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[MSE Dan]

What's the deal?

If you're looking for a games console, but don't want to spend a fortune, you can get one for £12.99, the Nintendo Gamecube. It's the predecessor to the Nintendo Wii, so uses older technology, but is still a fantastic bargain for a cracking games machine.

Plus Game is offering 4 pre-owned Gamecube games for a tenner, meaning you can get the lot for £22.99.

An alternative to this is the original Microsoft Xbox, also pre-owned, for £19.99; full details here.

How can I get one?

These are just on offer in-store, so find your nearest Game using its Store Locator. Due to the low price, these may become hard to find; to save on shoe leather, call first to check if they have any in stock.

The stock levels obviously depend on how many get traded in; yet Game says 1,000s get traded per week (and a handy hint is that the weekend is the best time to snap one up).

If you find stores who have these available, please let other MoneySavers know by replying in the thread below.

What is it?

It's the previous generation console produced by Nintendo, before they moved on to the ubiquitous Wii. Though the difference in graphics and games isn't that huge, the big difference is the Wii's unique control system; the Gamecube is just a standard button pressing console. Yet, this old-fashioned version still packs a punch, especially at this price.

High quality games are commonly available on the high street and online for under a tenner. They also often sell on eBay for £2 or £3 (see eBay buying tricks and Cheap Online Shopping Techniques for more)

It is 'pre-owned', which basically means another shopper traded it in. Yet this is extremely common at Game; the pre-owned items they sell are usually in good condition.

Dan

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[Auntsally]

Might be worth mentioning that you can play Gamecube games and use Gamecube controllers on the Nintendo Wii, 4 games for the Wii for a tenner is pretty good.

[rpb]

Thanks for that, Auntsally.

How do GameCube games work on the Wii? Can you use the Wii controller(s), or do you have to buy GameCube controllers as well and plug them in (or does it depend on the game)?

[Fallenangel152]

The Wii has a slot on the top for GC controllers, so you'll more than likely have to use those for GC games.

I'd like to add that the GameCube is a nice little console. It's graphics are about the same as the Wii, and it's got some good games. Perfect for kids when you can't afford the expensive consoles.

[Mooman]

I've been to two stores in Kingston upon thames and they haven't heard of the 4 games for £10 on Gamecube games offer!

Has this been verified and if so what games?

[rattla]

You'll be lucky to find many GC games in GAME stores now, let alone 4 in the 4 for £10.

I go to GAME shops regually and only 2 out of 3 shops have them in stock at all. Those that do generally have an avergae of about 20-30 games, but these are for all prices and GAME still generally have high prices for Gamecube games because they are so popular. For example you will not really find a Nintendo Mario related game in GAME for less than 14.99. Think the best I have found is the Mario Kart with no barcode on the back (the one that was included with the Console bundle originally) for 12.99, but if it is not the bundled one they charge 19.99! All the other good games are 14.99 or 19.99, and some games - Like Pokemon XD - they are still charging 29.99 Pre-Owned for!!

The 4 for £10 games are normally the football or wrestling games that are very common, or other games that are plentiful and generally not very good, though there may be a few exceptions.

HTH

[Mooman]

Not fair. I found paper Mario, Resi Evil 0, 2 and 4 and thought my luck was in, just to be met with blank expressions.

[rattla]

Originally Posted by Mooman

Not fair. I found paper Mario, Resi Evil 0, 2 and 4 and thought my luck was in, just to be met with blank expressions.

Thats probably best part of £60 there

The 4 for £10 has been around for a while and it is only on certain games that are £3.99 each.

[LilMissEvil]

Yes, I work in a video game store (I'm not desperate enough to work for Game though), and the games on the Gamecube that are actually worth 3.99 are going to be the old football and wrestling games, and a few of the budget racing games. The Mario games on there do sell for anything between 12.99 (Super Mario Sunshine) and 29.99 (Paper Mario). As with any older console, it's the typical Nintendo games that keep, if not increase their value as they become hard to find. It's only the games that get traded in in droves (FIFAs etc) that go cheap.

My local Game store never has any Gamecube games for less than £14.99, as they've clicked onto the fact that people like to play them on the Wii.

Though, saying all that, £12.99 is a good price for the Gamecube itself. Most other places they're about 19.99. I would just ask shoppers to ask to see the machine first before buying it, as I've had some bad experiences buying things at Game before (bits missing, buttons sticking etc).

Ebay would be the best bet for the Cube games I reckon, again unless you're wanting one of the rarer titles

[Plushchris]

The Gamecube is an excellent console and the one we play on the most (we have an Xbox360, PS2 and a Megadrive)

The games are great and just as good as any I've played on the Wii.

Some of the best games for the Gamecube (IMO)..

Super Monkeyball
Mariokart
MarioParty 5 or 6 (only really good in 4 player though)
Warioware (excellent, if slightly manic)

£12.99 is a good price for the Gamecube but I'd still suggest looking around in the local free ads or whatever as you could pick up more of a bargain, I got a Gamecube, 4 controllers, 12 games, 2 memory cards, carry case and a game wallet for £45 last year from an ad in the local paper.

[mr_darlington]

Just to add that the console only comes with one control pad. So if you're looking for something for the kidS, extra controllers are around £10 (almost worth buying a second GC altogether and trying to flog it on eBay).

Also GameStation stores have Pre-owned Game Cubes for £25 with two games (choice of games up to the price of £15 each). Again though this is with only one controller.

[mr_darlington]

All stores in Leeds are sold out I'm afraid

[Fuchsia_a]

The Gamecube console may be cheaper, but unless you're only going to have a small number of games, you're probably better off getting a preowned Xbox or PS2 because the games are cheaper on average and there's a wider selection available.

Gamestation shops and their website (www.gamestation.co.uk) both usually have a good selection at £2-£2.50, with prices starting from about 50p (including free postage, on the website!). There are more expensive games (if you're into RPGs and adventure games, most of them tend to be £5) but you can get a large range for £2.50 each. Gamestation also have a decent warranty on second hand stuff and will take things back from you if they don't work, and polish the games for free if you ask nicely and they look scratched when you buy them.

www.cex.co.uk and their shops can also be very cheap for preowned games, but they're a bit hit-and-miss when it comes to prices, and it's harder to take things back to them because they don't have branches everywhere.

It's not worth buying second hand games from Ebay worth less than about £5 unless they're in bulk or you can't find them anywhere else, because the postage costs a lot and quite often the games are more expensive than on Gamestation, CEX or Game, who all do free postage! It is worthwhile for buying rare games, and consoles if you spot a good bundle, but of course you can't take it back to a shop and complain if it doesn't work well after a couple of months.

I've found from experience that it's often cheaper to get rarer games from Ebay bundled with another console and other games than it is to buy them individually on other websites - I have about three or four Xboxs now, because buying the games that way meant that the total cost divided between just the games worked out at about £1-£2 per game, whereas otherwise I'd've ended up paying the same amount for about three or four of the games included in the bundle elsewhere and wouldn't've had some random extra games and hardware effectively thrown in. I'm planning to turn one of my spare Xboxs into a PVR / media PC-type device running linux.

[gjchester]

Originally Posted by Fuchsia_a

www.cex.co.uk and their shops can also be very cheap for preowned games, but they're a bit hit-and-miss when it comes to prices, and it's harder to take things back to them because they don't have branches everywhere.

Cex prices vary accoring to how much stock they have when I bought Metroid Prime 2 it was a fiver whereas Game wanted £15, now it's a tenner probably as people are playing it onthe Wii. CEX Online prices include postage too. Never bought from one of there stores though as none nearby

[Jollux]

blockbuster also have some good deals on pre-owned games. Not sure of prices for Gamecube, but original xbox games u can pick up 4 for £10, got some cracking titles, metal gear solid 4, need for speed carbon, fifa street 2 and something else which slips my memory...

[leopardprintqueenie]

:t Brill Just Picked Up This Game Cube From Store In Peterborough,well Chuffed, Just In Time For Son's Birthday
Struggled To Find Four Games For Tenner Tho..not Got Lot In Stock, Prob Best Buying Off E-bay.....thank You

[akwaaba]

Originally Posted by mr_darlington

Just to add that the console only comes with one control pad. So if you're looking for something for the kidS, extra controllers are around £10 (almost worth buying a second GC altogether and trying to flog it on eBay).

You can get controllers cheaper than that, I have just bought a couple for my son. I used http://www.qualitycounts2.co.uk/ and got the controllers very quickly. Would other people be interested - is it worth highlighting this in a thread of its own?

BTW - my sons love their gamecube (they are 4 & 6 years old!) I would recommend it, games are great, quite a few are 4 player - which is great when they have a couple of friends around.

[Imani]

i will be getting a wii this christmas or by christmas
but the gamecube sounds like it would suit my son he is only 2 1/2 and his godbrother has been showing him how to play xbox 360 and psp. 13 quid plus a tenner and that would keep in entertained definately

i know young but het most games say from 3yrs anyway

[Imani]

i called the Derby branch on st peters street and they said they didnt have any pre-owned cubes

[shadej]

I just called game in Romford(Essex) and the have both preowned xbox's and gamecubes in stock. Check games website for their address.