The GameCube was sold from 2001 to 2007, so it wasn’t the longest-lived system.
Still, its unique look, great game library, and high-quality controls and hardware made it a very memorable console for those who were lucky enough to own one.
Games for the GameCube aren’t exactly known for being risky or hidden. Instead, big games like TLoZ: Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, and Resident Evil 4 helped make the system what it is today.
Still, the GameCube has a number of games that are very creative and really push the limits without losing quality.
This list of weird names isn’t just about how strange they were; it’s also about how much fun they were.
If you’re looking for a fun and unique GCN-era experience, you’ll find it here.
15. Go! Go! Hypergrind
Go! Go! Team Poponchi at Atlus Japan made Hypergrind, a skateboarding video game for the GameCube.
Atlus USA put the game out. It came out on November 18, 2003, in North America.
Ren & Stimpy’s animation company Spümc worked with other artists to make the game’s art.
14. Darkened Skye
If you’ve played a third-person action game like Darkened Skye on any system in the last five years, there’s nothing new or exciting about the way you play it.
It’s a short adventure that experienced gamers will be able to finish with flying colors and not much mystery.
The controls are solid and give you a lot of freedom, but the fighting and action feel rushed and lack depth.
Items and spells are always a nice touch, but the ones in Darkened Skye are so standard that only beginners or true Skittles® fans will find them interesting.
After spending hours running quickly through an empty 3D world to collect magical Skittles®, I can’t stop wanting something sweet from a vending machine.
If you’ve played Nintendo’s Star Fox Adventures, you don’t need to spend your time or money on this game.
If you’re new to the type and don’t mind how rough it is, you might want to rent this one for the weekend if Star Fox is already taken.
13. Amazing Island
Amazing Island is full of the blue skies that are almost a symbol of Sega games.
The fifth game on our list of underrated GameCube games seems to have been made a few years before its time.
It probably would have found a much bigger, more welcoming audience and a natural place on the Wii, which replaced the GameCube.
Amazing Island is mostly a collection of mini-games, and it can be played locally by up to four people in head-to-head fights. But that’s not the end…
It also has a great method for making monsters that gives you a lot of freedom and customization options.
Even better, you could fight monsters with other people in Amazing Island. Though to play the “Monster Cards” game, players had to connect a Game Boy Advance to the console.
Like a few other games on this list, Amazing Island has its own feel. It’s a shame that most gamers don’t remember it anymore.
This is a slick, colorful, and easy-to-play game that almost anyone of any skill level can play and enjoy.
12. Lost Kingdoms 2
First, we’ll look at the second game in the Lost Kingdoms series. It’s weird because it has a different style of gameplay and was made by the same company that made the Dark Souls games.
The main person Tara can use magic cards to catch and call up monsters, which has made her feared and respected far and wide.
The gameplay is a mix of Pokémon, Hearthstone, and a normal role-playing game.
And you don’t have to play the first game to understand the second, so if you like collecting monsters or cards, check out this exotic RPG.
11. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Next up is Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, which is a unique side-scrolling game where you control Donkey Kong by banging on his bongos.
Even though the controls seem crazy, this rhythm adventure is one of the best in the Donkey Kong series. The controls also feel tighter and more sensitive than in most platform games.
It’s up to Nintendo to take a strange idea and make it work in some way.
Fans didn’t really pay much attention to the game because it was hard to figure out how to play and you had to get the bongos to play. But if you can get it set up, it’s a lot of fun.
10. Alien Hominid
Some games are weird because of how they play, while others are weird because of how they look. Alien Hominid is weird because of where it came from.
The game reflects the time it was made in.
It started out as a pretty popular flash game on the website Newgrounds, where people could post animations and small games made in Adobe Flash.
At some point, big-name game makers heard about it and turned it into a full-fledged console game. But the characters’ designs and movements, which look like Flash, were left alone.
So when you play through it, you can see where it came from.
Whether you played it when it was just a simple Flash game or not, you’re losing out if you don’t try the GC version.
It’s a great run-and-gun game, and couch co-op is a great way to play it.
9. Chibi-Robo!
Chibi-Robo! tells the story of a small robot, which in Japanese means “small robot,” and how it tries to make the Sanderson family happy.
To get those valuable “Happy Points,” you’ll have to move the small machine around the house and do things like clean, organize, and solve problems in the environment.
You’ll also have to deal with robotic spiders by killing them with your Chibi Blaster, since the same family that made a high-tech bipedal Roomba also made robotic spiders.
This adventure-platformer with a lot of puzzles is both cute and strange, and it’s one of the best games on the Nintendo GameCube.
8. Geist
In the early 2000s, games like Geist, an action-adventure FPS with a twist, were able to try new things.
You won’t be playing as a super-soldier or a bounty hunter.
Instead, you’ll be John Raimi, a scientist who became a ghost and is now trying to find his body in the depths of the Volks Corporation’s facilities.
To do this, you’ll need to talk to a lot of different people to find out what you need to know and clear your way.
The graphics aren’t great for a game that came out in 2005, and the game’s speed isn’t great either.
But the great game play more than makes up for it.
7. Gotcha Force
If you liked the old game Custom Robo, you have to try Gotcha Force. It’s a robot fighting game that focuses on numbers and planning as well as fighting skills.
The game is about a group of kids who fight each other by controlling troops of small robots called “Gotcha Borgs” on different arenas that play with your sense of size.
Even though the game’s single-player story, in which you fight to stop a bad group of Gotcha Borgs from invading Earth, is pretty good, most of the game’s fun comes from its multiplayer mode.
It’s very intense, busy, and sometimes unexpected. Just what you need to keep going for hours.
6. Ribbit King
Golf is one of those games that works well as a video game.
But that doesn’t mean it can’t be made better, like by putting frogs in place of the balls.
You might be worried about them after a golf club hit them, but don’t be.
This strange sport is called “Frolf,” and it is played by safely firing the frogs from a catapult. But don’t ask us about how we landed.
The rest of the rules for Ribbit King’s frolf are pretty much the same as normal golf, except that getting your frog to swim or be eaten by a snake might help you win.
Ribbit King is a weird game you can’t miss out on. It has cute characters like Animal Crossing and simple, strange game play.
5. Killer7
What about Killer7 hasn’t been said?
It’s a great on-rails shooter that stands out from the rest because of its clever use of cel-shaded images, interesting story, and really fun gameplay.
The story of this game, which is about a group of paid killers called the Smith Syndicate, is exactly what makes it weird enough to be on our list.
The catch?
A psychological and magical state called Multifoliate Personae Phenomenon makes it so that all seven of them live inside the main character. Imagine Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde taking LSD.
When you add the dark humor and interest in deep, thought-provoking topics of writer and director Suda51, you have an instant classic.
4. Phantasy Star Online Episode III: CARD Revolution
Back in the day, the Phantasy Star Online series was already pretty unique because it focused on online games when most consoles couldn’t even do that.
But when PSO III: Card Revolution came out, it changed the gameplay in a way that was even stranger than usual for PSO.
Instead of an action-based MMORPG, players were given a Yu-Gi-Oh!-style turn-based deck-building game.
Even though it was unusual, this card-based game was surprisingly fun to play both offline and online.
All things considered, this one-of-a-kind game is a good one. Even though it wasn’t what fans wanted at the time.
3. Pikmin 2
Even though Pikmin is one of the best and most well-known games on the system, that doesn’t make it any less strange, nor does its great follow-up.
Like the first game, Pikmin 2 is about Olimar’s experiences on the mysterious planet where Pikmin live. This time, his friend and co-worker Louie joins him.
Most of the game is about moving these animals around to reach different goals. These intelligent plant-like creatures will follow Olimar and Louie to hell and back to help them get as many things as they can, like batteries, trump cards, bobble-heads, and all kinds of other oddities.
Fun fact: It’s never said outright, but it’s implied that Pikmin takes place on Earth after an end-of-the-world event killed everyone. Eerie.
2. Cubivore
I’ve always liked games whose mechanics are based on the way natural selection and evolution work. Cubivore is the most charming of the games for the GameCube.
In this weird mix of Spore, The Legend of Zelda, and Minecraft, you play as a cuboid lifeform trying to become the top hunter in its world.
In each level, you’ll have to meet some goals, kill and eat some other creatures, and then have babies so that your offspring can continue the trip in the next stage.
It’s a shame that this game wasn’t more popular back in the day because the characters are so funny and the art style is so cute.
1. Odama
There are a lot of games in Japan that are based on the time of feudal rulers.
But this amazing mix of RTS and pinball isn’t like the others.
You read that right: the main way to play this game is to use the Odama, which is a big black ball that is the clan’s secret weapon.
You do this by playing pinball on the battlefield, destroying enemy defenses and wiping out most of their troops with the Odama while giving orders to your foot soldiers through a special microphone device.
Getting used to it takes a long time.
But once you do, you’ll love this strange and hard thing to do.
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