13 Best GameCube Launch Games

Extreme-G 3 is a racing video game developed by Acclaim Studios Cheltenham and published by Acclaim Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube. The GameCube version reached North America on 27 November 2001, nine days after the console. You race futuristic bikes in a sport set in the 23rd century, and it is very, very fast.

The big change from the first two games is money. You buy weapons with money earned from races, and every shot drains a little of your weapon bar, so spraying fire at everyone stops being free. It was even nominated for GameCube Game of the Year at The Electric Playground's 2001 Blister Awards, which is impressive for a racer that sat next to Nintendo's December games and got lost behind them.

Vengeance is inspired by The New Batman Adventures, and the show's voice cast came back for it, with Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the Joker. That alone made it the Batman game to own in 2001. It came out on the PlayStation 2 on October 23, 2001, and the GameCube got it on day one.

The story plays like a long episode of the show. The Joker has been playing everyone, Batman included, to mass-produce a flammable Joker venom and spread it through the city's sewers. You fight with punches and kicks, and the grappling hook only works when a prompt shows up on screen, which gets old. The game received mixed reviews from critics, but by the end of 2001 sales of the game had surpassed 540,000 units. Batman fans did not need a review to buy it.

Dave Mirra 2 came out on the PlayStation 2 in August 2001, and the GameCube version was there on launch day. Both the GameCube and Xbox ports featured two extra levels that were not present in the PS2 version, so for once Nintendo owners got the bigger copy. The main mode is Proquest, where you pick a rider and get several 3 minute runs to hit goals like grinding 50 meters down a rail.

Its weak spot is playing with a friend. It supports only two players at one time, and you have to take turns. Players who own it still list it among their GameCube favourites. If you loved Tony Hawk and wished it had bikes, this was made for you.

NHL Hitz 2002 is Midway's hockey game with the no-rules twist that is seen in NFL Blitz, and it was a launch title for both the Xbox and the GameCube. It was also the first game of the NHL Hitz series. Games are 3-on-3 and the hits are huge. There are only 6 players per team, so once one team loses 3 fights, no more fights are allowed. You earn points to improve your players and unlock extras along the way.

Players who had it still name it among their favourite GameCube games, right next to Melee and Double Dash. That is good company for a hockey game. You do not need to know the offside rule, and the game does not care about it either.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 was a launch title for the GameCube in North America and PAL regions. You skate as Tony Hawk or one of a dream team of 12 pros, and you travel from L.A. to Tokyo. The big new move is the Revert, which lets you link vert tricks, and once it clicks a combo can go on for a very long time.

The PlayStation 2 version was tied for highest-rated PlayStation 2 game on Metacritic alongside Grand Theft Auto III, and the game won the best sports game award at E3 2001. It was also the final official release for the Nintendo 64, which is a weird bit of trivia for a GameCube launch game. Players still name it among their GameCube favourites, next to much bigger Nintendo games.

Rogue Leader was released as a launch title for the console in North America on November 18, 2001. Factor 5 built it, and the team started with a tech demo to exhibit at Space World on early prototype hardware. You fly an X-wing through the Death Star trench run and over the ice planet Hoth, with movie clips lifted directly from Star Wars films between missions.

The game received critical acclaim, though the lack of multiplayer was criticised. Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles in the films, recorded new lines for it, and a sequel was released in 2003 for the GameCube. Players still put it near the top when they list the GameCube's best single player games. It also still looks better than games made years later. Nobody can talk me out of that one.

Crazy Taxi was first released in arcades in 1999, then on the Dreamcast in 2000. Acclaim Studios Cheltenham ported it, and the GameCube version came out in North America on launch day. You pick up fares and follow a large green arrow at the top of the screen. Stunts on the way earn extra money, such as near misses with other cars. The soundtrack features the bands Bad Religion and The Offspring.

The GameCube port scored lower, with aggregate scores of 70% and 69/100, yet it still earned Player's Choice status. Players keep recommending it anyway. It is one of the best games on the console for a short burst of play, and it asks nothing of you except a willingness to drive over things.

Blue Storm is the sequel to the 1996 Nintendo 64 game Wave Race 64, and it came out in North America on November 18, 2001. The weather changes from race to race, all the way up to the Storm setting, and the waves move under you the whole time. There are eight playable characters, three of them originally from 1080° Snowboarding, and each has a crew chief who is nothing more than a voice offering encouragement and advice.

It was the third best selling launch title for the GameCube in North America, behind Luigi's Mansion and Rogue Leader. Players still recommend it, and the water is the reason. As one player put it, it "Still has better water physics than most AAA games today".

SSX Tricky is the direct sequel to SSX, made by EA Canada under the working title SSX 2. It came out on the PS2 first and reached the GameCube in North America on 27 November 2001. The music is the clever part. Each course had its own songs, and when riders reached maximum boost or got knocked down, the music reacted.

The GameCube version received favorable reviews, a step behind the PS2 version's universal acclaim. Players do not care about that gap at all. They still call it one of the best things you can play on the console, snowboarding fan or not.

Super Monkey Ball started as an arcade cabinet running on Sega's NAOMI hardware, with a banana-shaped analog stick. After the failure of Sega's Dreamcast, Sega made an enhanced port for the GameCube, and it came out in North America on November 18, 2001. You roll a monkey in a see-through ball across maze-like platforms to the goal without falling off or letting the timer reach zero. Your monkey is one of AiAi, MeeMee, Baby and GonGon.

There are also multiplayer minigames, and for a lot of people that is the whole game. Players still recommend it as one of the best games on the console. The later stages are brutal, and that is part of why it sticks.

Pikmin was created and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, and it came out in North America on December 3, 2001. You are Captain Olimar, crashed on a planet whose air is poison to him, and you have thirty days to find the 25 ship parts you need to leave. The native Pikmin do the work. Red ones are resistant to fire and the best fighters, and blue ones are the only ones that survive in water. Only one hundred can be on the ground at once.

The art style was inspired by the works of Tim Burton, which explains a lot about the monsters. Players still list it among the GameCube's best games. The clock stresses some people out. That is kind of the point.

Luigi's Mansion was Luigi's first starring role. He becomes the owner of a creepy old mansion, and Mario goes missing inside it. You go in after him with a flashlight and a vacuum cleaner. You stun a ghost with the flashlight to reveal its heart, then suck it up with the Poltergust 3000. Rooms are dark until you clear them, and Luigi hums nervously to the music the whole way.

Its short length was criticized, and initial fan reception to the game was mixed, but it achieved a cult following. The game sold over 3.3 million copies. Players now call it one of the GameCube's best games, and it is the right length for one spooky weekend.

Super Smash Bros. Melee came out in North America on December 3, 2001. It was developed by HAL Laboratory, with Masahiro Sakurai as the head of production. The goal is to knock opponents off the stage rather than deplete a health bar, and the more damage you take, the farther you fly. Up to four players can fight at once. It also added Marth and Roy from Fire Emblem, a series that was not released outside Japan at the time.

It became the GameCube's best-selling title, with over seven million copies sold by 2008, and its competitive scene stayed alive well beyond the game's original lifespan. Players call it the defining GameCube game, and they recommend it more than any other game on the console.