Gondal 8 (Gamecube)

## Overview

Gondal 8 was released in 2004 exclusively for the Nintendo Gamecube. Though aiming to continue with what made Gondal 7 so beloved, Gondal 8 was plagued by development issues, tight deadlines, budget cuts, and inexperienced direction. On release, Gondal 8 was near universally panned and considered one of the worst games in the series. The majority of the game takes place in Africa, a first for the Gondal series.

## Gondal 8 (Gamecube)

### Rating

E

Three months after the events of Gondal 7, Gondal is studying an enigmatic piece of technology he picked up on Space Fortress III during the events prior. While doing so, Dr. Eathworm makes contact with a mysterious scientist named Omegagondal who claims to have owned the technology. They arrange to meet, and after doing so, Omegagondal explains the technology is called the Dark Matter Creator, a machine capable of copying a living being perfectly, including their strength and abilities. However, it cannot copy the mind of the original, and so a mental chip must be inserted into the Dark Matter Creator for it to work. Omegagondal turns on the machine to demonstrate, and as the product of the Dark Matter Creator materializes, Gondal realizes it has a striking resemblance to Dark Gondal, which he fought on Space Fortress III. Realizing the mental chip in the machine must be that of evil will, Gondal attempts to turn off the machine, but it doesn't work and Dark Gondal is fully materialized. Omegagondal, fearing that Gondal is attempting to ruin his research, runs off with the machine.

After Gondal and Eathworm get through 8 stages, they encounter Omegagondal and Dark Gondal. After fighting with both, Dark Gondal is destroyed, and Omegagondal surrenders to the heroes and explains why he sided with Dark Gondal. He was living on Space Fortress III, hoping to perfect his Dark Matter Creator and making sure no one else could ruin his hard work. During this time, he got extremely attached to his invention, and refused for anyone to touch it. However, during the events of Gondal 7, Henry Hornet came to Space Fortress III and stole the Dark Matter Creator, using it to make Dark Gondal and Dark H.H., as well as infusing it with the mental chip of evil will. After escaping Space Fortress III, Omegagondal set out to find and continue working on the Dark Matter Creator, which he did through Gondal and Dr. Eathworm. Omegagondal justifies his actions by saying he only ever made the Dark Matter Creator to help the citizens of Earth, but it also meant so much to him that he sided with it even when it went haywire. Dr. Eathworm explains that though he understands the Dark Matter Creator was made with good intentions, Omegagondal must be willing to destroy it if it were ever to become destructive to Earth. Omegagondal reluctantly agrees, but as he does, the Dark Matter Creator starts trying to make more copies of Dark H.H. and Gondal. Omegagondal takes the initiative and smashes the machine himself, and afterwards thanks Eathworm and Gondal for showing him the right path, and promises he will continue making inventions to serve humanity but will also take responsibility if they ever cause harm. The three go back home, discussing their adventures and ideas.

## Gameplay

The gameplay of Gondal 8 matches that of Gondal 7, but is much clunkier due to the rushed development of the game. It's an action platformer with 8 stages, which are the following:

1. Savanna Sunset
2. Cape Caterpillar
3. Pellmell Port
4. Chaotic Cruise
5. World of Wonders
6. Sick Skatepark
7. Menacing Mountain
8. Above the Earth

## Reception

As mentioned above, Gondal 8 was received very poorly. This article by respected reviewer gondalcritiquer1337 sums up many people's problems with the game.

*"Why gondal 8 is the worst game in the series. reason 1: horrible graphics, the game looks like shit and also runs like shit, due to poor optimization and rushed development. 2: the story. though it's not bad, it pales in comparison to the thrilling plots of gondals 3-7 and really highlights loss of originality in the series. though originally it was supposed to follow the anime plotline, that was scrapped due to budget cuts, and the story we got was just a basic rush job. i think gondal 8 would've greatly benefitted from a better introduction to the new character, Omegagondal. reason 3: the gameplay is awful. the level design is an incohesive mess, controls are clunky at best, and the RNG that plagues many of the setpieces makes playing through the stages obnoxious even if you know what to do. The gondal series suffers a lot from weird gimmicks, especially gondal 13's wüürmhole and gondal 19's wüürm sections, but nothing is worse than the ultragondal minigames of gondal 8, they're just terrible. 4: lack of content. gondal 8 has no postgame content besides 100% stuff, and the main game, though (unintentionally) quite difficult, is only 8 stages, paling in comparison to even gondal 1's original release on the SNES having 10 levels. overall, gondal 8 had potential, but due to strict deadlines and budget cuts ended up being an awful game. it's got a solid soundtrack by Mushichiban Gondaru, but that is not enough to salvage this shell of a game. I recommend you skip gondal 8 and move onto 9 instead."*

## Notes

Gondal 8 is the only Gondal game to not feature a Fortress stage. Gondal 8 is one of the only games in the series to not have a Canyon stage. Gondal 8 also does not contain a bunker stage.