Unlocking What Was Cool

Volleyball, Poker & Sports Games

Serve up! To celebrate the 2020 Olympics, Mike and Neil are covering five sports games that appeared on the Gamecube. Most of these games are not Olympic sports, BUT they could be someday...Featured games today consist of Beach Spikers, World Series of Poker, WTA Tour Tennis, Strike Force Bowling, and one of the best hidden gems for the GameCube, Pool Paradise where you can finally play Skeeball in a video game. The boys start off the episode with talk about their favourite flavoured milk products and which Nintendo universe they would visit on vacation if they could. All this and more in episode 61 of The GameCube Was Cool Podcast! 

Superhero Games on The GameCube

Suit up! And join Mike and Neil as they take a trip back to a time when superheroes were not all owned by Disney, and the video games were discounted a few days after they came out along with whatever movie we all paid real money to see. From Spawn to Judge Dredd, video games based on comic books in theory are a match made in heaven, although playing some of these games was not exactly a heavenly experience. Who knew the GameCube was home to the last stand alone Aquaman game? Or that a Hulk game made in 2005 is actually really good? Or that Neil has a touching memory around playing Fantastic Four in 2006. The episode starts off by celebrating 20 years of an amazing album, and ranking of all the Marvel movies. All this and more in episode 60 of The GameCube Was Cool Podcast! 

Mario Kart Double Dash!!

It's summertime once again and The GameCube Was Cool is back on the radio! Mike and Neil host another "live" show on KUHB, 97.8 The Cube FM to discuss the most innovative and at time polarizing entry in the Mario Kart Series, Mario Kart Double Dash. Released in 2003 no game before or since has had this take on the kart racer formula in a game that is still immensely fun to play today. We have over a dozen different guests on the episode, some phoning in to discuss their favourite shortcuts, some leaving us voice mails discussing the infamous Baby Park course, and others who wrote in to help us remember that you could indeed play with 16 players...if you had 8 GameCube's and 8 TVs. Join Mike & Neil and their guests to celebrate 18 years of this one-of-a-kind gaming experience.

Looney Tunes & Warner Bros Cartoons

Overture, curtains, lights, this is it, the night of nights, The GameCube Was Cool hosts Mike and Neil are celebrating the return of The Looney Tunes' return to the big screen by covering all the Warner Brothers' games on the GameCube! 
From Taz to to Teen Titans, Warner Bros had a few neat titles on the cube and some movie flops in the early 2000s that we dive deep into this week. 
Mike and Neil start the episode off with some talk around knee health, spooning vs forking and of course video games! All this and more in an exciting episode of The GameCube Was Cool Podcast. 

Soul Calibur 2 & Fighting Games

Following the incredible success of Soul Edge and Soul Calibur in the arcades, Playstation and Dreamcast, Soul Calibur 2 arrived on the GameCube with open arms. A unique looking 2D fighter with a gameplay and visual experience far beyond what most 6th generation home console games had given gamers at that point. Mike and Neil sit down with @jedigeekgirl and @jonj3000 to talk about memories of playing Link in this unforgettable entry in the GameCube's library. The boys also cover Bloody Roar: Primal Fury with friend of the show Dan and look back at Rave Master and it's legacy. In this episode, the boys also celebrate their 20,000th download as well as a few summer book recommendations! Enjoy!

Unplayable Games for the Nintendo GameCube - Part II

It's time to dig down to the bottom of the GameCube library for the second painful time and talk about some games that aged like a fine milk. Mike and Neil first sit down and talk about their early impressions of Mario Golf: Super Rush on the Nintendo Switch! 
Take a trip down this nightmare as the boys take a look at Charlie's Angels, Virtua Quest, Bad Boys 2, Trigger Man, Space Raiders and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! 
The good old days of the GameCube were not all Mario and Zelda...

Mario Golf Toadstool Tour

Mario has many occupations, that much has always been true. He's a plumber, doctor, painter, racecar driver, olympic athlete, party planner, dancer, and a sub-par brother. Speaking of par, Mario also has an amazing golf swing! Mario Golf first hit the shelves on the N64 and the GameBoy Color in 1999 and became a bit of a cult-classic in the Nintendo community. To celebrate the latest installment in the series, Mike and Neil are here to celebrate by covering the classic GameCube title Mario Golf Toadstool Tour.  This week the boys are also joined by fellow podcasters Mike and Dave from the 'Back in My Day' podcast and Twitch streamer Julbaril to share their memories of teeing off in the Mushroom Kingdom. 

Harvest Moon (feat. Kate Gray of NintendoLife)

The series that created the farming sim genre, Harvest Moon returns on the GameCube with three highly rated games: A Wonderful Life, Another Wonderful Life and Magical Melody. Joining the boys is award-winning video game journalist Kate Gray who is a huge fan of the series and has written loads about it in Nintendo Life, the Guardian, Vice, and many more publications. Kate speaks to her experience with the Harvest Moon games and attempts to explain to Mike and Neil what's going on with the current and future games in this convoluted series. But first the boys delve into some E3 news. If it's many years in the future and Nintendo has taken over the world then please, skip ahead to hear Kate talk about Harvest Moon at 32:23.

Mike and Neil Memories & Games We Want to Play

We all have games on consoles that we would love to play but have either never come across them in our local video game store or cannot bring ourselves to spend insane amounts on hard to find gems. Mike and Neil sit down today to talk about a few games they came across while researching the GameCube and would love to check out someday. These hidden gems in the GameCube library include; Ultimate Muscle, Freaky Flyers, Grooverider, Gladius, and Shamu's Deepsea Adventures. 

At 1:11:43 Mike and Neil celebrate their 20th year of being best friends... That is correct, they met before the GameCube came out! All this and more in epsiode 53 of The GameCube Was Cool Podcast. 

Tetris & Puzzle Games on The GameCube

Match tiles! Pop bubbles! Help Dr Mario pop pills! Puzzle Games are among the best selling video games of all time, from GameBoy classics like Tetris to mobile crazes like Candy Crush. Everyone has a connection to a puzzle video game they had on their phones or handheld consoles to keep their mind off of whatever commute you were trapped in. Mike and Neil sit down this week to talk about the 8 puzzle games that found their way on to the GameCube. For better or worse, there were variations of Tetris, Super Bubble Pop and Bust-a-Move on the purple lunch box. None of them went down as GameCube classics but The GameCube Was Cool are here to talk about them anways! 

Hunting & Fishing Games on The GameCube

Pack up your fishing rod and put on your camo pants, Mike and Neil are here to cover the great outdoor experiences on the GameCube! From Mark Davis Pro Bass Challenge to Cabela's Big Adventure, there are a total of give of these games for the CUbe and although we don't know a lot about hunting or fishing games, someone who does, friend of the show Marty joins us at 35:12 to give his thoughts and some fun facts. Marty and the boys also talk about the future of this genre by bringing up games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Long Dark which have become big hits in the community. Sit back, grab a Bass Pro Shop hat and enjoy the episode!

GameCube Launch Day 2.0

It's been exactly one year since Mike & Neil began the podcast and are celebrating this with their 50th mainline episode! The boys are revisiting the games from their very first episode (Launch Day 1.0) and taking you back in time to November 18th 2001 to discuss five of the Cube's launch games. That includes Batman Vengeance, Crazy Taxi, Wave Race, Super Monkey Ball, and of course Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. The show starts off with some Q & A from listeners to celebrate a year of the pod with questions like "what games would you play with Keanu Reeves?" and "who beats who in Nightfire?". Here's to another 50 episodes!

Hot Wheels & Racing Games

‘It’s not the same without the flame’. Hot Wheels will go down as one of the most successful toy brands of all time, and the companion video games intended to merge the 1968 toy into the 21st century came with its share of good and bad racing games. Mike and Neil sit down with friend of the show Ali to discuss the Hot Wheels games and 5 other racing games on the GameCube in ‘Racing Games Part 2’ of The GameCube Was Cool Podcast! From Auto Modellista to Tonka Trucks, buckle up for a nostalgic trip down memory lane. The back of all the cases will be read at the start of the episode, skip to the 4:00 minute mark for the start of the episode.

Kirby Air Ride

HIIII. Everyone's favourite pink ball makes it's first and last appearance on the GameCube with Kirby Air Ride. Released within weeks of both Mario Kart Double Dash and F-Zero GX this racing game often gets overshadowed yet but there's a lot more to meets the eye, even with that angry Kirby on the cover. Friend of the show Jake joins us to explain the relation between a controller in his TV and Kirby Air Ride's battle mode City Trials while other friend Zafir brings his wealth of knowledge about the franchise and hopes for an eventual Return to Dreamland successor. To listen to Mike read the back of this unique Kirby entry skip ahead to 1h12.

Dragon Ball Z Budokai & Other Anime Fighters

Goku, Raditz, Piccolo, Krillin, Gohan, Vegeta. Any of these names should conjure up font memories for anyone who grew up in the 90s or 2000s. Not only was Dragon Ball Z the gateway drug to an entire medium but it redefined what could sell to the west and laid the ground work for so many shows today. The Dragon Ball franchise of course makes an appearance on the GameCube with Budokai, Budokai 2, and Sagas. Mike and Neil are joined by friends of the show Harrison and Jason to discuss these games and lament why Budokai 3 was never released for the hardware. DBZ of course influenced other animes like Zatch Bell, Naruto, and One Piece who also made appearances on the Cube with two games a piece. The Mamodo series for Zatch Bell, the critically acclaimed Clash of Ninja for Naruto and the Grand Battle/Adventure games for One Piece. Don't want to hear 9 back of the cases? Skip ahead to 4:50 to charge up for this super saiyan episode!

Pokemon & Digimon

Mike & Neil spent a lot of their childhoods catching Pokemon and exploring the Digiverse with weird monsters that their parents couldn't pronounce. But they were nice enough to buy the cards, toys, movies and games anyway. Episode 46 of The GameCube Was Cool Podcast is all about the Pokemon spinoffs and the two main line Digimon games on the GameCube! Pokemon Channel, Pokemon Box Ruby Sapphire, and Digimon World 4 and Rumble Arena 2. These games were probably not worth the money back in the day, but the hype machine around these franchises was so strong, a child's radar for quality games was offline when it came to any experience that involved adventuring and fighting with our monster pals. Friend of the show Ramon joins the boys to talk and trash Digimon World 4 but also to speak to his love of the Digimon franchise that hasn't wavered since the early 2000s.

MLB Baseball Games on The GameCube

America's favourite past-time found itself on the GameCube on launch day all the way to the console's end in 2006. From the All Star Baseball franchise, to one offs like Home Run King, and of course EA's MVP Baseball, there were 7 ways in North America to walk on to a diamond, on a cube. We are joined by friends of the show Jason and Jed to discuss their memories of baseball games from back in the day and where we think baseball games will be on future Nintendo hardware. We of course talk about how despite the Show still selling like 'gangbusters' MVP Baseball 2005 is regarded as the high point in baseball video games by basically every major publication (even MLB.com!). Neil kicks off the episode with the back of the case segment and is later joined by Mike to talk about snapping game discs and our first every Patreon-supported opening topic! 

Ikaruga & Odama

Neil & Mike love to talk about two things; the GameCube and the GameCube Microphone, and on Episode 44 of the 'The GameCube Was Cool Podcast' they get to do just that with Ikaruga and Odama. Two cult classics that don't get a lot of air time these days but definitely go down in the history books of the weird and great games released in the era of the GameCube. A tough as nails space "Shoot Em Up" and an RTS with pinball mechanics... what a fun time it was to be alive in the 2000s. The boys kick off the episode by discussing how far away from the bathroom one should travel while brushing their teeth, and celebrate being downloaded in all 50 states! 

Ratchet & Clank, Shadow of the Colossus, FIFA 14

Episode 43 of The PlayStation 2 Was Cool podcast takes us to 3 of Mike & Neil's favourite games for the system: the seminal inaugural entry for the Ratchet & Clank series (no good innuendo title here unfortunately), Shadow of the Colossus's beginning as an fan-adored cult classic that gets better with each remake, and of course the final game for the PS2, FIFA 14. With over 1800 games on the system the boys only have 1600 more to go and have a very surprising announcement about everyone's favourite console...skip to 16:30 to hear Neil read the back of the case for Ratchet & Clank and enjoy this year's April 1st episode.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - Part 2

Two days, two Wind Waker episodes! But what do Neil and Mike think of two parters in media? Find out this and much more when they discuss even more intricate details and memories of Link's 2003 cel-shaded adventure. Join fellow streamers/podcaster/Zelda lovers Cam (@cpawx) and Josh (@stillloadingpod) to chat more about what makes this game so special nearly two decades later. Neil finally gets to read the back of the case all the way at the 58:45 mark of the episode.