Retrospection: Geist

November 29, 2023

In 2001, Nintendo released their latest console to compete with Sony’s PS2 and Microsoft’s debut console, the Xbox. Named the Gamecube, the system unfortunately saw Nintendo continue their downward trend which began with the Nintendo 64. Though the Gamecube would ultimately finish behind both of its rivals (closer to the Xbox then the PS2, which lapped them both). Still, though the Gamecube is largely considered a failure, it had a reasonably strong game library, including titles such as Metroid Prime, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Super Smash Brothers Melee. Also lost in its library is a quirky first-person title unlike most any other game on the market. Putting you in the shoes of a soul forcible removed from a body, this title saw you frighten and possess various people and objects to progress. Continuing our October journey of horror and ghost themed blog posts, today we’re looking at the Gamecube exclusive, Geist.

Development on the game that would become Geist began in 2002. Developer nSpace became aware that Nintendo was looking for a unique first person shooter game for their new console. Brainstorming, the developers hit upon the idea of having an invisible man as the protagonist. While everyone involved thought the idea was good, some felt that the idea wasn’t fully fleshed out. Realizing that they could use the same ideas by making the main character a ghost that utilized possession to accomplish tasks. Originally called Fear, nSpace finished a prototype of their idea and sent it to Nintendo of America, who then sent it to Nintendo (fun fact, the original prototype ran on an Xbox development kit). Impressed with the idea and the prototype, it was decided that Nintendo would work closely with nSpace to complete the game, including the idea of object possession being pitched by none other than Shigeru Miyamoto (is there anything this man can’t do?).

**A shot from the E3 2003 trailer for Geist**

The game, now titled Geist, made its debut at E3 2003, with the promise of a release the same year, but unfortunately, that was not to be. It soon became clear that nSpace and Nintendo were not working on the same game. Whereas nSpace wanted to make a First Person Shooter, Nintendo intended to make a First Person Adventure, in the same vein as Metroid Prime. In Nintendo World Report, Erick Dyke, the President of nSpace stated the following: “It’s a first-person adventure game, where there have been before, such as Metroid Prime. But our idea of what the game was, and Nintendo’s idea of what the game was, were very different even though we both started at the same spot. One of the nice things about working with Nintendo is that they’re always trying to make the greatest game ever. They kept wanting to work within this game-space of possession to try these different things and experiment. We’d be adding and changing and going “wow, what if you were able to possess this, and what if you were able to possess that.’” Ted Newman, producer on Geist, also spoke on working with Nintendo in the same interview: “We were well into development when we were meeting on a regular basis with Nintendo. During one of their trips to our offices they brought up the idea that, the fact that Miyamoto-san would see the game on a regular basis. He had immediately commented on an idea of object possession. When [the team] had first heard, they didn’t know exactly what he meant. They kind of thought he might just be joking around, apparently he has that kind of sense of humor in the workplace. Eventually Miyamoto-san just said “I think the possession aspect of this game is great and I want to know what it’s like to not just possess humans and animals but what would it be like to possess a box or what would it be like to possess a plant?”

It seems clear that though the two companies didn’t always align with their visions for the game, the working collaboration was most certainly not an unpleasant experience. Ted Newman spoke on this specifically in an interview with GameSpy: “For me personally, working with Nintendo of Japan and Nintendo of America, it’s just been an amazing experience. We have had a lot of meetings with them, on the phone sometimes, but a lot of in-person meetings. They would come down every couple of months and spend anywhere from a week to two weeks, and we would just sit in the conference room and bat around design ideas and do quick turnarounds on adjustments to boss battles or A.I. behavior. To me, they’re just very open, very sincere, very logical people. It was just the most exciting thing I’ve done.”

As the game was adjusted to better represent what Nintendo wanted from the title, Geist was delayed multiple times. Showcased at both E3 2004 and E3 2005, Geist finally saw release on 8/15/2005 in North America with releases in Europe and Australia following soon after. The gameplay is quite similar to how the game was initially pitched. You control a character named Raimi who has had is soul pulled from his body (this is all plot related and is quite intentional). As a ghost, you move more quickly and see the world in shades of blue and white. To sustain your presence on Earth, you must possess a person, animal, or object to reassert your presence. Possessing a living being requires completing a set of actions that badly frightens the target, allowing Raimi to take possession. Should the living being be killed, Raimi remains unharmed, but must located another being or object to possess lest his time come.

Upon release, Geist saw very mixed reviews. While critics generally admired the unique gameplay and story, the performance and limitations of the game were called out as being less than satisfactory.

Although Geist’s opening salvo gives you the impression that it’s little more than a fairly uninspired FPS ‘with a twist’, the twist gradually evolves into something rather more interesting than being able to run around inside a dog, a bat, a rabbit or a rat. The interest levels perk up significantly once n-Space starts upping the puzzle quotient, tasking you with making clever use of inanimate objects and forcing you to work out how best to ‘scare’ the living creatures into submission. [and] It’s as if n-Space had an interesting central gameplay mechanic, but found itself unable to make the other parts work to the same degree. Even the bits that do work – i.e. the possessions – feel limited and hindered by some over-fussy rules that dictate that certain objects can be possessed, but not others, and that you can walk through certain solid objects, but not others. Once you accept the rules, it’s an engaging game, but one that you can’t help but feel had a great potential to be so much better than it has ended up being. (Eurogamer)
At first, the possessions give Geist a genuinely novel feel, as you scour the environment for new items to take control of in order to freak out the guard or scientist you need to advance to the next section of the game. Unfortunately, as time wears on, the extremely arbitrary limitations placed on your ghost form begin to reveal that – in practice – Geist’s riddles are little more than camouflaged version of the same old switch puzzles we’ve come to know and hate. Each opportunity for a “scare” can only be performed in one way, and in a specific order. Knock down a ladder to force a guard over to a fire extinguisher, then discharge the extinguisher to make him run towards a valve, which you then burst, leaving him shaken and ripe for possession. This is interesting at first, until you realize that you can only control certain items at certain times, which takes away the feeling that you’re actively experimenting with the environment. (Game Informer)
This intriguing game is about 50 percent first-person, disembodied puzzle-solving and 50 percent first-person combat. Unfortunately, about 30 percent of one side of that equation serves to vaporize the Fun Factor. (GamePro)
As a game about possession, Geist is a success. Unfortunately, there are still shooter elements to contend with. Possession puzzles and areas are oftentimes separated by bits of gunplay, which as we stated before isn’t exactly poor, but it certainly doesn’t compare to better shooters on the market, either. The reason has little to do with design and everything to do with technology, which is too bad. Metroid Prime and Geist share similarities in that they are both original departures from the templated first-person shooter model. But whereas Retro Studios’ tech equaled its genius, n-Space’s has a long way to go. The framerate, which never quite runs consistently, can take a hit during scenes with lots of enemy soldiers on screen, and this has a bearing on precision more than anything else. (IGN)

While rumors of a port to the Nintendo DS was rumored (and some code backing this up was found in the Call of Duty port nSpace worked on), Geist ultimately remained, and remains, a Gamecube exclusive. Nintendo still owns the rights to the game, but there’s nothing at the moment that indicates that they have any interest in bringing the game to the Switch in some manner. And, in fairness, it’s not hard to see why. Geist is certainly not a great game, but it is an intriguing game that tried to do things that no other game had done before. It’s a shame that Geist never saw another entry as a sequel could have built upon Geist’s foundation and delivered an experience that expanded the gameplay and answered the criticisms the original received. How many other franchises needed another entry to fully find their footing? All that said, I can’t imagine seeing Geist get any kind of a revival. If you have any interest in playing this unique game, you’ll need to track down a used copy and pull that Gamecube out of the closet. At the very least, being a Nintendo console, you know it’ll still work.