• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

How powerful was the GameCube compared to the PS2 and XBOX ?

DR3AM

DR3AM

Member
I never owned a GC myself but I played it plenty of times at other people homes. I remember that the graphics looked really sharp and all the games were color full. I played RE4, Mario Sunshine, F Zero and all those looked amazing.

So how powerful was the GC in terms of its specs. Some games looked even better then most Wii games.
 
C

Cow Mengde

Banned
To this very day, there are people that still thinks the PS2 is more powerful than the Gamecube. So take that for what its worth.
 
Goro Majima

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
Better than a PS2 graphically but had more audio compression. Not quite an Xbox in either sound or graphics.
 
S

Seik

Banned
XBOX>GC>PS2 in terms of power during this generation.

I mean, shit, Xbox was able to render 720p! XD

EDIT: Beaten, a lot.
 
J

Jubern

Member
wienke said:
Better than a PS2 graphically but had more audio compression. Not quite an Xbox in either sound or graphics.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with the console itself and is just a result of using low-capacity mini-DVD. Which in turn means that game which didn't use all disc space didn't had any sound compression problem.
 
G

Glorified G

Member
Jubern said:
I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with the console itself and is just a result of using low-capacity mini-DVD. Which in turn means that game which didn't use all disc space didn't had any sound compression problem.
Click to expand...

Because the console itself was designed to use low-capacity mini-DVD's it had more audio compression. So technically, he's right.
 
W

Why would you do that?

Member
From my understanding, the Xbox had more polygons than the PS2, while the Gamecube had nicer looking polygons than the PS2.

As for the 720p thing, doesn't that have to do with video memory or something, not power? I'm pretty sure there are hacks for the PS2 to also do 720p also (but not Gamecube, since it doesn't have the memory).

Glorified G said:
Because the console itself was designed to use low-capacity mini-DVD's it had more audio compression. So technically, he's right.
Click to expand...

The Gamecube can handle the same audio the Xbox/PS2 can. Whether or not you compress your audio is up to the game developer.
 
D

DasDamen

Member
In my opinion, the GC version of RE4 running on my 20" Toshiba Flat CRT is still a sight to behold today. It honestly gives most games today a run for their money.

With that said, GC is definitely more powerful than a PS2, but it was hampered by the disc format resulting in highly compressed FMV and audio.
 
B

big_z

Member
I think factor 5 said that the cube could do all the same effects as the xbox And then some but it wasn't as Developer friendly due to having to program all the shaders/effects.

The biggest problem for the cube was the disc size. Developers would have to compress the shit out of the audio and video for a lot of multiplatform games.
 
S

Seik

Banned
spats said:
PS2 had 1080i output for select games, including GT4 and Tourist Trophy.
Click to expand...

Didn't know that! I only knew there was a few games that were able to do 480p like Star Ocean 3, Valkyrie Profile 2 and many others, but 1080i? Wow!

Damon Bennet said:
i just dont like the XD smily. there is not joke in there, why use that smily in a non funny sentence
Click to expand...

Sorry for hitting a nerve right there. :/
 
N

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
Cow Mengde said:
To this very day, there are people that still thinks the PS2 is more powerful than the Gamecube. So take that for what its worth.
Click to expand...
They must be going by the games then? PS2 certainly has it's lookers, people often forget what some of the high profile exclusives are like when developed specifically for that hardware

Wind Waker is unbeatable tho
 
K

Krilekk

Banned
big_z said:
I think factor 5 said that the cube could do all the same effects as the xbox but it wasn't as
Developer friendly due to having to program all the shaders.
Click to expand...

Factor 5 had a history of crawling into their platform of choice's behinds.
 
F

FyreWulff

Member
Xbox and GC were similar that generation, with the PS2 being the distant third in terms of power.

The GC's power went underused by third parties though, as instead of cross porting their Xbox version to the GameCube, they'd take the easy route and port the PS2 version. They actually kept doing this on the Wii: port the PS2 version to it.
 
B

Bjoern the Smexy

Member
I mean, shit, Xbox was able to render 720p! XD
Click to expand...
The PS2 was able to render 1080i. But that's besides the point.

The Cube was more powerful than the PS2 in raw power, but less pwoerful than the Xbox.

In the right hands it produced very very astounding graphics
(Yes, one or two videos are Wii versions, but they are graphically the same).

Culex said:
I'm curious as to what non-factor five games used bump mapping for textures.
Click to expand...
Luigi's Mansion used it in some very rare cases (almost unnoticably) and Super Smash Bros. Melee used it mostly on trophies.
I'm pretty sure that Resident Evil 0, 4 and REmake made use of it as well. Also of course Metroid Prime 1 and 2 and Starfox Adventures.
 
H

H_Prestige

Banned
Gamecube had no loading times. That automatically makes it superior to the other two.

Why exactly can't modern consoles have no loading times like the GC? How did the GC do it?
 
C

Cow Mengde

Banned
Culex said:
I'm curious as to what non-factor five games used bump mapping for textures.
Click to expand...

Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee.

Also, from what I heard, the TEVs are not a bitch to program for. They're actually very straight forward. It's just that people aren't used to developing for it. Remember most ports were just straight up PS2 ports.
 
C

Christine

Member
Gamecube had more than enough power for the time. Its big limitations were disc space, system memory, lack of network infrastructure, and inadequate save space during its first year.
 
F

FyreWulff

Member
H_Prestige said:
Gamecube had no loading times. That automatically makes it superior to the other two.

Why exactly can't modern consoles have no loading times like the GC? How did the GC do it?
Click to expand...

The smaller disc plus screaming fast memory. The Gamecube was a beast at streaming in data. Not even the Xbox had the bandwidth to do Wind Waker's streaming.
 
B

Bjoern the Smexy

Member
sankt-Antonio said:
Did't you need a special cable for that?
Click to expand...

Of course, but you also needed a special cable for the GameCube's 480p output and the Xbox's 720p output.

Why would you do that? said:
But how do mini-DVDs read data faster? Especially since data on the outer edge of a disk reads faster.

I always wondered that...
Click to expand...
Less data means finding the data faster.
Also "no loading times" is a lie. Cube games HAD loading times. Most of them actually. First party developers were smart enough to either hide these loading times somehow or order the data on the disc in such a way that needed data is accessed more quickly.
Of course, these loading times are in absolutely no comparisons of the clusterfuck of loading time we have on current gen consoles...
 
K

Krilekk

Banned
H_Prestige said:
Gamecube had no loading times. That automatically makes it superior to the other two.

Why exactly can't modern consoles have no loading times like the GC? How did the GC do it?
Click to expand...

It's been a while but I'm pretty sure those doors in Metroid Prime only opened after five to six seconds because they were essentially loading screens like the elevator rides in Mass Effect. The GC had just as many loading screens as other consoles.
 
C

Christine

Member
Krilekk said:
It's been a while but I'm pretty sure those doors in Metroid Prime only opened after five to six seconds because they were essentially loading screens like the elevator rides in Mass Effect. The GC had just as many loading screens as other consoles.
Click to expand...

There are no 5-6 second doors in Prime or Echoes. Things got slower in Corruption, but every door in the first two games will load in well under 2 seconds barring disc or drive failures.
 
Z

Zoramon089

Banned
Bjoern the Smexy said:
Of course, but you also needed a special cable for the GameCube's 480p output and the Xbox's 720p output.


Less data means finding the data faster.
Also "no loading times" is a lie. Cube games HAD loading times. Most of them actually. First party developers were smart enough to either hide these loading times somehow or order the data on the disc in such a way that needed data is accessed more quickly.
Of course, these loading times are in absolutely no comparisons of the clusterfuck of loading time we have on current gen consoles...
Click to expand...

Melee was a wonder of loading. The fact that you can go from the title screen to the VS screen in a split second is amazing and loading stages takes like a second max
 
M

Mandoric

Banned
Bjoern the Smexy said:
Of course, but you also needed a special cable for the GameCube's 480p output and the Xbox's 720p output.
Click to expand...

The PS2 and XBox ones were "just" normal component cables. Unusual, expensive because no one but videophiles cared, but no real biggies. The Cube, on the other hand, actually had video processing circuitry in the cable.
 
C

Culex

Banned
People should read up on how elegant the gc architecture was and how it was all crammed into such a small box. Most PC builders should appreciate it.
 
V

ViewtifulJC

Banned
I heard someone explain to me that F-Zero GX couldn't run as well on the Xbox compared to what the Gamecube could do. Lot of techno mumbo jumbo. I assumed it was always Xbox > Gamecube > PS2
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Microsoft is working on an Xbox AI chatbot that can help with support queries and game refunds
News
28
1K
JackMcGunns replied
Did Sony forget this...?
15
2K
FF:Enhanced_Reality replied
Has the PS2 aged poorly visually?
2 3 4 5
221
12K
Corporal.Hicks replied
  • Locked
Apple's organic push towards AAA gaming jeopardizes PC gaming and benefits from this "need" where Xbox tried to reject. Exclusive Games.
Opinion 2
64
4K
Roxkis_ii replied
How To Play PlayStation Exclusive Games On Xbox Using Boosteroid
2
92
5K
Goalus replied
Top Bottom