25 Years Later, These 5 Nintendo GameCube Games Have Aged Horribly (But I Still Love Them)

Published Aug 10, 2026, 7:06 AM EDT Ewan is Deputy Editor for ScreenRant's gaming section. He still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase, and knows more about The Legend of Zelda and Doctor Who than is probably healthy. Ewan oversees the content operation of ScreenRant's gaming output, working with a talented team of writers and editors to cover everything from the latest GTA 6 news to the indie games you need on your radar. Former Editor of GAMINGbible, Ewan also has words at Kotaku, Den of Geek, NME, and UNILAD. He's appeared on various podcasts, including VGC's and BBC's Let's Talk About Tech. I love the Nintendo GameCube with all my heart. It is home to most of my favorite video games of all time and some of the best memories of my life. Nights spent playing Super Smash Bros. Melee with my friends at sleepovers; watching my sister literally rage-quit when she lost at Mario Kart Double Dash!!; pretty much everything about Resident Evil 4. However, as much as I adore this box of delights, it's time to accept that not every game released for the GameCube has aged particularly well. In fact, some of the games that first launched on the 25-year-old console are pretty darn hard to play in 2026. That doesn't mean I don't still adore them, mind you. Take a walk with me. 4 The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker Is Hard To Play In 2026 I don't feel good about saying that I want to be very clear: The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker is my all-time favorite video game. I love the cel-shaded art-style, the vast ocean, the combat, the story — everything about it. With that said, the original GameCube version is a chore to play these days. Trying to go back to the 2003 Wind Waker after playing Wind Waker HD is like crawling on your hands and knees through broken glass to get to work after being carried there on the back of a unicorn. Imagine, if you will, a game about sailing across an ocean in which every time you want to switch direction you have to stop, pull out a magical instrument, play that instrument, watch the cutscene, then do it all over again next time you need to change course. Now imagine if the final act of the game was entirely dedicated to sailing everywhere so you could hunt down eight pieces of treasure. How were we okay with this in 2003? It is, I think, a testament to my love of this game that I was able to return to it once a year without fail. Obviously, now I have Wind Waker HD and there can be no looking back. 3 Super Mario Sunshine Has Some Atrocious Levels Mama mia indeed Super Mario Sunshine has a brilliant set-up: Mario and the gang go on holiday? I'm into that! Isle Delfino opens the door to some unique levels, like the huge theme park, or the beach-side hotel overrun by ghosts. It's also a pretty gorgeous game with some really impressive water effects that still hold up today. Unfortunately, Super Mario Sunshine also suffers from a shocking number of glitches for a Nintendo game. To make matters worse, if you're not wrestling with the camera, you're trying to guide Mario, who in this game controls like a slippery butter-drenched pig. Add these fundamental issues to some seriously unforgiving levels, and you have the most needlessly frustrating Mario game ever made. 2 The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures Is Needlessly Hard To Play With Friends I swear I don't just hate Zelda The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures is a game designed to be played with friends. What a shame, then, that Nintendo made it as hard as possible to actually play this game with a group. If you want to play this multiplayer Zelda with the intended two-four players, you need to make sure every single player has their own Game Boy Advance and GameCube/GBA link cable. This was needlessly convoluted back in the day, but in 2026? You might as well forget playing Four Swords Adventures with friends. On the plus side, Four Swords Adventures is still a very pretty game and the single-player option is worth doing if you ever get the chance. 1 Shadow The Hedgehog Is Hilariously Edgy He is... all of him Look, I get it. I was 12 when Shadow The Hedgehog came out, so I was the prime audience for its unique brand of edgehoggery. And, like most 12-year-olds at the time, I ate this game up despite the fact it received an absolute kicking from critics everywhere. A cooler, darker version of Sonic riding around on a motorcycle and shooting aliens with guns? What's not to love about that. Even to this day, I don't particularly have a problem with this attempt at making a Sonic game for the kids who shopped at Hot Topic. And I maintain that the game's title theme, I Am.. All Of Me is an absolute banger. But as far as gameplay goes, Shadow The Hedgehog is a twitching mess of half-baked mechanics and a terrible camera. The branching story was a cool touch, though.