This special Nintendo GameCube bundle includes the first-person action gameMetroid Prime. InMetroid Prime, players battle space pirates and otherworldly monsters to control the future of the universe. The bundle also includes an additional platinum controller that you can use with the system's many multiplayer games.

Though it looks like a toy, don't be fooled: the Nintendo GameCube is a powerful video game console that rightly deserves its place among the other next-generation game systems. In fact, its playful, appealing design and small size (the unit is a not-quite-cubed 6 inches) aren't the only features that set it apart from the others.

For starters, Nintendo has quite clearly made this a game-only machine. It doesn't try to play your CD collection, run your movies, read your e-mail, or store your MP3 files. The company has concentrated its efforts on games. All the prelaunch titles we've seen play smoothly, with bright, fast graphics and great sound. Nintendo says its engineers have removed traditional bottlenecks that have, in the past, slowed down processing. New components designed by IBM and MoSys, as well as a large-capacity secondary memory cache, keep instructions moving through the system's microprocessor (MPU) at peak levels. In English: the GameCube is optimized to push speed up while pushing costs down; hence its position at the lower end of the price spectrum.

The GameCube is the first Nintendo video game system to use a disc-based medium rather than cartridges for its games. Moving the software to disc media generally means lower development costs for the publishers, which, in turn, trickles down to the consumer not only in price, but also in availability and quality, as it's then easier to try out untested game ideas (Pikmin, anyone?). While most other systems likewise have their games stored on discs, the GameCube's 3-inch format is smaller than everyone else's, and is so designed to fit in a shirt pocket as much as to deter would-be software pirates.

Of course, the main advantage of the GameCube is that it's the home field of one of the world's premier game designers: Nintendo. While powerhouses Electronic Arts and Sega make games for all systems (including this one), you can play Nintendo games only on a Nintendo system. And Nintendo, you might recall, has been hitting them out of the park since it started with Donkey Kong. In fact, here's a roll call of characters and series you won't find on the other consoles: Mario, Legend of Zelda, Perfect Dark, Metroid, Kirby, and, of course, Pokemon. A few names that the GameCube will share with the other guys: Madden, Tony Hawk, Sonic, Batman, and Star Wars.

The system also comes with four built-in controller ports, so you can easily plug in extra controllers and let friends join in for the multiplayer games--it's even got a built-in handle so you can easily move it to a friend's house. It comes with two memory card slots for saving your progress through games, and there's the capacity for future expansion into the world of online gaming.

In short, the GameCube isn't an all-in-one entertainment system, and neither is it the most powerful of the modern video game consoles. But for video game enthusiasts who want to stick with their favorite characters, its value cannot be beat. --Porter B. Hall

Unit Specifications

• MPU (Microprocessor Unit): 485 MHz custom IBM PowerPC Gekko
• Graphics Processor: 162 MHz custom ATI/Nintendo Flipper
• Texture-Read Bandwidth: 10.4 GB per second (peak)
• Main Memory Bandwidth: 2.6 GB per second (peak)
• Pixel Depth: 24-bit color, 24-bit Z buffer
• Sound Processor: 81 MHz custom Macronix 16-bit DSP
• Sound Performance: 64 simultaneous channels, ADPCM encoding
• Polygon Performance: 6 to 12 million polygons per second (peak)
• System Memory: 40 MB
• Main Memory: 24 MB MoSys 1T-SRAM
• Disc Drive: 128 ms CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) system
• Data Transfer Speed: 16 Mbps to 25 Mbps
• Media: 3-inch, 1.5 GB capacity disc
• Controller Ports: Four
• Memory Card Slots: Two
• Audio-Video Output: Analog and digital
• Dimensions: 4.3 by 5.9 by 6.3 inches (height by width by depth)

Reliability: GameCube is the most reliable system. I have never heard anyonbe complain that their GC, like the PS2 and X-Box, freezes or has problems reading games. Never. Maybe its because the GameCube does not have a built-in DVD player to slow it down . . . 4/5

Games: Nintendo is known for having the funest, most legendary games on the market. Classics like Zelda, Mario and Starfox are great on the new, more powerful system. Plus, whoever says GameCube games are for kids, just look at all the Future Releases coming for the GameCube. This arent your father's favorite games. 4.5/5

Graphics: Simply put, GameCube has some of the best graphics of any system out there. I know, i know, all of you X-Box groupies are gonna have my head and all but its the truth. I've played an X-Box, and i must say most X-Box games seem to have the same graphics as GC titles do. Plus, with the X-Box and PS2, as I've stated before the built-in DVD players slow down the consoles and blur the graphics until the day you recieve the dreaded "unable to read disk" message and have to spend another $180 on a replacment model. 4/5