GameCube-ing.

• Position: What's new? Holiday gifts galore - Buyers Guide

GameCube and a quartet of new games from Nintendo, Redmond, Wash., just might be the must-have gifts this holiday season. Easily hooking into your television set via AV jacks, GameCube ($149.95), with its multifaceted controller, sure beats reruns and most computer-screen games, especially if you're playing Magical Mirror, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Smash Bros. Melee, or Animal Crossing ($49.95 apiece).

In Magical Mirror, Mickey Mouse has a strange dreamworld adventure in which he's trapped in a magical mirror in an alternate universe that resembles his house. Players guide Mickey from room to room and solve puzzles, trick enemies, and pull gags to locate the scattered mirror pieces. A parent mode allows adult and child to play together, especially helpful for young children.

Super Mario the plumber, meanwhile, is making his first new "game" appearance in six years. This time, Mario is equipped with a water pack he must use to clean up the paint-like goo at his vacation destination of Isle Delfino. Along the way through the different levels, he must solve various puzzles while defeating the enemies of the island who created the big mess in the first place.

In Melee, a variety of Nintendo characters--including Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikachu (of Pokemon fame), Fox McCloud, and Link--are allotted "multiple" lives and then the battles begin! When the timer goes off, whoever has the most lives left wins.

Animal Crossing (Population: Growing!) asks players if they're ready to strike out on their own and lead an independent life amongst the world's animals, insects, and fish. Not surprisingly, Mother Nature has numerous adventures in store for those willing to pack up their things and start over.

If you want or need more than one controller for your GameCube, there is Play Cube ($9.99) from Nyco Technologies, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif., which can convert the Playstation and Playstation 2 pad to a GameCube Controller. An eight-megabit memory card ($19.99) provides more than two times the storage...