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The idea of GameCube games heading to the Switch has been rumored for almost as long as the Switch has been out. If Nintendo isn’t going to add these games to their digital service then they should help developers create remasters for some of the bigger hits instead. These more obscure titles also deserve some love so that they can be played and enjoyed by a new generation.
8 Def Jam Vendetta
Bringing back Def Jam Vendetta now would likely be a licensing nightmare. It was a small miracle that this game and its sequels were even made in the first place. It brought rappers from the Def Jam music scene and turned them into wrestlers.
It was an odd idea for a fighting game but ended up being a huge hit that spawned two equally successful sequels. The first two games were part of the GameCube generation while the third, Def Jam Icon, arrived during the HD era. However it gets done, a remastered collection of the first two games would be amazing.
7 The Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age
The Lord of the Rings got many games when the original trilogy came out in theaters. Most games were rightfully based on either the movies or books so there weren’t many original ideas, though that’s not to say that there weren’t any. The Third Age was an anomaly that came a few years after the movies made a huge splash.
It was a turn-based RPG starring a cast of characters fighting in a parallel journey to the main heroes. The battle system was seemingly inspired by Final Fantasy X in more ways than one and this made it a decent RPG for a game set in Middle-earth.
6 Mega Man X: Command Mission
Most Mega Man fans probably think that there is only one RPG spinoff series in the form of the Battle Network games. It’s great that the series is getting a modern-day collection soon but there is another Mega Man RPG out there that deserves a remaster.
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Mega Man X: Command Mission was a turn-based RPG that also borrowed heavily from the Final Fantasy X design book. The cel-shaded art style still allows it to hold up visually, especially through emulation. A proper HD remaster then would make it even better.
5 Odama
Odama, at its very core, is a pinball game. Players have control of flippers and knock a giant ball around a samurai-filled battlefield. It’s also an RTS because the game came packaged with a microphone.
Players could order their units around with the microphone while trying to destroy castle walls with the ball. It was a wild concept for a pinball game that was never attempted again. Since most controllers have built-in microphones now, bringing this game back for a remaster sounds easy enough.
4 P.N.03
Capcom made a lot of good exclusives for the GameCube. At least they started as exclusives before eventually being ported to the PS2. This includes Resident Evil 4, Killer 7, and Viewtiful Joe. The only game that has remained a GameCube exclusive from the “Capcom Five” pack was P.N.03 with the fifth game ultimately getting canceled.
P.N.03 was a futuristic shooter that did not light the world on fire. That’s probably why it never got ported and remains locked in some Capcom vault somewhere. It’s never too late to try again though, so maybe a remaster could fix some of its shortcomings like the clunky controls.
3 Ribbit King
Ribbit King was an odd little gem from this generation of consoles. It was a golf game, but instead of whacking a golf ball around, players used frogs and mallets. This idea put a different twist on how players completed holes as frogs sometimes had a mind of their own.
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The cute aesthetics made it a wonderful addition to other golf games on the GameCube like Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. It’s not better than that game but Ribbit King is at least very close in terms of quality.
2 Virtua Quest
Kingdom Hearts was a surprise hit. Who knew that Square Enix could make an action RPG starring Disney characters with a Final Final mentality? It was an impossible dream that came true which prompted other companies to try and do the same sort of action RPG blend. Virtua Quest was one of those experiments.
It was an action RPG starring a young boy and his friends on a digital adventure. Characters from the Virtua Fighter series appeared along with some other Sega cameos. The scope was smaller in scale as a crossover experience, and the camera wasn’t perfect, but it was still a cool idea.
1 Wario World
Wario is known primarily for three things. He has his own 2D series of platformers with Wario Land. He also has his whacky mini-game collections through WarioWare. Finally, he appears in Mario’s sporting spinoffs such as Mario Kart, Mario Golf, and Mario Tennis.
Most forget that Wario also got a 3D adventure in the form of Wario World. It was more like a 2.5D experience but it was the closest thing Wario got to the mainline Mario platformer games. Wario, and Waluigi, deserve more spinoffs like this, and a remaster would be a good reminder of why.
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