costs down, hence its position at the lower end of the price spectrum.

The GameCube is the first Nintendo video game system to use a disc-based media rather than cartridges for its games. Moving the software to disc media generally means lower development costs for the publishers, which, in turn, trickles down to the consumer not only in price, but also in availability and quality, as it's then easier to try out untested game ideas (Pikmin, anyone?). While most other systems likewise have their games stored on discs, the GameCube's 3-inch format is smaller than everyone else's, and is so designed to fit in a shirt pocket as much as it is to deter would-be software pirates.

Of course, the main advantage of the GameCube is that it's the home field of one of the world's premier game designers--Nintendo. While powerhouses Electronic Arts and Sega make games for all systems (including this one), you can only play Nintendo games on a Nintendo system. And Nintendo, you might recall, has been hitting them out of the park since it started with Donkey Kong. In fact, here's a roll call of characters and series you won't find on the other consoles: Mario, Legend of Zelda, Perfect Dark, Metroid, Kirby, and, of course, Pokémon. A few names that the GameCube will share with the other guys: Madden, Tony Hawk, Sonic, Batman, and Star Wars.

The system also comes with four built-in controller ports, so you can easily plug in extra controllers and let friends join in for the multiplayer games--it's even got a built-in handle so you can easily move it to a friend's house. It comes with two memory card slots for saving your progress through games, and there's the capacity for future expansion into the world of online gaming.

In short, the GameCube isn't an all-in-one entertainment system, and neither is it the most powerful of the modern video game consoles. But for video game enthusiasts who want to stick with their favorite characters, its value cannot be beat. --Porter B. Hall

Unit Specifications

• MPU (Microprocessor Unit): 485 MHz custom IBM PowerPC "Gekko"
• Graphics Processor: 162 MHz custom ATI/Nintendo "Flipper"
• Texture-Read Bandwidth: 10.4 GB per second (peak)
• Main Memory Bandwidth: 2.6 GB per second (peak)
• Pixel Depth: 24-bit color, 24-bit Z buffer
• Sound Processor: 81 MHz custom Macronix 16-bit DSP
• Sound Performance: 64 simultaneous channels, ADPCM encoding
• Polygon Performance: 6 to 12 million polygons per second (peak)
• System Memory: 40 MB
• Main Memory: 24 MB MoSys 1T-SRAM
• Disc Drive: 128 ms CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) system
• Data Transfer Speed: 16 Mbps to 25 Mbps
• Media: 3-inch, 1.5 GB capacity disc
• Controller Ports: Four
• Memory Card Slots: Two
• Audio-Video Output: Analog and digital
• Dimensions: 4.3 by 5.9 by 6.3 inches (height by width by depth)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nintendo's finest moment, November 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Nintendo GameCube Console - Jet Black with 3 Games (Video Game)

Ok. So Nintendo has got it wrong in the past. The golden days of the '80s (NES) and early '90s (SNES) evaporated in a cloud of grey smoke as Sony's Playstation trounced the Nintendo 64 in sales and 'must-have' status. Nintendo got it wrong, and if it wasn't for the unstoppable selling power of the GameBoy, Nintendo would have gone the same way as Sega some time ago.

But then there came the GameCube. Even though I have always believed that Nintendo makes the best games (Miyamoto and Rare more specifically), I have owned a Dreamcast and a Playstation2 whilst patiently waiting for Nintendo's (innevitably late) next-gen system. The Dreamcast was always underrated and it will be sorely missed, whilst the Playstation2 was... lets just say it was 'disapointing'...

So, I picked up my GameCube just after the Japanese launch. When the guy handed the box over, I was sure he was trying to fobb me off with a controller instead of the unit: it's tiny. Actually, everything's tiny. For anyone who has never seen a 3" disc, the games are about the size of a circular minidisc - very small. But oh how beautiful! The GameCube looks just right; none of the overdesigned fussiness of the PS2, or the nauseating black/snot-green betamax VCR of the X-box. And that handle is a stroke of genius. Perfect for making sure the Gamecube is always available for the pissed post-pub/club carnage my friends and I regularly partake of, wherever we are.

The controller may look like Nintendo bowing its head to Sony, but I cannot stress how much better the Nintendo pads are than their Sony counterparts. Even my Sonyphile friends admitted (under their breath, of course) that they prefered Nintendo's efforts. The buttons are far better laid out, all centering around a single large action button. All secondary and tertiary buttons are for the first time of different shapes, something which works particularly well when trying to perform a complicated action without taking eyes off the action. One gripe, though: the Z trigger is now placed above the R button and is nowhere near as easy to access as the one on the 64's controller. But then I guess that's the price we pay for proggress...

But what about the games? I bought the only three games available at launch: Luigi's Mansion, WaveRace and Super Monkey Ball. Luigi's mansion may be too short (stop-gap to the new Mario?), but the play that there is is intuitive and above all, fun. 'Fun'... that's a word I haven't used to describe a game since Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the 64. All the rooms within the mansion are beautifully mapped with rich textures and smooth movement. And I've never played a game where the main weapon is a vaccuum cleaner before.
Wave Race looks great, and after getting used to the new control configuration, plays as addictively and smoothly as the 64 version, with breathtaking water and scenery effects, devoid of the pop-up so prevailant on the PS2 and Dreamcast. But the biggest surprise (for me) was Super Monkey Ball. The only good result of Sega's withdrawal from the console hardware market was the announcement that they would be developing for other systems - most noticably, the GameCube. As is to be expected from Sega (in my own opinion the greatest game programmers in the world bar Nintendo itself), Super Monkey Ball is an amazingly addictive game, and yet only uses the directional pad and (in some mini-games) the single action button. How much fun can you have with a monkey in a ball? With four controllers and three mates, this game (especially the MonkeyFight mini-game) is worth every penny.

I have to admit, however, that the launch lineup is lacking the big name blockbusters Nintendo should have during the pre-Xmas rush. This, however, will soon change. The Zelda, StarFox and many Mario franchises are on their way (can't wait), but even more interesting appear to be Miyamoto's Pikmin and, after years of waiting, Samus will rise again in the Metroid sequel. I personally do not understand why most people equate Nintendo's lack of 'gore-for-gore's sake' with its systems appealing solely to younger gamers. Since when have decapitations and guttings been a prerequisite for amusing gameplay? Anyway, for those grubling about Nintendo's 'cutesy' games and characters, I would like to remind them that Rare is readying a GameCube sequel to Perfect Dark (and the amazing Goleneye) and Conker's Bad Fur Day (probably one of the most adult - and amusing - games I have seen). Add to that the news that the Resident Evil and Soul Calbiur series are now GameCube exclusives (ha ha Microsoft and Sony), and those whiney 20-somethings may suddenly find they are eating their words.

I have tried to avoid talking about it, but the itch just needs to be scratched. What of Microsoft? Well, I haven't tried the X-box, but I have tried all the forms of Windows that exist. When Microsoft has so conclusively ruined our commercial days, are we really going to let them ruin our recreational nights? I just have this horrible fear that, just because it is Microsoft, the best managed brand in the universe, the X-box will sell far better than it deserves to. PLEASE, don't let it!

So, anyway, that's my view on the situation. Whichever one of these systems you choose, I hope you enjoy it. If I were spending my money again, I'd choose the GameCube. But you already new that ;-)

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GameCube VS the xbox, November 13, 2001

By 

David "Deckhand Davy" Zamora (Mudbowl Lagoons) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nintendo GameCube Console - Jet Black with 3 Games (Video Game)

First of all, we have to look at this objectively. Nintendo and Microsoft have both created extremely advanced gaming consoles, but the main difference is that Nintendo uses a RISC processor while Microsoft uses a CISC processor. The differences are BIG and follows as such:

RISC processor
[Reduced Instruction Set Computer], computer, arithmetic-logic unit that uses a minimal instruction set, emphasizing the instructions used most often and optimizing them for the fastest possible execution. Software for RISC processors must handle more operations than traditional CISC [Complex Instruction Set Computer] processors, but RISC processors have advantages in applications that benefit from faster instruction execution, such as engineering and graphics workstations and parallel-processing systems. They are also less costly to design, test, and manufacture. In the mid-1990s RISC processors began to be used in personal computers instead of the CISC processors that had been used since the introduction of the microprocessor.

Basically, this means, that while the NGC is RISC 400mhz (approx) and the XBOX is CISC 800mhz (approx), they both basically are the same in processing power due to their processors. The only advantage that XBOX really has in specs is it's audio performance...which is damned good. Now to the nitty-gritty.

Software. Ask yourself this question, "Out of all the games I own, are the majority of the gamemakers Japanese or American?". Most likely, the answer will be Japanese. Hands down, the Japanese have been providing customers with cutting edge games that keep the average gamer glued to his/her seat.

American software vs Japanese software. Well, when comparing the playability, graphics and more of American software vs Japanese software, we are far behind, not only in sales, but in user ratings. Think about it, what games make the front covers of gaming mags 95% of the time? When you read gaming reviews, which games recieve top scores?? I'm sure I don't have to answer this and I'm positive, as a gamer, you know the answer. Why do I bring up this point? The reason is because almost all of the games currently being sold for the XBOX are developed by American companies. The NGC will have almost all of the Japanese gaming support, plus American support, as well (we are suckers for nickels&dimes). This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if the XBOX doesn't think of a smart gameplan fast, we will be left in the dust. How can I say this? Well, the past couple of US attempts at gaming consoles didn't last a season (the Atari Jaguar and 3DO). Of course, the Atari 6700 and Intellevision, to name a couple, were extremely successful, they were also the founders of home gaming.

So, what will your choice be? A console with cutting edge performance and cutting edge games? Or, a console with cutting edge performance but no cutting edge games to show the consoles true colors? You decide, but in the meantime, I'm looking at the Nintendo GameCube...I already have a DVD player.

David Z.

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GET A GAMECUBE!, October 9, 2001

By 

"spyrius95" (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nintendo GameCube Console - Jet Black with 3 Games (Video Game)

For all the people out there that don't know much about the next generation console battle, let me tell you this: the Nintendo Gamecube is awesome!

The Gamecube isn't the most powerful next-gen console coming out this year. That award goes to the Microsoft X-Box. But you know what? Second place isn't bad. Then you have to remember that the reason Nintendo has always been so popular is because of the sky-high fun factor. When it comes to making games that are fun and addictive, Shigeru Miyamoto just can't be beat (that would be Nintendo's top game designer).

Each new game that Nintendo makes is just a little bit better than everything else that came before it (With the exception of their new ideas for the Zelda Franchise). It's one of the only video game companies that constantly continues to come up with fresh new ideas time after time after time.

Eternal Darkness, Luigi's Mansion, Madden NFL 2002, Metroid Prime, NBA Courtside 2002, NHL Hitz 2002, Phantasy Star Online, Resident Evil, Simpson's Road Rage, Soul Calibur II, Star Fox: Dinosaur Planet, Star Wars Rogue Leader, Super Monkey Ball, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Wave Race: Blue Storm are some of the new titles being developed by Nintendo and various other third party companies. Most of these will be released before the year is over. Many of them will be released on Nov. 18, the same day as the Gamecube Console. So to all the people out there who tell me that the Gamecube won't have any good games, let me say that you don't have a clue what you're talking about.

I personally think that no one else can compete with Nintendo. While that's just my own personal opinion, there just happen to be tens of thousands of people out there who would be willing to back me up on that....