Touted as The Sims for kids, Animal Crossing is Nintendo's cutesy spin on the life-sim formula.

AC is quite essentally a game about nothing. You play as a horned boy or girl (your choice) who moves to a randomly generated town that you name with randomly generated residents. The only constsnt character besides a few that show up on rare occasions, and the museum cureater, is Tom Nook the local shop owner, and slum lord extraordinaire. The whole premise behind AC is...well, whatever you want it to be. There are tons of activities that your character can partake in. You can spend the whole day decorating your house that's provided to you by said slum-lord Tom Nook by choosing the floor, the wall paper, and what furniture or knicknacks goes into it; you can choose to fish all day, and sell the fish for cash, donate them to the museum, or even use them in your home decor; you can even run errands for the residents of your town who will reward you handily with new clothes for your character, furniture, and even fruit. There is so much to do in this game. You even have to upkeep your town by pulling weeds that pop up from time to time. You can even save your character to a memory card, and take it to a friend's house and explore their town.

AC runs off your Gamecube's internal clock, and calender, so there are some activities that only take place at certain times of the year. Tell one of the residents your birthday, and every year on your birthday, you'll be showered with gifts, cards, and a cake. Not only does the game celebrate birthdays, but every holiday, and the seasons also change with the calender. In autumn the leaves on the tree will change colors, in winter rain will turn to snow, and in summers everything's green and lightning bugs appear. It's a really fun concept, and it adds so much to the experience. The Gamecube's internal clock is also put to good use in this fashion. Tom Nook's store closes at 9:00 pm every night in your time, and there are certain activities like the summer yoga that takes place at certain times during the day. I can actually see some people getting up at 6:00 am just to catch it (I'm not one of those people).

For as addictive and fun as AC is, it does have it's faults. Once you've paid off your house and have decorated it to your liking, there's not much else to strive for in the game. After that, you might be entertained a little while longer by the quest to complete the museum's collection (my friends and I had a little competition going), and maybe by certain yearly events, but for the most part, there's nothing left to strive for after you've got everything to your liking. Also, even though the size of your house is upgradeable via Tom Nook, the final size of your house is still too small. You get so much furniture throughout the game, that you end up having to store it all by putting it into letters, and then storing those letters in the post office. This can be combated by filling the three other slots with new characters you've created (assuming you've got no one else playing the game along with you), and then having four houses to decorate, but even then you'll have more stuff that you know what to do with.

Bottom Line: Animal Crossing is a super addictive life-sim game that you won't be able to get enough of at first. However, once you complete certain aspects of the game, there's nothing else to strive for.

In an industry where game makers are afraid to innovate Pikmin shows game makers what can happen when you try something new. You play as Captain Olimar who is a space traveler that crash lands on a strange planet after his space ship collides with a meteor. Olimar has thirty days to recover thirty missing pieces of his ship. However he won't have to find them alone. He is aided by little plant-like creatures that he discovers and names Pikmin. The Pikmin do a great many things that range from carrying pieces of Olimar's ship that are spread across each area to killing large predators. This would mean nothing if controlling the Pikmin wasn't such a breeze. You move Olimar with the analog stick and the Pikmin with the C-stick. The game in itself consists of beautiful environments that have some of the best water effects ever in a game and soothing music that fits in prefectly with the natural surroundings. Despite all the game has going for it, it does have it's few annoyances. Any time I went near water my little Pikmin always seemed to find a way to drown themselves and will sometimes stop to do things without you telling them to which can make it hard to keep track of them all. Plus the days go by way too fast which ends up making the game go by too fast. Overall, Pikmin is short but sweet and should be at least a weakend rental for anyone who owns a Gamecube.

Resident Evil for the Gamecube is a beautiful sight to behold. It combines gorgeous prerendered backgrounds with great looking character models, and the lighting effects are truly excellent. However when it comes to sound the sound effects are good, but the music is rarely ever there. If you've ever played the original you'll know how much the music helped create the overall freaky mood. Just like the other RE games, they made it into more of a game with cheap scares then a game where the surrounding atmosphere is enough to scare the hell out of you. The game has some other nuisances like having to set the zombies on fire to get rid of them. This means you need to carry around your lighter and your fuel can which take up precious space in your inventory. Despite some flaws Resident Evil turns out to be a very good game over all, and I would suggest it to any Gamecube owner to play through. That goes for newbies to the series and with the new graphics and some new areas to explore veterens too (though you'll get a been there done that feeling).

In an industry where developers are afraid to innovate, Pikmin is a showcase of what can happen when you try something new. In Pikmin you play as Captain Olimar who is a space traveler that crash lands on a strange planet after his ship collides with a meteor. Olimar has thirty days to recover thirty missing pieces of his ship before his life support system fails him. However he won't have to find said 30 pieces alone, throughout the game he is aided by little plant-like creatures that he discovers and names Pikmin.

There are three types of Pikmin to be used; the Red Pikmin are impervious to fire, and are the strongest attackers; the Yellow Pikming can be thrown the highest, and have the ability to pick up little bombs; and the Blue Pikmin have gills with which to breath under water. The Pikmin do a great many things throughout the game that range from carrying pieces of Olimar's ship that are spread across each of the game's five areas, to building bridges, and even killing large predators. Knowing which color of Pikmin is right for the job is key to Olimar's survival.

Controlling your Pikmin is a breeze. You move Olimar with the analog stick and the Pikmin with the C-stick. You also have the ability throw you Pikmin onto predators, or up to unreachable ledges for them to carry down items. Watching the little guys swarm a predator, kill it, and then carry it off victoriously to the Onions (the Pikmin's homes that also act a Pikmin Generators) to be turned into more Pikmin is one of the game's many delights.

Despite all the game has going for it, it does have it's few annoyances. Any time I went near water, my little Pikmin always seemed to find a way to drown themselves. They also sometimes stop to do things without you telling them. This can make it hard to keep track of them all. Calling them back to you is a simple one button affair, but there will always be stragglers that get left behind, and eaten at the day's end. Also, the days go by way too fast which ends up making the game go by too fast. If you aren't able to get every part of your ship in a timely fashion, not only will you be behind on days, but you'll be in a world of hurt come day 30.

Bottom Line: Pikmin is a short, but sweet adventure from the mind of Nintendo's most celebrated designer, Shigeru Miyamoto. If you're tired of the same old games, and want to play an "outside the box" game, then give Pikmin a try. You won't be disappointed.

SSBM is a well rounded, if unusual, side scrolling fighter... Lets start with story...oh, wait there isn't any. One of the few things that the game lacks is a full story mode, with dialouge and cutscenes, but what it lacks there, it makes up in its numorous modes and minigames. Characters...one of the games strong points is its wide selection of fighters with variety of moves and abilities. There are a few copy cat fighters...but with the different stats you can hardly tell the difference. Music...great remixes and revives of classic tunes of Nintendos past, from Mario to Legend of Zelda to Metroid, there is plenty of catchy battle songs to hear. Graphics...one of the better on the Gamecube... Characters have a flare never before seen with them...Clothes and fur and skin have a texture that looks real...And the Stages ar easy on the eyes, with a little pizazz added. Extras and Replay vaule...it will take anyone a couple of dozen hours to get the secrets of this game....with plenty of throphies and characters to unlock, its no breeze through this game...and with multiplayer, whenever a few freinds come over, you'll probably want a nice 4 way melee for some killer fun. Overall, this is a preety well-rounded game, just a few touch ups here and there and a few more characters..and it would be perfection. But a must own for any Gamecube and Wii owner.