WELCOME TO the gamecube was cool!
The #1 GameCube Podcast on the Internet
Hosts Mike Laine & Neil Gilbert memorialize and remember the Nintendo GameCube and the early 2000s while attempting to read the back of 555 cases. Tune in every Thursday to hear us talk with some of our favourite people and learn new things.
OUR LATEST EPISODES
Episode 121: Legacy Games
December 1, 2022
To celebrate 50 years of Pong being released Mike & Neil are going WAY back into the annals of video game history to talk about some legacy collections on the GameCube. Starting with Pinball Hall of Fame which is yup, a collection of pinball tables played virtually. We bring on friend of the show Luigi to discuss Pinball and the Midway Arcade Treasures series and discover how interconnected Pinball, Bally, Williams, Atari, and Midway all were in the 1980s. Next up is the Namco Museum series featuring friend of the show Christian to dive back into his memories of these games. Finally Jedi Geek Girl joins us once again, this time to talk about Gauntlet Dark Legacy, a very unique game on the GameCube that is of course set within the arcade classic Gauntlet series. All this and more on episode 121 of The GameCube Was Cool!
Episode 120: Mega Man Games
November 23, 2022
Happy 35th birthday to the Blue Bomber! As Mega-Man aka Rockman turns 35 and is looking to put a downpayment on his new home Neil and Mike look back at four Mega-Man games on the GameCube. Two legacy collections, Mega Man X: Collection and Mega Man: Anniversary Collection as well an exclusive game, Network Transmission and a spinoff of the Mega Man X series, Command Mission. The boys are joined by The GameCube Galaxy host Marcello to talk about these games and what it was like growing up with Mega Man and how these older SNES games have stood the test of time in terms of art style and game play.
Episode 119: Mary Kate & Ashley and Bratz Games
November 15, 2022
Transport yourself back to 2001 where the Olsen twins were absolutely everywhere. Anything a preteen girl could buy, Mary Kate and Ashley had their own line of products for it. They truly were everywhere including a GameCube game! Joining them are the Bratz franchise who sustained massive popularity for about a decade and still put out games today. And of course Hello Kitty, the second largest media franchise in the world who's merchandising is second to none. The cute little cat joined these other titles on the cube with her "Roller Rescue" game. Check out this special Tuesday edition of the GameCube Was Cool!
FROM THE DESK OF MIKE & NEIL
FROM THE DESK
OF MIKE & NEIL
Latest News & Updates
This Spyro Game is Completely Unplayable
Ever play a game that's so bad that it makes you cry? Well my friend's little brother had this experience when he first picked up Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly. This unplayable game is the result of the purple dragon's license being sold off to Universal in 2000, and an entire new team working on the game from scratch.
It's really too bad because Spyro is such a beloved character. Going through the motions with 3 excellent games for the PS1 in the late 90s, Spyro really became an early icon for kids of this generation.
Spyro established Insomniac as a company and, with Crash Bandicoot, really cemented the PS1 as a legitimate contendor in a market dominated by Nintendo and Sega for 10 years. However, all good things must end, with Insomniac wanting to focus on Ratchet & Clank and Universal wanting to distribute the game across the board which meant it got to be on GameCube for the first time! This probably left a bad taste in ultrafans mouths but at the end of the day, and IP is only as good as the people who play it. Letting a cash cow like Spyro simply fade to the wind would have been a terrible business decision for all involved so the purchase makes sense.
The thing that doesn't make sense is the timeline. The final product is so clearly rushed. Filled with more glitches that No Man's Sky on launch day, this thing was so buggy and barely playable. The voice acting is horrendous, the character models look like someone's kid's failed art project, and the entire game is just clearly a title that was only made to say "hey we have Spyro now!". Having Spyro developed by someone other than Insomniac really does feel sac religious, not to mention that Spyro's development has shifted to different companies so many times since this.
There's a great video essay on some of the specific flaws in this game that Matt McMuscles covers here:
If you want to hear even more detail about why exactly this game is so bad please check out our segment on Enter the Dragonfly in Episode 8 of The GameCube Was cool! Skip to 48:54 to hear all about everyone' favourite purple dragon.
