Let's Play Every GameCube Game, Part 22
Medabots Infinity (Natsume, 2003)
I was wondering how this wasn't one of the worst reviewed games on GCN while playing it, and it turns out the answer is that it is! It managed a 37% on GameRankings, and it's easy to see why given the mix of Natsume's usual casual sexism and inane writing with a barely functional 1v1 arena fighter. You're looking at my robot successfully hiding from the enemy who doesn't understand that the middle of the map is a solid object and keeps trying to shoot through it. I won by walking around the solid object and then shooting the other robot repeatedly as it failed to understand the concept of walls and just kept walking into one forever. I have nothing positive to say about this piece of crap other than that, unlike on GBC, it is at least the only representative of the Medabots line of shovelware.
Medal of Honor: European Assault (EA Los Angeles/EA, 2005)
A WWII shooter that still feels pretty good, honestly. It took criticism at the time for not having any checkpoints whatsoever, meaning you'd have to start each level completely over even if you died right before the finish line. That sounds awful, and also suspicious given that it only has 11 levels and would be quite short without repetition. I won't be playing it, but since save states would fix the main complaint about it, it might be better now than it was then.
Medal of Honor: Frontline (EA Los Angeles/EA, 2002)
This is the best reviewed of the GCN MoH games by a good margin, but it was still a significant drop from the PS2 version for reasons that aren't entirely clear. It seemed to have held up pretty well from what I played of the Normandy mission, which was as intense as ever and only held back by dated spawning patterns and shaking aim. I'm tempted to put it on the list, but it was ported to PS3 in 2010, and given that PS2 was already the definitive version back at release, that seems likely to be the way to go now.
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun (EA Los Angeles/EA, 2003)
And here we have the worst-reviewed of the GCN MoH games. The opening mission is actually still impressive, but it apparently falls off so hard towards the end that there was speculation that the game was unfinished. That's a shame, because this is a relatively unique setting and it had a full co-op campaign.
Meet the Robinsons (Avalanche Software/Disney, 2007)
I describe a lot of these as forgotten games based on forgotten movies, but this movie really deserves that title more than most. It's developed by Avalanche - of Disney Infinity fame, not Just Cause - and is an action adventure game rather than a platformer. It also features a thoroughly insufferable main character who breaks into a tomb to take a selfie with a mummy and causes the entire complex to collapse in the process.
Mega Man Anniversary Collection (Atomic Planet/Capcom, 2003)
A collection of the first 8 games, which, interestingly, makes it a better value than the collection on Switch, which only features 6 games in the first box. I don't enjoy this series at all and there are at least seventy two billion different ways to play these games, so there's no reason to go back to this version.
Mega Man Network Transmission (Arika/Capcom, 2003)
A game heavily inspired by anime stylings, complete with questionable translation from Japanese. The cel-shading looks surprisingly bad and it makes you read a whole lot of uninteresting dialogue before you get to play. Suffice to say it was not received well at the time.
Mega Man X Collection (Capcom, 2006)
A collection of six Mega Man X games, which is a series I know almost nothing about. It was criticized at the time for not having much of any additional content, but it once again packs more games into a single release than the more modern port.
Mega Man X: Command Mission (Capcom Production Studio 3/Capcom, 2004)
A JRPG with terrible voice acting. The GCN version was noted for having much higher random encounter rates than the PS2 release, which means this is a game I have zero interest in playing any more of. Which is just as well, because its contemporary reception was mediocre at best.
Men in Black II: Alien Escape (Infogrames Melbourne/Infogrames, 2003)
A loading screen that is very occasionally interrupted by menus or terrible third-person shooting. That might sound like hyperbole, but I had to sit through four loads to get to gameplay, and two of those loads were each longer than 30 seconds by themselves. It's a little hard to believe this passed certification in this state, and it's not worth waiting through even one of those loads to play the game.
Mercedes-Benz World Racing (Synetic/TDK Mediactive, 2004)
A European-exclusive game that features a bizarre mix of cartoony tracks and fairly serious racing. Its title theme opens with a sample of what seems to be a Japanese safety instructions for a ride, but I can't be sure because I wasn't expecting to have to translate Japanese audio in a German game about German cars and missed quite a bit of it. It's a very ugly game, but mechanically alright.
Metal Arms: Glitch in the System (Swingin' Ape Studios/Vivendi, 2003)
This was my favorite game ever for a few years, although notably at a time when I'd played no more than 100 games and finished maybe a dozen. Nowadays it doesn't even make my top 100, but I still appreciate its very unique enemy possession and control mechanics. Although it's held back by inconsistent difficult and occasionally obtuse level design, when it's good, it's really good. You're looking at a screenshot of me playing multiplayer by myself because the campaign opens with a very long unskippable cutscene that I will sit through later. It's going on the list, after all.
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (Konami, 2004)
Here's a series that I like to appreciate from a distance. I've watched playthroughs of all the games except V and enjoyed doing so, but I can't stand actually playing any of them. The GCN is kind of a bad platform to start with anyway, because even though this is a very good version of MGS, none of the other games ever made it to the console.
Metroid Prime (Retro Studios/Nintendo, 2002)
I had planned to use an endgame screenshot from my 2019 playthrough here, but the save was corrupted. Metroid Prime is the best reviewed game on GCN and has an absolutely fascinating development story, but it won't be going on the list. Partly because, as mentioned above, I just finished it two years ago. Mostly because I thought it was okay. I loved the atmosphere and quiet worldbuilding, but there was far too much backtracking for my tastes and I got sick of repeating the fights in several rooms in particular. There's no denying it's incredibly impressive for a 2002 debut title, though.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Retro Studios/Nintendo, 2004)
I played a tiny bit of this one when the trilogy collection came out on Wii, but I hadn't finished Prime at the time and didn't stick with it. It didn't reach the same ridiculous critical heights the first game, but it was still received extremely well and is generally considered another of the GCN's classics. I'm assuming it's just as backtracky as MP1 and I can safely give it a pass, but I'll put it on the list if that's not true.
Micro Machines (Infogrames Sheffield/Infogrames, 2003)
Another Europe-exclusive racing game, this time based on the classic Micro Machines franchise. I've been interested in this series for ages because I got a PC version of MMV4 as a kid and could never get it running stably, but the GCN version is extremely barebones compared to that. There aren't many cars or tracks and there's no progression at all, so I can't see any reason to play it except for couch multiplayer. Even then, there are better options.
The list:
1080° Avalanche
Animal Crossing
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
Batman: Dark Tomorrow
Burnout 2: Point of Impact
Charinko Hero
Chibi-Robo!
Cocoto Kart Racer
Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest
Custom Robo
Dark Summit
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
F-Zero GX
Family Stadium 2003
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Freedom Fighters
Freekstyle
Gotcha Force
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing
Jikkyou Powerful Major League
Kirby Air Ride
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Mario Power Tennis
Metal Arms: Glitch in the System