Decided I'd give the GameCube some lovin' last night.
43. Kirby Air Ride|GameCube|2003|kart racer|45m|6/10
Kirby Air Ride is an unusual racing game. For starters, it only uses one button to drive aside from steering. I supposed this was done to make the game easy to play for kids. Air Ride has a few different racing modes, including classic racing, overhead matchbox car style, and battle arena plus drag racing. The graphics are pleasant and the courses have a lot of ramps and corkscrew turns with a decent sense of speed. It sounds like this variety would be a blast, and it may very well be with local multiplayer, but single player gets boring very quickly. Expecting Mario Kart quality here? Forget it. If you're a big fan of Kirby though, and have some pals available for split-screen play, you'll have a good time. But if you're just a kart racing fan looking for your next fix, Kirby Air Ride is gonna be one short trip.
44. Mario Kart: Double Dash!!|GameCube|2003|kart racer|35m|8/10
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is one of the better Mario Karts. It's not as good as DS or 64, but it's not as terrible as the Wii version either. Graphics and physics are quite solid, and the rubberband AI isn't overly prevalent in this iteration. The addition of double drivers isn't much of an innovation, but getting double items is great and adds a new layer of strategy. If you enjoy kart racers you know that Mario Kart is the gold standard for the genre, and Double Dash!! holds up the pedigree.
45. Bloody Roar: Primal Fury (Arcade Mode)|GameCube|2002|fighter|35m|8/10
Bloody Roar is a series that has one central trick; the ability to turn into animals and fight. I mean, yes, you can just fight as a human, but with the touch of a button POOF now you're a vicious animal. Alternating between human/animal form has various strategic advantages but ultimately just looks cool. Primal Fury doesn't do much different than its predecessors, aside from upping the graphical ante. Primary Fury runs at a high framerate with nice character models and decent music. I think its best aspect is the copious amount of anime the game introduces for the story cutscenes. There's a lot of high quality anime to watch in this game, and each anime cutscene changes depending on which character you're fighting as. Bloody Roar has always been a b-tier fighting series, and Primary Fury doesn't do anything to change that fact. But if you're an otaku furry you absolutely must play this game.
