Bright and breezy jet-skiing sequel from Nintendo that has some excellent handling and water physics. The game has you racing between buoys vying for first place and pulling off impressive tricks and jumps along the way. The game doesn't have a helluva lot of gameplay improvements over its N64 forebear, feeling somewhat like an enhanced remake at times, but the graphical improvement is significant and the original had pretty awesome gameplay anyway so that's quite easily forgiven.

Somewhat underrated 3rd person shooter that has you blasting your way through some tense, action packed stages as a little Droid recently reactivated. Its a polished game that gives you a variety of different guns and grenades to use, (many of which are a lot of fun), as well as loads of upgrades to purchase. The 4-player mode here is also definitely worth mentioning, with a plethora of excellent modes and arena's to play through with your friends. Each arena has a different set of robots that you can take control of which range in size and ability (hulking mech's, nimble rocket-packed robots and flame-throwing ground units), and there's also a bunch of vehicles like tanks and airplanes to commandeer.

This is a nice little game that came out during the latter half of the GameCube's life span. Here you play as a small toy robot who's recently been purchased by a troubled family. Your job is to move around the huge house exploring and looking out for jobs to do, you generally just try to to make the household a happier place. There's puzzles to do and upgrades to purchase as you progress.

First person shooter sequel to the excellent Timesplitters 2. Here the developers attempted to make a more cohesive plot to hold the different levels together (reacting to an occasional criticism of the earlier games). They worked a lot on the graphics, adding more effects (such as copious amounts of bloom), and also included some nice new modes. Mostly I'd say its a shining success, though I do still prefer the second game in the series truth be told, I felt it had a little more charm over this one, but honestly they're both awesome.

Simulation game from Nintendo with a focus on community and open-ended gameplay. The game begins with you arriving at a new village with very little to your name, from here you can work to buy new things (such as furniture), socialise with the NPCs, collect items, or do loads of customisation and design yourself. A unique and well made game for creative gamers.

Very respectable port of the classic arcade driving game (a definite improvement over the dodgy PS2 version). Crazy Taxi is a pick up and play game where the aim is to take on passengers and take them to their destination as quickly as possible before a counter runs down. Mastering a set of moves (such as specialised boosts and skids) are the key to shaving off those valuable seconds, and driving recklessly gets you some monetary bonuses along the way. Its just pure arcade fun.

A very odd, very violent action-adventure title from the eccentric Goichi Suda (nicknamed Suda51), who would later go on to make the equally idiosyncratic "No More Heroes" series for the Wii. The game is a horror title that is somewhat difficult to explain in few words (but I'll try!). Most of the time you are in 3rd person view, with the game restricting your movement to a selection of pre-determined directions, you move around the levels solving puzzles, and can bring up a first person stationary view that allows you to aim and fire at oncoming monsters. The only thing I could compare it to is maybe D2 on the Dreamcast (though the similarity is slight). Its a polarising game but should be checked out by anyone looking for something a little unique.

The third release in the Splinter Cell series, Chaos Theory builds on the stealth action that the series is known for with improvements in AI and graphics and some cool extra modes. The game is a true hardcore stealth title, there's no blundering through the levels hoping to get lucky here, you have to be hyper-aware of your surroundings at all times, making sure to stick to dark areas and make as little noise as possible. The GameCube version is a little downgraded from the original but is still definitely a worthwhile buy.

Harvest Moon is a sort of farming simulation game. You essentially buy seeds, plant crops and look after your livestock as best you can in an effort to succeed and prosper in life. This particular release also has you interacting with villagers and looking to find yourself a bride. A lot more fun than it sounds!

Strategy RPG from the classic Fire Emblem series of games. Though the series had already had a long history of success in Japan going back as far as the Famicom (NES) this was actually the first home console game in the series to arrive in the west (though there'd been some handheld releases). The game uses a turn-based battle system on a grid, with you giving out orders to each character in turn. Terrain and positioning play a part in the battle and characters gain experience and level up. Other than the battling this game has a lot of focus on a strong storyline, and the plot also plays out in a variety of different ways based on how you play the game.