After the slapdash efforts of #4, the screenshots for #5 gave me some hope for this Party. Although, by this time, everyone I know is pretty much burned out on the whole concept... and I'm weary of picking up a new one every Thanksgiving. But I just had to see some real, next-gen board game renders. Whee.

Mario Party 5 introduced the capsule system for using and planting items... which, although it's easier to explain than #4's mini-mega system, it's still clunky and slow.

There are some absolutely crazy extras on this one, the too-cute action games of Beach Volleyball and Ice Hockey, and the strangely detailed Super Duel Mode, where you build custom go-karts for arena-style car-based deathmatches. Really? I'm serious.

Nintendo should combine all of the Mario Parties into one big massive uber-game for the Wii, complete with every single extra mode and bonus feature. With so many boards and mini-games available, you could play for weeks without a repeat, and you'd definitely feel like you got your $50 worth.

Memory Score: I'm a big fan, but at this point I'm, like, $300 in just on Mario Party games. Ugh.

The greatest thing about this disc is that you got it sent to you, free of charge, just for registering X GameCube purchases on Nintendo.com. In a world with Nintendo receding in the face of the other console's exclusive features, you'd think Nintendo would be doing this more often. This is one realm where no one can touch them: otaku nostalgia. They should have given away a different compilation set every holiday.

Wishes aside, this one features almost every pre-Cube console Zelda game, with the notable exception of Link to the Past, which was available on store shelves as a GBA release. So you can guess why they decided not to include it.

I vaguely recall booting up the NES originals, but only out of curiousity. After giving my all to NES Metroid (unlocked back in Metroid Prime), I've all but given up on the old school stuff. I'm not into drawing my own maps anymore.

Memory Score: I should probably check out Majora's Mask, an N64 game I somehow managed to skip

G4's weekly testosterone-fest rated this as one of the worst GameCube games ever, which is totally unfair, because this is, unashamedly and obviously, an actual kids game. I know G4 regularly has difficulty identifying a Nintendo kids games from a Nintendo all-ages game (hint: stop reviewing games just to appease pre-teen PS2 forum junkies), but this one is a solid little kiddie exploration title with hints of Animal Crossing-esque content.

What are all those PC edutainment games? Putt-putt? Reader Rabbit? This is like that, except that it's about Pokemon and hinges around watching television... so there's no way you'll get the edu-crowd to back it.

The deal is that you live with Pikachu - who is wonderfully animated - and you have to travel around a very limited world clicking on other pokemon. Your room holds all of the items you collect, including the centerpiece television set that lets you watch various Pokemon Universe channels. Like Slowpoke's Weather Channel, or Shop'n'Squirtle, or the Pokemon News Network, with Psyduck as the anchor and Meowth as the investigative reporter.

Order something from the shopping channel (using money that you win for answering trivia questions) and the item is delivered tomorrow. Real-world tomorrow. If you collect all of the "missing show disks" (which takes about a week for the diligent player), and you get an exclusive half-hour animated movie. There's even some bare eReader interaction.

It's meant for three-year-olds. And as a diehard, I was happy to check it out.

Memory Score: Finally, the GameCube tech demo "Meowth's Party" comes home!

Next time: A great overlooked new-IP title, a multiplayer giveaway that never fails to impress, and the game that killed Sonic dead.