If there is one thing Nintendo is known for, it’s that they are unpredictable. Their approach to simple things like controllers or consoles can be wondrously sleek or mesmerizingly obtuse. The Switch is on the better end of their investments and it has paid off. It melded home consoles and portables together effortlessly. Here’s a look at the GameCube and how it connected to another portable device aka the Game Boy Advance.
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Certain multiplayer games required the use of Link Cables andGBAsto play in sessions. It was unique but also needlessly complicated and expensive.Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicleswas one of these games but it can now be played without Link Cables and GBAs thanks to the remaster. A lot ofGameCubegames used the GBA functionality, but not a lot of them used the GBA as a multiplayer resource. So, some of these entries skirt the line on the co-op front, but they could still be cool to see on Switch.
6The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventuresis the ultimate example of a dedicated multiplayer game setup using the Link Cables and GBA. It’s the second game in the series followingThe Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swordswhich appeared as a GBA game. As the name suggests,Four Swordswas a pack-in with a GBA port of the SNES game,A Link to the Past. Two to Four GBAs could be hooked up for a level-based quest set in Hyrule with multi-colored Links.
Four Swords Adventureswas a more refined experience than its predecessor. Characters were controlled using the GBA and the inventory was displayed on the portable as well. The console displayed all of the action though. It was a fun multiplayer title on GameCube that Zelda fans have been itching to play again.
5The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Four Swords Adventureswas not the onlyZeldatitle on GameCube to offer fans a multiplayer experience.The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Wakerhad a co-op option wherein players could control Tingle. After meeting him in the game, Tingle will give Link the Tingle Tuner item. After this, a second player could control Tingle via the GBA.
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The second player could help map out areas, destroy obstacles, solve puzzles, and so much more. It wasn’t a full co-op mode but it was close for the time. The remaster on Wii U removed this functionality and replaced it with a message in a bottle-like system. If the game ever gets ported to Switch, hopefully, the original Tingle Tuner option will be restored.
4Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup
Surprisingly, there have not been a lot of original games based in theHarry Potteruniverse that were not tied to the films. Besides thelatest entryHogwarts Legacy,
Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cupis the only big one for consoles that comes to mind. It’s also the only dedicated game based around the fake sport of Quidditch which is astounding.
If players owned the GameCube and GBA versions and hooked them up, they could create a dedicated setup to find the Snitch during the match. It was easier to have a friend find the Snitch on the GBA screen instead of interrupting the main match to play a mini-game on the TV to find it. A remaster of this game or a new Quidditch game with this idea in mind could be huge.
3Medal of Honor: Rising Sun
Medal of Honorbecame a big series for Sony via the PS1. First-person shooters weren’t perfect on consoles yet but the game offered players an exciting World War 2 experience with a cinematic perspective. This was made clearer inMedal of Honor: Frontline on PS2which was praised highly by critics and fans alike.
Medal of Honor: Rising Sunwas the ultimate successor to that game and moved the campaign to the Pacific Theater. If players had that game andMedal of Honor: Infiltratoron GBA, they could unlock a map. The functionality resembled the Tingle Tuner mode inThe Legend of Zelda: The Wind Wakerbut with less interaction. It was not a co-op mode exactly, but having a friend read off pertinent information could help players feel more immersed in the war scenario.
2Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
The original trilogy inTom Clancy’s Splinter Cellseries was brutal on the GameCube, PS2, and Xbox. Players had to be careful about how they got around in the darkness because one wrong move could lead to the mission getting aborted. It was a stark contrast to theMetal Gearfranchisewhich was more open with its gameplay.
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GameCube players did have a leg up on the other two consoles though. Hooking up the GBA versions of the first games could unlock rewards for those titles along with a map and radar system for the console game. LikeMetal of Honor: Rising Sun, players could get friends to act as their navigators. The third game,Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, also had GBA functionality with the GameCube even though there was no GBA version ofChaos Theory.
1Amazing Island
Amazing Islandis probably a game most have never heard of before. It was published by Sega and worked on by two of their subsidiary developers. Hitmaker, for example, developed a lot of racing and driving games such asCrazy Taxi. Ancient worked on everythingfromSonictitlestoStreets of Rage.
Amazing Islanditself was a colorful adventure game wherein players could customize and collect monsters for mini-game purposes ranging from races to sports-like scenarios. It was weird to be sure and it didn’t land with a lot of people. Those that did enjoy the game could unlocka card mini-gamevia the Link Cable calledMonster Cards. This card game could be played with up to four friends via the GBA.
