Before I begin my Console Wars Battle for PS2 and GameCube, I also wanted to make a small recap that I've previously did my very first Console Wars Battle for SNES and Genesis/MD about 11 years ago talking about the 16-bit system's own best choices of the libraries, graphics, sounds, design, and controller, so if you haven't seen my very first Console Wars Battle blogpost that I've made long time ago then here's the link down below:
Okay, let's begin with my second Console Wars Battle mayhem for now.
Back in the days of the 5th generation gaming era became a thing, when the forthcoming of PS1, N64, and Saturn had entered a console wars competition to compete against each other by showing off their impressive 3D technology visually which was innovative at the time in mid-90s.
It had an incredible design for 3D titles that became a ground-breaking that was a totally new to its gaming industry and had a best software available to its system like PS1 had Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy VII, Nintendo 64 had Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and of course Saturn had Panzer Dragoon and Nights into Dreams really showcasing the hardware's real-time 3D polygonal are absolute game changer for mid-90s.
By going forward to the 6th generation gaming era that was started in late 90s when SEGA Dreamcast just had released at lunch delivering such an impressive launch titles like Power Stone, Ready 2 Rumble, Sonic Adventure, Hydro Thunder, House of the Dead 2, and Soul Calibur.
Dreamcast are also a first system that introduces the dial-up modem for online gaming services like Dream Arena or SEGANET which allows users in ability to play online multiplayer matches.
While Dreamcast had a good start, SONY had launched PS2 in around early 2000s showcasing the new technology feats such as Emotion Engine CPU designed for improved 3D graphics, has ability to play PS1 software titles and watch DVD videos, and of course has the launch titles like Armored Core 2, Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore, Ridge Racer V, Tekken Tag Tournament, and TimeSplitters.
It became a fastest-selling system at launch which sold over 10.6 million units by 2001 which totally destroys SEGA's own hardware couldn't able to beat the competition which led the discontinuation of SEGA's hardware business in 2001 and shift focus on making software for multiplatform instead.
While the success of SONY's own machine, the forthcoming of two rivalries such as Nintendo GameCube and Microsoft Xbox original had entered the competition to battle SONY PS2 showcasing the graphics technologies and their killer titles such as GameCube had Super Smash Bros Melee became a best-selling title for Nintendo platform exclusivity and Xbox had Halo was best showcasing for the multiplayer matches through online services such as Xbox Live being first introduced on Microsoft first system which helped their sales of hardware units quite a bit, but not quite has the same level as the SONY's own system still remained as the top-selling system which the PS2 is best suited for both casuals and core audience to use PS2 console as the multimedia entertainment machine thanks to DVD video playback and ability to play PS1 games as backward-compatibility is the reason why it sold really well at the launch of year 2000.
So I wanted to create my own console wars competition by comparing twos system for its console design, controller, graphics and sounds, features, and of course most importantly the numerous of game libraries.
Full Disclaimer: This is only just for my opinion guys, so to all the console fans out there please don't get upset or triggered if you don't enjoy my Console Wars Battle, so all I can say is just simply enjoy my stuff as it is and move the f**k right on.
So without go further do, let the console wars battle begin with the PS2 vs GameCube.
Best Console Design
The original PS2 model was launched in year 2000 and the system itself is looking quite rad back then because it has nice looking ridges around the console, vents underneath at the front of the console, two memory slots for save data, two controller ports for 2-players, disc-tray, two USB ports for additional accessories, and the back of the console has large-size fan to keep the system cool and has storage external space for network adapter.
SONY had later revision the system with the slim model was released in 2005 and it was small and more compact sized compared with large and bulky original system makes the slim model more cheap and affordable but sadly it's nowhere near good as the original model in terms of PS1's emulation performance which they had removed the PS1's chipset support to keep the costing of the slim model more efficient but not performed nicely when playing the PS1 games, and the quality of the slim model feels very cheap in comparison with the original system makes it much easier to fragile the slim model.
That being said, I rather much preferred the original model over the slim model for its better emulation performance for PS1 games and sturdy console design which lasts more than the slim model.
I also liked the way PS2 console goes vertical position which is cool, but the issue is that the system will struggle to read disc when putting it on vertical position affecting the disc's laser mechanism, so it's better to put it on horizontal position for better disc reading.
GameCube was launched in a year 2002 and came with two coloured variants such as purple and black.
This system is looking quite simple and compact because I really liked how they designed the system to make it look like a cubed-shaped which is really appealing to look at it.
It has disc-tray loader on top with 3 functional buttons such as open, reset, and power, and it also has really nice rounded decal displaying GameCube logo, so the cool thing about the system is that it has a push button on the centre of the disk holder which just pops out the GameCube disc.
It has 4-controller port for local multiplayer games and has two memory slots for save data on front of the console, two vents on both sides of the console, has an handle on back of the system to hold things, and of course it has three external space on the bottom of the system for GB Player and network adapter.
I say I really liked the design of the GameCube system lot more because it is the best way to describe it as the cubed-shaped gaming system is just feels like a GameCube, and I really liked the size of the system that is not big and enormous like the PS2, so it's just fits nicely on the TV cabinet.
Winner: GameCube
Best Controller
The PS2 controller named as DualShock 2 is identical to PS1's DualShock analog controller in terms of design, so it included the input such as 2 analog sticks, 8 action buttons such as square, cross, circle, triangle, L1, R1, L2, and R2, as well as d-pad buttons, 5 digital buttons such as start, select, analog, L3, and R3.
It's one of the first controller to feature pressure-sensitive buttons which acts as an analog values for d-pad and 8-action buttons that I've mentioned above, so this will allow you to use for certain of the games such as Ridge Racer V and Gran Turismo 3: A-Specs which are reliant on pressure-sensitivity buttons functionally for acceleration and brake control, then on some action games like Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater where you're using the circle as the pressure sensitive button for take downs such as the light press will let you grab enemies for interrogation where the hard press will instantly kill them, and you aim the weapon by lightly holding the square button then hard tap it to shoot them.
It works well for several of the PS2 games with pressure-sensitivity button just adds up the game's realism.
Aside with the pressure-sensitivity buttons, the rest of the layouts on the controller is incredibly great because I much preferred both of these analog sticks being on bottom as opposed to GameCube controller which has controller stick and d-pad button other way around similar to Xbox controller, so having both of the analog stick being on the bottom just feels right on my thumbs being both placed on the sticks makes it easier to move around like I can use those for FPS games for aiming and shooting stuff as well as an RPGs games for navigating stuffs and rotating camera system during an exploration.
The d-pad button and 8 action buttons are perfectly aligned because it's gives me sort of the SNES controller vibes to it, so these buttons are nicely push which feels an easier to press things just perfect for arcade games such as I can able to pull-off some moves and combos for fighting games, I can able to control ship and hold down to shoot for shoot-em-ups games, and I can able to drive around for racing games.
The grips on the controller is much lighter and feels comfortable to hold and I also loved the built-in vibration that starts rumbling during the gameplay which is why I loved the PS2 controller as being one of the SONY's best video game controller they ever designed.
If that's not enough, the PS2 controller also works on PS1 console as forward compatibility, as well as PS3 console by the use of 3rd-party peripherals (such as PS2 to USB adapter) which connect the controller to the console via a USB port, so that's what you call an iconic video games controller.
GameCube controller on other hand is something similar to PS2 controller in terms of design, so it has 2 analog sticks, 2 analog triggers, 6 action buttons such as A,B, X,Y, Z, and Start, and d-pad button.
GameCube controller was designed to create with more conventional handle bar style controller shape like the PS2 controller as opposed to N64's gimmicky M-shaped design, and it also a first Nintendo controller to include 2 analog stick and 2 analog triggers designed for better gameplay inputs for games.
The 2 analog stick are designed for the movements and camera rotating system, and the 2 analog triggers are designed as both the digital and analog inputs for some games such as Luigi's Mansion uses analog triggers for the Poltergeist 3000, a vacuum cleaner equipment are used for capturing and sucking the ghost inside, so when lightly half-pressed the right trigger button slows the speed of the vacuum power while pressing and holding further down makes it more faster, then you have Super Mario Sunshine where you use analog triggers for FLUDD's water pack that allows you to spray water out of the tank by lightly half-pressed the right trigger button for short-distance squirt while pressing and holding further down for long-distance squirt, and lastly most of the 3rd-party racing games uses the analog triggers for the gas pedal and brakes makes it an easier to accelerate the driving speed.
The controller is fine for its grips which is also comfortable to hold which is no problem, and I do like the layouts of the buttons, triggers, and stick which are pretty good, but sadly it missed out other action buttons such as the left shoulder button as 2nd Z button, select button like the NES and SNES controller has, and of course the thumbstick buttons on 2 analog sticks which is quite shame because having to missed out some action buttons is the reason why GameCube had missed out several of the 3rd-party games which requires many action inputs that needed to fit in the controller's requirements in order to play the game properly without having to miss out many important inputs which is why PS2 and Xbox controller does better for its controller's requirements for 3rd-party games.
Don't get me wrong because I do like the GameCube controller which is the best designed for titles like Super Smash Bros Melee which I find this controller a lot easier to pull-off many moves is due to GameCube's controller layout choices they putting in which is why the fans loved the game.
It also works on later system like the Wii which has a GameCube controller port also works on several of Wii titles that support GameCube controller.
Winner: PS2
Best Graphics and Sounds
The PS2's hardware specs has the main CPU which is the 64-bit R5900-based Emotion Engine, a custom-designed by SONY and Toshiba.
It consists of 8 separate units each performing a specific task which integrated onto the same die.
These units include a central CPU core, 2 VPU, 10-channel DMA unit, MCU, and an IPU.
There are 3 interfaces such as I/O processor running at a clock speed of 36.864 MHz, a graphics interface to the graphics synthesiser, and a memory interface to the system memory.
The Emotion Engine CPU has a clock rate of 294.912 MHz and 6,000 MIPS, with a floating point performance of 6.2 GFLOPS.
The system I/O processor was based on the PlayStation's CPU and was designed to provide full backward compatibility with the PS1 games, and the system has 32MB of RDRAM.
The GPU is custom-designed for the console with graphics synthesizer which has a fill-rate of 2.4 gigapixels per second, capable of rendering up to 75 million polygons per second.
The GPU also runs with a clock frequency of 147.456 MHz, 4MB of DRAM is capable of transmitting a display output of 1280 x 1024 pixels on both PAL and NTSC televisions.
It has a maximum color depth of 16.7 million true colors, so when accounting for features such as lighting, texture mapping, artificial intelligence, and game physics the console has a performance of 25 million per second.
It can natively output video resolutions on SDTV and HDTV from 480i to 480p for many games, and some games such as Gran Turismo 4 are known to support upscaled 1080i resolution.
It supports the following standards such as composite video (480i), S-Video (480i), RGB (480i/p) VGA for progressive scan games, YpbPr component video which display most original PlayStation games in their native 240p mode which most HDTV sets do not support, and D-Terminal.
The audio uses SPU2 dual-core sound processing unit featuring local memory of 2MB EDO RAM, SPU cores with twos 16-bit SPU cores clocked at 8 MHz, supports ADPCM sources up to 24 channels per core for a total of 48 channels.
The Sound buffer source such as PCM has the sampling rates of up to 48 kHz, supports applying digital effects for ADPCM sources include pitch modulation, envelope, looping, and digital reverb.
It output gaussian interpolated stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, DTS, and Dolby Pro Logic II.
Gamecube's hardware specs has the main CPU which has 32-bit 486 MHz IBM PowerPC CPU based on the 750CXe and 750FX, 3 issue of superscalar processor, two 4-stage interger-units of 32-bit IU1 and IU2, front-side bus that ran on 162 MHz 64-bit enhanced, on-chip caches has 32 KB 8-way set-associative on both L1 instruction and data cache and 256 KB 2-way set-associative of L2 cache, 64-bit FPU ran on PowerPC 750 + 50 new SIMD instructions geared toward 3D graphics.
The GPU contains 162 MHz ArtX-designed ATI ASIC ran at 9.4 GFLOPS, 3 MB of on-chip 1T-SRAM, 24 MB 1T-SRAM main memory at 324 MHz, 24-bit RGB and 32-bit RGBA of color depth, and 11 GFLOPS of system floating-point.
It has 648 megapixels of fill-rate with Z-buffering, alpha blending, fogging, texture mapping, trilinear filtering, mipmapping, and S3 texture compression, as well as the 66 million per second of raw polygon performance.
It has image processing functions featuring volumetric fog, heat haze, motion blur, bloom, anti-aliasing, lighting, bump mapping, shadow mapping, bilinear filtering, antisotropic filtering, cel-shading, and dithering.
The system memory has 43 MB total non-unified RAM and 16 MB DRAM used as I/O buffer for audio and mini-DVD drive, 64-bit main system RAM, 896-bit internal GPU memory, and 8-bit ARAM.
It can natively output video resolutions from 480i to 480p supporting 60Hz for NTSC games and 50Hz for PAL games.
It has audio processor being integrated into custom 81 MHz macronix 16-bit DSP which sampling frequency of 48 kHz, has 64 simultaneous channels of ADPCM encoding, 8 KB RAM and ROM of both instruction and data memory.
The external auxiliary RAM ran on 16 MB DRAM at 81 MHz, Stereo output may contain 5.1 channel surround via Dolby Pro Logic II.
By comparing these two systems, the PS2's hardware specs is actually quite decent for the use of Emotion Engine CPU which sparked as an improvement over the PS1's LSI CoreWare CPU, as you can tell the details of the visuals on some games are looking quite better for its character's model, texture mapping, background details, and the lighting and shadow effects, but it's nowhere near detailed as other systems like Dreamcast, Gamecube, and Xbox which appears to be more crispy and smooth on environmental design where as the PS2 tends to appeared as blurry and rough in some areas.
Gamecube's hardware specs is what impressed me the most for it's graphical department because the details on textures, backgrounds, surfaces, and animation just looks very smooth in comparison especially on 60Hz CRT TV just cleans out the jags and roughness in some environmental design, and the color and lighting are just nicely balanced, and had better overall performance proves that the Gamecube had better use of graphics thanks to ATi technology.
I say the audio on Gamecube is much more sharper, cleaner, and clearer for sound design as opposed to PS2 are kinda bit muffled and quiet in comparison which means the GameCube can produce a better overall sounds for environmental and ambient when using the surround sound system.
Here is the comparison video down below:
Best Features
The PS2's biggest selling point is mostly ability to play PS1 games as an backwards compatibility, so which means that this system has PS1's I/O chipset mostly on the original PS2 model which gives you an access to use the PS1 software disc to play most of the PS1 libraries, same goes with DVD playback format that the PS2 console can give you an access to watch your favourite films, TV series, and documentaries, as well as the audio CD playback which give you an access to listen your favourite soundtrack.
That's the best thing the SONY had ever done on their 6th-gen machine just blew me away of seeing the system that could actually play most of the PS1 games, DVD films, and music CDs, so you don't really need to get a PS1 console, DVD player, and CD Player to play these because it's all built-ins within console and the system is actually cheaper and affordable to buy one making it an easier for consumers to access all 3 formats in one PS2 console.
The PS2 shares with great accessories that really enhanced your gaming experiences such as the light-gun controller which is perfect for playing most of the light-gun titles like Time Crisis 2 and 3, Vampire Night, and Virtua Cop: Elite Edition which I really liked shooting the f**k out of these guys on my CRT TV screen.
Then you have guitar controller peripherals which are designed for playing most of the Guitar Hero titles which was hugely popular back in the mid-2000s where they can pick up their guitar controller and start playing some rock n roll songs is the coolest things about the musics in video games like this that had people talked more about it.
Then you have keyboard and mouse support that plugs onto the USB port of the console are handful for FPS games like Half-Life, Red Faction 2, Unreal Tournament, Solder of Fortune, and Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force.
Then lastly the most innovative things that the SONY had ever delivered to the PS2 console is the EyeToy Motion Camera is a device that uses the computer vision and gesture recognition for supported games which allows you to interact with the games using motion control, color detection, and also sound through its build-in microphone, so I remember back then in early-2000s time when I was young kid at the time and my siblings took me to the electronic store where I've discovered the EyeToy at the entertainment section which I began to start playing the games that was designed to use EyeToy camera as an motion controller and I was incredibly amazed to see SONY are doing something new for the PS2 console.
The GameCube however had missed out both the DVD and CD playback is due to optical disc differences which the GameCube uses the small sized miniDVD-based disc just to keep the costing of the console down.
What's really cool things about the GameCube is that you can connect your GBA handheld system to your GameCube console via GBA link cable which allow you to use GBA system link-in for transferring data between related games, unlocking additional content, and of course turning the GBA into a controller or second screen display may work on 62 compatible GameCube games with the corresponding GBA game, so that's pretty innovative at the time which reminded me of SEGA's own VMUs for Dreamcast did a similar thing just way before Nintendo just took the idea for GBA's link cable.
Then you have GB Player which is the system's add-ons that plugs under the GameCube's system, so that gives you an access to play most of the GBA games which you really need a GBA game cart that plugs onto the GB Player's slot and the software disc in order to play it on your GameCube, so having to play GBA games on the television screen seems to be really cool back then.
In honesty, the GB Player add-ons are stupidly expensive nowadays which goes over £200 or something is not just makes it difficult to find it cheaper, but what even worse is that you also need to have a software disc in order to boot-up your GB Player is not an easier to find one online which is quite an headache because who came up with the dumb idea of requiring the software disc to make your GB Player fully functioned on your GameCube system.
It would have been better off not relying on the software disc to get it booted, so why can't just simply plug the damn GB Player underneath the GameCube system then turn on the system and let it boot-it self automatically, so is it really hard for the company to get it working without making it too complicated so that everyone can able to access to play GBA games without requiring the disc.
Aside with the GBA's link cable and GB Player, there are quite of decent numbers of accessories such as DK Bongos which is a two-drums controller are designed for games like Donkey Konga where you had to play it out the songs by banging on the bongos during the gameplay, and then you have an microphone device that are used for specially designed games like Mario Party 6 and 7 where you had to use this microphone mostly worked for various mini-games.
Those were good, but I had to preferred more on the PS2 for better overall features, can't go wrong with built-in backward compatibility and gaming accessories is the reason why PS2 does a better job.
Winner: PS2
Best Games Libraries
The video games libraries is what the gaming consoles is all about...the 3rd-party, the 2nd-party, and of course the 1st-party titles, so let's start with the PS2.
PS2 has wide selection of thousand games to play for both 1st-party and 3rd party games.
It has great FPS games like Star Wars Battlefront 1-2, DarkWatch, Project Snowblind, Cold Winter, Area 51, Urban Chaos: Riot Response, and Half-Life.
The Action-Packed games like Armored Core 2-3, Metal Gear Solid 2-3, and Max Payne.
The Fighting games like Tekken Tag Tournament, Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore, Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution, Soul Calibur 3, Guilty Gear X, Capcom vs SNK 2, and Mortal Kombat Deception.
The Racing titles such as Burnout 3: Takedowns, Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, Ridge Racer V, and Gran Turismo 3 and 4.
The RPGs stuffs like Disgaea 1-2, Persona 3-4, Final Fantasy 10, and Kingdom Hearts 1-2.
The Action-Adventure games like Onimusha, Shadow of the Colosseus, and Grand Theft Auto 3 + Vice City + San Andreas.
The Horror games like Fatal Frame 1-3, Cold Fear, Clock Tower 3, and Silent Hill 2-3.
The Hack n Slash action games like Devil May Cry 1 and 3, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness + Lament of Innocence, and God of War 1-2.
The 3D Platforming titles like Ratchet and Clank 1-3, Jax and Daxter 1-3, and Ape Escape 2-3.
These are the games that I've listed above which made everyone buys the PS2 console, so stuff like GTA, Gran Turismo, Tekken, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, God of War, Jak and Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank are the main selling point that attracts people to buy the system for these best-selling titles.
I acknowledge the 1st party titles like God of War, Gran Turismo, and Ratchet and Clank was created by SONY game developers are made for PS2 console exclusives, and there are some of the games like Devil May Cry 1 and 3, Metal Gear Solid 2-3, Silent Hill 2-3, and of course GTA 3+VC+SA was created by 3rd-party developers are made to designed for the PS2 system that are really incredible to play which is why the system had sold remarkably well at the release.
Let's talk about the games that defines the PS2 consoles starting right now:
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is a fantastic stealth action game which was known for its cinematic story presentation and likable cast of characters which adds the game's charm, and you got to admit the visuals are incredibly looking good for the PS2's hardware showcasing the environmental design and animation, and it does have the best video game soundtrack entirely fits the game's atmospheres.
The stealthy mechanics and combat action are the major highlight of the overall gameplay design with hiding, sneaking, take downs, and shooting is what made the game so fun to play making it Konami's best action game on the system.
Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening is a solid Hack n Slash action game as a prequel to first original game featuring badass protagonist, stylish combat gameplay with wicked weapons to choose and upgradable combo moves, has many cool stages with lots of great battles against the hordes of enemies and tough as nails bosses, has catchy soundtrack that made you pumped for action, and has tons of replay values.
Silent Hill 2 is a psychological horror title act as sequel to first original game with different storyline and characters, but this game was best known for its dark and terrifying presentation filled with creepy atmosphere settings that are so disturbing to play and has the most horrifying creatures in any of horror games especially like the mother f***ing pyramid head just gives you sort of an night terror.
Many they say it's considered to be not just being the best in the whole series, but also being one of the Konami's best horror game ever made for PS2 system which I definitely 100% agree.
God of War 2 is a SONY's Hack n Slash action game act as sequel to first original game set in Ancient Greek mythologies where you take control of badass spartan warrior Kratos went on his quest for his raging vengeance against the olympian gods.
Its a huge step-forward for its strong overall presentation, rich environmental design showcasing PS2's powerhouse, great voice performance for character's role, and of course the overall gameplay design with improved combat system, has great selection of weapons and magics with upgradable combos and power, has numerous of locations filled with puzzle solving and discoveries, and of course the epic battles between the enemies and bosses is what makes this game truly the masterpiece.
GTA 3 is an action-adventure sparked as the very first GTA game being shifted to 3D open-world approach as opposed to 2D top-down perspective like a previous twos.
What makes the game quite stand out is the massive open-world environments where you go out wondering for fun to start messing around like stealing cars, shooting and beating the living shit of these people, looking for the fight with gangs, getting chased off by cops, and plenty more things to do is what made this game so memorable to play back then, but as a now it's all to do with the good story and characters are also the important part of the series to know what's the game is all about.
It is the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful video game title ever made, and it is also being credited as the most influential video game that defines the open-world sandbox genre.
GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas are also just was well received which helped the sales of not just the software on its own, but also helped the sales of the PS2 hardware as well.
Many people had said that the San Andreas is by far the best in the entire series, where as others much preferred more on Vice City better depending your taste on the story presentation, lead characters, and open-world gameplay you liked the best.
GameCube does have several of great exclusive games like F-Zero GX, Paper Mario 2: A Thousand Doors, Starfox Adventures, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Luigi's Mansion, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Eternal Darkness, Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and of course the major-selling title such as Super Smash Bros Melee.
There are some of the amazing games by 3rd-party developers are made to designed for GameCube console such as Super Monkey Ball 1-2, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Eggs, Ikaruga, and of course Resident Evil 1 (2002 remake) + Zero.
Some of the 3rd-party games that are played better on the GameCube such as Viewiful Joe, Soul Calibur 2, and Resident Evil 4 really showcasing the system's powerhouse.
There are some of the 3rd-party games that the GameCube had really missed out the best ones such as Max Payne, Burnout 3: Takedowns, Star Wars Battlefront 1-2, Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, DarkWatch, Indiana Jones: The Emperor Tomb, Kill.Switch, Dead or Alive 2, Guilty Gear X, Unreal Tournament, Half-Life, and Clock Tower 3 as an example that never got made for GameCube which is quite a shame for the GameCube owners are not being able to get the see these kinds of games that the PS2 has on their libraries, so I can honestly blame the Nintendo's decision of choosing the miniDVD optical disc format which holds 1.46GB of file size which is smaller compared to regular DVD disc format like the PS2 which has 4.7GB for single-layer disc or 8.5GB for dual-layer disc, meaning that several of 3rd-party games will not fit perfectly on the small-sized GameCube disc which is why it misses out some of the great 3rd-party games.
Don't feel bad because of course GameCube had decent numbers of 3rd-party games which are also on PS2 like The Lord of the Ring: Return of the King, Tomb Raider: Legends, Beyond Good and Evil, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, TimeSplitters 2 + Future Perfect, SSX 3, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 + 4, Medal of Honor: Frontline, and Need for Speed: Underground, so those were awesome to play that you guys didn't miss out.
Let's talk about the games that defines the GameCube consoles starting right now:
Super Smash Bros Melee is a follow-up to N64's original game, and it is a 2D fighting games featuring all fighting rosters from Nintendo franchise must compete each other in fighting battle arena.
The game has amazing single-player modes such as adventure mode, classic mode, event mode, and some mini-games stuffs like target mode, homerun mode, and multi-man mode.
The 4-player battle matchs such as melee versus, stamina match, giant mode match, tiny mode match, sudden death match, slow-mo mode match, and lighting mode match.
It has best selection of playable rosters to play as like Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Kirby, Pikachu, Link, Samus, Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, Bowser, and you name it.
The fighting gameplay are straight-forward with simple controls makes it an easier to pull-off many combos and special moves, and it has the best fighting stages filled with crazy environmental attacks is the reason why its been labelled as one of the GameCube's best fighting games of all-time that helped the sales of GameCube's hardware.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is a FPS-Metroidvania game act as a sequel to first original game, where you take control of bounty hunter Samus Aran went on her quest to find missing Galactic Federation Marines in near Aether.
The whole single-player campaign is incredibly large for the GameCube title showcasing the hardware technical feats for its massive open-world environments are great for the exploration.
The game involves discovering new areas, hidden secrets, obtaining new abilities, and collecting key objects, as well as encountering with the variety of enemies and bosses that keeps me playing the game.
The gameplay works mostly well throughout the playthrough with tons of combat upgrades, new weapon, and new abilities that allowing you to gain access to the next undiscovered areas is what made the game so special.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is an interesting action-adventure title where you take control of Link went on his adventure to rescue his sister Aryll from the sorcerer Ganon, while being aided by allies including female pirate captain and a talking sail-boat lion helping him throughout the journey.
While its felt so different from the previous Zelda entries, this game are actually pretty look good for its cel-shaded animation just looks quite comical and cartoony which I really liked the style of art-direction that Nintendo are going for a different route.
The gameplay plays just like what you see from the predecessor for its sword-play combat and open-world exploration, but it also shares with many great varieties of weapons and items to obtain became quite useful for many stuffs such as puzzle solving, discoveries, and battles, so it's an excellent action-adventure title that the GameCube owners should not miss this out.
Eternal Darkness is a psychological horror title which I had to adore this because I did not expect family-friendly company like Nintendo had bought their own matured-rated horror title to their platform which is no surprise, as we already learned the other mature-rated games like Conker's Bad Fur Day are was to the N64 console aimed for the adult audience market.
So going back to this game, it was quite known for its dark and sinister tone of settings that I got to praise the game for its creepy atmosphere and several of disturbing sequences that gives the people a night terror during the horrible sanity level.
While it does have the scare factor moments, the game shares with great storytelling, fun survival and puzzles, and well developed visuals and sound design just adds up the game's charm.
The game has been long forgotten for two decades since its been only released on GameCube with no consideration of re-releasing the game for today's modern platform, so that's a shame because it's a definite an underrated horror title that should not be ignored and convince GameCube owner to give this game a worth of shot.
So out of all these libraries of games, I really liked the GameCube games because its brings me my childhood nostalgia that I never forget those classics like Super Smash Bros Melee is always be my no.1 favourite fighting game of all-time, those amazing stuffs like Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Eternal Darkness are my highlights of the GameCube libraries, some great multiplayer titles like Mario Kart: Double Dash, F-Zero GX, and Super Monkey Ball 1-2, and of course some 3rd-party games that does better on GameCube such as Soul Calibur 2 is due to one playable exclusive roster such as Link, and you can't go wrong with Capcom's horror games like Resident Evil (2002 remake) and Zero are the great horror titles to play, but I got to say Resident Evil 4 is an definite the best entry in the series that took the genre into the new level of horror gaming.
As the grown adult now for the retrospective, I just feel like that I'm gonna go with the PS2 is because this system has the best wide selection of games to play.
It had so many more 3D platformer, FPS, RPGs, Horror, Action-Adventures, Fighting, and Racing games that made people to buy the system like Ratchet and Clank 1-3, Jax and Daxter 1-3, Ape Escape 2-3, Gran Turismo 3-4, Ridge Racer V, Tekken Tag Tournament, Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution, Final Fantasy 10, Shadow of the Colossus, Onimusha, Fatal Frame 1-3, Star Wars Battlefront 1-2, and Max Payne.
I find Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is such a ground-breaking title for SONY's platform which I'm incredibly amazed with the cinematic story presentation and has tons of action-packed moments that made me loved the MGS franchise.
Silent Hill 2 is a one scary game filled with dark storyline, mysterious looking locations, and has several of psychological night terrors which I will never forget the part in the game that defines the whole franchise.
Devil May Cry 3 is clearly one of the best title in the series thanks to more improved combat gameplay with fast-paced stylish combo system, has wide selection of weapons with cool upgrades, and over-the-top battle with the enemies and bosses, so if that's not enough then go check out God of War 2 because it clearly has better overall combat, puzzles, and gory action which is an definite must play for PS2 owners.
All 3 GTA games that I've mentioned above is definite impressed me the most for its technical achievement delivering a massive open-world design with lots of exploration, and has the amazing single-player missions to play that never gets old, and of course the series has the best storyline and characters throughout the game is what makes the GTA games so recognisable on PS2 system as the system's best-selling titles that changed the video game industry forever.
Winner: PS2
Conclusion
To wrap it all up, GameCube gets the points for its console design being nice and compact in comparison to PS2 console, and the technical hardware specs are considered superior for its graphics and sounds are much cleaner and clearer in many games, but it was been overshadowed by the PS2 gets more points for its best designed controller with great layouts and playability matched perfectly for most games, and it has an additional built-in features that became the PS2 console's major selling point such as ability to play PS1 games and DVD Playback, as well as offering the amazing accessories like light-gun controller, guitar controller, and EyeToy camera that enhanced your gaming experiences, and most importantly is the large libraries of games that made PS2 being recognisable over the years.
Here is the score down below:
PS2 - 3
GameCube - 2
Winner: PS2
GameCube had managed to sold almost 22 million units as of 2010 which is 13 million units sold more than Dreamcast had sold over 9 million units as of 2002, where as the Xbox had sold 24 million units as of 2006 which is 2 million units more than the GameCube's unit sold, and then finally the PS2 just totally destroys their competitors which sold 160 million as of 2024 which makes it not just being the best-selling system on the 6th-gen era, but also being one of the all-time best-selling consoles of all consoles generation had managed to reach at number 1 ranking spot which proves that the PS2 console is the most popular video game system for all casuals and core audiences.
To be fair for you guys, all I can say is no matter what the games console you're playing on or had in your home, so all you had to do is just enjoy your gaming as it is because we all gamers should be grateful what we had on our childhood.
As much as I loved the Dreamcast and Xbox on the same generation era for its varieties of games libraries and introductory of online gaming services, GameCube and PS2 are two of the amazing system that defines the 6th-gen era that kept pushing the gaming technologies forward showcasing the hardware's graphics, sounds, and additionals proving that the gaming industries had been improving since the 5th-gen era, and we can all agree that both of these systems had the great games to play on.
To wrap it all up now, this is basically my own Console Wars Battle which I did it just for the fun and I hope you guys enjoying my content on my recent blog that I've made today, so I will consider making another Console Wars Battle in the future.
If you like my recent blog, please hit like and comment below for further questions.
This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone.
