Fifteen years ago, on May 3, 2002 the Nintendo GameCube finally reached Europe. It marked the end of a wait which had been long even by Nintendo’s standards or the standards of a less connected, less fast-paced world in general. Just imagine Nintendo had brought the Switch to Europe as many as 8 or 6 months after its launch in Japan and the USA respectively.
On the upside, the late release date allowed for one of the strongest launch line-ups in Nintendo history and quite possibly the strongest first 12 months after a home console release ever: Arriving alongside the hardware were titles such as Luigi’s Mansion, Wave Race: Blue Storm, a game no less thrilling than its N64 predecessor, and Factor 5’s arguably last true masterpiece Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II. On top of that, early adopters could choose from decent third party titles of almost any genre: Burnout, Sonic Adventure 2, Bloody Roar and Super Monkey Ball to name but a few.
Super Smash Bros. Melee arrived a mere 3 weeks later, followed within another 3 weeks by Pikmin. September saw Capcom’s hauntingly detailed Resident Evil remake (and a yellow giant by the name of Doshin who never even made it to America), October the summer vibes of Super Mario Sunshine, and November not only Eternal Darkness but also Rare’s farewell Starfox Adventures (as well as two time-exclusive, unjustifiably forgotten licensed titles: Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Die Hard: Vendetta). Early 2003, still within the first 12 months since the console had launched, came Rayman 3 (also a time-exclusive), Phantasy Star Online (which brought GameCube owners online play one week before Xbox Live officially started in Europe), the all new Resident Evil Zero – and of course Metroid Prime and Zelda: The Wind Waker. What a year!
So, welcome back to the second part of our series in honour of the GameCube’s 15th anniversary. Something’s a little different this time, you may have noticed that by now. A special welcome goes to our international readers, as today we can present the first proper English-language article on SPIELKRITIK.com (not counting that one artsy something that can be found here).
But there are more reasons why I am happy SPIELKRITIK can be home to the following guest contribution. The article provides just the sort of „beyond nostalgia“ approach to old games (or „retro“, a term I’m reluctant to use in many contexts) which I usually find most interesting and fruitful: Situating them in the technological, cultural or any other context of their time – and then drawing the line to here and now by means of finding out what about those classics could still be relevant to us today – or what could be an inspiration for the future even.
Enjoy Charlotte’s original look at Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem and its most infamous memory-card-killing feature! [sk]
Eternal Darkness – a game that goes the extra mile to scare you
(by Charlotte Cutts)
The Nintendo GameCube has gained a reputation, just like other Nintendo consoles, for being aimed at the younger gamer. As the home of Mario and Pikachu, it’s easy to see why this perception has organically developed.
However, Nintendo has provided a home for games with more mature themes, such as MadWorld and No More Heroes for the Wii, and it even got REmake on the GameCube years before it would be available on a PlayStation console. It also had one of the most creative horror games ever made: Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem.
About Eternal Darkness
Released on 1st November 2002 in Europe, Eternal Darkness features several different protagonists, each on a quest during a different period of history. The plot, however, revolves around one central female character in the present day, Alexandra Roivas, who is trying to find out more about her grandfather’s death. The game combines time-hopping with dark magic and real historical events, such as World War 1 and the reign of Charlemagne.
The most stand-out feature of the game is not the plot, but rather how it makes use of the protagonist’s sanity meter in ways rarely seen before, and in ways well ahead of its time. As well as the protagonist hearing voices, some of the effects purport to interfere with the player’s TV set or GameCube, such as imitating a Blue Screen of Death or pretending to switch off the player’s screen. The game can even pretend to delete your GameCube save data, which is probably the scariest thing that could ever happen to a gamer!
Unfortunately, these effects have aged poorly thanks to the development of TV technology, and few would fall for such effects on anything but a rickety old CRT TV, but the effects are still quite jarring to watch.
Games breaking the fourth wall in the early 2000s
Eternal Darkness was not the only game that was breaking the fourth wall in such extreme ways in this era. Metal Gear Solid 2 is notable for its “Fission Mailed” fake Game Over screen, for example. Breaking the fourth wall has most commonly been used for comedic effect, with Giant Bomb listing many examples of ground-breaking games in which this trope has been used.
Breaking the fourth wall for horror purposes, instead of for comedy, is a riskier move, since there is the danger that the player will simply find it ridiculous and laugh. What makes Eternal Darkness‚ varied use of fourth wall breaking particularly clever is that it plays on different levels of fear. If a player is suddenly made to believe that their GameCube has crashed, they will be in a blind panic to fix the problem and perhaps have more adrenaline running than with any of the actual gameplay, because it is a realistic problem that you don’t expect to encounter during the average horror game.
The other sanity meter effects mix things up, unsettling the player through random quotes blown up on the screen, using the protagonist’s hallucinations to make the player question what is real and what is not, and making the protagonist walk on the ceiling to disorient the player. The combination of different types of fear means that the player is unable to feel calm even in quieter moments, as scares beyond their imagination could be just around the corner.
Use of fourth wall breaking as a precursor to decent motion controls/VR/AR
The early interactivity model for games was a one-way street: the player sent inputs and these inputs affected something on screen, resulting in a win or a loss. Two of the most prominent hallmarks of how sophisticated games development has become are the ability to make these inputs in more natural ways, e.g. through motion controls, and the sense of some reciprocity in the game model, e.g. the way VR and AR create the impression that the game is influencing the world around the player.
In 2002, motion controls were more primitive than what we eventually saw with the Wiimote in 2006, while VR and AR were perceived as something that the consumer would not see for a very long time, similar to self-driving cars. As early as the 1980s, interesting methods of controlling games were being sold (with mostly disappointing results), such as R.O.B the Robot and the Power Glove. By 2002, the Gametrak was in development, but even that was clunky and not very popular.
This is all to say that what Eternal Darkness achieved, in breaking the fourth wall so convincingly, was a way of getting around these hardware limitations to create that reciprocity and a closer bond with the player. The fact that a game can affect your surroundings, by making you jump up and reset your console, is disturbing to a lot of players, because it is a way in which the game can play you; it was a fresh dynamic.
Even now, with the struggle to get consumers to buy the HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift or even the PSVR due to astronomical prices, there is a race to do something truly innovative with the game-player relationship. Eternal Darkness proved that even machines with weaker specs can work with what they have to mess with the player in a novel way.
Eternal Darkness’ spiritual successors (pun intended)
Many subsequent horror games have gone out of their way to acknowledge the player. Five Nights at Freddy’s is based on the player and the protagonist being one and the same, with the animatronics going out of their way to make you, the player, jump out of your skin.
To a lesser extent, all first-person horror games blur the line between whether the creatures are out to get your character, or whether they are out to get you, the player. The sanity meter has also been co-opted by games such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which quite clearly pays homage to Eternal Darkness through the strong reaction that the protagonist has if he so much as looks at the monsters prowling the castle he is trapped in.
Unfortunately, plans to create a sister game to Eternal Darkness for the Wii U and PC fell through, but Eternal Darkness has since become a cult classic and has clearly influenced the horror games that came afterwards. So, while we are celebrating the 15th anniversary of the GameCube being released in Europe, remember it as a diverse console that not only had Resident Evil exclusives, but also had a couple of its own terrifying, obscure gems.
Charlotte Cutts is a British videogames enthusiast living in Hamburg – all of her writing can be found here.
Did you fall for any of Eternal Darkness‘ sanity effects? Which games do you know that succeed in breaking the fourth fall for other than comical effects? Let us know in the comments section! And come back again on Sunday when we introduce two more literally „haunting“ GameCube gems.
Update: Part 3 of our feature can now be found here.
SPIELKRITIK.com 
One of my favorite games for the Cube. Loved it, still played it a few months ago and will probably always love it. Good mindfuck!
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Firstly, I think Eternal Darkness was the first real horror game I ever played (and was some months later followed by the RE Remake). Secondly, I loved the story. Back then when I was 15, I found it so deep and mature. Today I can see it’s actually somewhat trashy, at times random, but gripping nonetheless. Thirdly, I can remember three occasions on my first playthrough when the game got me REALLY scared!
One is the bathtub scene, shown on the screenshot in the article, which is one of the few ordinary jump scares in the game. I later realised that I should have seen that coming as it was in the trailer (which I may have watched a hundred times or more). But as it took place in the supposedly safe space in form of the mansion, I jumped. Another was when, again, I was playing with Alexandra, I had just finished a chapter and was back in the mansion. Naturally I relaxed, expecting no evil. Then I go through a door, enter the entrance hall – which is suddenly CROWDED with zombies and I was just like “Fuck!!”. I didn’t perceive it as a sanity effect or halluzination, I really believed the monsters had in the meantime entered the mansion and I expected to get killed. But after a few seconds of fighting it turned out it all wasn’t real. Last, I was prepared for some of the sanity effects: the TV seemingly turning off, the fly on the screen – I had read that in some reviews. But not the thing with the memory card, that not… xD
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Nice retrospective! How can the GameCube be 15 years old now?!
Looking back on 2002, the launch titles were surprisingly strong (especially by standards of a console launch now). I remember getting Luigi’s Mansion and Super Monkey Ball first, quickly followed-up by Smash Bros.
But I think the two-fer of Metroid Prime and Zelda: The Wind Waker really made this machine. An underrated console.
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Thank you!
Hmm, though from my perspective, it really seems a loooooong time ago. In fact, for me it’s more „shocking“ thinking that even the Wii is more than 10 years old by now! Or the WiiU: Five, okay. But it feels as if I had bought it just yesterday.
My first GameCube title was Rogue Squadron II, followed by a second-hand copy of Wave Race. I’m not quite sure what was next, Super Smash Bros. probably.
Strangely, I feel no strong affection neither for Metroid Prime nor for Wind Waker. I was among those who were really looking forward to WW and its art style had resonated with me from the very first trailer – but in the end I felt disappointed and not only by Zelda-standards. I remember how – when I was about two thirds through the game – I ordered the Resident Evil remake, I started playing it and I didn’t touch WW again until I had played through the remake. For a Zelda-game that’s definitively unusual.
Metroid Prime was a different story as I didn’t own it myself until very recently. I had borrowed it from a friend, liked it and played it through. I don’t know if it had been more fascinating had I had the time to look for all its secrets. However, I loved Metroid Prime 2: Echoes! Sure, it has its share of flaws and overall it is perhaps the least cohesive title in the trilogy. But its originality and incredible attention to detail make it my number one in the Prime series.
Super Mario Sunshine was another major release which I found very good but not amazing. Or Starfox Adventures, which paled in comparison to basically everything Rare had done on the N64 (and which, weirdly, hasn’t stopped me from playing it through at least 3 or 4 times). As a consequence, back in the days I was of the opinion that Nintendo’s 1st-party releases for the GameCube were much inferior to what I had experienced on the N64. For the last 5 or so years, however, I can see my views changing. It’s almost as if the GameCube is slowly dethroning the N64 from its spot as my favourite home console… :D
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I hear you about the GC dethroning the N64! Although I think what you’re saying about the standards of Wind Waker and Super Mario Sunshine – though they were good games, I don’t think they were quite as polished as Ocarina of Time before, or Mario 64 – or Mario Galaxy later on the Wii.
That said, it is still a great console, and I did really enjoy Zelda, Mario, and they built out the first-party catalog with a solid version of Mario Kart; Mario Power Tennis is a multiplayer classic, as is Smash Bros. and Super Monkey Ball, and Mario Strikers is excellent as well.
I also love Metroid Prime 2! It doesn’t get as much love as the original Prime, but I thought it was excellent.
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Not to forget new IPs such as Pikmin! But also Battalion Wars, for instance, which got an early sequel on the Wii but, sadly, is now as dead as Advance Wars itself. Some titles I personally hold in higher regard than Mario or Zelda are Wave Race: Blue Storm, 1080° Avanlance and F-Zero GX. And one should not forget Twilight Princess, essentally a GameCube title.
However, most of my favorites of the generation were third-party-titles, many of them non-exclusive. And while it may be a bit unsual to love a Nintendo console not for its first-party-games primarily, the quality of my gaming experiences overall didn’t seem limited.
I think what impressed me most about Metroid Prime 2 was how original yet at the same time believable are the technology and the art depicted in that game! In fact, on planet Aether, technology and art, and often nature too, seem almost indistinguishable from one another: An harmonious synthesis, visionary sci-fi zen. I could follow the arrangements of blinking cables for minutes…
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I have not played this game. I was initially attracted to this article because I knew someone who owned a GameCube and I remember them suddenly owning a number of enjoyable games. I liked the inclusion of Rogue Leader in the list of games, comparing that game to the previous game in the series was an effective demonstration on how the GameCube used a higher quality of graphics compared to the Nintendo 64. I was interested to read about Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, this game (which seemed like a disturbing horror game) looked out of place among the adverts for cheerful Mario and Super Monkey Ball games. The only game I have played which broke the fourth wall are the Metal Gear Solid games (although it could be argued that most games break the forth wall by including characters which tell the player which buttons to press). I have some experience of similar effects while watching horror films though.
What historical periods are included in the story? How are they linked? What effects are used to disorientate the player? What are the early attempts to develop interactivity in games?
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Hi, and thanks for your comment! :)
It’s an interesting point you make when saying most games were breaking the fourth wall by means of including characters which explain the game’s controls. However, I think that’s so common in games, similar to the act of „dying“, that players will hardly realise how this should disrupt the illusion.
However, the effect is stronger if the NPCs are actually „aware“ of the illogicality and when they comment on that: At the beginning of Zelda: Link’s Awakening for instance, the player will come across two children who say something like „we have heard you can activate the map by pressing select“, before adding that they were only children and therefore they would of course not know what that means. I found that detail really fascinating and funny, even though I was still a child when I first played that game.
Or Conker’s Bad Fur Day which actually gives you an in-game explanation why its protagonist has unlimited lives – and therefore makes you all the more aware of how strange a condition this actually is! :D
Next, lots of interesting questions you are asking. It would take too long to answer them all here, so I recommend to start at https://www.giantbomb.com/eternal-darkness-sanitys-requiem/3030-7512/ if you want to know more. There’s a list of the playable characters too, unfortunately it doesn’t tell in which years exactly their stories are set.
Eternal Darkness is definitively one of my favorite games ever, it even introduced me to Edgar Allan Poe (a quotation from The Raven is at the beginning of the game) which in turn started my fascination for literature. :)
I’m currently working on two pieces on Eternal Darkness too. The first will be part of my series on black characters in games: Eternal Darkness features one or two playable black characters which interestingly have been the last two that were added to the ensemble, after two others were removed. The second and larger article in to trace a certain „anti-war message“ that in my opinion pervades the game. Both texts will be in German, but if you’re interested you can surely find a way to understand the contents. They won’t come online before next month, though. ;)
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