We’ve had a few “Mini” consoles from Nintendo already, and we’re counting the seconds before we get the GameCube Classic Edition. It’s pretty much a given we’ll see a GameCube Mini. And when it comes to the roster of GameCube Classic Edition games, there are some must-have classics that Nintendo needs to include, no questions asked.
Released in November 2001, the GameCube was not a great success. Well, not in terms of its sales. For those who owned the console, it would be home to some of the greatest games of all time. But by the time it was superseded by the Wii in 2007, it had only managed a meagre 21.74 million sales worldwide.
When we look at the 101 million units achieved by the Wii, and the 32 million units by the Nintendo 64, it was bookended by far more successful machines. If there is any Nintendo console that deserves to be rediscovered by those who missed out, it’s the GameCube. And it could happen.
In 2016, Nintendo surprised everyone, and probably itself, with the release of the NES Classic Edition, better known as the NES Mini. The console provided a miniaturised replica of the original machine released back in 1983, packed with 30 classic games from the era. It was a hit. In fact, it was near impossible to come by, and sold out in most locations around the world.
In the end 2.3 million units of the NES Mini were sold, with another run hitting shelves again in June 2018 to meet consumer demand. Given the success it was no surprise that a SNES Classic Edition (read: SNES Mini) appeared in 2017, and this time Nintendo was better prepared. There were 5.3 million units available to be sold, and sure enough, they sold out.
Now as all Nintendo fans will know, the company loves nothing more than to jump on a winning horse and to give it a good whipping, so in the eyes of most, it’s not a matter of if, but when we see Nintendo take the “Mini” treatment to another one of its classic machines.
Why not the GameCube?
List of GameCube Classic Edition Mini Console Games
The NES Mini released with 30 built-in games, and the SNES Mini with 21. There were variations in the game lists between regions, but the number remained the same. Predominantly, these titles were from Nintendo. In fact, two-thirds of the NES and SNES Mini games were Nintendo published, with the rest supplied by Japanese studios such as Square, Konami, Capcom and Tecmo.
It’s fair to say the expectation among fans will be for at least 25 titles to be built-in to the GameCube Classic Edition Mini console. Based on their critical reception and lasting popularity, as well as what we saw with the selection in previous mini consoles, this is a likely games list.
- Animal Crossing
- Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
- Battalion Wars
- Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
- F-Zero GX
- Gifttopia
- Luigi’s Mansion
- Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
- Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
- Metroid Prime
- Metroid Prime 2 Echoes
- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
- Pikmin 2
- Pokémon Colosseum
- Resident Evil 4
- Soulcalibur 2
- Star Fox Assault
- Super Mario Sunshine
- Super Monkey Ball 2
- Super Smash Bros. Melee
- Tales of Symphonia
- The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
- Viewtiful Joe
- Wave Race: Blue Storm
A little under half of those are 3rd-party GameCube games, making for a more diverse GameCube Classic Edition games list. That lines up with the ratio of titles on the console anyway, and it’d take a brave soul to remove classic games like Metroid Prime.
The only surprise game on this list is Gifttopia. With this re-release, why not give Western audiences a taste of a title that never made it out of Japan? It was developed by a number of ex-Square employees who formed a new studio, Skip Ltd.
In an island nation, you played a young boy called Pockle who slept through his coming of age ceremony and now needs to complete tasks for the citizens to raise enough funds for a redo. It’s a truly bizarre game, and would be a surprise, but welcome addition.
GameCube Classic Edition — Mini Features With Big Effects
In its day the GameCube could hold its head up high alongside the Xbox and PlayStation 2 in terms of its power, but by today’s standards there is more grunt in your typical smartphone. The IBM-designed CPU operated at just 485MHz, while the ATI Technologies GPU offered 162 MHz.
Meanwhile, games typically came in at less than 1.5GB – the maximum capacity of the GameCube’s discs – with only a few requiring two discs to play.
The long and short of the above is that it would neither be a challenge, nor a relatively costly affair, to reproduce the GameCube experience in Mini form, and store a tonne of games on it. In fact, even the ARM Cortex-A7 CPU and ARM Mali 400 MP2 GPU used on the NES and SNES Minis would be capable of emulating GameCube software.
In terms of upgraded features, online play through all the multiplayer games would be a welcomed addition. There is also the potential to see a more robust, high-definition upgrade of GameCube titles on a Classic Edition console over what we saw with the NES and SNES Minis.
The leap in assets from that era of gaming to now isn’t as great as it was with those older consoles. In fact, we’ve seen plenty of titles from the era get a successful re-tune in recent times. You only have to look as far as the re-release of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, a GameCube classic, for proof.
Given the success of the previous mini consoles, Nintendo could confidently invest in levelling some of their classic titles up to modern standards. Which makes the above games list even more appealing.
When Will the GameCube Classic Edition Mini Console Come Out?
It’s nice to talk about all the games the GameCube Classic Edition Mini console will have, but what we all want is a release date. Many believe we will see an N64 Classic Edition Mini console first, and obviously that would make the more sense. But after successive releases of a NES and SNES Mini, it may not be as far off as you think.
Adding fuel to the fire was the announcement of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at the 2018 E3 press conference, in which support for the iconic GameCube controllers was confirmed. In addition, we’ve seen as recently as late June 2018 Nintendo apply for three GameCube related trademarks in Japan. Something is afoot.
Are these signs of a GameCube Classic Edition Mini console announcement in the near future? Watch this space!
