Have you guys ever thought about how strange most of Nintendo's Gamecube games were?
or
wondered why alot of third party games only hit Nintendo platforms as odd spinoffs/Frankenstein Monsters etc...?


Think about it!


Here we go!

Mario
What we expected                                


What we got:
Luigi's Mansion                                   Super Mario Sunshine

A Mario launch title without mario (well you know what I mean) that is basically Ghostbusters
&
A housekeeping simulator Mario on a tropical island with a talking watergun.
(mario does everything right? carpenter, plumber, housekeeper, referee, sportsman etc.)

BTW. Hmm Luigi cleans a mansion and Mario cleans an entire island.... coincidence?


Zelda
What we expected:                             


What we got:
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker   The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

A cartoony action adventure with built in sailing simulator
&
a somewhat competitive 4 player top-down Zelda without much Zelda gamplay elements
(seperate levels instead of 1 world. No real progression and you cant keep items. Its all about the rubies rupees)


Donkey Kong
What we expected:
OR

What we got:
Donkey Konga                                                Donkey Kong Jungle Beat                             Donkey Kong Barrel Blast/Jet Race

A music game with bongos.
&
A 2.5d platformer yay!? (wait!) controlled with bongos!
&
A rocket barrel fun racer controlled with bongos!


 Advance/Battalion Wars
What we expected:


What we got:
Battalion Wars

A cute real time third person tactics shooter with vehicles


MarioKart
What we expected:


What we got:
Mario Kart: Double Dash

A chauffeur simulator MarioKart where 2 people drive 1 Kart
(lacks the ability to zoom out and therefore feels to slow when you were used to MK64 zoomed out)


StarFox
What we expected:


What we got :
StarFox Adventures

An action adventure like Zelda with great visuals that unfortunately lacked polish because it was rushed out (rare bought by MS)
(IMO more potential than on rails starfox unless "railfox" mimics RoqueLeader and drops the rails for more free roam action)
(SF:A also has the best Fox character design so far. Not as "arrogant" as the new one. DK also looks better thanks to Rare!)


Metroid
What we expected:


What blew our mind:
Metroid Prime

A visually stunning third person action adventure with great atmosphere.

Strange third party "mutations" on GC and Wii:

Final Fantasy
What we expected:


What we got:
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles                          Final Fantasy CC: Life as a King

A realtime 4player coop action RPG
&
A King/city build simulator

Final Fantasy CC: Life as a Darklord                    Final Fantasy CC: The Crystal Bearers

A tower defence game
&
A minigame collection adventure/rpg trying to appeal to "even your grandma"


Dragon Quest
What we expected:


What we got:
Dragon Quest Swords                                          Dragon Quest X

An on-rails game with nice visuals but without any freedom.
&
An mmorpg with monthly fee and no western release...


Resident Evil
What we expected:


What we got:
Resident Evil 4                                              Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles

A great third person survival horror adventure with hombres instead of Zombies.
&
An on-rails coop shooter with Zombies instead of hombres.


Soul Calibur
What we expected:


What we got:
Soul Calibur Legends

A strange action game with Tales of Symphonia characters.


Dead Space
What we expected:


What we got:
Dead Space Exctraction

A suprisingly good coop on-rails shooter by EA?


Phantsay Star Online
What we expected:


What we got:
Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D Revolution

A card turn-based PSO game with a small grid-battlefields instead of a world to explore.
(had great music and nice visuals tho)


BONUS:

Secret/Children of Mana
What we expected:


What we got:
Children of Mana

A beautiful yet repetitive dungeon crawler without overworld to explore.

=========================

So what do you guys think about how those games ended up? What game needs to be added to the list?


Thanks for reading!

Nice thread but we also got twlight princess for the gamecube zelda?

SHit, posted, my bad

Gamecube was a sweet console. It was cool to see Nintendo actually try some really off the wall concepts.

Excellent thread.

Mario:
It is clear Sunshine is inferior to Mario 64, but I am glad Nintendo decided to create Luigi's Mansion. One of their best IPs IMO.

Zelda:
It was for the best. And Gamecube did get an awesome dark Zelda as well.

DK:
Jungle Beat was pretty good. Especially with the Wiimote. I agree the other two should not have existed.

Advance Wars:
Dunno.

Mario Kart:
Broken and unplayable piece of garbage, versus one of the most fun, varied, polished and overall fun GC titles. I am glad Double Dash was nothing like MK64.

Starfox:
Agree.

Metroid:
Not my cup of tea, but the right choice for the franchise.

Your taste in Mario Karts will forever be held in high regard... once again!

OT: This is a really interesting idea for a thread. Nice job thinking this up. Speaking of ideas, I have none currently. Maybe I can think something up in time.

I actually like some of the evolutions better than the originals.

I love Luigis Mansion and Mario Sunshine and play them more than 64.

Wind Waker is my favorite Zelda and I still bring out the GBAs to play Fours Swords Adventures when i have friends over.

After we're done playing that we play the gamecube Crystal Chronicles.

I really enjoyed Star Fox Adventures as well (probably cuz i love Zelda games), but why didn't you include Assault?

I've played all the DKC games including Returns and I'm playing through Tropical Freeze right now, and I can honestly say I had the most fun playing Jungle Beat. The exciting bosses and combo system just kept me coming back, I was having so much fun that I didn't even notice that my favorite kong (Diddy Kong) was gone.

Also, I usually hate first person games, but decided to give Metroid Prime a try and it blew me away. This and Portal 2 are probably the only first person games I've ever really enjoyed.

(btw Double Dash is WAY better than Mario Kart 64)

Mario - Sunshine was alright but I could never get into Luigi's Mansion. We never really got a true 3D Mario that era.

Zelda - Wind Waker was amazing, never understood why people hated the art style. Twilight Princess came out as well and that ended becoming my favorite Zelda.

Donkey Kong - Wow those music games look really stupid.

Advance Wars - Don't care, never played.

Mario Kart - Double Dash was pretty fun, but I always preferred MK64.

Star Fox - Not a fan of the series.

Metroid - The Prime games were incredible, one of the best trilogies ever. Too bad Team Ninja screwed it all up with the abysmal Other M.

Hmm.  Final Fantasy CC: The Crystal Bearers is something I need to play as soon as possible... No special reason. ;)

EDIT: What do you think of this one of Sonic, JazzB?

       Sonic
    What we expected


 What we actually got ( just a small portion)


Shadow the Hedgehog                                         Sonic and the Secret Rings


     A failed attempt at making a mature Sonic game that would appeal to the GTA crowd and an on-rails game with nice graphics for its time and very crappy controls.

Nice thread.

Also, Paper Mario... ;_;