Best GameCube RPGs

Though it has been somewhat forgotten about today, the GameCube was a hugely important console in gaming history. Not only was it around at the advent of gaming, when the industry truly began to boom, but many of the greatest games of all time and the beginnings of hugely influential franchises were released on this platform.

While some of these games may have aged since then, many are still worth revisiting for the incredible stories and battle systems they hold. The era of consoles like the GameCube held many games that inspired the biggest releases of today.

Updated November 5, 2024, by Chris Harkin: The popularity of classic gaming continues to rise with so many remakes and so much nostalgia being heavily involved in the rising success of the modern gaming industry. Although the GameCube is no longer a relevant console, it has managed to retain lifelong fans who are constantly looking for the best games from that era to revisit. Not only is this cost-effective a lot of the time, compared to modern AAA games, it is also a chance to see the origins of some huge franchises and some surprisingly great licensed games which were even more popular in the era of the GameCube than they are today.

12 Custom Robo

A Successful Franchise That Finally Left Japan

• Platforms: GameCube
• Released: March 4th, 2004
• Developer: Noise
• Genre: Action RPG
• System: GameCube

After three games in this excellent RPG franchise stayed exclusive to Japan, this fourth entry, known in Japan as Custom Robo: Battle Revolution, made a splash on the worldwide stage and has been greatly appreciated retrospectively as one of the best GameCube releases.

Set in a world filled with huge robots and their human commanders, Custom Robo allows players to adventure through a campaign or take on many different robots in a tournament-style mode. The main story is typical for the time in an RPG, featuring a hero with a tragic background set to try and take down a great evil. The robot fighting system was excellent and gave the game a memorable place among the more often fantasy-based RPGs of the time.

11 Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age

An Excellent Chance To Adventure Through The Famous Trilogy

Although there are a lot of works from the world of J. R. R. Tolkien, there are few games that have managed to capture the entire trilogy in one glorious RPG setting. The story of the films is told but in a game with the style of Final Fantasy, which drew many comparisons to that series from critics, as particularly the combat was very similarly styled due to the popularity of Final Fantasy X at the time.

The Third Age was a great game for fans of the Lord of the Rings films, although it did depart from the films by adding extra scenarios and fights, such as one where the party faced off with Grima Wormtongue. The turn-based combat and surprisingly strong graphics make this a great version of the story to play back today for fans of the series, particularly for fans of old-school RPGs.

10 Pokemon Colosseum

Ahead Of Its Time And An Incredible Spin-Off Adventure

One of the boldest and strangest entries in the history of the Pokemon franchise, Pokemon Colosseum changed the game quite literally. Instead of allowing players to capture Pokemon from the wild, the game focused on players stealing the Pokemon of other trainers in battle.

Additionally, players take on the role of a former member of Team Snagem, a completely different sort of role from the normal new trainer starting out on their adventures. Attempting to save shadow Pokemon from Team Snagem, the game has a fascinating focus and was a mind-blowing change of pace for the Pokemon franchise. It opened the games up to new possibilities, which are still being explored today.

9 Gladius

Massive In Scale & Incredible Combat Mechanics

A most forgotten tactical RPG by LucasArts that deserves another look, Gladius lets players take control of a school of gladiators, which they were supposed to take into battle against opposing schools. The plot is choice-driven; the first major decision is made at the beginning of the game when the player decides whether to run a school in Imperia or the relatively less civilized Nordagh.

Featuring a great multiplayer system that worked for up to four players and a fantastic campaign that allowed players to venture across many different lands, Gladius succeeded at the time among those players who tried it, but it remains a largely unknown game that deserved better than it got.

8 Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings And The Lost Ocean

A World That Felt Alive & A Truly Captivating Story

Another RPG, this one a JRPG, which got rave reviews upon release but didn’t manage to sell well. Baten Kaitos was specifically developed for the GameCube system because the number of JRPGs available was so low.

Baten Kaitos lets the player take control of a party of characters as a guardian spirit. In a world revolving around magical cards, the fantastic card-based battling system helped Baten Kaitos become a beloved creation. A beautifully fun narrative with some great world-building, Baten Kaitos was so beloved by those who played it that, even with lukewarm sales, it managed to get a prequel game later, and both games were later remastered.

7 Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

An Unconventional Spin-Off That Started Another Franchise

Despite there not being a huge list of Final Fantasy games released on the GameCube, this spin-off that started a franchise of its own was a huge success. Crystal Chronicles follows a group of adventurers who are guarding a caravan filled with myrrh, which is used to fuel the crystals that protect their world.

With a great parasite feeding off their world, the heroes go on a great adventure, which is less plot-heavy but just as hugely enjoyable in terms of gameplay as many of the best Final Fantasy entries. The simple ideas, the single & multi-player options, and the beautiful world created around the crystals made for a phenomenal entry in the long-running franchise, which also managed to get a recent remaster.

6 X-Men Legends 2: Rise Of Apocalypse

A Huge Cast In The Licensed Game Of Your Dreams

Before the MCU began, the X-Men were still one of the pinnacles of major Marvel media. X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse was one of the best examples of how comics can be brought into major video games. This action RPG allowed players to take control of a variety of characters from the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, as the teams unite to take on the new threat of Apocalypse.

Bringing in a lot of new elements, as well as improving on ones from the previous game, X-Men Legends 2 was a fantastic RPG that helped continue popularizing that type of game in the West by combining it with a hugely popular franchise. Including 18 playable characters from the X-Men world, this game is hugely worth revisiting today. It remains one of the best and most varied options for creating a roster of superheroes and villains to use in an RPG.

5 Skies Of Arcadia Legends

A Beautifully Animated Story Which Ticked All The RPG Boxes

Skies of Arcadia was one of the very best games released for the Dreamcast, but it later received a fantastic port for the GameCube in Skies of Arcadia Legends. With phenomenal turn-based combat and a huge amount of character work done in addition to fantastic world-building, Skies of Arcadia is a JRPG bursting with heart and real love, which shockingly never got a sequel.

Featuring a sort of Robin Hood-like story about a pair of air pirates trying to fight back against the Valuan Empire, there are similarities between this game and entries in franchises like Final Fantasy. The air-based world is a beautiful one to explore, and the soundtrack fits the over-the-top style of the game perfectly.

4 Fire Emblem: Path Of Radiance

A Great Transition To 3D With Excellent Tactical Gameplay

One of the best JRPG franchises of all time, Fire Emblem was still relatively new to the Western World when Path of Radiance was released. It was the ninth entry in the franchise, but only the third to be released outside of Japan at that time. A fascinating tactical JRPG that includes permadeath which is unusual in such open games; characters who were killed on the field did not return.

Battles are decided by the player tactically placing their characters around the field of play. Only the protagonist could not be killed, as that resulted in the end of the game. If anybody else out of the massive roster of playable characters perished, the game would continue with them gone forever. The plot involves Ike and his band of mercenaries attempting to restore Princess Elincia to the throne of her native Crimea, a plot with plenty of fun to it, and many interesting characters, though the focus was definitely on the tactical combat system.

3 Tales Of Symphonia

Amazing Art, Characters, World & Combat Systems

One of the more notable entries from the Tales Of franchise of JRPGs, Tales of Symphonia was released in 2003 and got Western releases in 2004. Dubbed “an RPG that resonates with you”, the game featured protagonists attempting to save their world while discovering that doing so would threaten an adjacent world.

With a colorful, fun art style and exciting characters, Tales of Symphonia was an instant success. There were few issues with the game, despite several ports and translations across a number of consoles, prompting the Tales Of series to gain some level of foothold in the West, enough for Tales of Symphonia to get a must-play remake.

2 Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance

The Peak Of The 00s Hack-And-Slash RPG Era

After the release of the first two major entries in the Baldur’s Gate franchise, Dark Alliance was a bold step by the developers to see whether the franchise would be successful on consoles. A surprisingly dark D&D-type adventure game, this story gave players the chance to play as a dwarf, human, or elf.

A great introduction to the RPG style, as the Forgotten Realms setting of Baldur’s Gate is familiar to many fantasy fans of all calibers, Dark Alliance was a massive leap for the franchise and for Western RPGs, just like Baldur’s Gate 3 has done for the Western RPG again more recently, which led to this classic becoming available on other platforms.

1 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

A Perfect Spin-Off & A True RPG Classic

The Mario franchise isn’t known for the RPGs it has produced as much as the platformers and even the racing games. However, the Paper Mario spin-off franchise has been hugely successful at delivering quality, entry-level RPGs in the franchise, and none of them have been more of a phenomenon than The Thousand-Year Door.

The drawing-like art style, the fun storyline, the wide variety of characters, and the improvements made from the first game in the franchise led to The Thousand-Year Door being a close-to-perfect experience in the larger Mario franchise. With the Mario franchise showing no signs of slowing down, it is possible that more Paper Mario games will be released after the remake of The Thousand-Year Door, to keep the legacy of phenomenal GameCube RPGs like this alive.