Blow your mind in a Fantasy Zone!
Two hits and one miss this week!
All the signs were pointing to a new Hanabi Festival starting today - Nintendo of Europe did not reveal today's new games in advance (Unlike the past two weeks) which lead us to believe there'd be something big. On top of that, it's "Golden Week" in Japan at the moment, a national holiday! How much longer are we gonna have to wait?
It's not all that bad though, the Wii Shop has both an actual classic and an update to another classic available right now. Fantasy Zone II is of course the sequel to Fantasy Zone, which, while often overlooked, is quite a fun little game. This sequel basically improves on everything but the music (Which is not nearly as catchy as that in the original) - The gameplay's more interesting and the graphics are some of the best on the system. If you want, wait for our review, but rest assured that if you liked the first game you'll love this one.
On WiiWare you can download Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure!, which is an updated version of Rainbow Islands (Part of the Bubble Bobble series), sadly not yet available on VC. Bubble Bobble Plus! was a great update to the original, but we recommend you wait for a review on this one - When Sean gave us his first impressions from the Japanese release a couple of months ago, it sounded fairly mediocre.
DSiWare practically hasn't been updated at all - The only new game available is A Little Bit of... Magic Made Fun: Deep Psyche, the second bitesized Magic Made Fun compilation. Like the previous one, you really shouldn't bother, if you're the least bit interested in learning magic tricks, the full original DS game can be found really cheap in a ton of stores (Because it barely sold any copies!). Read our Master of Illusion Express: Deep Psyche review if you still need convincing.
That's it for this week!
1. Bass X0
07 May 2009, 23:35 BST
I don't know whether to get Rainbow Islands or not...
2. Dazza
07 May 2009, 23:38 BST
It's tempting, but the art direction puts me off. I am a big fan of the arcade from back in the days so I might give this a whirl. How bad can it be?
3. Bass X0
07 May 2009, 23:43 BST
Yeah. My family's love for Rainbow Islands all started with the European NES version then later I got the Enhanced version on the Sega Saturn and now currently own the game on the Taito collection on PS2. However, I have looked at other Rainbow Islands remakes on other systems like the PSP and DS but never played them. I just fear that the remakes would strip everything we loved about Rainbow Islands in an attempt to make it new.
4. buxtoc
07 May 2009, 23:45 BST
Me too Dazza... and I like it (although I've had it less than an hour!)
5. Supermarioman
07 May 2009, 23:47 BST
So.....Will We Get Bubble Bobble Plus sometime since Europe has had it for well over two weeks and just got the sequel? I hope we get Fantasy Zone II on Monday, I love the original. Good Update!For everybody in Europe!
6. TwilightV
08 May 2009, 00:06 BST
Where are you, Bubble Bobble Plus?
7. Ragnor
08 May 2009, 00:36 BST
Where are you, Final Bubble Bobble?
8. tootie_kicks
08 May 2009, 00:38 BST
Fantasy Zone II, my (SMS) life is now complete!
9. Objection_Blaster
08 May 2009, 00:39 BST
So okay VC, meh WW, and demo for DSi...sounds about typical. (Typo edited.)
10. Ferret75
08 May 2009, 01:00 BST
FZ2 looks neat though.
11. Corbie
08 May 2009, 01:30 BST
@ Objection_Blaster - Nope. You had a VC where it should have been a WiiWare title in the middle there.
12. Objection_Blaster
08 May 2009, 01:32 BST
Gasp, you're right! Looks like one of my typing fingers is trying to go on strike! Have at thee!!
13. The Fox
08 May 2009, 02:05 BST
Well, looks like Europe had a slightly better release than NA on all fronts. Not like that was hard on the DSiWare front, though.
14. Pegasus
08 May 2009, 03:55 BST
Ugh. I just watched the gameplay video for the Rainbow Islands remake. It looks absolutely horrible. How could they f*** it up this badly? No, thanks. It's doubtful that we'll ever see the original on the VC. Thanks Taito/Square Enix for being retards.
15. BiggerJ
08 May 2009, 04:02 BST
I remember reading somewhere on this very site (before the merge with NintendoLife) that the next Hanabi Festival was revealed by an insider to be on either June or July. The month was actually specifically stated but I don't remember which.
16. Wesbert
08 May 2009, 04:17 BST
I think it was June.
But with this update we can consider it official: Last week wasn't just a May 1st special, alternating weeks really seem to be a thing of the past now.
17. Ricardo91
08 May 2009, 04:42 BST
Pretty good week for you guys, but it sucks that you get Rainbow Islands before we even get Bubble Bobble! >: (
18. Twilight Crow
08 May 2009, 05:59 BST
Another nice week for EU! I'm eagerly waiting for Fantasy Zone II, maybe this monday, toghether with Bubble Bobble +... please!!
19. mastersworddude
08 May 2009, 06:06 BST
Great update for EU! too bad your DSiware was a flop.
20. LEGEND MARIOID
08 May 2009, 07:30 BST
The art puts me off as much as it did with Adventure Island. Moreso in fact. Meh update for EU IMO.
21. Kelvin
08 May 2009, 08:18 BST
Oh god, what have they done to Rainbow Islands? It looks like a bad Amiga game!
22. PALgamer
08 May 2009, 09:19 BST
The DSi Shop still has to prove itself worthy of my money, nothing yet.
Oh yeah, wake me up when Cave Story arrives. ZZzzz
23. Atlantis1982
08 May 2009, 09:49 BST
Oh once again, EU became superior over NA's releases. What a surprise. (looks annoyed)
24. PALgamer
08 May 2009, 10:01 BST
That's because PAL is the new NTSC, get used to it America
25. slangman
08 May 2009, 10:58 BST
Not bad. I might get Fantasy Zone II sometime. I quite liked Super Fantasy Zone. Maybe the last week of May is Hanabi. One can hope.
@PALgamer, i'll believe that when the PAL VC starts getting properly optimised games.
26. MrLopez
08 May 2009, 12:05 BST
WTF Again a crappy week!! I want more SNES, NES and Genesis games!
_27. PALgamer
08 May 2009, 12:13 BST
It's only recently that Nintendo has started to give treats to PAL. On average we still get the short end of the stick, but there's change in the air. Americans notice it, that's why they are becoming impatient. In this digital global age, everyone should be treated the same, that is what Nintendo should aim for next.
28. LinkFanatic
08 May 2009, 13:20 BST
What is the damn hold up for the Arcade?!?!
29. Kirk
08 May 2009, 13:25 BST
Fantasy Zone II is one of my favorite Master System games of all time.
30. Bass X0
08 May 2009, 14:09 BST
The hold up for arcade games, well I think its because its not quite as simple for companies to give Nintendo a ROM to use for a particular console. Each company has a number of boards which run their arcade games on (i.e. Capcom's CPS1, CPS2 and CPS3 boards). Assuming many companies didn't know about the arcade games now being possible on the Virtual Console, we have to wait for them to create their own arcade emulator that works on the Wii, get it tested and approved. I don't know how long this takes but its probably be a while. And as far as Namco and Tecmo who do have games on the VCA already, its just a matter of time I suppose.
Its frustrating at times because all we see is the end result. We rarely have any idea of whats happening behind the scenes.
31. Rapadash6
08 May 2009, 15:26 BST
Kind of a "meh" update but still infinatly better than what we got this last Monday.
32. Kojak
08 May 2009, 15:32 BST
I loved the AMIGA-Version of Rainbow Island. If they only would have AMIGA-Games on VC. a dream would come true!
33. Wiiloveit
08 May 2009, 16:10 BST
It doesn't look too terrible, but there's nothing that interests me this week. I'm still having "fun" with last weeks magic trick, thanks Nintendo. Surely they could have released something alongside it on the DSi as well, though?
34. City Of Delusion
08 May 2009, 16:45 BST
DSiWare looks like it should have been delayed for six months. Except for the inital flurry we have seen one, maybe two Actual Games.
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