GameCube Launch Titles

This month is officially 20 years since the GameCube launched in Japan, and in a matter of weeks will also be the anniversary of the American launch! It didn’t release in Europe or Australia until May 2002, so forgive my eagerness to write this, but I just couldn’t hold it in for eight months.

Unlike what I did for the PlayStation and the Game Boy in 2019, this will not list games released for the second and third GameCube releases, because it was unique. No Pockets or 2s - just the GameCube. So let’s get to it!

Much like the 2000 release of the PlayStation 2, when the GameCube originally launched in Japan it had very few titles:

• Luigi's Mansion (Nintendo)
• Super Monkey Ball (SEGA)
• Wave Race: Blue Storm (Nintendo)

The American GameCube launch came on 18th of November 2002, and brought along these additions:

• All-Star Baseball 2002 (Acclaim Sports)
• Batman: Vengeance (Ubisoft)
• Crazy Taxi (Acclaim Entertainment)
• Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 (Acclaim Max Sports)
• Disney's Tarzan: Untamed (Ubisoft)
• Madden NFL 2002 (EA Sports)
• NHL Hitz 20-02 (Midway Games)
• Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (LucasArts)
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (Activision)

When the GameCube was released in Europe and Australia on 3rd and 17th of May 2002 respectively, Madden NFL 2002 was missing, but they had a whole bunch more titles to tinker with (Disney's Tarzan: Untamed was renamed Disney's Tarzan: Freeride):

• 2002 FIFA World Cup (EA Sports)
• Bloody Roar: Primal Fury (Hudson Soft )
• Burnout (Acclaim Entertainment )
• Cel Damage (EA Games)
• Donald Duck: Quack Attack (Ubisoft)
• Driven (BAM! Entertainment)
• ESPN International Winter Sports (Konami)
• Extreme-G 3 (Acclaim Entertainment)
• International Superstar Soccer 2 (Konami)
• Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (SEGA)
• Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure (Kemco)

So there you go, we hope you learnt something!