While I wouldn’t consider myself a massive fan of the short-lived Evolution series, I have managed to accumulate a respectable collection of related products, perhaps everything released in North America, as a matter of fact. Continue reading Collecting the Evolution Series
My memories of the experience are faint, but I can still recall renting Evolution Worlds from the local Blockbuster in the final months of junior high. Although I spent hours dungeon crawling, I never managed to complete the game. Even after purchasing a copy and replaying it a few years later, I failed to reach the finale. Since these playthroughs, I’ve viewed the game through a nostalgic lens, joyously recalling days gone by, and looking forward to that point in the indeterminate future when I set aside time to play it again. Well, last year was supposed to be the year I replayed it, as I was cherry-picking those games I always wanted to play or return to. I wound up not getting around to it then, but it was top of my list this year. After fifteen years, I’ve finally beaten Evolution Worlds! Continue reading Evolution Worlds [GameCube] – Review
An ecological game with a sense of humor, Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest is endearing in a loveably bizarre way, despite frequent battles against an unanticipated foe: the camera.
Developed by Saru Brunei with assistance from Intelligent Systems, it was originally intended to release on the Nintendo 64DD before winding up on the GameCube. Nintendo published it in Japan in early 2002 but opted to forgo a western release, prompting Atlus to localize it for North America, where it launched on November 5, 2002. Continue reading Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest [GameCube] – Review
When I think of Sam’s Club, I tend to look back fondly on my middle school/high school gaming habits. With the plethora of $13 games I added to my collection, I experienced some of the best low sellers of that period. One of those titles was P.N. 03 – a futuristic character-action game from Shinji Mikami. It was set in a clean science-fiction environment, looked stunning, but played tepidly. Much of the game is lost to me now, but I do remember it being poorly received. In fact, I remember not being that big of a fan, although I played through the entirety of it, and played more to unlock additional costumes for Vanessa Z. Schneider. I’m willing to pop it in again, but I’m afraid I’ll be greeted with stilted combat that hasn’t aged well.
P.N. 03 was developed by Capcom Production Studio 4, and naturally, published by Capcom. It was spearheaded by Shinji Mikami and was one of the “Capcom Five.” In fact, this was the sole game of the lot that remained exclusive to the GameCube. Thankfully, this game turned out to be more of a testing ground for Mikami’s ideas; ideas that went on to create the brilliant Vanquish. P.N. 03 was originally released in Japan on March 27, 2003 and was released in North America on September 9, 2003.
When you have a video game collection like mine, it can be hard to play all of the games. This is especially true when additions are made on an almost weekly basis. Still, I appreciate nearly every game I’ve accumulated for this reason or that. In the hopes of improving my writing through continuous effort and promoting ongoing learning of these games, I’m going to compose brief, descriptive articles.
I played a little bit of, and wrote about this game a couple of years ago. I think my introductory paragraph sums up my thoughts on the game perfectly. “The most notable aspect of Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu is that it marked a first for the Batman franchise: the first time a major character was debuted in a video game. It has been nine years since the game’s release though, and I’m not aware of the villain Sin Tzu gaining much traction; I mean, I’ve only ever heard of him in the context of this video game, albeit, I’m not especially well versed in the Batman universe. Debuting in a mediocre beat ‘em up probably didn’t help his chances at stardom though.”
Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu was developed by Ubisoft Montreal. The studio is massive (over 2,600 employees!) and has remained incredibly prolific in the wake of the release of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell in 2002. This game was, naturally, published by Ubisoft. It original released on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on October 16, 2003 in North America. The Game Boy Advance and GameCube versions subsequently launched on October 27, 2003 and November 11, 2003, respectively. The game also had special editions on the home consoles. The PS2 and Xbox versions came with an action figure while the GameCube release had a lithograph (read: small poster), which I have.
When you have a video game collection like mine, it can be hard to play all of the games. This is especially true when additions are made on an almost weekly basis. Still, I appreciate nearly every game I’ve accumulated for this reason or that. In the hopes of improving my writing through continuous effort and promoting ongoing learning of these games, I’m going to compose brief, descriptive articles.
Before this came out, I thought it looked very interesting. I wasn’t super into Sonic at this point, but I had been previously, notably after the launch of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. I wound up forgoing this game, but a friend purchased it and we played a fair amount of it. I remember the controls being super sensitive, although imprecise. This didn’t make for an enjoyable experience, especially with a shrunken screen during multiplayer. More realistically, I just wasn’t as good as he was because he had the opportunity to play it more. My poor performance colored my impressions of the game, although I’d like to return to it and examine the single player component. I still think the game has cool look to it; in my mind, it’s very evocative of the time period it was released.
Sonic Riders was developed by Sonic Team, with assistance from NOW Production. It was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube in North America on February 21, 2006 and published by Sega. A PC version was released later that year: November 17, 2006.
When you have a video game collection like mine, it can be hard to play all of the games. This is especially true when additions are made on an almost weekly basis. Still, I appreciate nearly every game I’ve accumulated for this reason or that. In the hopes of improving my writing through continuous effort and promoting ongoing learning of these games, I’m going to compose brief, descriptive articles.
Here’s another recent acquisition – as in purchased this year. I remember picking it up at a Goodwill earlier this year and haven’t played it yet. It’s precursor though, my friends and I played that a great deal. While not a big fan of the property, I’ve always thought the Clash of Ninja series punched above its belt in terms of licensed anime fighting games. The games are lacking in a lot of the same ways most fighting games are: no in-depth single player mode or story and little extras to keep playing outside of multiplayer. The combat has always felt really good though – very fast-paced, partial to button-mashing, but great fun locally.
Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 was developed by Eighting and published by D3 Publisher in North America on September 26, 2006. However, it was originally released in Japan on December 4, 2003 – nearly three full years earlier.
When you have a video game collection like mine, it can be hard to play all of the games. This is especially true when additions are made on an almost weekly basis. Still, I appreciate nearly every game I’ve accumulated for this reason or that. In the hopes of improving my writing through continuous effort and promoting ongoing learning of these games, I’m going to compose brief, descriptive articles.
Like Super Monkey Ball 2, R: Racing Evolution was another game that I acquired through the local Sam’s Club bargain bin. It’s a simulation racing game from Namco and is a spin-off from their Ridge Racer series. Compared to the more hardcore console simulation games from the generation in question, this game is a little lacking. At the time, Gran Turismo 4 and Forza Motorsport hadn’t released yet, but Gran Turismo 3 was the de facto standard. For owners of the Xbox or GameCube though, this was arguably the next best example. This game had something neither of those series did though and that’s a story. It followed the unexpected racing career of Rena Hayami and I can still remember how cool it was to hear the team manager patch in to her during the races.
The game was developed and published by Namco. It was released in North America on December 9, 2003 (nearly 11 years to the date!) and was available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. The Player’s Choice rerelease on the GameCube includes Pac-Man Vs. so that’s cool.
When you have a video game collection like mine, it can be hard to play all of the games. This is especially true when additions are made on an almost weekly basis. Still, I appreciate nearly every game I’ve accumulated for this reason or that. In the hopes of improving my writing through continuous effort and promoting ongoing learning of these games, I’m going to compose brief, descriptive articles.
The Midway Arcade Treasures series was a great batch of compilations. The three releases on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube compiled around 60 arcade games spanning 20 years. The third game differed from the previous two as it focused on a single genre – racing games. A majority of the games didn’t resonate with me as they were classic top-down racers. I can appreciate them, and enjoy them in multiplayer, but my focus was honed in on two titles – Hydro Thunder and Offroad Thunder. These two 1999 releases were the epitome of what arcade racing games were at that point – flashy, fast, and fun. Completely unlike Race Drivin’…
Midway Arcade Treasures 3 was released in North America on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on September 26, 2005 and on the GameCube exactly one month later – October 26, 2005. The individual games were primarily developed by Atari Games and Midway Games, although there are some other studios in the mix. The ports were handled by Digital Eclipse and the game was published by Midway.
When you have a video game collection like mine, it can be hard to play all of the games. This is especially true when additions are made on an almost weekly basis. Still, I appreciate nearly every game I’ve accumulated for this reason or that. In the hopes of improving my writing through continuous effort and promoting ongoing learning of these games, I’m going to compose brief, descriptive articles.
During the sixth generation of video game consoles, the Sam’s Club in my town gave budget games a good name. Every time my family made a shopping trip there, I tagged along in the hopes of picking up a GameCube game for about $13. One of those games was Super Monkey Ball 2. It’s a weird game from a unique series. Most of the games task players with tilting stages, aiming to navigate monkeys in Wayne Coyne styled hamster balls to an end goal. The game had a fast pace to it, in part because nearly every stage needed to be completed within a minute – a holdover of the series’ arcade origins. I played much of it back in the day, but it grew too difficult for me at the time. Yet another game I need to return to.
Super Monkey Ball 2 was developed by Amusement Vision. It was published by Sega on August 25, 2002 exclusively on the GameCube. Like its predecessor, it was headed up by Toshihiro Nagoshi – a man with an impressive resume at Sega, one that offered him the opportunity of becoming their chief creative officer and a member of the board of directors.
![Evolution Worlds [GameCube] – Review](https://mybrainongames.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/evolution-worlds-gamecube-north-american-box-art.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest [GameCube] – Review](https://mybrainongames.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cubivore-gamecube-north-american-cover.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Random Game #41 – P.N. 03 [GameCube]](https://mybrainongames.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/p-n-03.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Random Game #34 – Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu [GameCube]](https://mybrainongames.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/batman-rise-of-sin-tzu.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Random Game #24 – Sonic Riders [GameCube]](https://mybrainongames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/sonic-riders.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Random Game #17 – Naruto: Clash of Ninja 1 [GameCube]](https://mybrainongames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/naruto-clash-of-ninja-2.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Random Game #11 – R: Racing Evolution [GameCube]](https://mybrainongames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/r-racing-evolution.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Random Game #8 – Midway Arcade Treasures 3 [PlayStation 2]](https://mybrainongames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/midway-arcade-treasures-3.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Random Game #6 – Super Monkey Ball 2 [GameCube]](https://mybrainongames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/super-monkey-ball-2.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
My Brain on Games 