The Nintendo GameCube was a strange and beautiful machine. Overshadowed in its era by PlayStation 2 dominance and Xbox hype, it still managed to carve out a reputation for cult classics, competitive legends, and experiments that felt decades ahead of their time. With Switch 2 ushering in a new generation, now’s the perfect moment to revisit some of the GameCube’s boldest games—titles that not only deserve a return, but could thrive with modern tech and audience reach.
This isn’t about nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake. These five picks represent key moments in Nintendo’s history—where the company (and third-party studios) took real risks, built genre-defining mechanics, or created fan-favorite experiences that never saw a proper follow-up. From genre-pushing fighters to haunting psychological RPGs, here are five GameCube games we’re begging Nintendo to bring back for the Switch 2 era.
🎮 Suggested Reading
Soulcalibur II – The Champion of GameCube Fighters
There was a brief, glorious moment in 2003 when Nintendo players felt like they won the fighting game lottery.
Soulcalibur II hit the GameCube with one of the most surprising and beloved guest characters in franchise history:
Link, the Hero of Time himself. While the Xbox version featured Spawn and PlayStation got Heihachi, it was Link’s bow, bombs,
and Master Sword that turned heads. This wasn’t just a gimmick. Namco actually built around Link’s moveset, making him feel
like a natural fit in the Soulcalibur universe. It’s still one of the most iconic platform-exclusive cameos of the sixth generation.
Beyond the novelty, Soulcalibur II was simply one of the best 3D fighters of its era. It expanded the weapons-based formula
with smoother animation, refined parrying systems, and one of the most approachable arcade modes in the genre. The GameCube
edition also felt especially polished, thanks in part to Namco’s careful optimization and Nintendo’s notoriously clean hardware
architecture. In an era when competitive fighters weren’t Nintendo’s forte, this game felt like lightning in a bottle. For many
fans, Soulcalibur II remains the high watermark for console-exclusive fighting game synergy.
While later Soulcalibur entries became more focused on elaborate customization and multi-platform parity, there’s something
beautifully restrained about SCII. The single-player “Weapon Master Mode” delivered a mini-RPG progression system, and the
character roster was tight but memorable. A modern reissue on Nintendo Switch 2 could do more than just offer fanservice—it
could reintroduce Nintendo audiences to a slower, more elegant kind of fighting game. And yes, give us Link again. Please.
🎯 Bonus: Why Soulcalibur II Deserves Another Shot
- 🗡️ Still one of the best examples of a weapons-based 3D fighter.
- 🧝 Link’s inclusion showed how good guest characters could be when done right.
- 📦 The Weapon Master Mode remains a model for single-player in fighting games.
- 🕹️ A Switch 2 revival with rollback netcode and remastered visuals would thrive.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
“The Darkness comes! It will damn us all”
A Ritual Worth Repeating
Set across 2,000 years of human history, Eternal Darkness follows a cast of protagonists as they each uncover pieces of a shadowy, cosmic conspiracy linked to powerful gods and ancient artifacts. From a Roman centurion corrupted by power, to a WWI soldier haunted by ritualistic horror, every chapter built a mosaic of dread and descent. The game’s storytelling was nothing short of ambitious—bridging timelines, cultures, and belief systems through one shared curse.
And then there’s the sanity system. Eternal Darkness famously played tricks on the player: fake system errors, deleted save messages, television volume fakes, and character hallucinations. It wasn’t just scary—it made you question your reality. This meta-layer is still unmatched in modern horror design, and it’s exactly why this game deserves to be preserved and revisited on new hardware.
The GameCube Cult Classic That Wasn’t a Hit
Despite critical acclaim and an ESRB “M” rating—rare for a Nintendo-published title—Eternal Darkness never sold well, moving under half a million copies worldwide. Its mix of Lovecraftian myth, academic dread, and cerebral mechanics may have been too early for its time. Yet it remains a favorite among horror fans and game historians alike.
What sets it apart from contemporaries like Resident Evil was its narrative scope and experimental design. It dared to take the player beyond gore and into the mind. With Silicon Knights long gone, the question of who could revive the franchise remains complicated—but the legacy is ripe for a reimagining.
BONUS: What a Modern Remaster Could Fix (and Keep)
- 🧠 Keep: The sanity effects—still revolutionary, still terrifying.
- 🛠 Fix: The control stiffness and camera limitations from the early 2000s.
- 🎙 Add: Modern voice acting and restored cut content (originally planned cult scenes).
- 🌐 Expand: Lore entries, playable interludes between timelines, and a modern save system.
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
Middle-earth, Reimagined
You don’t play as Frodo or Aragorn here. Instead, you control an original party of warriors—Boromir’s former squire, a Gondorian healer, a Rohirrim archer—who journey in the shadows of the Fellowship across familiar locations like Moria, Helm’s Deep, and Minas Tirith. The game lifts its cinematic cues directly from the films, complete with voiceover narration from Ian McKellen and FMV footage, yet charts its own RPG progression system.
The combat system takes a page from Final Fantasy X with timeline-based turns, character swapping, and magic abilities themed around the lore. “Evil Mode,” an unlockable feature, even lets you play as Sauron’s minions through mirrored versions of the game’s battles. It’s a bold addition that turns the typical good-vs-evil structure on its head.
A Forgotten Gem Deserving of Return
The Third Age never got the credit it deserved. Maybe it was too different for fans expecting movie accuracy, or too derivative for RPG purists. But on GameCube, it offered something rare: a deep, cinematic adventure grounded in one of fantasy’s richest worlds. With modern quality-of-life tweaks and HD visuals, this could be a stellar Switch 2 revival.
Bonus: Couch Co-op in Middle-earth
The GameCube version supports local co-op. A second player can jump in and control half your party—an unexpected and fun twist for a turn-based RPG. Imagine revisiting Helm’s Deep with a friend on Switch 2? That’s a kind of fellowship we can get behind.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Original Release: 2001
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Switch 2 Status: Not confirmed — fans still waiting
Ask any GameCube-era gamer and you’ll hear it:Super Smash Bros. Meleewasn’t just a sequel—it was a movement. Released in late 2001, Melee took the core idea of its N64 predecessor and turbocharged it, delivering one of the fastest, most technical, and endlessly replayable fighters ever put on a Nintendo console. Its 26-character roster and dozens of stages gave players everything from Pikachu to Marth (who many outside Japan met for the first time right here). But Melee’s true genius lies in its momentum—it’s fast, fluid, and ferociously competitive.
The movement tech alone—wavedashing, L-canceling, SHFFLing—turned a party brawler into a platform fighter that could go toe-to-toe with the biggest names in the FGC. Tournaments are still running two decades later. And while it’s not the flashiest in the series anymore, Melee holds a unique edge: precision. Everything from the gravity to the hitstun ratio was tuned to reward mastery. The game became a cult classic not just because it was fun—but because it was learnable, breakable, and deep.
Even its legacy speaks volumes. Without Melee, Fire Emblem might’ve never gone global. Without Melee, EVO might’ve missed out on one of its most iconic games. And without Melee, many of us might not be gamers at all. Despite multiple versions and successors, Melee is the one that stayed—the sharpest blade in Nintendo’s roster of legends. And yet, Nintendo has never re-released it. No eShop, no remaster, no Switch port. Melee is a monument that still lives in basements, dorm rooms, and dusty CRT setups. That says something.
Bring It Back, Nintendo:
Give Melee the love it earned—60fps, rollback netcode, and a proper Switch 2 rerelease with legacy controller support. No changes. No nerfs. Just give it a platform to thrive again. The game doesn’t need fixing—it just needs to be played by more people.
Mario Superstar Baseball
Original Release: 2005
Developer: Namco / Nintendo SPD
Switch 2 Status: Not confirmed
Before Mario Sluggers hit the Wii, there was Mario Superstar Baseballon the GameCube—a surprisingly deep, stat-driven sports game dressed up in Nintendo charm. Built on the same polished engine style asMario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Power Tennis, it took the baseball diamond and turned it into a stage for wild special moves, offbeat team chemistry, and one of the most addictive single-player sports modes on the console.
Challenge Mode was the true star here: a full-blown mini campaign where you picked a captain, scouted rival teams, and recruited characters through completing missions. Want a Pianta on your team? Strike out his captain. Want Bowser? You had to beat every team and survive his final showdown. Add in unlockable Superstar upgrades, purchasable stat boosts, and Bowser Jr. ambushes, and you’ve got a gameplay loop that kept Nintendo fans grinding far longer than expected.
Mechanically, it nailed the essentials. Batting and pitching were intuitive and fast, while every character had signature traits—Dixie and Diddy could climb walls, Petey could smash with max power, and Mario? His fireball hits were downright unfair in the right hands. Some players had Laser Throws, others had Super Catch. Every decision felt like it mattered when building a team, especially with the chemistry system that rewarded character friendships (and punished rivalries) on the field.
It wasn’t perfect. Fielding could be clunky. Minigames were throwaway content. And once you mastered the controls, even the toughest A.I. became predictable. But despite those flaws, this game had something modern Mario sports titles often lack: ambition. It gave you more than just one-off matches—it gave you progression, exploration, and actual baseball strategy hidden behind Mushroom Kingdom flair.
Mario Superstar Baseball deserves a true return. Challenge Mode alone could be reimagined as a full RPG campaign with online recruiting. Give us updated visuals, tighter controls, and make every stadium as interactive as Wario’s Chain Chomp chaos. Baseball games are a dying breed—this one still has the bones of a classic.
Final Thoughts
GameCube may not have ruled its generation in sales, but its legacy runs deep. These five games—each weird, wonderful, and risk-taking in its own way—deserve more than collector nostalgia. They deserve modern players, new stories, and second lives on Switch 2. If Nintendo really wants to honor its history while building something new, giving these games another shot would be one hell of a start.
