WiiWare Announcement Blowout - Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands and More

ooooo kool

Bubble Bobble! Nice! I'm not familiar with Rainbow Islands, though. Is that also some kind of puzzle game?

If the WiiWare version of Bubble Bobble will remain faithful to the original and probably some online co-op and online leaderboards to boot, it'll be one awesome game.

I was always thinking that Bubble Bobble for the WiiWare service would be a great idea and now it looks it's definitely happening.

So many games, so little names I can understand...

I must say though, "Let's Hitch-hike" sounds more than enjoyable...

Havn't played bubble bobble before.. and never even heard of Rainbow Islands.. And I have no idea what the other stuff is >_> other than the obvious tetris party and such..

Reckon Nintendo have got a fair few in the works though.

We won't get five of those games.

Wow, out of this whole list there are only about 4 or 5 that interest me.

I am still hoping for a Zelda Fours swords style game

We won't get many of these, and I have never heard of Rainbow Islands (or many others for that matter), but Bubble Bobble Wii sounds interesting...

EDIT

Yudo, developers of Aero Guitar, are also making Aero Drums, according to this list. That's bound to come here!

metroid side scroller please!?

Amazing! Unfortunately lots of them wont go outside Japan...

As many others I have no idea what most of this titles are about, Rainbow Islands is Ok, but Bubble Bobble!, those are big words for me, I was going to DL the VC version, but know I think I'll just wait and see how this one turns out.

"Simple series vol.1 : THE Block Kuzushi Neo
Simple series vol.2 : THE Number Puzzle Neo
Simple series vol.3 : THE Mah-jongg
Simple series vol.4 : THE Judo "
There has to be a reason with the all-uppercase "THE".

"Manga On"
Will this be like Comix Zone?

"Bubble Bobble Wii"
Yay! I might download this, since I like Bust-a-Move.
(Now if only Taito would put up Bust-a-Move/Puzzle Bobble in Virtual Console...)

P.S. Surprise! Guess the origin of my avatar!

Right, that settles whether or not I'm buying the NES version of Bubble Bobble...

I want to see a Wiiware version of Lode Runner... =/
We love the VC version of that game

Ooh Bubble Bobble. More retro goodness. Rainbow Islands too! Never got a chance to play that but have heard good things.

Can't wait till Let's Hitch-Hike!
Aero Drums seems cool.

Bubble bobble caught my attention seriously
now there must be least 15 wiiware i have gotta download yaaaaay for me and everyone else!!!!

I love Rainbow Islands. I hope that one comes here to the US. Now I'm curious to find out what MADSECTA is. Please let it be a shooter!

Wow that's quite a lot of games. Too bad most of them probably won't make it over here

Is "Manga On" that manga download announcment we heard about a few months ago? I just can't see Manga fitting into a game title otherwise, but I could be wrong. Also, it might just be that my Japanese is nearly nonexistant, but nothing here excites me in the least bit.

All of you who don't know what Rainbow Islands is should be ashamed

BUBBLE BOBLEEEEEE!!!!! Best Arcade ever. I can't wait.

Some cool games on this list! Just have to see what we get! bubble bobble might be good.

Rainbow Islands Tower? Sounds like a psuedo sequel, that´s nice. Can´t go wrong with Bubble Bobble, I hope it´s a new game too. But we´re talking Taito here, will it be one stage for 500 Wii points and 98 DLC stages

Now I'm curious to find out what MADSECTA is. Please let it be a shooter!
So you thought it sounded like a shooter name too. I hope it isn't soley for me to be surprised.

[i]Xing:
Karaoke Joysound Wii for Wiiware[/i]
I thought this was canceled to go retail...or am I thinking of the other Joysound Karaoke game?

The Arc System Works should make it to America but probably not Europe (we still don't have Okiraku Table Tennis).

Edit: Italics still hat eme...
But we´re talking Taito here, will it be one stage for 500 Wii points and 98 DLC stages
Taito had thier reasons for distributing Space Invaders get even like they did. The main one was it allows them to bypass Nintendo's block limit (each of the DLCs is like 100 blocks on its own).

WHOA!! But nothing from Nintendo, huh?

If bubble bobble had online multiplayer how would it play like
@Cheezy
man i bet they`ve got a bomb ass game like super mario world 3, a side scrolling metroid, yoshis island, and/or a good pokemon and i bet they`re waiting 2 announce it

Nintendo hasn't actually made a single WiiWare game yet. It's pretty weird.

Mr. Drake: "All of you who don't know what Rainbow Islands is should be ashamed."

Let the shame fall to me!

• does the Caramel Dance *

Bubble Bobble, nice!

Mega Man 9 DLC releases tomorrow.
Yay!

Drake: "Nintendo hasn't actually made a single WiiWare game yet. It's pretty weird."
Other than Orbient, right? And that may very well be the best one of all so far.

In addition to Bubble Bobble, I'd love to see Parasol Stars in any format. They've had it for VC in Japan for a couple months now.

I'm with Shadows262! I'd love to see a new Metroid side scroller! Something like Bionic Commando Rearmed would be cool but old school graphics are also welcome. As for Bubble Bobble, I'll probably get it.

@Drake. Actually, what I meant was published by Nintendo. But these games were mostly developed by Nintendo as well, although they got some outside help by some companies such as Arika and Ambrella. The only game published by Nintendo that was developed completely from a different company was Magnetica Twist.

They should put Pac-Man or Galaga on WiiWare, too. I dunno, just a thought.

I haven't played Rainbow Island in like 15 years... wow, can't wait. I hardly remember anything from it but the vague impression, "How is this supposed to be a sequel to Bubble Bobble?"

Bubble Bobble is such fun with two players. I hope it offers online play. I used to seriously have nightmares about that ghost who comes when you are running out of time.

But these games were mostly developed by Nintendo as well, although they got some outside help by some companies such as Arika and Ambrella.

Wrong.
The two games you're referring to were developed 100% by Arika and Ambrella.
Nintendo had nothing to do with those games. All they did was slap their name on the front and call it a day!

Im curious what that Billiards game from GameLoft is since they allready have Midnight Pool. Unless its Midnight Pool 2?

I would more excited, but I know 96% of these games will be given a 7 by Corbie.

The two games you're referring to were developed 100% by Arika and Ambrella. Nintendo had nothing to do with those games.

Wrong.
The two games in question were contracted out by Nintendo. This is a common practice of Nintendo, especially when they are shopping for second-party shops. While most of the work is done by the outside studio, Nintendo maintains some creative control over the process.

See Star Fox Assault (Namco), Metroid Prime (Retro Studios; eventually acquired by Nintendo), Donkey Konga (Namco), Mario Golf (Camelot Software Planning), and Mario Party (Hudson) for a few examples.

Nintendo maintains some creative control over the process.

Creative control as in...
They give the developers an idea of what to do, and the developers do EVERYTHING? Then yes, you'd be right.
And don't use my "wrong".

I would more excited, but I know 96% of these games will be given a 7 by Corbie.

Luckily the other 4% will likely be reviewed by someone else.

I love Bubble Bobble, and have been hoping for a good rainbow islands for to be released on the VC.

as long as they are the orignal games, or true to the original spirit, and nothing like the sad sack DS games then i'll be happy.

i have also been looking forward to any sort of parasol stars release. i played the demo of that on my amiga for yonks. and i'm sure it only had like 3 stages.

@supermario--Half the fun in this site is coming and seeing what debate you start today. Today is: Nintendo's..."outsourcing." Well, let me add tot eh controversy by saying I loved Starfox Adventures and liked Assault! Time to duck my head from fireballs and laser blasts...

I never even owned a Gamecube, so I didn't get to play those Star Fox games.
Oh, and half the fun? I like those percentages!

Let's Hitch-hike... I am deeply intrigued now...

Bubble Bobble is good, but I want Puzzle Bobble! At least put it on VC!!!

Edit: And yay for tons of games whose names I don't understand and will probably never be localized anyway. Hopefully we have just as many in the works for NA and Europe.

@x.SuperMario.x - In my experience, those who use "Wrong" as an answer, are usually wrong themselves. Thus I make a habit of parroting back these statements when answering. If you don't like me using it, don't use it yourself!

And as for the amount of creative control Nintendo actually exercises, that would be an interesting question to ask them, wouldn't it? We sometimes get a glimpse inside Nintendo's development process. On some games they have their internal staff extremely involved in the creative process. (e.g. StarFox titles) In other games, they stay hands-off and allow the dev studio a free reign to interpret the source material. (e.g. Metroid Prime)

In all cases, Nintendo holds their contracted developers to a rather high standard of quality. A standard of quality that is not obtained by chucking the work toward a random developer and telling them to "have at it". Nintendo sets the rules, they guide development, they protect their characters and IP, and they do not publish unless the title reflects positively on their company. Thus it is disingenuous to state that Nintendo has nothing to do with these games. Nintendo paid programmers may not type the code into the computers, but you can be sure that Nintendo has everything to do with the development of these games.

I don't know...
I love the NES version of Bubble Bobble, but the DS remake sucked ass. I'm not that optimistic about a Wii remake.

All of you who don't know what Rainbow Islands is should be ashamed

Completely agree. For a good many years, Rainbow Islands was the game my mother used to play a lot. Starting from the NES version, she progressed to the Saturn version and then on to the PS2 Taito Collection version. Only recently did I find out that we Europeans got the better version of Rainbow Islands on the NES. I don't know if the American version played better having only watched a Youtube video detailing the comparisons but our version certainly looked and sounded a whole lot better.

I always welcome some retro action re-vamped

Bubble Bobble rocks and so does Rainbow Islands!

Though some retro love I'd like to see is a new Mario sidescroller a-la New Super Mario Bros.

Bring on NEWER Super Mario Bros.!

@ earthworm: Actually, Skip made Orbital/Orbient and all other bit Generations games.

I agree with Hilanderous. The DS version of Bubble Bobble wasn't all that great; It just doesn't have the—"feel" of the Bubble Bobble arcade version. And eh, I'm more of a Bust a Move person.

Rainbow Islands! But oh, Taito. Why not a new of the New Zealand Story? ):

Interesting... very interesting. Let's hope more than a few make it over this side...

[i]Creative control as in...
They give the developers an idea of what to do, and the developers do EVERYTHING? Then yes, you'd be right.[/i]
To be fair Shigeru Miyamoto goes to the development office about once during development, upends the tea table and makes his exit (once isn't good enough for Miyamoto he pretty much does it throughout development down at EAD, leading to coders towards the end of development to go into hiding). I know he did that for Star fox Assault and I think he did for Metroid Prime (but the rest of the franchise was hands-off as Retro had sorted itself out by then).

they protect their characters and IP, and they do not publish unless the title reflects positively on their company.
Company? Try accounts as that is closer to the truth. If Nintendo expected its outsourcing to hold the same standard as itself and its strongest second parties, nothing Ambrella has made would ever see the light of day as it is on the whole terrible. Poo like Pokemon Channel, Pkemon Dash and My Pokemon Ranch makes Pokemon seem like a total cash cow rather than a beloved franchise.

you guys have pretty silly argument going, since no one can say exactly how "hands on" Nintendo is with these developers unless you are there since it's not exactly front page news. The fact is that there is some oversight and we all know how protective Nintendo is about their family-friendly image, so they have to excersize some control. Neither of you is "wrong" since I'm sure there are some elements and instances where they are more involved than others.
Regarding this list - what good is it to us who don't read Japanese, besides the few identifiable sequels/ retrofits? The "Lets Hitchhike" gave me a good chuckle, though; that could mean a lot of things.

I love the original Bubble Bobble, but I've never heard of Rainbow Islands...

I am utterly flabbergasted at the number of people here who haven't heard of Rainbow Islands.

It was either the predecessor or successor (I forget which) of Bubble Bobble, but was a totally different game - a vertically-scrolling platformer where rainbows could be fired and used as both weapons and bridges.

The third game in the series was Parasol Stars, which involved beating people up with a brolly. I wouldn't be surprised if nobody had heard of that (fwiw it was pretty good though), but Rainbow Islands is a classic.

Bubble Bobble on Wii? That is awesome news. I hope its better then the horrible and very glitchy DS version.

I didn't like Rainbow Islands that much. But Bubble Bobble, that was a real gem. I am a bit worried, though. I keep hearing how virtually none of the ports emulate the feel of the original arcade game very well. Supposedly the NES game came the closest, and I still own it, so unless I hear that this new one is utterly fantastic, I'll very possibly give it a pass.

And I hadn't noticed how the reviews here are like that before. And I was about to go furthur by looking at how many reviews got what review and possibly noticing that one rating (maybe 4/10 or something) has not appeared yet. But then I saw that the reviews weren't arranged like at VC-Reviews and I'd have to go into every review to find the rating, so I'll just say that, yeah, there are a lot of 7s.

So, anybody else wish that Babel Fish would translate Japanese Romaji text? Sure, the translations would probably be 100% inaccurate, but you never know.

sweet! I'll be hanging out for Lets Hitch-hike

Bobble Bobble for Wiiware! WHEEEEEEEE!!!
And rainbow islands sounds fun too.
Don't know/care about the rest.

@Quimby. lol. You crack me up!

@Zss_Shadow. Finalkingdom's always overenthusiastic.

Dude, I'm so there. Consider my money spent.

Wish I could read Japanesse, a lot of those games are just pure jibberesh to me. Hope to see some news soon. I'm sure we'll see it here when it is announced.

What version woyuld the Wii Bubble Bobble be based on though?

I'm not downloading the NES one for example, because its inferior to Final Bubble Bobble on the Master System.

I could never get into Rainbow Islands

Bubble Bobble is perfect for WiiWare! Very pleased!