Wanting to start a Gamecube collection

[commanderkaiser]

I don't know why but I being drawn to wanting to collect for the Gamcube.
There's a ton of good games out there but it seems they are always hugely expensive, I want to get the Marios and Skies of Arcadia etc but I'm holding out hoping I'll run into a huge deal somewhere down the line

Any recommendations ? And any recommendations for places to buy? I'm guessing ebay is pretty much the one place these days, and is it worth me buying imports will they be cheaper then the regular pal versions at all?

Most of my collection so far is American thanks to the Freeloader disc, I have:

Battalion Wars (NTSC)
Chibi-Robo! (NTSC)
Donkey Konga with Bongos
Geist (NTSC)
Harvest Moon (NTSC)
Luigi's Mansion
Metal Gear Solid (A german version)
Need for Speed Most Wanted (NTSC)
Pikmin
Resident Evil 1 + Zero
SSX3 (NTSC)
Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2 +3
True Crime NY (NTSC)

[Roo]

That's already a strong collection! If you're not wanting to shell out loads of money, I'd suggest you stratch around the likes of Amazon and Play - you can get plenty of great games for under a fiver delivered, including Super Monkey Ball, Wave Race Blue Storm and Viewtiful Joe.

[killbot]

You'll be wanting some of the following:

Super Mario Sunshine,
Zelda: The Wind Waker,
Zelda: Twilight Princess,
Baten Kaitos,
Fire Emblem: Path Of Radiance,
Super Monkey Ball 1&2,
Mario Kart Double Dash!!,
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg,
Smash Bros. Melee,
Soul Calibur II,
Resi 4,
Viewtiful Joe,
Ikaruga,
P.N.03,
Metroid Prime 1&2.

That would be the beginnings of a very decent collection. Good thing you already have Chibi Robo as that's one of the rarest PAL games and will set you back a bit, ditto MGS: Twin Snakes. I haven't played them so can't recommend them, but DK: Jungle Beat and Killer 7 are also apparently excellent.

Where to get them? Game no longer stock them and GS are cutting back significantly with few stores now carrying GC games. Most branches of CEX still have some, but it's hit and miss as to what you'll get. Local independent stores or the internet are your best bet. As for price, they vary from a couple of quid (Prime, Billy Hatcher) to £20+ (Baten Kaitos, Twilight Princess) but there's nothing that runs into the hundreds. It's a fairly cheap machine to collect for.

[Megamixer]

I reckon the Gamecube will eventually be like SNES is today - games going for insane money on ebay - so even though prices have been on the rise for a while, I still think it's better to buy now that in the future!

My own favourites are Resident Evil 4, F-Zero GX, Tales of Symphonia, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Beach Spikers, Mario Smash Football, Zelda: Wind Waker and Zelda: Twilight Princess.

There are countless more future classics and great games but my collection isn't visible at the moment so I'm relying on my hit-and-miss memory

[killbot]

I reckon the Gamecube will eventually be like SNES is today - games going for insane money on ebay - so even though prices have been on the rise for a while, I still think it's better to buy now that in the future!

My own favourites are Resident Evil 4, F-Zero GX, Tales of Symphonia, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Beach Spikers, Mario Smash Football, Zelda: Wind Waker and Zelda: Twilight Princess.

There are countless more future classics and great games but my collection isn't visible at the moment so I'm relying on my hit-and-miss memory

Yeah, a couple of classics I missed there. GC games are definitely becoming more pricey, though still not insane. I was lucky enough to pick up most of my collection when GS were selling their old stock off for silly prices.

[Megamixer]

Yeah, a couple of classics I missed there. GC games are definitely becoming more pricey, though still not insane. I was lucky enough to pick up most of my collection when GS were selling their old stock off for silly prices.

I had a lot of the 'big guns' (in terms of current value) brand-new so I never had to search for stuff like Paper Mario or ToS. Think I ummed and ahhed over a mint pre-owned copy of Fire Emblem at £22 before finally buying it and in hindsight, I'm dead glad I did bite the bullet.

When you look at the SNES, you see games like Megaman X3 sometimes selling for over £1000 in complete/mint condition so it's not impossible to imagine some of the more uncommon yet critically acclaimed Gamecube games getting like that in years to come.

[dste]

Where to start.

Resident Evil 2, 3, 4 and Code Veronica
P.N.0.3
Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2
Super Paper Mario
Zelda: Wind Waker
Zelda: Twilight Princess
Metroid Prime 1 and 2
Ikaruga
Mario Kart: Double Dash
Baten Kaitos and Origins
Skies of Arcadia
Fire Emblem
Smash Bros
Soul Calibur II
Beyond Good and Evil
Starfox Adventures and Assault
Evolution Worlds
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
Odama
Zelda: Four Swords
X-Men Legends
Tale of Symphonia
F-Zero
Pikmin 2
Mario Smash Football
Mario Sunshine
Zelda: Collector's Edition
Killer 7
Wario World

All I can think of at the moment.

[commanderkaiser]

Great suggestions so far, I'll be keeping an eye out for some

I think what has drawn me is the vast selection of great games on the system that I missed out on and have never played.

Prices do seem a bit expensive for certain things but I suppose it can't be helped if I have to spend a little more than I expect or want to. My local CEX have a few gamecube games but they tend to be pretty pricey, my local cash generator gets a few games too every now and then so I suppose I'll just keep checking for them.

Looking at it now I'm kicking myself that I traded in the games I did a few years ago for peanuts at Gamestation and the like.

[Megamixer]

The 'cube was sorely overlooked and now that people are going back and playing what they ignored first time round, there are more people after certain games than there are available copies.

There are still some quality cheapies around though such as the aforementioned Viewtiful Joe, Beach Spikers and third-party stuff like the Timesplitters games.

[dste]

Prices do seem a bit expensive for certain things but I suppose it can't be helped if I have to spend a little more than I expect or want to. My local CEX have a few gamecube games but they tend to be pretty pricey, my local cash generator gets a few games too every now and then so I suppose I'll just keep checking for them.

I would advise being patient when buying as a lot of Cube games tend to go for inflated prices, especially on E-bay and especially on BIN's.

I started a Cube collection a couple of years back as missed out first time round and have managed to get every game cheaper than the prices on BIN's and in most cases cheaper than the games would normally sell for.

If you want to know about what you should be paying for stuff just give me a shout.

[Shinobi]

My local Gamestation sells all Gamecube games for 49p, so probally Gamestation and Charity shops ould be the best bet...

[pratty]

The fact fact nobody has gotten round to recommending Eternal Darkness yet is a credit to how many great games the Gamecube has.

And there's Animal Crossing too, (I have the NTSC version for trade if that's any good?).

[shiftytigger]

Look out for variations between some NTSC and PAL releases too - IIRC the Namco Museum releases are different in content.

Looking back a year ago I was selling games that now I wish I had kept - but then on the other hand I luckily picked up some from a boot sale I walked a 15 mile round trip to go to. Paid 20p each for stack of games - mostly filler but a few good classics - Fire Emblem and MGS to name just two. SO i turned up late , walked 15 miles and spent a total of £7.00 that day - left with a bottle of water to drink,rucksack full of GC games and a desktop stylophone.

What Im saying there is , if you can search everywhere possible - bargains can always be found - just hit the boot sales , charity shops and second hand goods shops.

Definitely agree on

Soul Calibur 2 - (IMHO the best version as Link at least fits in with the rest)
Beyond Good and Evil - (Fantastic and critically acclaimed yet seemingly overlooked back then)
Baten Kaitos - (the only 'card fighting rpg' i actually enjoy)

Sadly some of the higher priced games can also be a pile of crap

Amazing Island
Gotcha Force

to name but two.

As I have been advised , having a complete collection also involves owning some real crap (universal studio tour??) - I cant stand football games and having them irks me a little but I've set my heart on a complete collection too so I live with it.

[Evermore]

Gamecube is one of my favourite systems of all time - possibly my favourite if I was forced to choose come to think of it. Everyone above has more or less covered everything you need so I have little to add outside of a recommendation that you take your time collecting for the machine - enjoy the journey and give each game you buy its due time. Collecting isn't a race. The format's best games are vey much deserving of your time and money and should be savoured.

Best of luck and... make sure you get Wave Race, 1080 and Baton Kaitos!

[Lil Chillbil]

Try the Legend of zelda collectors edition disc It will cost you though

you can play all of the nes titles and n64 titles along with a trial of the windwaker