This was a pretty big deal, getting a Resident Evil game on a Nintendo system, even if it was a fancy dancy remake. Plus, Nintendo got to fightin' with a little M-rated cred.

It did look great, but then, it damn well better... it's pre-rendered backgrounds. Unfortunately, by 2002, the world was pretty much bone-weary of the weird old RE tank control scheme. And, although the first Resident Evil is a museum-quality classic, it ain't because of the high-end plot. So combine a very familiar (albeit remixed) premise with Clinton-era controls, and you don't end up with a title that moves GameCubes.

I stopped playing when I got to the first Lisa fight... because you can't kill her, as I later found out online. Which ticked me off after spending hours trying to shotgun the monster down.

Memory Score: I probably didn't give this one a fair shake.

This is the GameCube's Ico.

It's a great game, in a style all but un-represented on the console, with plenty of good buzz... and nobody bought it. The only difference between Ico's Q-rating and Eternal Darkness's Q-rating is that people actually continue to talk about Ico.

Eternal Darkness is a huge Lovecraftian ripoff%D homage with some exceptionally twisted gameplay. Although you start out thinking you're in for some kind of Tomb Raider Plus Melodrama (with the game's main character Alexandra Roivas), you're quickly sent back in time to control a Roman commander as he ventures into an ancient tomb in search of a trip of incredibly powerful artifacts. The game then follows a dozen characters throughout time, all somehow linked to these mysterious talismans.

And even though there's a great balance of physical attacks and magickal spells, the game's true speciality is the insanity system. Whenever you (in whatever character you're currently playing) sees a monster (typically zombie-type stuff), your sanity meter drops... and when that falls too far, the game starts screwing with you. Your character's head will pop off, the game will drop all audio, everything will turn upside down, you'll get a warning about the GameCube controller being unplugged, even the Windows Blue Screen of Death. It's an amazing experience that keeps you constantly engaged.

This game got it all right - story, characters, action, depth, replay, graphics - and nobody cared.

Memory Score: As soon as this masterpiece topped out at fifteen copies sold nationwide, we knew the Cube was never going to attract any more M-rated exclusives.

I had never played a Tony Hawk game, but I sort of wanted to try one out. So when I heard about Aggressive Inline I jumped that up to the top of the list, since I do in fact roller blade in real life.

As promised, this is the inline version of Tony Hawk. You skate around big interactive environments chaining tricks and whipping around like crazy. If I remember correctly, this was the first game in this genre to add a performance-based skill upgrade system... meaning that, if you wanted to be a better grinder, you just had to do more grind moves.

I never got good enough to unlock everything, but I did get good enough to have fun with it.

Memory Score: An early contender in this generation's vaunted "breast physics" fight.

Next time: To the beach! First we'll meet up with the girls, then strap on our water packs, and take a ferry ride with a rhyming turtle-man.