Let's Play Every GameCube Game, Part 8
Crazy Taxi (Acclaim Studios Cheltenham/Acclaim, 2001)
A port of a Dreamcast port from arcades of a game published by Sega published by Acclaim. It's complicated, but Crazy Taxi is as simple as ever: pick up a passenger, then get to their stop as quickly and dangerously as possible. I've always liked this formula. I've already got a newer PC version that runs and looks better, though, so there's no reason to go back to this one.
Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest (Saru Brunei + Intelligent Systems/Atlus, 2002)
A game about becoming the strongest Cubivore by eating everything around you, eventually mating, and then starting the cycle again. It was criticized a lot for being repetitive, and I can already see that it's going to be, but the idea of it is so fascinating that I want to come back anyway.
Cubix Robots for Everyone: Showdown (Blitz Games/3DO, 2002)
A boring action adventure game based on a TV show. Apparently it gets a bit like Pokemon later on, but that didn't seem to make anyone like it more.
Curious George (Monkey Bar Games/Namco, 2006)
A licensed platformer that's clearly intended for young kids. It basically plays itself, and I'm not sure you could fall off the first level even if you wanted to.
Custom Robo (Noise/Nintendo, 2004)
A game about building a custom robo and battling it against other robos to get their parts and make your robo more custom. It wasn't received well at the time, but has picked up a big cult following in the time since. I didn't get to see enough to judge either way in the time I had now, so it gets a list spot.
Dakar 2: The World's Ultimate Rally (Acclaim Studios Cheltenham/Acclaim, 2003)
A rally racing game that seems decently fun and looks to have good track variety. Unfortunately for it, this genre has advanced a lot in the 18 years since it came out, and I don't really see a reason to go back to this over something like Dirt or art of rally.
Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix (Konami + Hudson/Nintendo, 2005)
DDR starring Mario. You barely get anything unlocked at the start: just Mario and Luigi with one unbelievably easy song. DDR is not my preferred style of rhythm game, but even if it was, it's hard to imagine this being a go-to over Stepmania or similar titles. Still, it has a unique place as a "Wait, that happened?" kind of game.
Dark Summit (Radical Entertainment/THQ, 2001)
A snowboarding game where an evil warden is trying to ban snowboarders from the mountain. It apparently escalates into collecting bomb parts and shooting avalanche cannons, which seems like something I have to see given that the game is fairly short. It certainly doesn't look or sound like much, though.
Darkened Skye (Boston Animation/Simon & Schuster + TDK Mediactive, 2002)
Speaking of "wait, that happened?", it's the Skittles game! It features highly intuitive controls like your attack being on L, jump being on R, and the face buttons mostly doing absolutely nothing. It also looks terrible and has stiff voice acting. Maybe that's why we never got a full-release Snickers game.
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 (Z-Axis/Acclaim Max Sports, 2001)
Another entry in the "Tony Hawk, but bikes" series. It got a better reception than most of the others and has a park editor, which is pretty cool for 2001, but I still can't muster any enthusiasm for doing tricks on bikes.
Dead to Rights (Namco, 2002)
A third person shooter that really wants to be Max Payne and decided (or maybe copied, I haven't played that game) that the genre really needed lock-on aiming and an inverted X-axis. Loads of construction works come out of nowhere with guns and shoot you for no reason. It's very boring.
Def Jam Vendetta (EA Canada/EA Sports BIG, 2003)
A fighting game combining hip hop and wrestling. I'm not interested in any of those things, but by all accounts it's a pretty good game if any of that is appealing to you.
Def Jam: Fight for NY (EA Canada/EA, 2004)
See previous entry. This one was even more popular, but still really not something I'm interested in. Seems more MMA than wrestling now.
Defender (Inevitable Entertainment/Midway, 2002)
"Inevitable Entertainment" is a fitting name for the dev of a 2002 gritty arcade reboot published by Midway that no one asked for. It's very brown and has all the design sensibilities of a forgotten PS3 launch game, but it's really a forgotten GCN launch game.
Derby Tsuku 3: Derby Uma wo Tsukurou! (Smilebit/SEGA, 2003)
A Japan-only horse racing sim that puts you in charge of the whole team. It's kind of neat that they let you do so much customization, but you'd have to be really in to horse racing to want something that goes as far as asking you to name your horse ranch.
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