Completion Time: 3h:40m:00s
Rating: 3/10

....................................................................................................

To Retroville!

....................................................................................................

I don't care for Jimmy Neutron. It's ugly, and not particularly funny, at least I never found it to be. That being said, I watched it consistently, as I did most anything on TV whether I liked it or not. If it was on, I was likely watching it when I wasn't playing video games. I wasn't really an "outside" kid. Speaking of video games, though, that was also the case. I got something like this or "Chicken Little" or whatever other licensed nonsense was available for cheapish and I would just play it over and over again. The day I got "Super Smash Bros. Melee" was great for me, because it meant I wasn't spending so much time with a lot of these. But have my opinions on this one changed over time? I highly doubt it!

Seriously, what are these designs?!

....................................................................................................

Gotta Blast!

....................................................................................................

Stock 3D platformer on the GameCube does stock 3D platformer on the GameCube things, big shocker there. It has all the clunkiness that you've come to expect out of a licensed title like this, and unfortunately (as I alluded to in the introductory paragraph), I don't have any nostalgia linked to the movie or following show to propel me through. It's just hopping between different locales like your house, a theme park, and a bunch of generic looking outer space locations that don't really bring much excitement, inventiveness, or even just FUN to the table. It's rare that I come across something that I care so little for that I genuinely don't know what all I can say about it other than it's not great to play.

Don't miss an atom while skateboarding or lose too much... pie... or you need to start over!

I suppose there is one thing that I can go into: Goddard. This is the only element of the game that feels unique... well, at least for this game. This is Jimmy's robot dog, and he actually has a pretty neat design inside and outside of the game. He can transform into a rocket scooter, pogo stick, or jetpack depending on what you need to solve puzzles and navigate the environment. There isn't a lot of variety here, but at least it's something to latch onto in this mess. I mean, the visuals behind this aren't much better than the movie and show itself, based on the models that its pulling from, but at least the voices are something? I'm pretty sure they're the voices from the show, since their all just cartoon people and not huge stunt-casted celebs.

Boingy boingy boingy

....................................................................................................

Completing the Game

....................................................................................................

Completion in this game is incredibly simple in that there isn't much to do. Beat the levels and collect all the neutrinos. Or are they atoms? Doesn't really matter, but you need to do these two primary things so that you can unlock little cutscenes from the game and vignettes that aired between commercials on Nickelodeon. The main problem here is that you NEED to do the atom collection the first time around. Gather all of them before the stage is over, the level keeps track of how many you have left. Which is good, because the game as a whole doesn't. Once the stage is over, the number of atoms you collected in that level reset, and the number isn't displayed anywhere for you to leave. It really is a one time deal, which is very strange for a 3D platformer in this generation specifically. Also really aggravating since the "collectables", if that's what we want to call them, aren't anything special. Maybe this is just my own biases with the show, but I have no desire to watch sections of a show that I've always found ugly. Oh well.

Down in front!

Not a great game here, not even a mediocre one really. I'm glad that it seems that's the consensus, and I'm not just letting the existence of the show itself taint how I felt playing through this one. From what I've read, the later games are a bit better (specifically "Attack of the Twonkies"), so maybe I'll find out what's going on in the rest of the Jimmy Neutron video game canon... in a couple years. I don't feel like going back to this well anytime soon.

This is another entry in a series where I go through and complete every GameCube game, as it is the largest part of my video game collection. GameCube Games: 36/652