40. Baten Kaitos Origins (GCN)

Baten Kaitos Origins (GCN)
Baten Kaitos Origins (GCN)
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Namco
Release Date: 25th Sep 2006 (USA)

The first and only sequel to Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, this offered some gameplay tweaks but didn't fundamentally alter the base experience from the first game. It was released in 2006 when the ailing GameCube was on the very last of its last legs and the developers made the decision not to move it to the upcoming Wii. With hindsight, that was an obvious error - Baten Kaitos Origins would have inevitably got more attention than it found at the time on the purple box. Interestingly, it was one of the first games localised by 8-4, the localisation house who would go on to work with Nintendo on the excellent Fire Emblem: Awakening and Xenoblade Chronicles X, among others.

39. Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (GCN)

Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (GCN)
Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (GCN)
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Genius Sonority
Release Date: 3rd Oct 2005 (USA) / 18th Nov 2005 (UK/EU)

The follow-up to Pokémon Colosseum, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness released in 2005 and had you catching Shadow 'mon and 'purifying' them. Using the GBA-GC link cable, it was possible to connect any of the Game Boy Advance mainline entries to XD for battling and trading and, although it didn't change things significantly from its predecessor, it still provided a decent 3D Pokémon experience before the mainline games went into the third dimension.

38. Mega Man X Collection (GCN)

Mega Man X Collection (GCN)
Mega Man X Collection (GCN)
Publisher: Capcom / Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 10th Jan 2006 (USA)

Compiling the first six Mega Man X games into one package, this disc was a great way for longtime fans to replay the best games in the series or to catch up for those who might have missed entries due to them being on PlayStation. Even ignoring some of the lesser entries, just having the first three on one disc was a treat for fans, and it's the only way to officially play Mega Man: Battle & Chase (think 'Mega Man Kart') on a Nintendo console, too.

37. Spider-Man 2 (GCN)

Spider-Man 2 (GCN)
Spider-Man 2 (GCN)
Publisher: Activision / Developer: Treyarch
Release Date: 28th Jun 2004 (USA) / 9th Jul 2004 (UK/EU)

Spider-Man 2 took the basic premise of Treyarch's first Spider-Man movie game and fixed practically everything that was wrong with it. Spidey no longer shot webs into the clouds and magically traversed the sky — each web shot connected to a point on a building in a properly open-world New York, and for the first time swinging around the city just felt right.

The inimitable Bruce Campbell returned for comical narrator duties, and all the leads from the film provide their characters' voices with varying levels of enthusiasm/success. If we're honest, we've always had a soft spot for Maguire's delivery, although some people find it flat.

Regardless of its flaws, the success of that core web-swinging mechanic and the satisfaction derived from simply swinging around the city helped gloss over the bog-standard and repetitive fetch quest gameplay and delivered the finest example of a Spider-Man game available on a Nintendo platform. In fact, there's an argument to be made that this game's webslinging wasn't bettered until Insomniac's PS4 entry in the Spider-Man canon a whopping 14 years later, and it still holds up today.

36. Viewtiful Joe (GCN)

Viewtiful Joe (GCN)
Viewtiful Joe (GCN)
Publisher: Capcom / Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 7th Oct 2003 (USA) / 24th Oct 2003 (UK/EU)

Crackling with energy and celluloid action, Viewtiful Joe is a side-on brawler and was one of the fabled 'Capcom Five' exclusives which would end up (for the most part) finding their way to other platforms. With an intricate combat system, it skirts into fighter territory with a dusting of VFX (Viewtiful Effects) that change the flow of combat and enable you to chain combos and use strategy to beat your way through Movie Land and rescue film-fanatic Joe's girlfriend.

We haven't heard from Joe in a good long while, but it's hard to think of a character who could fit more snuggly into the Smash Bros. Ultimate roster, coupled with a cheeky Switch remaster of this game and it's sequel, of course. Make it happen, Capcom!

35. Burnout 2: Point of Impact (GCN)

Burnout 2: Point of Impact (GCN)
Burnout 2: Point of Impact (GCN)
Publisher: Acclaim / Developer: Criterion Software
Release Date: 9th Apr 2003 (USA) / 9th May 2003 (UK/EU)

Despite the frequency with which we do it, crashing your car in a video game is usually a sign of failure, but developers Criterion injected the Burnout games with high-risk thrills that rewarded you with boost for being cavalier, and made bad driving a virtue with its addictive 'Crash' mode. This sequel improved on the original in almost every way and is this a blast to (crash and) burn through today.

34. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (GCN)

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (GCN)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (GCN)
Publisher: Activision / Developer: Neversoft
Release Date: 18th Nov 2001 (USA) / 3rd May 2002 (UK/EU)

It's easy to look back with rose-tinted specs and imagine things were better in the past. For most genres that's a fallacy, but when you look at Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, it's arguably true. Some might prefer Pro Skater 2 or Pro Skater 4 (it's tough to go wrong with any of them, really), but this is a classic in the skateboarding genre — the focal point and pinnacle of a skating X gaming cultural crossover before the series went off the boil and started trying a bit too hard in the mid-2000s.

Even people with zero interest in skateboarding know who Tony Hawk is, and it's thanks to these brilliant games, of which Pro Skater 3 might just be the best. Ah, the memories...

33. Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (GCN)

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (GCN)
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (GCN)
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Camelot
Release Date: 29th Aug 2003 (USA) / 18th Jun 2004 (UK/EU)

We're quite partial to the Nintendo 64 entry in the series, but developer Camelot didn't do much wrong when it came to the GameCube iteration, either. Featuring sixteen characters and courses containing Mushroom Kingdom staples such as warp pipes and Chain Chomps, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour takes things up a gear without reinventing the game, making every bunker and green look suitably lovely and introducing some fun extra modes. Hardly revolutionary, but there's only so much you can do with golf and there aren't many better ways to spoil a walk than this.

32. Beyond Good & Evil (GCN)

Beyond Good & Evil (GCN)
Beyond Good & Evil (GCN)
Publisher: Ubisoft / Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Release Date: 12th Nov 2003 (USA) / 27th Feb 2004 (UK/EU)

A classy action adventure from Ubisoft and Rayman creator Michel Ancel, Beyond Good and Evil spins a potent yarn of political intrigue, puzzle-solving and investigation. Protagonist Jade must stealthily acquire evidence as she explores the planet of Hillys in an effort to aid the resistance and bring down the DomZ, a bunch of evil aliens suspected of pulling the strings of a military dictatorship that's risen to power. The base gameplay is fantastic, but it's the world-building and atmosphere that sets BG&E apart and makes us excited for the prequel currently in the works. Let's keep our fingers crossed for a Switch port.

31. Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II (GCN)

Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II (GCN)
Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II (GCN)
Publisher: Atari / Developer: SEGA
Release Date: 29th Oct 2002 (USA) / 7th Mar 2003 (UK/EU)

While GameCube had the capacity for online play thanks to an adaptor which plugged into a port on the bottom of the console, very few games supported it. Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II was the main reason to own the adaptor (as well as the rather brilliant ASCII Keyboard controller which essentially split a standard GameCube controller down the middle and welded keyboard between the two halves). Online RPGs are a dime-a-dozen these days on consoles, but Sonic Team's game was many console gamers' first brush with an online world and it developed a loyal following until Sega shut down servers in 2007.