This product is like new. At NexWave Games, like new means:
Additionally, all discs at NexWave Games are carefully inspected and assessed for quality. When discs arrive, we do not accept any that are so badly damaged that they are unlikely to work. We only accept discs with light scratches at most. Discs with scratches are then treated in our professional disc repair machine. By warming the disc and polishing it with soft brushes, these machines can remove a very thin layer from the disc. This removes the layer containing surface scratches and improves the disc’s readability. This ensures the disc works properly, even on consoles with ageing lasers that have difficulty reading games! Great news for the player.
Need for Speed: Underground 2 for Nintendo GameCube
Need for Speed: Underground 2 for the Nintendo GameCube is a street-racing game in which you build up a car and explore the city of Bayview. You drive to races and shops yourself, discover new routes and choose which challenge to try next. Between races, you use your earnings to modify your car's performance and appearance. The car you start with thus gradually becomes a personal project.
The races demand different skills. On a circuit, you try to drive several clean laps in succession, while a sprint sends you along a route to a separate finish. Drag races put more emphasis on shifting gears and avoiding traffic. Drifting instead rewards controlled slides and maintaining your line. The right approach therefore depends on the event you choose.
You can upgrade engine components and change wheels, paintwork and body parts, among other things. You consider both how your car drives and how it looks. The nighttime streets require reading traffic and corners in good time, especially when using nitrous. Alongside the career, you can enter individual races and compete locally with two players on a split screen.
Region and language
Our Nintendo GameCube games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
The manual is missing from this copy of Need for Speed: Underground 2 for Nintendo GameCube. That is why the product title says “No Manual”. You receive the game in its box, without the instruction booklet. This makes the contents clear before you order.
The original printed manual usually contains at least English and often around six European languages. The languages vary by edition; Dutch is not always included. This information describes the original booklet and does not mean that it comes with this copy. A copy with a manual is offered separately when available.
The history of Need for Speed: Underground 2
Need for Speed: Underground 2 appeared in 2004, developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. It followed Underground, which had previously focused the series firmly on tuning and street racing. Modifying ordinary production cars remained important in this sequel. The bigger change lay in the structure surrounding the races: you received a city to drive through yourself between events.
Bayview connected the different racing activities and shops. Traveling between events therefore became part of the experience too. You learned the streets and neighborhoods and could discover new activities while driving around. Progression thus combined race results with developing a car and finding opportunities in the environment. The nighttime look matched the street-racing world of the first Underground.
The sequel further expanded the available modifications and range of activities. On Nintendo GameCube, multiplayer remained limited to local split-screen races; the network features of other editions are not included in this version. Within the GameCube lineup, Underground 2 sits between Underground's more self-contained races and Most Wanted's police pursuits. Its particular rhythm mainly comes from driving, discovering, upgrading and starting another race.
Similar games for Nintendo GameCube
Need for Speed: Underground shares the nighttime street races and emphasis on modifying your car. Underground 2 additionally gives you Bayview to drive around between races. You therefore also learn the connecting streets and shop locations, while the first game guides your progression more closely through separate events.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted connects street racing with police pursuits and climbing a list of rivals. Underground 2 focuses more on tuning, different event types and exploring Bayview. Both let you improve a car, but in Most Wanted you also need to account for police who can interrupt a drive.
Need for Speed: Carbon uses a crew and conquering city territories as important parts of its career. Canyon duels give its competition a distinctive form. Underground 2 places greater emphasis on your individual progression through the city and developing a car for different racing activities, including drag and drift.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 revolves around fast sports cars, separate courses and police pursuits. Underground 2 builds its progression around your own tuned car and a city you can traverse freely. You therefore spend more time between races on parts, appearance and choosing your next activity on the map.
Burnout 2: Point of Impact rewards risky driving with boost and makes traffic and collisions important to its fast races. Underground 2 gives you more ways to build up one car and explore the city between events. Both feature arcade-style driving; the difference mainly lies in the rhythm surrounding the races.
