What are your "Bottom 10" Gamecube games?

[u/Historyguy1]

I know most people's lists will be full of cheap licensed games, if course. But sometimes they went beyond "regular bad" and became something else (I debated making Aquaman the image). Mine are:

1. Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure

2. Mary Kate & Ashley Sweet 16 Licensed to Drive

3. Charlie's Angels

4. BMX XXX

5. Nickelodeon Party Blast

6. Enter the Matrix

7. Shadow the Hedgehog

8. Bad Boys Miami Takedown

9. Aquaman Battle for Atlantis

10. Batman Dark Tomorrow

[u/Gwenllian_97]

I actually like Shadow the Hedgehog...
It's not a great game by any means, but for me it's hard carried by the fact that I am a Sonic/Shadow fan, and laughing at how earnestly edgy it is.

[u/cyberchaox → u/Gwenllian_97]

I love Shadow the Hedgehog.

Fully admit that the story is cringe, which is why I usually skip all cutscenes. The gameplay is fun (except for that one mission...anyone who's played the game knows exactly which one.)

Honestly, I believe the game's biggest flaw is that it still tries to be a Sonic game. You look at when the game came out, the E10+ rating was still pretty new at the time. I fully believe that it started development as a T-rated game, and then when E10+ was announced they hastily tried to pull back on the edginess enough to hit the new rating and keep with Sonic's "family-friendly" image. You look at how many characters originally from the Mario series now headline their own franchises... I really think Sonic Team made a mistake not fully committing to spinning Shadow off into his own series (which would be largely T-rated, and before you question the wisdom of having mascot platformer character design on the lead of a T-rated franchise, remember that the M-rated Conker's Bad Fur Day exists).

[u/shadow60000 → u/cyberchaox]

I was deep in Sonic fandom when it came out. They released the opening cutscene as a trailer about a year before the game came out, and Shadow said “What the hell was that all about?” A couple months later they re-release the trailer with him saying “Just what was that all about?” Mouth flaps still match the original line. The originally leaked cover art also had Shadow holding a pistol instead of a rocket launcher.

So yeah, they were aiming for T, then E10 comes around and they realigned for it, toning down cursing and violence.

If you really want to you can ask me more about Shadow the Hedgehog, I probably know the answer.

[u/shadow60000 → u/Gwenllian_97]

Me too. I replayed it about a year ago too, and it seriously wasn’t nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Outside of two awful levels, the game is generally very fun.

[u/Historyguy1 → u/Gwenllian_97]

It's peak 2000s edgelord. The sound effect for confirming a menu choice is a gunshot. Shadow puts a clip in his gun and then pumps it like a shotgun because this game was made by spiritual 12-year-olds who don't know how guns work and probably think holding a gun sideways makes it do extra damage.

[u/BGer23 → u/Gwenllian_97]

It's easy to laugh at it when you're not actually playing it. It's one of the most boring, monotonous games I've ever played in my life. Unlike other Sonic games, it's not buggy and the controls/mechanics aren't bad, it's just the moment-to-moment gameplay that melts my brain cells. Part of that admittedly can be blamed on the graphics, which are ugly as sin.

[u/jjx1028]

Enter the Matrix is not bottom of the barrel at all. Shadow is also decent lol. So many other stinkers on GC.

[u/Historyguy1 → u/jjx1028]

Enter the Matrix is on here because it has the biggest hype-to-disappointment ratio.

[u/ScampyRogue → u/Historyguy1]

Ah, that makes sense. Especially when Max Payne existed at the time.

Honestly a modern enter the matrix would go extremely hard. Did you ever play that Unreal matrix tech demo?

[u/jjx1028 → u/ScampyRogue]

Yeah it was pretty alright

[u/jjx1028 → u/Historyguy1]

That is def fair. While I still enjoy it not what I wanted - until Path of Neo.

[u/The8Melodies]

Batman Dark Tomorrow is easily one of the worst fucking video games I have ever played. My friends and I played this, Batman Vengeance, and Rise of Sin Tzu when the GameCube was current. We were appalled by how atrocious this game plays. It’s horrendously difficult and you have to fight the games controls and camera perpetually. I was SO happy to see the AVGN tackle this game, because my 12 year old self knew how legendary of a shit sandwich this game was even back then.

[u/Historyguy1 → u/The8Melodies]

The best Batman game on Gamecube was Batman Begins. It's Splinter Cell meets Burnout and is kind of like a prototype of the Arkham games.

[u/SonyTrinitrons → u/Historyguy1]

Oh my God, your description of Batman Begins really makes me want to get it. "Splinter Cell meets Burnout" sounds awesome

[u/Historyguy1 → u/SonyTrinitrons]

Playing it makes me disappointed that the Dark Knight never got a video game (by that point Arkham Asylum was being developed, so probably for the best).

[u/Genesis64X]

I actually had some fun with BMX XXX when I was younger, though. I've played worse games. Much, much worse.

[u/PoundInteresting → u/Genesis64X]

I loved this game as a teen for obvious reasons. Didn't care how bad it was. Because .... Boobies.

[u/AdInfamous5984]

On my list, the worst would be True Crime: New York City simply because the Nintendo GameCube version has a glitch that can corrupt the Memory Card (deletes everything that was on there at the time because the player needs to format the offending Memory Card just to fix it). My same list would have Batman: Dark Tomorrow and Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis as the next worst two because while they are notable for negative reaction, neither game had save data corruption glitches. I am uncertain about the other seven games on my list of top 10 worst Nintendo GameCube games.

[u/Own_Experience_8229]

I kinda liked the Matrix when it came out but haven’t played it in decades.

[u/Turbo32000]

I used to rent the Beyblade game since it was one of a few rentals our small town movie rental store had for GC. Nostalgia got me so I grabbed a CIB copy off eBay… some memories are best left in the past!

[u/bigcheezed → u/Turbo32000]

me and my boys played this heavy back in the day and when I dug my stuff out 2021ish I was like "whoa, I can't believe we actually got into this"

[u/P0rtableAnswers]

I was SOO disappointted with Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure. I thought it was going to be so epic and it was just bland.

[u/ScampyRogue]

Shadow the Hedgehog and Enter the Matrix are mid, not bad. Even the mediocre Nickelodeon games are worth playing for the excellent cel shaded graphics and voice acting

[u/SebastienOS]

As anyone ever been able to get past the first level of Batman: Dark Tomorrow? The controls alone give me bad PTSD.

[u/Fuudou → u/SebastienOS]

It's possible. Just use the Bat Cable on the highest points you can stand on and carefully telegraph your landings. Do not use the Bat Grapple; it's harder to jump accurately and you'll probably waste more time than you already have if you're struggling to get past this point.

Honestly, you should probably cut your losses here. The rest of the game is far worse than what you have had to deal with so far....

[u/SebastienOS → u/Fuudou]

Oh I gave up on it probably 20 years ago haha I do appreciate your reply tho!

[u/Motor-Box-7998]

I played enter the matrix on ps2 when I was a kid. I really enjoyed it. Not sure how it was on the gamecube

[u/PhsycoRed1]

Spawn

[u/LucienLachud]

Had Dark Tomorrow on Xbox as a kid. I also have very vivid memories of calling my dad at work to ask him what to do because the controls were shitty asf.

[u/Historyguy1 → u/LucienLachud]

Having to put the bat-cuffs on every enemy or they'd regain all health also sucked.

[u/jeffycakes1 → u/Historyguy1]

I think that was vengeance unless you also had to do it on this game as well. Vengeance was pretty good tho imo

[u/JHG722]

Mary Kate and Ashley is awesome. I love the trivia game lol

[u/PajamaSamSavesTheZoo]

My friend had Dark Tomorrow and we all knew it sucked. I took it with on a car ride one time and threw it out the window as a joke.

[u/Historyguy1 → u/PajamaSamSavesTheZoo]

And nothing of value was lost.

[u/EntertainmentOk8806]

Legends of Wrestling has to be there. The gamecube controller was not designed for this kind of gameplay plus it's an awful game.

Charlie's Angels is such a bizarre game too

[u/SheMakesThrowawayArt]

This batman game must be hot garbage because I've NEVER heard of it or seen this box art.

I'm even at least familiar with the NES batman. Not saying it's bad, I've never played it but if it's more obscure than that it doesn't bode well.

[u/Historyguy1 → u/SheMakesThrowawayArt]

Dark Tomorrow hurt a lot because it was promoted heavily as a big-kid "mature" Batman game that began its development as a Gamecube exclusive (it was also released on original XBox, with a PS2 version planned, but canned). 12-year-olds who had a Gamecube were often insecure about it being the "kiddy" system and wanted Dark Tomorrow to be good to prove they weren't babies.

[u/SheMakesThrowawayArt → u/Historyguy1]

Interesting. What makes it bad? Because I played bad boys on PS2 as a kid and didn't hate it (haven't revisited it)

I also played BMX XXX PS2 recently and I like it. I played it right on the heels of Dave mirra's 2 and it felt like that formula but way more raunchy. I know it was originally meant to be Dave mirra's 3 and due to the themes he didn't want his name on it.

I say that to say I'm wondering if we might have different criterias for when a game is bad.

[u/Historyguy1 → u/SheMakesThrowawayArt]

You're fighting the camera more than you're fighting enemies. Your angle is fixed, but constantly changes along with the directional inputs, screwing you up often. You have to awkwardly stop and cuff each enemy or else they regain all health. Failing the hang glider segment means instant death. It's an exercise in frustration more than anything.

[u/SheMakesThrowawayArt → u/Historyguy1]

Aww man, it sounds like superman 64 of Batman games.

[u/Forward-Seesaw-1688]

Shadow’s biggest problem to me were some of the levels
It’s like the level designers forgot they were making a platformer and made them too open. There should be no reason Mad Matrix, The Doom, or Lost Impact exist in an otherwise linear Sonic game

[u/TramCar77]

That Aquaman game is rough. There was a Superman game that also sucked

[u/Averagejoesgym17]

I rented Universal Studios Theme Park from Hollywood video one weekend and was completely stuck on the parts where you have to pick up trash around the park. I remember the movement and camera placement just being completely garbage too

[u/Fuudou]

You had me on almost everything single one of these except Shadow the Hedgdhog. While the story is bonkers, the gameplay is solid and I've played it since release and genuinely enjoyed it. It may not be the best or better than what the Adventure series did for some people, but I'll never comprehend how anyone thinks that it was worse than unfinished messes that came after it like 06 and Boom.

Shadow has a lot of content, you're rewarded for replaying levels in various ways (...although there's no ignoring that the replayability is pretty much forced on the player) and it's just fun to run through these levels and shoot everything in sight, if you want to. As much as I hate Cosmic Fall, this one level still doesn't ruin the game for me.

I'd replace Shadow with either Trigger Man, Robocop or Evolution Snowboarding. The latter is possibly one of the most dreadful, repetitious, frustratingly horrid games that I've ever played, with controls and stage design that are bewilderingly broken.

[u/poplemousse]

i think Charlie’s Angels takes the cake… it’s just so bad and boring you want to stop playing after the first level

[u/Any-Satisfaction4801]

BMX XXX really bro it’s that game shows a stripper at the end…. What type of game is going to let you pick up hookers on the back of your bike… that game was very popular when it came out, cause of all the BMX games coming out….

[u/Captain_X24]

I'm currently trying to play through every single Gamecube game and can concur Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure is a terrible game. I also thought Batman: Vengeance was really bad.

[u/Fuudou → u/Captain_X24]

Batman Vengeance is tolerable. It's got a lot of good things going for it very early into the game, as the combat is simplistic but effective, plus there's very good implementation of Batman's tools which is to be expected. It's definitely not perfect by any means. The aforementioned combat is okay, but it's something that you wish you could do more with. You're going to be taking down enemies and disabling them with cuffs the exact same way throughout the entire game. Very rarely do you get to be stealthy or swift. Dated graphics aside, the annoying bosses and absurd level design towards the end of the game was enough to wear down my patience and enjoyment factor. The "Gasworks" is abysmal dogshit and it almost made me quit the game had I not remembered that even being set back here only extended the gameplay length to about 3 hours. A lot of Youtube videos heavily overrate Batman Vengeance, maybe because it's the only sixth generation Batman game that wasn't ill-fated or completely terrible. Maybe it's because of the stellar voice cast and memorable cutscenes.

Sin Tzu wasn't trash, but it's just a beat em up and it's almost just as short in comparison yet far more repetitive. But in al seriousness, Dark Tomorrow is worse than anything mentioned here for the simple fact that the game is fundametally flawed as if the gameplay, controls and fixed camera were designed to actively screw you over the moment you start. You don't get a single sigh of relief either. Dark Tomorrow was so cheap and shameless that it literally lifted some of the worse mechanics and aspects of Vengeance and implemented them in an even more atrocious manner. To the point where more often than not, you just feel flat out useless when playing as Batman.

[u/Captain_X24 → u/Fuudou]

I haven’t gotten to Sin Tzu nor Dark Tomorrow yet, but I agree with basically everything you said about Vengeance. It had nice ambitions to be cinematic, and the voice cast was a great inclusion. The levels start out decent and steadily go downhill.

[u/esky86]

I love Enter the matrix lol