This game is a lot nicer than people will tell you.

The biggest Nintendo marquee name to show up for the GameCube launch... and it was only Luigi. That right there pushed it into the realm of unnecessary oddity. Furthermore, most early reviews of the game described it as a tech demo, implying that it doesn't have the chops to stand against other games. There was also a camp that suggested Nintendo was simply trying to "mature up" their normal franchise game with a horror feel. Also recall that the PS2 was entering its second year about this time and had the expected infusion of mega-awesome: GTA3 and MGS2 had just showed up.

So a new Nintendo kiddie title wasn't going to break anybody's fingerbones, no matter how pretty it was.

And it is pretty, even compared to games five years later. Luigi, the translucent ghosts, the cartoony mansion architecture... it looks damn good. When you pulled up this game - and millions did, it was a launch title - you saw a vision of the Nintendo universe that was far and away above Super Mario 64. It looked next-gen.

It falls short in length... the game is called "Luigi's Mansion," not "Super Luigi World," after all. It also suffers from a desparate need to assign actions to every conceivable button just so we could all get used to the fancy new GameCube controller. But jump into that skin and this is a happy, fun little game.

Memory Score: Nintendo does Resident Evil. Brilliant.

This was the launch title that blew your doors off. When you saw that beautifully rendered X-Wing sail over that detailed Death Star, you knew that the GameCube was more powerful than the PS2. Comparing Rogue Leader to February's PS2 Star Wars: Starfighter... well, it was no comparison at all. Starfighter was a cheap Episode 1 cash-in. Rogue Leader was an immersive dogfighting adventure in the Star Wars universe.

It also wasn't afraid to kick your ass around a little bit, with piles of upgrades hidden in ridiculous locations, rewards that required absolute goal perfection, and intense endgame firefights. All of which made this the first GameCube title I could never beat.

Memory Score: The Launch Lust title.

You're not going to believe this, but there was a time when Super Monkey Ball was a GameCube exclusive that was just as weird of a concept game as Mr. Mosquito or Katamari Damacy. You rolled around balls filled with monkeys, man. It was bizarre.

Of course, it turned into another soulless console whore... but as a launch title, it was the strange Japanese niche title with stellar word-of-mouth.

And it was classically fun. Decent multiplayer modes, an old-time arcade feel, and bonus games that were worth playing. (We burned through a ton of Monkey Target.) If you were an average player, you had plenty of fun. If you were a gifted player, you had plenty more puzzles to unlock. The game worked for every skill level, and gave the GameCube its first party game.

It all seems so normal today, doesn't it?

Memory Score: Fall out!

Next time: Mario's age-old enemy visits under the new flag of peace, Spider-Man swings in for an early movie tie-in... and the game that has come to define every Nintendo console since the N64.