10 Most Underrated GameCube Games

While this game didn’t set the world on fire on release, Wario is the hero we need today. Greedy and indulgent but equally inventive and entrepreneurial, Wario is the last great anti hero of our time, and it’s a crying shame we didn’t recognise his GameCube outing as such on its release.

Wario games are always weird, and this one is no exception. As ever, the portly treasure hunter is on the search for gold, with a cursed gem having laid waste to his empire. The game plays to Wario’s build, with less focus on Mario-style precision jumping and more of an emphasis on battering baddies. The level design and especially the music all have that unmistakable Nintendo platformer vibe, and the boss fights are a blast. Most of all, it’s just great fun to play as Wario, who talks trash as he hurls enemies to their doom, and has the sole motivation of a lust for wealth.

The Wario franchise has since found greater success in the beloved WarioWare series, many of which are great and essential games. In a just world, though, Wario will be given his own 3D open world outing on the Switch, and it’d be just as weird and wonderful as this game.