Five of the Best: Console startup screens

PRO-GEAR SPEC.

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Five of the Best is a weekly series about the bits of games we overlook, those poor old things. I'm talking about crowds, potions, mountains, hands - things we barely notice at the time but can recall years later because they're so important to the overall memory of the game.

Now is the time to celebrate them - you and me both! I will share my memories but I'm just as eager to hear yours, so please share them in the comments below. We've had some great discussions in our other Five of the Best pieces.

But this week we're all about...


Console startup screens! These are the places where those lovely boxes under the telly first get to introduce themselves, get to show a little bit of character. They're also the sorts of things we tune out after a while, it seems: they become such a familiar part of the game playing process that we can cease to see them anymore.

Unless they're absolute classics, of course. Here are five of our favourites, all of which are worth a rewatch.

GameCube

There's something Mario 64-like about the GameCube's interactive startup - echoes of that big plumber face gurning as you twisted and pulled his features like Play-Doh. A roll of your thumb over the GameCube controller's analogue stick and you could turn the console's cheerful logo left and right as it unfolded, even spin it fully round on its axis, while listening to not one but two secret loading sounds.