inside - Seren - Bangor University

games@seren.bangor.ac.uk GAMES SEREN October 2001 17It’s hip to besquareMike McGeachin gets his handson Nintendo’s new GameCubeAnother issue, another Nintendo.This time, we take a stepaway from the realm of sweetlittle handheld doobies, and takea long, lingering look at one ofthe new titans of gaming: theGameCube. Thanks to those helpfulfellows at Acme (the LowerBangor-based purveyors of qualitygames, comics and action figures),I was able to try out one of theseshiny new consoles ahead of theofficial release schedule, and here,for your reading pleasure, are myfindings.Firstly, the look. It seems thatNintendo have gone mad forminiature, as the ‘Cube wouldprobably fit comfortably into halfa shoebox. Resembling Sega’sunfairly-shunned Dreamcast, it isa top-loading affair with four controllersockets in the front, and,like the Game Boy Advance Itested last issue, it comes in apleasant matt blue case, and willlater be decked out in a variety ofhues like the GBA. Pink Gamecube,anyone?The controllers (also blue) lookrather odd. Resembling in manyways a Dreamcast/PS2 crossbreed,they feature a plethora of initiallyconfusing controls. Naturally, thereis the digital D-pad, four mainbuttons (A, B, X and Y) and twoergonomically designed shoulderbuttons. Added to this, we alsofind two analogue controls, onegrey, one yellow. But it is thelayout which surprises. One analoguecontrol sits top-left, and theother bottom-right with the fourmain buttons just above. Thesebuttons are arranged so that the Asits centrally, with a round B to itsside, and the two other, sausageshapedbuttons above. Add to thisa microscopic Start button lying inthe middle like a deformed navel,then so far, so Picasso. Thankfully,though, after some faltering, thecontrols do become intuitive, andthe pad sits quite comfortably inyour hands.And so on to the games! Inkeeping with the midget-friendlydesign of the console itself, thegames come on the tiniest discsyou ever did see—you could dropone in your pint if you so chose—and are sold in cases which looklike those of PS2 games, but much,much smaller. Two games were onhand at the time: Waverider, a jetskiracer, and Luigi’s Mansion, theThe gamescome on thetiniest discs youever did see.token Mario Bros. release.Waverider amazed all who werepresent. The graphics redefine theword ‘stunning’. The charactersmove fluidly, and there are absolutelyno rough edges to be seen.The water draws the most comment:the riders create reflectionson its surface as it undulates upand down, shimmering as it goes,and the jet-skis kick up perfectbursts of spray across the screen.It’s all so realistic you have tocheck yourself for wet patches(clean your mind!). The game itselfis generic, but still fun. There seemto be options to choose from, but,as the text was all in Japanese, Ididn’t know what they were. Ohwell....Luigi’s Mansion was a moreintriguing affair. Eschewing thestandard platform-o-rama of theprevious games, this takes theform of a cutesy adventure game,in which (and this is all downto guesswork—this was also inits untranslated Japanese form)Mario’s idiot brother tries tohoover up the ghosts which inhabithis abode. The controls are usedv e r yeffecti v e l y,with oneanalogues t i c km o v i n gthe diminut i v ep l u m b e raround, and theother controlling auseful ‘look’ feature,allowing you to take in allof the beautifully realised 3Dinteriors. There are various modesof attack (which, at first, seemto include Luigi bleating for helpfrom his bro—odd, but very nicelydone, like all the sounds), anda Resident Evil-esque map (presentedon a “Game Boy Horror”—can’t beat a bit of self-referentialhumour, can you?). One worthchecking out if you are fluent inJapanese and can tell what thehell is going on. Otherwise, youmay want to wait for the Englishrelease.All told, it seems that Nintendohave hit the mark once again. The‘Cube is a spanking little systemset for world domination—if itis backed up with good games.And there’s the problem. Nintendohave an unappealing habitof catering solely for the youngergamer, who would feel loth tosplash out all their pocket moneyon a new console when the PS2is only £200 and already has animpressive back catalogue. ThePlaystation buried the N64 formuch the same reasons, despitethe latter being technically superior,and the PS2 has the advantageof backward compatibility,so Nintendo will have to playthings very carefully. With Microsoftwaiting in the wings to throwin their twopenn’orth with theX-Box, it’s going to be an interestingChristmas.Waverider: water-based fun for one or moreLuigi’s Mansion: Who you gonna call?