The babbling nonsense of the internet whingers faded to a stunned silence when "Nu Celda" finally hit the shelves. It's an interactive experience that's as exquisitely fashioned as a Disney feature film, and dosen't lose any of the gameplay for it. Some interminable sailing sections spoil it a bit, and it's pretty short, but this is as close as 'art' and 'games' have been yet.
METROID PRIME
A polished, addictive stunningly immersive adventure-cum-shooter-cum-platformer that will make you cry when it's over. Pushes the envelope in evey field. Classic.
SUPER MARIO SUNSHINE
Mazza's cleaning up oily muck on a tropical island put there by an evil villain. With all the intuitiveness, polished visuals, and sense of pure fun of Mario 64, this pushes all the right buttons.
SOUL CALIBUR 2
The best fighting game on any system. It's one of the best looking games you'll ever have seen and offers rich depths to those who go looking. And you can go nuts with link.
TIMESPLITTERS 2
A stonker of a time-travelling FPS with more than a whiff of GoldenEye, Timesplitters 2 crept oft of nowhere to officially become Gamecube's finest example of the genre. Wick!
SUPER SMASH BROS MELEE
Eye-singeing multiplayer, ingenious moves, cameos from about every Nintendo character ever, and some of the sweetest looks yet squeezed from the Cube.
WAVE RACE BLUE STORM
Slight frame-rate problems in PAL, but Blue storm is still a fabulous racer, replete with the most incredible water effects ever. Fast, dynamic, accessible and sublime to control.
HITMAN 2 SILENT ASSASIN
Tighten the fibre-wire and leave your morals at the door as Mr 47 brings his potent elimination simulation, freshly polished-up, to the Cube. This is stealthy, free-form gaming at its finest.
BURNOUT 2
B2 takes the best bits of the first game - bum-clenching speed and bone-crunching collisions - and welds them onto more modes than you can eat. A brilliant series refinement.
PHANTASY STAR ONLINE
Essential Gauntlet with lots of numbers and menu screens, online PSO becomes an epic tale of create-smashing, internet companionship, and fevered item collection. Blork!
SKIES OF ARCADIA LEGENDS
Vast boat-based RPG ported from the Dreamcast "It'll take away a chunk of your life and you won't want it back", says a man versed in such things. It's very good, apparently.
CONFLICT DESERT STORM 2
War? Like Georgie-boy Bush, we just can't get enough of it. You're not allowed to let any of your men die in this sequel, which leads to all sorts of life-saving heroic gameplay.
RESIDENT EVIL
The classic zombie-horror fear-fest recreated to take advantage of the Cube's superior electrical witchcraft. Stunning, mesmerising visuals, unrivalled atmosphere and a brilliant storyline. Controls are still crap, though.
ETERNAL DARKNESS
A rollicking Lovecraftian yarn of ancient evils, Eternal Darkness replaces slick zombie-slaying action with a wonderfully creepy story told through a cast of 12 playable characters and a truly innovative magic system.
SPLINTER CELL
Starring Sam Fisher, a man with three green glowing eyeballs and powerful thigh muscles. Clanciverse stealth-fest with a gritty 'realistic' feel and the opportunity to operate various Clancy-approved hi-tech gizmos.
LUIGI'S MANSION
With mazza incarcerated in a hounted house by you-know-who, brother Luigi ushered in the year of the Cube in with this fantastically playable combination of Super Mario World and Ghostbusters. It's a little bit short, but still ace.
SUPER MONKEY BALL
Ingenious simian-flavoured update of Marble Madness Chuck in a monkey Mario Kart, pool, golf and 'springy boxing' and you've got one of the weirdest, most wonderful Gamecube games out there. Great stuff.
STAR WARS ROGUE LEADER
Rogue Leader bolts eye-popping renditions of the Battle of Hoth and the Trench Run onto silky-smooth space battles to produce the most memorable - and certainly the best-looking - Star Wars game yet. Well done, Lucas.
SSX TRICKY
Has PS2 written all over it in big, fat neon letters, but still works wonders with your Cube. Fast, spectacular courses, shortcuts and secrets and some mid-piste scrappage make this conversion brilliant brilliant entertainment.
DEF JAM VENDETTA
Wrestling thumpfest featuring all your favourite hip-hop artistes from 'the block'. Bone-Crunching moves, booty with all that, and some 'sick' beats. But where are Flava Flav and Easy-E? Chekkit!
