VIDEO: Again, some game console modder is the only one to have what everyone wants

Matt Hawkins Contributing Writer, Video Games

And that’s a portable GameCube.

I guess it’s somewhat of a moot point, since the 3DS apparently did fairly well this holiday season, both in America and in its homebase of Japan, though it could be argued that it should still be in a far stronger place at this point. Plus with Vita on the horizon, and iOS still the king of the portable hill, the long-term health of the platform is still in question.

I want to like the 3DS, but it’s a mess. Deciding to follow the form factor of the DS made sense, since that platform was so popular, and because it allowed for backwards compatibility, which Nintendo is sorta good with. But having a widescreen 3D display and a non-3D display that’s of regular ratio is still super awkward. The fact that there’s only one analogue pad was also a poor choice.

Any serious thoughts about picking one up is undermined by the knowledge that a redesign is right around the corner, one that makes the system look prettier (it’s kinda fugly) AND gives it an additional hardware feature (a second pad). Hence why one can’t help but wonder if Nintendo had done things differently. So on that note, this just popped up, via Destructoid, a homemade portable GameCube that can also play N64 games…

For a time, there were rumors that Nintendo would create a portable Cube, in response to the PSP, since they both shared media that were of similar size. It sucks that it was never seriously pursued. The 3DS’s graphics are decent and all, but there comes a point in which telling one’s self that “it’s not about the visuals but the experience” becomes a bit a old (despite being true).

A portable Cube would have addressed every issue with the 3DS, from the limp software library (at the very least, the video above does a great job reminding one of all the awesome games that the Cube has in its library), to the dual analogue issue. And from what I’ve seen, Vita games look great and all, but they’re hardly better than what the Cube was able to dish out.

Nintendo’s current crop of 3DS games are great and all, but sometimes, instead of titles that push the 3D envelope, I think many would just like games that just play awesome. And won’t give a headache, since many simply cannot enjoy 3DS games no matter how much they’d like to. Oh, what could have been.

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