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The Forgotten: Cubivore: Survival of the fittest photo

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I walked through the graveyard at a brisk pace. The nightly mist shrouded the tombstones that I examined, searching for the grave of an old friend. After hours of searching the immense field, I came across a small, square rock. It was bare, while other stones were adorned with blooming flowers and bright pebbles. I solemnly stepped over to the grave, bending down to examine the name.

"Cubivore. July 2000 - November 10, 2002"

I took my gift out of my coat-pocket, a Wavebird wireless controller. Placing it on the cubic stone, I breathed a sigh of weary relief. I took out another gray piece and plugged it into a small round hole. Turning around to go home, I took a few steps, when a ghastly voice came from behind.

"Where are you going?"

I did an about-face and my eyes widened as I stared at the corporeal manifestation of polgygons that was The Ghost of Cubivore.

Ghost of Cubivore: "You forgot me. One might say I have joined the realm of The Forgotten."

Trebz: "No, I did not. Look, I brought you a controller."

Ghost of Cubivore: "And yet you walk away. Tell me, boy. If you have not forgotten me, what have you remembered about me?"

Trebz: "That's easy enough to answer. You were a game developed by the now-defunct company Saru Brunei, who was only responsible for one game. When you were announced in 2000, you were scheduled for release on the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive, but were then ported to the Gamecube after the N64DD failed miserably. In North America, you were published by Atlus, a publisher famous for niche titles with short shelf-lives. It made complete sense that you wouldn't do very well out here."



Ghost of Cubivore: "And, yet you found me."

Trebz: "That is true. I actually found you a couple years ago, brand new in a game shop I can't even remember the name of. I think you were the only purchase I made there. For twenty dollars, I'd say it was worth it."

Ghost of Cubivore: "How so?"

Trebz:"Well, you were a very charming game. Your graphics were god-awful, but saved miraculously by the art style. You, Cubivore, were a game about boxes eating each other in bloody, gruesome ways and then evolving. The player would start as a baby cube and grow new limbs by ripping them off of other species. Different combined patterns meant different ways of moving and different attributes. The overall story was that the Killer Cubivore, a deadly boss of all the evil animals, resided at the top of the food chain by eating the Wilderness (color) of the land alongside his companions, the minibosses. The player was given the mission to bring nature to the land by eating pellets that somehow made the maps greener, and large chunks of the map were cut off until they were made green again. At the end of each level was a miniboss with more limbs than the player. Once defeated, the player would be given a new limb. Anyway, imagine that all of this made of flat, horridly-textured, 3D boxes that made the game look like a tech-demo for the Super FX chip."

Ghost of Cubivore: "You're exaggerating!"

Trebz: "Barely. But that doesn't mean you didn't have style. In fact, the terrible technical skill was covered up by the game's humor and the fact that the game was supposed to be cubey. Massive amounts of cubic blood ran from the wounds of every animal eaten and the main character's inner monologues all revolved around his massive hunger. Oh, and the mating process after each level that allowed the main character to give birth to another generation involves a ginormous female cubivore eating the male alive. Also, you can take a crap whenever you want to to get rid of any colors you don't want."


Ghost of Cubivore: "You sound like you must have really enjoyed me."

Trebz: "Well, yes. For a while, I loved you. But around the end, things started becoming a bit stale. It was just more going around and eating and listening to crap BGM. The bosses all relied on eating a couple limbs, jumping out of the fight, then coming back for more. There wasn't much fun after a while. I lost interest. I forgot you. And then I traded you to Goozex to replace you with something that could hold my attention through to the end."

"You ... you sold me?" the Ghost of Cubivore stammered.

Trebz: "Yeah. I loved you, I really did. It's just ... well ... I guess there's a reason why you weren't well-known. You're still just a Nintendo 64 game on a Nintendo GameCube disk. I'd recommend you for the experience but not for the playthrough."

Ghost of Cubivore: "I see ..."

As I walked away from the grave of Cubivore, my head down in solitude, I knew that I would never again play Cubivore, and although I loved his style and wit, I didn't like him for the crude, violent, repetitive slob he really was.


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26 comments | showing # 1 to 26
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Wintersocks's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/13/2009 11:30
Wintersocks
I am intrigued to pick this up...

Oh and I dig that writing style there, sir.
walkyourpath's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/13/2009 11:40
walkyourpath
Nice post, man!
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/13/2009 11:49
Jonathan Holmes
I love this game, and clearly, you do to. Ten years from now, you will rue the day you sold it to Goozex, as the ROM for the game will be impossible to find online, and every copy of the game on Ebay will cost +$2,000.

Regret, thy name is Trebz.
DaedHead8's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/13/2009 12:02
DaedHead8
I wanted this game so bad when it came out but I never got around to picking up. Thanks for reminding me of its existence, I'm adding it to my amazon wish list right now.
TheCleaningGuy's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/13/2009 13:17
TheCleaningGuy
Ditto DaedHead. Great pseudo review!
possumwrangler's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/13/2009 13:17
possumwrangler
Yeah, this game is seriously hard to find. I found it in a gamestop a couple years ago, and actually played it, and it's very enjoyable.

The 'new game plus' sort of feature is a little confusing though - it's not immediately obvious what resets and what you keep every time you advance through the 7-8 levels.
Trebz's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/13/2009 14:47
Trebz
@Jonathan Holmes: DON'T YOU THINK I FEEL BAD ENOUGH?!

@Wintersocks, DaedHead, CleaningGuy and possumwrangler: On ebay it's 50 dollars max. I guess I must have been lucky to grab if in original packaging for $20, I didn't realize it's that hard to find.

@walkyourpath: Why, thank you!
Beyamor's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/13/2009 16:23
Beyamor
Congratulations. At once I hate you for snatching the only topic I was considering and admire you for doing a deserving game more justice than I probably would have managed. Anyway, cubirrific read.

Cubtastic? Cuberful? Cubicle?
DaedHead8's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/13/2009 17:38
DaedHead8
@Beyamor

Cubtastic, for sure.
Kraid's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/13/2009 18:28
Kraid
I have yet to come accross this game anywhere. And this is probably my most wanted Gamecube game right now.
Funktastic's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/13/2009 23:48
Funktastic
Easily one of the most quirky and fun games I've played, plus it's by ATLUS, which makes it super awesome!
BulletMagnet's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/14/2009 10:58
BulletMagnet
I played this thing some time back, and while the concept was definitely interesting enough to get my attention, I remember the camera driving me absolutely nuts...
Deathofthedead's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/14/2009 11:16
Deathofthedead
This is a great game, for sheer weirdness alone. It will always have a special place in my heart for being the only game (that I know of) to have a dedicated "poop" button.
eternalplayer2345's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/20/2009 17:10
eternalplayer2345
This game was weird I never fully understood it.
Stevil's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/20/2009 17:12
Stevil
Wow, this one completely passed me by. I really don't remember it being released in the UK, so that might explain it.

The cube look reminds me of Gregory Horror Show too, so I love it already!
trueb7ue's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/20/2009 17:13
trueb7ue
i<3cubivore its part of my Rare game collection.


Along with Okage, Way of the Samurai, Mr. Mosquito and a few others
Trebz's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/20/2009 17:24
Trebz
Ooh! I got my first promoted blog! Thanks, Hamza, who I know is at least partly responsible for that.
NotGeoff's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/20/2009 18:09
NotGeoff
i wanted this so badly when it came out :(
Mecha Jesus's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/20/2009 18:09
Mecha Jesus
Man, this game was brilliant. I wish I coulda found a copy of it, but a friend of mine let me borrow it back in highschool like 5 years ago.
TheGreatPUDDING's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/20/2009 18:13
TheGreatPUDDING
Heh,I still have this game.
Electrium's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/20/2009 18:53
Electrium
I remember looking EVERYWHERE for this game back then. Never did find it.
Sonic9jct's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/20/2009 19:07
Sonic9jct
Looking for a copy? Try putting your zip code into the Gamestop website, it's only $15.

Also, does anybody else remember the random Cubivore trophy in Melee? That haunted me for years trying to figure out what that was from...
Ikey Heyman's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/20/2009 19:50
Ikey Heyman
ahh, Cubivore. weirdest game I ever did play. and I still have it, too.
The Amazing Shenazin's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/20/2009 21:28
The Amazing Shenazin
I remember this game, I wanted to play, but it wasn't available to rent anywhere and I didn't necessarily want to buy it
Jaffacakelover's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/21/2009 14:11
Jaffacakelover
You've knocked it on the head. I actually imported this, as it wasn't released in Europe. The graphics are awful and the gameplay ends up repetitive, but it has a great style, buckets of charm and is completely unique!
bottled dark's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/22/2009 04:20
bottled dark
i loved cubivore
my friend had it and i was so jealous that i couldn't find it anywhere.
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