News Article

Konami: VC Arcade Support and WiiWare Life Force

Posted Wed, 08 Apr 2009 by Marcel Van Duyn

Life Force - The arcade game, AND a new game? Yes please!

Life Force - The arcade game, AND a new game? Yes please!

Another big developer jumps on the VCA bandwagon!

Before publishers rerelease their old games on VC, they're required to renew the trademarks for them - a bunch of classic Konami trademarks appeared today, which seems to indicate they're going to be releasing arcade games as well!

Konami has registered these new VC-related trademarks:

  • Green Beret (Arcade or NES, retitled Rush'n Attack in the US)
  • Gyruss (Arcade or NES)
  • Meikyuu Jiin Dababa (FDS)
  • Life Force (Arcade - It has to be, the NES version's already available!)
  • Salamander (The Japanese title for Life Force)
  • Yie Ar Kung-Fu (Arcade - It also has to be, because Japan has the NES version already.)

But that's not all! There's also a trademark for Salamander ReBirth, indicating that Gradius ReBirth wasn't a one-off - Life Force is getting a new game as well!

If that's not enough, Namco has registered two classic trademarks as well - They'll be rereleasing the arcade games Baraduke and Galaxian - Galaga's predecessor!

Of course, there's no official announcements on any of these games just yet - But if they're made, we'll inform you immediately.

Source: neogaf.com.

Tags: Virtual Console, WiiWare, Trademarks.

User Comments

Sean Aaron

1. Sean Aaron United Kingdom 08 Apr 2009, 15:30 BST

Ooooh, great news!

Salamander ReBirth would be great as a mish-mosh of Salamander and Salamander 2 (though one would assume new stuff as well, given there's only been two games?).

Gyruss and Green Beret? Excellent.

Baraduke, wooooo!

Dazza

2. Dazza United Kingdom 08 Apr 2009, 15:31 BST

@Sean - Never mind all that. I demand Parodius ReBirth! :-p

On VCA I would quite like to see Hyper Sports, make it so Konami.

Chatham

3. Chatham United States 08 Apr 2009, 15:32 BST

Hey all, I've been meaning to make an account for the longest time. But I've always used hotmail and it was too much of a hassle to make a new email just for this site.

Anyways... Anyone remember that Konami was responsible for the old 4-P Simpsons arcade game? Is there hope!?!

^It sucks, my friend and I found The Simpsons arcade cabinet in a bowling alley yesterday... And only one of the player's buttons worked! It ate 3 of my quarters! I think Konami has to release it now so I never have to deal with a broken arcade cabinet ever again.

Moai Head

4. Moai Head Australia 08 Apr 2009, 15:41 BST

Salamander ReBirth, hell yes! My Japanese Wii is used almost solely for playing Gradius ReBirth, so I guess I should wait until that gets a PAL release before I get too excited, but still...

Adam

5. Adam United States 08 Apr 2009, 16:02 BST

Wow, what awesome news. So many arcade titles announced... and so little actually being released. What on earth is Nintendo up to?
Salamander ReBirth is perhaps the best news. I enjoyed Gradius ReBirth, but without co-op it has limited replay value to me.

The Fox

6. The Fox United States 08 Apr 2009, 16:03 BST

The more developers the better, but I'd still like to see some late 80's/early 90's arcade titles as well.

Ricardo91

7. Ricardo91 United States 08 Apr 2009, 16:03 BST

GASP! Could this mean we can get... The Simpsons and Turtles in Time? Ohhhhhh yus! :D

The Wiiware Life Force sounds cool too. I still need to get the original on VC. Hopefully it'll have more current-day graphics this time.

Atlantis1982

8. Atlantis1982 United States 08 Apr 2009, 16:08 BST

First off, lack of TMNT Arcade is a sad thing, but I think I will just blame NoA; not Ubisoft...i'll blame them later.

Second, does it really matter? By the time we get to anything that we actually want; it will take a long time to get them. Honestly, NoA/E needs to step up their game if more and more companies are wanting in the VCA fun stuff. :(

Chatham

9. Chatham United States 08 Apr 2009, 16:13 BST

@Atlantis

I know how you feel. But I'm pretty sure companies won't want to release these games if they are released with 10+ other arcade releases in that week. Kinda floods the market. I look back at my VC collection and realize I wouldn't have DLed half the stuff I have if some of the titles I've been waiting for were already availible.

Sean Aaron

10. Sean Aaron United Kingdom 08 Apr 2009, 16:20 BST

I can see not flooding the market, but I think they can do better than 1 or 2 every other week! How about four!

Bahamut ZERO

11. Bahamut ZERO United States 08 Apr 2009, 16:28 BST

I bet Corbie and doing a little dance right now :)

I want a Star Parodier ReBirth. Man, that was fun (and adorable) game.

Jogurt the Yogurt

12. Jogurt the Yogurt Canada 08 Apr 2009, 16:57 BST

Castlevania ReBirth plz.

Wrenski

13. Wrenski United States 08 Apr 2009, 17:43 BST

This is seriously cool. I'm not even a huge shooter fan (though if one is really distinctive like Lords of Thunder I'm all over it), but I love seeing old franchises getting new life on WiiWare. Like someone else said, hopefully Parodius is next.

Maybe Konami can enlist WayForward again and get a Contra Rebirth, I'm sure it'd perform better on WiIWare since most people with a Wii and who buy stuff off the shop are huge retro fans anyway. :D

tkubas1

14. tkubas1 United States 08 Apr 2009, 17:47 BST

Contra rebirth!!!!!!

Outrunner

15. Outrunner United Kingdom 08 Apr 2009, 17:48 BST

LIFE FORCE!!! SQUEEEEE!

xesbeth

16. xesbeth France 08 Apr 2009, 17:56 BST

Contra Rebirth....Salamander Rebirth....Parodius Rebirth....Rhaaa lovely!

But with Nintendo and their shitty releases (especially for europe), no way, it would be too hard for my mind....

anthonyb

17. anthonyb United States 08 Apr 2009, 18:31 BST

Contra ReBirth would be nice. But I wouldn't wait for such a release. Just go play some Contra 4. ;)

Can't wait for Life Force ReBirth! This is what I actually wanted when downloading Gradius! We need a new co-op shooter.

Rapadash6

18. Rapadash6 United States 08 Apr 2009, 18:51 BST

I hope with Konami on board the arcade scene, we might get the arcade Turtles games. I'd also like to try out the Castlevania arcade game, Haunted Castle, even though I hear it's pretty terrible.

Adamant

19. Adamant Norway 08 Apr 2009, 19:01 BST

商願2009-013574 goonies wannabes

huh.
Chance of the NES Goonies games on VC?

Drake

20. Drake Netherlands 08 Apr 2009, 19:09 BST

@ Adamant: Yeah, I'm not sure about that one, seems like an odd license to rerelease/make a sequel to. It's pretty popular in Japan though for some reason.

xesbeth

21. xesbeth France 08 Apr 2009, 19:14 BST

Damn...so there will be a Salamander Rebirth...

Good, if Konami officialize this, I predict that Europe will get it in 2 years!

Outrunner

22. Outrunner United Kingdom 08 Apr 2009, 19:19 BST

Wasn't there a Life Force on TG-16?

PopeReal

23. PopeReal United States 08 Apr 2009, 19:27 BST

Gyruss and Yie Air Kung-Fu owe me quarters. Lots of em....

loved those games and these are the first must buys for me on the VC.

vherub

24. vherub United States 08 Apr 2009, 19:28 BST

my friend and I spent countless hours when we were kids trying to beat rush n' attack, we could never get past the 3rd level.

Drake

25. Drake Netherlands 08 Apr 2009, 19:33 BST

@ Outrunner: Yup, but only in Japan. The original Gradius has a TGCD port as well, which is on Japan's VC together with the NES version.

Atlantis1982

26. Atlantis1982 United States 08 Apr 2009, 19:42 BST

May I add....

I want Pardious too. :)

Corbie

27. Corbie United States 08 Apr 2009, 19:44 BST

Yep. Salamander Rebirth would be at the top of my list. I love Salamander 1 & 2. But I'd love to see a new Parodius game as well. And Twinbee. : )

Outrunner

28. Outrunner United Kingdom 08 Apr 2009, 19:57 BST

@Drake: Oh ok. I just wondered if maybe they might've been releasing that. Maybe Hanabi? I hope it is the arcade version though. It looks promising with all those other titles being up.

Tony

29. Tony United States 08 Apr 2009, 20:06 BST

Ouch give a pass to Galaxian. That one's pretty dull

The other Konami games sound good. I hope a retro remake for Castlevania is in the works.

WolfRamHeart

30. WolfRamHeart United States 08 Apr 2009, 20:34 BST

Does this mean that we will only get the arcade version of Rush 'n Attack? I hope not because that is already available on XBLA. The original is so much better than the arcade! The music on the NES version is some of the best Konami has to offer; it ranks up there with Castlevania and Contra in my opinion! This is one of the main games I have been waiting for on Virtual Console and I will not download the arcade version if that is all we get! Does anyone know if we might possibly get the NES version of Rush 'n Attack instead?

That Guy from Faxanadu

31. That Guy from Faxanadu Sweden 08 Apr 2009, 20:39 BST

Neat, Konami did some sweet arcadegames!

Tony

32. Tony United States 08 Apr 2009, 20:50 BST

@WolfRamHeart
I agree I would prefer the NES version of Rush and Attack as well. And I hope the NES versions of Contra, 1943 and Bionic Commando come out before their arcade counterparts.

GooniesFan

33. GooniesFan 08 Apr 2009, 21:09 BST

well hopefully the will have the simpsons arcade game,rush and attack from the arcade,and maybe tmnt...i see its on another arcade live already..wonder why its not on the wii virtual console yet....just like popeye was by nintendo..why wouldnt it already be a arcade game on the wii..hmmm

Hero10x

34. Hero10x United States 08 Apr 2009, 21:19 BST

Teenage mutant ninja turtle arcade game would be awesome.
will they ever do it?
since its a game i actually like
probably not v.v

Lode Runner

35. Lode Runner United States 08 Apr 2009, 21:26 BST

HOORAY for Konomi!!...... And Namco!

chunky_droid

36. chunky_droid Australia 08 Apr 2009, 21:27 BST

The more support the better IMO. Just wish the licensing wasn't an issue for the vast majority of Konami's Arcade games we want

Ferret75

37. Ferret75 United States 08 Apr 2009, 21:34 BST

I hope the arcade version of Life Force/Salamander is different than the NES version, as I bought that. =

But Life Force Rebirth, woot!

Outrunner

38. Outrunner United Kingdom 08 Apr 2009, 22:21 BST

Oh, I forgot to say... ahem... WHY ISN'T GRADIUS REBIRTH IN EUROPE YET?/??!!1111!

PuppetMasterKuruku

39. PuppetMasterKuruku United States 08 Apr 2009, 22:26 BST

Other than PopeReal, there doesn't seem to be a lot of love for Yie Ar Kung Fu. I never cared for any of the home ports at all, but the original arcade Yie Ar Kung Fu is fun and I just LOVE the character designs and the outstanding spritework. For a simple arcade fighter from 1985, it sure has personality.

Unfortunately, the game lacks 2P and you can only play as Oolong, and that's only been remedied in the GBA version, where you can play as EVERYBODY in the new 2P mode, and they even add two brand new characters, Bishoo and Clayman. We had to wait a LONG ass time to play as those guys and battle our friends, so you can hopefully understand just how epic these additions were.

I don't know if any of that is in the DS port, since nobody seems to have an answer. The XBLA port apparently lacked the GBA's extras, and it wasn't well received to boot.

Unfortunately, it mostly makes an arcade port obsolete. What they need to do is take a few cues from what they did with the GBA version and start releasing that. I'm sure only the greatest purists would object.

As for the Salamander games, they kick ass and it'll be cool to have them on the arcade. But don't think I'm not still pissed at you for being stingy on collections, Konami. >: (

Ricardo91

40. Ricardo91 United States 08 Apr 2009, 22:54 BST

I don't care which version gets released. Yie Ar Kung Fu sucks no matter what version.

GooniesFan

41. GooniesFan 08 Apr 2009, 23:01 BST

now hopefully taito..will release games like superman...the 1988 arcade game...was very good actually..use to play it at chuck e cheese all the time....im still surprised arkanoid isnt on the vc channel either....or kung fu master........sunset riders was a great game too the arcade version..home version for 16 bit nintendo was ok..but not as good..too bad sega doesnt release quack shot or micky mouse and the castle of illusion..rambo 3 or ghostbusters...maybe sometime..or even put them out on a disc to play..seems like they are making us wait..or how about the aliens exterminaton arcade game..thats a awesome game..imagine that on ur wii.....wow!!!!!

XD375

42. XD375 Canada 08 Apr 2009, 23:15 BST

YESYESYES

Also release Salamander 2 please. :D

Betagam7

43. Betagam7 United Kingdom 09 Apr 2009, 01:01 BST

Great to see Life Force arcade coming. Was put off by the 50hz PAL NES version but the arcade version sounds the perfect way to complete my VC Gradius collection

Cheezy

44. Cheezy United States 09 Apr 2009, 02:19 BST

Hopefully we get another Twinbee and Parodius on WiiWare, too! And hopefully they bring Xexex to VC Arcade.

JJ

45. JJ United States 09 Apr 2009, 02:24 BST

I want Haunted Castle and TMNT

Mayhem

46. Mayhem United Kingdom 09 Apr 2009, 12:10 BST

Well you do spend a lot of the time jumping about in that game ;)

Oh and that should be Green Beret - released in the US as Rush 'n Attack (it was still called Green Beret here in the UK).

StarDust

47. StarDust United States 09 Apr 2009, 12:50 BST

With all this great news, I just hope they start upping production to more than one game per week :|

slangman

48. slangman United Kingdom 09 Apr 2009, 15:35 BST

Not sure about the other titles, but the Arcade version of Life Force would be fantastic. No need to bother waiting for the crippled 50hz NES version on VC now. :) Salamander Rebirth sounds quite cool too.

LEGEND MARIOID

49. LEGEND MARIOID United Kingdom 09 Apr 2009, 15:56 BST

Salamander/Life force...interesting....

JJ

50. JJ United States 09 Apr 2009, 23:37 BST

would it be possible to put symphony of the night on vc arcade?

PuppetMasterKuruku

51. PuppetMasterKuruku United States 10 Apr 2009, 09:04 BST

^ Umm... yeah. Sure buddy. They'll just put the arcade version of it. Just like on Xbox Live Arcade. I recommend you start waiting, and don't buy any Wii games until they do. It'll make the wait shorter.

Drake

52. Drake Netherlands 10 Apr 2009, 14:28 BST

Symphony of the Night will only happen if the Sega Saturn is added to VC. Which isn't likely since Sega doesn't know how to emulate it.

GooniesFan

53. GooniesFan 10 Apr 2009, 14:38 BST

so does anyone know what games are coming to the vc or arcade section this monday? we should get like 4 games a week..i dont see why they cant do it..why make people wait..there making some money off all of this

JJ

54. JJ United States 10 Apr 2009, 21:08 BST

@Drake
I was hoping they could port the playstation version to VC arcade like they did with xbla.

Drake

55. Drake Netherlands 14 Apr 2009, 13:05 BST

Then you don't understand what VC Arcade is. It's exclusively arcade games, and SotN is not an arcade game.

Party On Dude

56. Party On Dude United States 17 Apr 2009, 21:59 BST

All I can say is...
Way back when it was 2007, & the only TMNT game released back in April was the first NES one; I was eagerly awaiting for the 2nd TMNT2:TAG for the NES... yet it never came for months on end until I gave up by 2008 came around! :(
Nice memories though; wishfully thinking TMNT2 would ever come out back then! ;)

But now with 2009's release of VC Arcade games, maybe by the end of the year, or the years to come... Konami might have a hold of the TMNT license!

Then they could possibly give us the other TMNT games on the VC here in NA! ;)

That'll be the day I rejoice with my happy dance; of long years of waiting for my beloved classic TMNT games from the NES & SNES on the Wii! :D

evilralfwiggum

57. evilralfwiggum United States 08 May 2009, 11:45 BST

I wish Life Force was called Salamander everywhere. :/ Such a better name. lol

Kotai

58. Kotai Spain 28 May 2009, 12:19 BST

:O Salamander Rebirth... now we can play to nemesis online several stages of gradius and salamander. You can see in youtube videos of nemesis online and download free game and stage editor for make new stages.

Pepe

59. Pepe Guatemala 23 Jul 2009, 22:55 BST

Konami, what about Jackal (NES) and Contra Force (NES)
These are games that should be on the virtual console!!!

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