THE GAMECUBE WAS COOL IS GOING LIVE
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9PM EST, Thursday November 18th 2021
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WELCOME TO the gamecube was cool!

The #1 GameCube Podcast on the Internet

Hosts Mike Laine & Neil Gilbert memorialize and remember the Nintendo GameCube and the early 2000s while attempting to read the back of 555 cases. Tune in every Thursday to hear us talk with some of our favourite people and learn new things.

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OUR LATEST EPISODES

Episode 121: Legacy Games

December 1, 2022

To celebrate 50 years of Pong being released Mike & Neil are going WAY back into the annals of video game history to talk about some legacy collections on the GameCube. Starting with Pinball Hall of Fame which is yup, a collection of pinball tables played virtually. We bring on friend of the show Luigi to discuss Pinball and the Midway Arcade Treasures series and discover how interconnected Pinball, Bally, Williams, Atari, and Midway all were in the 1980s. Next up is the Namco Museum series featuring friend of the show Christian to dive back into his memories of these games. Finally Jedi Geek Girl joins us once again, this time to talk about Gauntlet Dark Legacy, a very unique game on the GameCube that is of course set within the arcade classic Gauntlet series. All this and more on episode 121 of The GameCube Was Cool!

Episode 120: Mega Man Games

November 23, 2022

Happy 35th birthday to the Blue Bomber! As Mega-Man aka Rockman turns 35 and is looking to put a downpayment on his new home Neil and Mike look back at four Mega-Man games on the GameCube. Two legacy collections, Mega Man X: Collection and Mega Man: Anniversary Collection as well an exclusive game, Network Transmission and a spinoff of the Mega Man X series, Command Mission. The boys are joined by The GameCube Galaxy host Marcello to talk about these games and what it was like growing up with Mega Man and how these older SNES games have stood the test of time in terms of art style and game play. 

Episode 119: Mary Kate & Ashley and Bratz Games

November 15, 2022

Transport yourself back to 2001 where the Olsen twins were absolutely everywhere. Anything a preteen girl could buy, Mary Kate and Ashley had their own line of products for it. They truly were everywhere including a GameCube game! Joining them are the Bratz franchise who sustained massive popularity for about a decade and still put out games today. And of course Hello Kitty, the second largest media franchise in the world who's merchandising is second to none. The cute little cat joined these other titles on the cube with her "Roller Rescue" game. Check out this special Tuesday edition of the GameCube Was Cool!

FROM THE DESK OF MIKE & NEIL

FROM THE DESK 
OF MIKE & NEIL

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Why the Dreamcast is So Far Ahead of Its Time

Why the Dreamcast is So Far Ahead of Its Time

Oh the Dreamcast. Poor Dreamcast, dead on arrival in September 1999 with Sega losing millions with their Saturn console, the Dreamcast was one of the most ultimate achievements in gaming technology who's hardware really wouldn't be fully surpassed until the PS4. Though less than a dozen million were sold, the Dreamcast definitely holds a special place in many people's hearts and is often categorized as a head of it's time.

But why was it so ahead of its time. Well for starters, it came out during the N64 era (remember those graphics). Instead of N64 pixelated GoldenEye textures, we got these amazing looking games like Shenmue. These graphics were insane at least for a while, until the PS2 came out. It also heavily focused on playing online and had a ton of online specific games like Phantasy Star Online. It was created as the console where you could get the "arcade experience". It's still beloved because of all the 2D fighters and SHMUPs that it had like Chaos Field (which we talk about it one of our episodes).

Generally it was just a badass console that had a great marketing campaign and look. Remember it was out two years before GC, PS2 or Xbox, prompting these consoles to really go above and beyond in their marketing. Some worked and some were extremely weird. Check out a vintage Dreamcast commercial below:

Okay time for more firsts. It was the first major console to launch with online capabilities out of the box- modem, phone cord, software, etc. Some of these games's servers are still online (like phantasy star and quake 3). The VMU (visual memory unit) was a precursor to the DS's second screen as well as a precursor to cloud storage. Would hold all your files here (similar to switch) (you could see the hidden health monitor in RE). Sonic Adventure 2 let you play mini games on it (what!?). Most things on here were awful, but it was arguably the first attempt at ubiquitous computing, 7 years before Apple. This is nuts. That was the small screen that was within the controller, also a very weird but cool innovation on its own, as you could attach it there and then remove it very easily, kinda like the Switch.

It was also the first console to be playable at 60hz, first console with fully analog triggers (GameCube adopted this shortly after), first console with a home screen dashboard (xbox copied this years later), first console who developed motion technology (the DreamEye, though was never used). It also had a dedicated GPU, something very few consoles had at this time.

Sadly the Dreamcast was never meant to be. The PlayStation 2 was the last nail in the coffin eventually selling over 150 million units, the Dreamcast was left in its dust, but with its demise it spawned many legendary games and some unbelievable technical achievements. Want to learn more about the Dreamcast and the games that went over to the GameCube? Check out Episode 10 of the GameCube Was Cool and learn about this dear departed box.

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