Last Friday the waiting was over, Nintendo’s ultra sexy GameCube was launched in Japan. Between 300,000 to 400,000 GameCubes were snapped up by eager Japanese gamers over the weekend. A few days later, our GameCube was cleared through customs.
Only three games are initially available: Luigi’s Mansion, Wave Race: Blue Storm, and Super Monkey Ball from Sega. If you are patiently waiting for Nintendo’s new console, rest assured that it will be worth the wait.
Luigi’s Mansion needs to be seen to be believed. Graphics and effects of this quality simply haven’t been seen on a home console before. Initial fears of limited gameplay can be put to rest, as this title has depth to spare. Each room in the massive mansion hides a puzzle and that balances the Ghostbuster-style spirit capturing. You have to figure out how to make the ghosts appear before you can capture them.
Wave Race: Blue Storm is a 128-bit update to the original Nintendo 64 version. If you are into racing games, Wave Race will not disappoint. In addition to new tracks and characters, a completely realistic wave engine makes you feel like you are actually on a jet-ski. Bouncing across the waves, performing stunts, and turbo boosting all the way to the finish line are what this title is about. Wave Race scores very highly for playability.
Super Monkey Ball is pure Japanese craziness. In this fun game, you control a monkey trapped in a ball. The twist is that you must move the environment to get your monkey in motion. Super Monkey Ball features over 100 Marble Madness-style puzzle levels. Monkey Ball is a party game that is ideal for up to four people. The party and mini-games include Monkey Racing, Monkey Fight, Monkey Target (paragliding) and Monkey Golf, Bowling and Billiards.
More in-depth play test reports as soon as more games become available.