It's VC week!
Next week is a VC-heavy week for Japan with only one WiiWare title and four Virtual Console titles. The Japanese DSiWare front has been quiet since the 1st of the month which saw the release of the viewer for downloading videos from the latest Nintendo Wii channel: Wii no Ma.
Shika Gari (sic) or Deer Hunt is a simple deer-hunting title and the sole WiiWare release for 500 points.
The Virtual Console line-up sees the following releases:
Ninja-Kun: Ashura no Shou (500 points) -- Famicom port of the 2nd Ninja-Kun arcade game
Famicom Wars (500 points) -- The one that started it all...
R-Type for the Sega Master System (500 points) -- You cannot have too many R-Type ports
Cyber Sled from Namco for the VC Arcade (800 points) -- It's been a long time since I played this!

1. bboy2970
17 May 2009, 08:13 BST
ONLY 1 wiiware game and 4 VC games!? BOO HOO!!!!!! I would be happy if the US got that kind of treatment once a month! Those Japanese don't know how lucky they are. Mabey one day the tides will turn........
2. Kittsy
17 May 2009, 08:13 BST
Famicom Wars and Ninja Kun?
Awesome.
3. Kolma
17 May 2009, 08:16 BST
@bboy2970 thats ONE wiiware and 4 vc
4. Kittsy
17 May 2009, 08:18 BST
@bboy2970
They wern't using "only" to refer to a lack of games in general, they meant a lack of Wiiware games. So, ONLY 1 Wiiware, but 4 VC.
5. Corbie
17 May 2009, 08:18 BST
The Sega Master System port of R-Type was the first home version of the game I ever played. My best friend sold me his SMS when his dad got transferred overseas. The only two games I ever owned for that system were R-Type and Phantasy Star.
6. bboy2970
17 May 2009, 08:20 BST
@kittsy: whoops! all fixed now! Oh, i see now, i read it funny. But the point still remains that 5 games of any kind every single weak is getting just a little annoying.
7. Turbo Genesis 64
17 May 2009, 08:24 BST
I always thought it was ironic that Nintendo published the Irem classic in America for the arcade, but Sega had the home version.
8. Kittsy
17 May 2009, 08:32 BST
@bboy2970
No worries, I knew what you meant. It is annoying that they get so much more than us, but still. We do get them. After AAAAGES.
9. Damo
17 May 2009, 08:48 BST
Cyber-Sled, eh? Let's hope we get Air Combat next!
10. Mickeymac
17 May 2009, 09:13 BST
Yay! Famicom Wars! Too bad it won't come to the U.S., but at least it's somewhere. Speaking of which, I outta play my copy again, now that I understand the basic mechanics.
11. Kawaiipikachu
17 May 2009, 10:04 BST
Wow Famicom Wars.
When's the next Hanibi Festavile
12. KnucklesSonic8
17 May 2009, 11:46 BST
I'd love to see Cyber Sled comes here.
I'd definitely get it.
I wouldn't be surprised if Ninja-Kun came over.
13. Sean Aaron
17 May 2009, 11:51 BST
At first I thought Cyber Sled was another on-rails shooter like Solvalou and Starblade (which I have purchased) and was going to pass on, but then I saw the video and went "oh yeah, this is like Virtua On!" so I'm all over it!
14. Cheezy
17 May 2009, 13:06 BST
CYBER-SLED, SWEEET! I've always wanted to play this!
15. jhuhn
17 May 2009, 13:18 BST
Which means that Final Fantasy will be scheduled for May 26, 2009 if Nintendo doesn't give Japan a bum steer.
16. Wiiloveit
17 May 2009, 14:28 BST
"only one WiiWare title"
Oh, only one for the week? What a shame.
</sarcasm>
17. SonicMaster
17 May 2009, 14:36 BST
none of this stuff looked or sounded cool (except the video downloader thing.)
18. Supermarioman
17 May 2009, 14:36 BST
Corbie:
Those are almost the only games you would ever need for the SMS.
Maybe we will get a big update on VC on Monday like Japan sense it is #300?
19. Hyper Luigi
17 May 2009, 14:57 BST
The Japanese recieved less games,boo-hoo to them!
20. Egg miester
17 May 2009, 15:31 BST
japan always have good nintendo week's
21. Ricardo91
17 May 2009, 18:12 BST
Outside of Famicom Wars, Japan had a pretty lousy week this week. Looks like America and Europe aren't the only ones seeing a decline in download releases...
22. Objection_Blaster
17 May 2009, 18:21 BST
What a bummer, they ONLY got as many WW games as we get just about every week.
23. Omega
17 May 2009, 18:51 BST
The Master System Version of R-Type is surprisingly good. I have not known that such games were possible on that system. I also like the size of the sprites which is smaller compared to the Commodore Amiga and PC-Engine versions. This gives more space to move around on the screen and makes it easier to evade enemies and IMHO easier to control the game. The SMS version reminds me of the C64 version, but with nicer graphics.
24. The Fox
17 May 2009, 20:59 BST
Once again Japan does far better than Europe and America. No surprises there.
Cyber Sled was flawed but pretty damn good for its time.
25. DDR Paladin356
17 May 2009, 21:29 BST
Cyber Sled?! We better get that in US.
26. Crazed
17 May 2009, 23:20 BST
It's a shame that we don't get as many VC games that they get, since it seems like forever since a VC game over here has caught my interest. Let's hope that the 300th VC game is a good one.
27. Adamant
17 May 2009, 23:27 BST
No, that's not a shame. They get more games because they have more games to choose from, as more games were released over there. Developers shouldn't be forbidden from releasing Japan-only games on the VC just because some stupid Americans bitch on the internet about how the number of available games don't match up.
Guess what, Japan has more game than you for most other Japanese consoles, too.
You should've known this would happen when the service was announced, so why didn't you just buy a Japanese Wii right away so you could get all these VC games?
Seriously, stop ruining threads with this whining. It's annoying.
28. GMo4824
18 May 2009, 00:01 BST
FAMICOM WARS?!?!?!
WANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNT!!!!!!
29. Sean Aaron
18 May 2009, 00:27 BST
Mr. Ant, I don't think it's necessary to personally attack people; certainly not based on something as arbitrary as nationality, but I agree that if you're really hard-up for the many many titles that were only ever released in Japan (so many that years of Hanabi festivals would be needed for parity), then your only solution is to buy a Japanese Wii.
Mine has a Japanese flag skin on it (which actually looks a bit crap), but the two make excellent bookends if nothing else!
30. MarkyVigoroth
18 May 2009, 00:38 BST
Yay! Famicom Wars!
Adamant-san, thank you for reminding me.
31. The Fox
18 May 2009, 01:44 BST
@post 27 Adamant
Now, was that really needed? I've got news for you: this is the internet. People complain about meaningless stuff on the internet. Nothing new. You don't like it, that's cool and you're certainly entitled to voice your opinion. Being a douchebag with your response is a bit offputting, though.
32. Adamant
18 May 2009, 02:41 BST
Yeah, I might have been a bit rude in my response.
It IS quite annoying to have the threads about Japanese released filled with this constant complaints about how the Japanese VC gets more games than the others, though. Everyone knew that was going to be the case, and it's not like Japan actually gets games we miss out on - the extra ones they get are mostly games that wouldn't be released here anyway.
Nearly everything online regarding the VC is filled with complaints about how the released games suck, Nintendo sucks for not releasing one of the two only games the posters want, lack of releases, etc. The Japan-release threads have brought in the complaints about how the number of games on the Japanese VC is higher than in other countries on top of that.
It's getting quite annoying, especially considering there really isn't that much to complain about.
The titles on the Japanese VC are the same as in other countries, just with a bunch of Japan-only games the complainers mostly haven't heard of anyway on top of that, the VC is still getting weekly games, and releases games faster than both it's competitors, the games released are usually rather good, but are written off as crap by people who haven't heard of them before, and people who only want a few particular can't logically expect those few games to be released every single week.
What happened to the positive attitude from back when the service was new? Yes, we're not getting quite as steady a stream of games, but te service is still running relatively strong, and theres tons and tons of great games already released. Why so much negativity?
33. WolfLink22
18 May 2009, 03:14 BST
@27 don't be suprised to see people complain tomorrow if Majora's Mask is not released because of Punch Out for the Wii.
34. Darknyht
18 May 2009, 03:17 BST
I have two beefs with the current US Nintendo Store systems. First, is that we get duplicate games released for multiple systems (or even single systems in the case of Street Fighter). I'm sorry, the developer should be told to pick the best and release it. Instead they spam a limited distribution network with repeats.
Second, is that I went shopping on for WiiWare again this week after not looking for a while and the level of Shovel-ware vs. decent games is terrible. Whatever happened to the Nintendo Seal of Quality? How many crappy games need to on there (and how many have Family, Pirate, Party, or Fun in their titles)? It is even worse over in DSiWare land as there is barely anything available, but they are content to release a single game or two games every week (and most have been rehashes/abbreviated versions of old games).
It is a little frustrating to see what I can only attribute to arrogance on the part of Nintendo of America. It doesn't take a genius to tell if a game is terrible, and their willingness to pile it on both in stores and through the Nintendo Shops is aggravating. Heck even Nintendo of Europe released what was basically a digital version of a boring children's board game a few weeks ago. Who seriously thinks that was worth wasting a week on? (other than the developers and rights holders of the product)
35. The Fox
18 May 2009, 05:30 BST
@Adamant
I mean, I see your point, but you can't let people you disagree with get to you. And the VC has been in a bit of a slump recently, with solid but not exactly high demand games being released which is a bit frustrating. Some complaints are over the top (not really in this thread, though. it was pretty mellow here), but that's to be expected.
If Monday doesn't see a big name title hit, though, I think the shi*t is really going to hit the fan.
36. Pj
18 May 2009, 06:12 BST
Oh they didn't get Mario Kart, but then again I am expecting it to be on their VC list for June. I think we will see Mario kart this side of Christmas, I hope.....
37. Sean Aaron
18 May 2009, 07:44 BST
@Darknyht: The duplicate games issue is hardly unique to any territory. In Japan you've got four or five versions of Space Invaders alone and now three versions of R-Type! A lot of people think the version of game X on system X is the best or I'm sure publisher Y finds it easier to release game Z than to do other things and the duplicates are a stopgap, or maybe different companies own the rights to the title on different platforms. Nevertheless this is not a chronic problem.
I do think it would be nice if we had a better release schedule in other territories, but there are hundreds of titles there and if you're hard-up for something new it might pay to go through the existing catalogue to see if there's anything you've overlooked. I'm still discovering stuff on the Japanese VC; I'm sure there are games on the PAL one that would interest me, but between both territories I've already got such a backlog that the idea of, say, Bomberman '94 hasn't seem like something I need to jump on at the moment!
38. Kelvin
18 May 2009, 12:41 BST
As I remember, the Master System R-Type is one of the better home ports, with some unique features.
39. Darknyht
18 May 2009, 20:51 BST
@ Sean Aaron: All that you said might be true, but ultimately all those publishers go through Nintendo to get on the system. Nintendo could be doing much better quality control than they seem to be. They also now have 7 or 8 (can't remember right now) different consoles available with hundreds of games available for each, yet we only get 52 VC games a year now? Just with NES, SNES and Genesis there are over 2500 titles available (Yes, counting duplicates) , so it is not like they will run out of games to offer in the next 40 years at their current rate of release.
Likewise, I can only speak of the territory I am in and the reviews of other territories I have seen. As far as I am aware my Wii is locked into the US region and I am not the sort to either monkey with it or invest in expensive imports.
40. 2D_Dreamer
18 May 2009, 20:54 BST
@kelvin.
Yes If I remember rightly there's a secret level which you can find on level 4 flying up through the top of the screen at a certain pont. Have not played it for ages though, prefer to play the turbografx version on VC. I've recently set up some of my older consoles to my TV including the Master System so I'll play the game and see if I can find the hidden level. Hope the game's released here, I would still buy it if it came on the EU VC regardless. Lots of sprite flicker on the game and some slowdown, but its still a great port. One of the first games I bought for the SMS. Hopefully Power Strike 1 & 2 will arrive on the VC as well at some point.
41. colmtheperson
18 May 2009, 23:14 BST
@bboy2970 I hear u in Europe my friend
42. AYUMI
19 May 2009, 03:09 BST
i like it ~
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