GameCube Appreciation Thread

[Tomdominer]

On 17 June 2016 at 6:08 PM, Kevvy Metal said:

 

You're lucky that you have the Official Component Cable (I also have one, just to show off).

Component video with the Gamecube is great - and close to RGB, with the added benefit of 480p on most US games - but yeah, needs the super rare cable that now goes for over £200 on eBay, mainly due to the Digital to Analog converter chip inside the cable connector that's not been possible to reproduce. 

 

If you don't have the cable you're stuck with shitty composite or S-video out of the US cube. 

 

The PAL 'cube does do RGB video and it is awesome, but not all games support 60Hz. Most do though.

Regarding the Framemeister, I use Component out my US cube but just leave it in 480i. The Framemeister is kinda better at de-interlacing that than using 480p. 

 

..and here's some reference stuff - 

 

 

 

When I use interlaced 480 signal on the framemeister I get vapour trails from the last frame and it looks awful. I don't understand how an interlaced signal could look better?

[Kevvy Metal]

On 19/06/2016 at 0:53 PM, Tomdominer said:

 

When I use interlaced 480 signal on the framemeister I get vapour trails from the last frame and it looks awful. I don't understand how an interlaced signal could look better?

 

Vapour trails? are you referring to that "Combing Effect" you can often see when something is poorly de-interlaced? You absolutely should not be seeing that with the Framemeister with the exception of perhaps Pause screens, unless the de-interlacing is turned off. 

 

You can turn the Framemeisters  de-interlaced function on or off in the menus. If you're using an interlaced source, the IMAGE_MODE must be set to NATURAL which will turn on the de-interlacing. 

If you're using a Progressive source, you should disable de-interlacing by selecting IMAGE_MODE > PICTURE. 

 

De-interlacing the image is one of the Framemeister's strong suit and it does it particularly well. 

[Tomdominer]

Oh right, its probably turned off.

 

Those menu options make totally no sense, but there you go.

[Kevvy Metal]

Yup, they're hard to get around. 

 

I can share my settings, I like "Sharp pixels" with no scan-lines. It's a personal preference and I really like the results. 

I also don't use profiles for each individual console, you can get them from Pixel Purist - http://www.firebrandx.com/pixelpurist.html but I think they're missing the point and are far too fiddly. 

 

Anyways, all my sources going into the XRGB are either 240p60 or 480i60. All 60Hz sources over SCART RGB, with the exception of my Gamecube which uses Component. I scale this to 1080p60 with no scan-lines. 

 

for 240p sources
IMAGE_MODE = PICTURE
AUTO_SCALER = GAME
SCREEN_SET = NORMAL2
SHARPNESS = 1
A/D Levels = 131

for 480i sources
IMAGE_MODE = NATURAL
AUTO_SCALER = VIDEO
SCREEN_SET = NORMAL2
SHARPNESS = 1
A/D Levels =131

 

To note : A lot of XRGB users are getting a bit bogged down in achieving absolute perfect x4 or x5 scaling, but the signal being fed to the XRGB was never perfect in the first place. CRT pixels are not square and each line of horizontal resolution contains "junk" on either side. The Ray Gun would draw a lot of crap that would be hidden by the CRT's overscan. 

 

That's why I like and use Normal2. It essentially scales each pixel from the retro machine to a block of 5x4 pixels on your tv and displays the junk on either side of the screen, but most importantly, it's a little wider that 4:3 so the aspect ratio is actually correct. 

 

..if that makes sense.. 

 

[Tomdominer]

Man, I just like the fact that pixel purist gives you full screen, with about 5 pixels lost or something.

 

Not that bothered about accuracy or anything, I just want to remove the black borders. His megadrive and snes 5x configs are totally boss, with great looking scanlines as well.

[Kevvy Metal]

3 hours ago, Tomdominer said:

Man, I just like the fact that pixel purist gives you full screen, with about 5 pixels lost or something.

 

Not that bothered about accuracy or anything, I just want to remove the black borders. His megadrive and snes 5x configs are totally boss, with great looking scanlines as well.

 

Most certainly yes! They do look totally great and most defo nothing wrong with using them! 

That's what's great about the XRGB, it's such a great and powerful tool.

 

[patters2.0]

I was lucky enough to get a Broadband Adapter, Hori Pad, Component cable, and VGA cable (modified Japanese DTerm cable) for my cube before the prices went mental (about £45-50 for each item at the time - now they're each over £200). I got the cube out recently to have a blast. Despite owning many of the top titles, I bought and fitted a modchip after I got an LCD telly so I could run the titles at 480p, by ahem re-acquiring the US versions. I revisited the homebrew scene the other night. Back in 2008 I had used SD-Boot which allowed access to the smoothest emulators for SNES, Megadrive, PC Engine, and NES this side of a modded original Xbox. Couple those with a Hori pad and it's great. The SD-Boot author has really done something amazing now though. He's made a tool called Swiss (which also works on Wii) and this can now force prog scan on nearly all PAL releases, but switches to 576p rather than 480p, and tends to keep 50Hz for the games that offered a toggle. Well in fact forcing 576p seems to imply 50Hz and usually the menu isn't shown. So now the PAL games are arguably even nicer than the NTSC ones.

 

The really amazing part is that using Swiss you can force widescreen in most games, even though they never supported it. It does this way better than some of the modchips used to which much better compatibility. There are two modes ('enabled': which changes the FoV for the 3D geometry but leaves 2D HUDs occupying the 4:3 part of the screen, or 'perspective' which is the same but stretches the 2D elements out to 16:9). Couple this with 576p and it's effectively like the games have been remastered. Soul Calibur II and Wind Waker look amazing. If you have a modded system you need to see this.

 

Here's how it looks:

 

[Fusty Gusset]

[DarhkFox]

On 04/07/2016 at 19:50, patters2.0 said:

I was lucky enough to get a Broadband Adapter, Hori Pad, Component cable, and VGA cable (modified Japanese DTerm cable) for my cube before the prices went mental (about £45-50 for each item at the time - now they're each over £200).

 

 

Wow.. i had all of those (two of the broadband adapters). Kinda wish i held of selling them now..

 

edit: well, they are 50 quid ish on ebay at the minute so i don't feel so bad.

[Ninja Doctor]

bit of a bump.

 

what are peoples thoughts about running gc games via something like Nintendont or Devolution?

[dataDave]

On 8/30/2016 at 19:30, Ninja Doctor said:

bit of a bump.

 

what are peoples thoughts about running gc games via something like Nintendont or Devolution?

 

I can download GCN games for free and list them among my Wii games on my HDD with box art and everything (using USB Loader GX). My thoughts are that that is shit-hot.

[ScouserInExile]

Bumping from the post above, I've just got Nintendont on my softmodded Wii. In a complete GameCube virgin - I'm struggling to remember ever playing in one - so, given that I've played most stuff I would want to play on ps2 and / or Xbox, what exclusives should i be acquiring? I've already grabbed Mario Kart and Mario Sunshine (i haven't played a non-kart Mario game since All Stars in the SNES) so far. Going to try to get Pikmin, Wave Race and Paper Mario next...

 

Anything else?

[theredstar]

Skies of Arcadia if you didn't play it on DC.  The Resi Evil Remasters are all pretty good. Star Wars Rogue Squadron. The two Metroid games.

 

It's a great console.

[gossi the dog]

Beach Spikers

 

[ScouserInExile]

1 hour ago, theredstar said:

Skies of Arcadia if you didn't play it on DC.  The Resi Evil Remasters are all pretty good. Star Wars Rogue Squadron. The two Metroid games.

 

It's a great console.

 

Is that Rogue Squadron 2 or 3?

 

I always think I should really like the resident evil games, but I never do...

[spanky debrest]

You could install the arcade exclusive Mario Kart GP and Mario Kart GP2 ROMs.

 

I understand they'll run on Wii and a Game Cube with minimal fuss.

[theredstar]

14 minutes ago, ScouserInExile said:

 

Is that Rogue Squadron 2 or 3?

 

I always think I should really like the resident evil games, but I never do...

2 I think. 3 is ok as well, but 2 is better.

 

2 is Rogue Leader and 3 is Rebel Strike.

 

I know what you mean about Resi. Something I admire rather than like.

[Camel]

PN03, Super Monkey Ball (unless you had the Xbox collection I guess), Luigi's Mansion, the four Hudson remakes (Star Soldier, Lode Runner, Adventure Island, Bonk; although these did also come out on PS2), definitely RE1 at least and I guess Eternal Darkness, although I got bored of that by the end.

 

edit: and Donkey Konga and Jungle beat if a) you can get hold of some bongos b) you're on a CRT or otherwise lag-free display.

 

editedit: F-Zero GX.  Someone will be here in a sec to say it's rubbish compared to X and I'm in no position to argue having not really spent a great deal of time playing any of the F-Zero games, much to my shame.

Edited February 25, 2017 by Camel

[Paulando]

Luigi's Mansion is wonderful. Metroid Prime is much better on the Gamecube with the regular controls, and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is one of the most inventive RPGs I've ever played.

[DukeOfEarlsfield]

The Gamecube has the best versions of Burnout 2, Prince Of Persia: Sands of Time and Metal Arms: Glitch in the System.

 

5 hours ago, Camel said:

edit: and Donkey Konga and Jungle beat if a) you can get hold of some bongos b) you're on a CRT or otherwise lag-free display.

4 players + 4 Bongos + Don't Stop Me Now by Queen = the greatest thing ever.

[ScouserInExile]

17 hours ago, spanky debrest said:

You could install the arcade exclusive Mario Kart GP and Mario Kart GP2 ROMs.

 

I understand they'll run on Wii and a Game Cube with minimal fuss.

 

Yeah, I have those already. Need to look up how to run them.

 

So far, I have:

Wave Race

Mario Kart

Paper Mario

Rogue Squadron

Fire Emblem

Pikmin

Harvest Moon

 

I suspect they'll keep me busy for a while...

[strider]

I love Fire Emblem on GameCube, that will last you ages!

[Wiper]

It's amongst my less liked Fire Emblems (it really doesn't help that it's particularly ugly), but it's still a good SRPG - if it clicks, it should keep you occupied for ages.

 

But more importantly, I strongly second those people who recommended Super Monkey Ball, F-Zero GX and PN03 - by far my three favourite games on the system.

 

After that, Smash Bros Melee is the best of its series (the Wii U game is also good, but the single player feels undirected and scattershot in comparison to the wonderfully designed Gamecube version), and as recommended by theredstar Skies of Arcadia is brilliant, assuming you didn't play it on the Dreamcast.

 

Oh, and don't forget the best version of Metroid Prime too, no wiimote aiming to screw up the difficulty.

Edited February 26, 2017 by Wiper

[gossi the dog]

Fire Emblem even back in 2005 was ugly.

[Wiper]

Yup, I played it back when it was new(ish), and coming from the gorgeous GBA titles it was a real disappointment in the visuals department.

 

Not quite as hideous as this grotesque entry in the series, mind:

 

 

Or indeed this miserably brown entry in the otherwise delightful Wars series:

 

 

I'm not sure what was going on with Intelligent Systems' graphic designers in the DS/GC/Wii era, but it wasn't anything good. Actually, I wonder if they just got moved on to another project; it might help to explain what went wrong here:

 

 

[deKay]

It isn't retro, but I was playing Doshin the Giant all weekend. Such a great game. Also had a few goes on Ribbit King as well. We need Switch versions of these!

[ScouserInExile]

I gave Double Dash a good couple of hours last night.

 

It's not great.

 

I think I've now played the entire series, barring the WiiU version, and this is one of the weaker ones, for me. I'm not sure the two characters to a kart mechanic really adds anything and it all feels strangely slow. And, even by Mario Kart standards, it cheats horribly and has horrendous rubber-banding.

 

Edge 6.

 

Think I might try Rogue Squadron next, I've never played any of these.

 

Edit: I realised last night that I'd never used a GameCube controller before. I really like it already. It just feels right, if a bit more like a toy than something used with a bit of "serious" hardware, if that makes sense? But i don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

[Mr. Gerbik]

More like edge 5

[Yobo Ahoy]

4 hours ago, ScouserInExile said:

 

Edit: I realised last night that I'd never used a GameCube controller before. I really like it already. It just feels right, if a bit more like a toy than something used with a bit of "serious" hardware, if that makes sense? But i don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

 

I've always had mixed feelings about it. 

 

-

I prefer digital shoulder buttons rather than triggers, the latter ruined F Zero

Stupidly small Dpad and B 

 

+

Sticks are both awesome

Z and the Kidneys (bags that as a band name) are lovely

The A button is just perfection. Every time I pick up the controller I just stab A a few times in quick succession. Beautiful. Where was I? Actually yeah it is a really good controller.

[ScouserInExile]

If found it really intuitive to use. A minute or two of looking at what's where and I didn't have to think about it again...