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.
Without an official tie-in game for the prior movie, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers recounts the story of the first two films in the hackiest, slashiest of ways. This GameCube version goes all out on the action, with three different heroes at your disposal and a long list of combos to remember.
While the scope and roster would be beefed up for the sequel, this was just about the coolest retelling of Peter Jackson's coolest movie back in 2002.
Striking a happy balance between the previous two games, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones manages to marry excellent combat and thoughtful platforming perfectly.
Ubisoft seemingly listened to criticisms of Warrior Within and decided to give players the best of both worlds — with two protagonists, much-tighter gameplay, and a fantastic setting, The Two Thrones serves as a fantastic end to the trilogy.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on GameCube takes all the hack-and-slash action of The Two Towers and dials it up to 11. This follow-up boasts an expanded roster, larger levels with interactive environments, Fellowship-wide skill upgrades and, the pièce de résistance, two-player co-op.
It doesn't go all out trying to retell the movie's narrative, but the sword-swinging action is more than capable of mustering up the excitement levels, all the same.
The third entry in the Timesplitters series, this release continued iterating on the multiplayer-focused gameplay from many of the makers of GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark.
Future Perfect added a co-op story mode to proceedings, as well as enabling players to create outdoor maps in an undated Mapmaker.
The game offered GameCube owners another fine dose of deathmatch FPS goodness, although unfortunately they missed out on the online play enjoyed by PS2 and Xbox owners.
One of the infamous 'Capcom Five', Suda51's Killer7 launched for the GameCube back in 2005 and, in time, became a cult classic. It revolves around the titular group of assassins and a noir-heavy story that delves into governmental conspiracies and murdering lots of folk, naturally.
It's an acquired taste, that's for sure, thanks to its slightly stilted on-rails, first-person gameplay that blends gunplay and puzzle-solving with eye-catching cel-shaded visuals.
It's an intoxicating mixture and one that makes for an unforgettable slice of video gaming violence and adventure. Even if you don't jibe with it, you certainly won't forget Killer7.
This enhanced version of the Dreamcast original might not be everybody's cup of tea, but it throws enough winning elements into the bag to outweigh its less-than-brilliant aspects.
With the multiplayer and the Chao Garden accompanying the main game, there's certainly plenty to do, and it's hard to find a purer expression of 'gotta go fast and-to-hell-with-the-consequences' than this.
In many ways, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle is peak 3D Sonic, then — with everything that entails.
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 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 gotten significantly more attention than it found at the time on the then-ailing purple box, even though Wii was backward compatible. Both games are available on Switch in HD remastered form.
Interestingly, this 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.
Times they were a-changing back in the early 2000s and for gamers there was no surer sign than a Nintendo console launching with a game from its arch-rivals.
Fortunately, Sega hit the ground running (or should that be rolling?) on other companies' hardware with Super Monkey Ball, a fantastically surreal and vibrant new series that had you tilting the terrain to guide a monkey in a ball to a goal. Natch.
As it has been for years now, it really is all in the title, and while Sega fans might have felt blue at the time, this was a great indication that the company's spirit would live on.
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!
Super Monkey Ball 2 saw original developer Amusement Vision adding something that was lacking in the original game: a Story Mode.
Yes, if you were wondering how or why these simians were trapped inside transparent balls and being flung around on surreal floating stages, this sequel now provided a much-needed narrative context and Monkey Ball lore was born.
Joking aside, it offered more of the same great gameplay from the original and proved to be just as brilliant a party game. There's nothing not to like! Did the Monkey Ball series really peak with the second game? Quite possibly.
Mario's decades-long run of hit after hit after hit is incredible when you think about it. The expectations each new mainline entry creates are astronomically high and we're continually gobsmacked that, more often than not, those expectations are surpassed with the next one.
Available on Switch if you have a copy of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Super Mario Sunshine lacks the immaculate polish we've come to expect from the Mario series thanks to its rushed development. However, there's a unique charm and brilliance to its mechanics and setting which make it an underdog Mario game, and who doesn't love one of those?
As a direct sequel to Super Mario 64, it is not the genre-defining classic everyone hoped for. However, decades later we can look back and appreciate the many things Sunshine does superbly. The Sunshine Defence Force may be overcompensating — it's certainly got its flaws — but at the very least, it's still very good in our eyes.
The joyful, bouncing Isle Delfino theme alone makes it worth revisiting, so if you've skipped this entry in Mario's back catalogue, don't let its reputation put you off.
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 worldbuilding and atmosphere that sets BG&E apart and makes us excited for the prequel that's been in the works for many years.
Often considered a stone-cold classic, and one of the best-licensed video games ever, The Simpsons Hit & Run takes what Road Rage does and amps it up to eleven, sharing a little bit more DNA with the Grand Theft Auto series than SEGA's manic arcade driver, Crazy Taxi.
This is a stone-cold classic, and it seems you agree!
The shock here was just how well the game depicts the Springfield fans know and love from the show, and how well this GTA parody plays. This game feels like a hilarious episode from the show, and every time you go back to it, you'll find something new, and probably get addicted for a few hours.
For such a phenomenally successful series, The Simpsons has a pretty inconsistent track record with video games, but this is a genuinely pleasant surprise and a stand-out video game in its own right.
Seeing Metal Gear Solid — a game synonymous with Sony's PlayStation — on a Nintendo console was a very welcome, if jarring, experience back in 2004.
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes was developed in the main by Silicon Knights, the same studio behind Eternal Darkness, and incorporated aspects of gameplay from Sons of Liberty into the original MGS game.
It also boasts obvious graphical upgrades and entirely re-recorded dialogue featuring almost all the original cast. The new additions were generally well-received, although the gameplay additions arguably trivialised some of the original game's difficulty.
Still, it's a fine version of a classic and well worth adding to your collection (although tracking it down for a sensible price these days is a mission worthy of Solid Snake himself).
