Double Dose Of Sin & Punishment Arrives On North American Wii U Virtual Console Tomorrow

Meh...

Never played either game, but always wanted to. I won't get them tomorrow because I have other games to play, but I definitely want to play them eventually. Any reason for Sin & Punishment being more expensive than other N64 games on the virtual console?

Get both.

@Storytime7: It's because it's an import game.

@Zach777 have you played these? They are fantastic. Seriously they are. Both developed by treasure btw. Some of the most hard core games Nintendo has ever published.

Never played the original so this is a pick up for me!

@Storytime7 It's probably more expensive because it's an import game.

@Storytime7 the other is a Wii title. They stopped the whole 10 bucks discount for the first week to Wii games ago. These are worth every penny tho

@Storytime7 oh the n64 one. Yeah imports are a buck higher for some reason.

Played both didn't like them for some reason.

The sequel is just amazing stuff. I treasure my Wii copy.

@dumedum zing

I was seriously considering the n64 version on wii shop, and so glad I waited.

I've heard nothing but good things about these games

I may pick up the N64 original. If I really like it, I will get the Wii sequel.

Really loved the N64 original on Wii VC but just couldn't get into the Wii sequel the same way for some reason.Not sure why that was but it just never grabbed my attention in the same way the original did.Maybe if I gave it another go that might change.

I'll probably get them at some point, but I already have Gunstar Heroes on VC. I want to finish that Treasure game before I get another.

Only played the second i may pick up the first if it's that good

@Mega719 it's better than the sequel imo

I already own the original disc version for Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, although I always wanted to experience the original Nintendo 64 title as well, and I could not acquire the title from the Wii Shop Channel directly. The Nintendo eShop release will be an easier affair for me however.

Love both games, although the 1st game was a little hard for me to control.

@Storytime7
Probably because it's an import, it was like that when it was released on Wii as well. Still hoping a 3rd game is in the works.

Too much backlog.

Meh, didn't like the first one on the Wii vc.

@Zach777 Seeing someone comment "meh" in relation to Treasure games makes me cringe.

Upgrading my Wii VC title to a Wii U one and nabbing the Wii release for sure. I had it on disc and loved it!

Is there an excuse for charging a premium for the Wii U VC version of the first game beyond the fact it's an "import"? The translation work was already done years ago and it's not like it's a physical product here...

Not trying to stir the pot, it's a genuine question. It's like how I never understood why SMRPG and Earthbound cost more than regular VC games on European/Aussie services just because they weren't released there initially. It's still the same service and there was nothing about them unique to any other game you could download.

This is great. This week is going to be great. Can't wait for the Nintendo Download. This, VS Excitebike, very possibly Plague of Shadows, Runbow.

@Mario_maniac This is true. They're conflating physical imported goods with unreleased ROMs.

But Nintendo knows people will pay anything for Earthbound Beginnings, (in Europe) SMRPG, Castlevania Rondo of Blood, Sin & Punishment, etc.

Even though I have the physical copy I will probably pick up the Wii one and use the physical copy as trade in credit towards one of the upcoming wii u games, maybe Mario Maker. What appeals to me is the option to use the gamepad in place of a pro controller.

SO HYPED!

@Mario_maniac While it's true that the voice work of the original game was already in English in its original Japanese release, there are still localization costs beyond just translating the menus. As for the European imports, you don't think Nintendo can just magically convert them into the PAL format or add additional European language support just by snapping their fingers, do you?

Anyway, these are welcome inclusions, and I certainly enjoyed the first game when I downloaded it back in '07. However, while I still have yet to pick up "Star Successor," I can easily find used copies of the physical game for less than $20.

Played the wii one but went absolutely mad. I didn't like the sound design and music at all.

One of the greatest games on the N64. Top 20 definitively, perhaps even Top 10. And maybe my all time favourite shoot 'em up across platforms. The sequel on the Wii is still a very good game too, but often feels a bit too loose. This may be a matter of taste, though. It's surely more modern, from an age where games tend to be that way. Too bad the online rankings don't work anymore.

@BulbasaurusRex No, you don't get what I mean by how the translation was done years earlier. The localisation costs should have already been covered by the Wii Virtual Console release, which was fair when they charged another 200 points given they actually changed things within the game for the English VC release. There was no reason for them not to charge the usual N64 cost for the Wii U Virtual Console, though.

As for the other two... they weren't converted. They're still 60hz NTSC games that would run just as they would on any other emulator. So yes, I do think they could "snap their fingers" with those if you consider bringing over any other game snapping their fingers, given they didn't actually do anything with the "European language support" with those games. Not to mention we've gotten the 60hz versions of VC games recently without being charged a surplus for those.

Surprised by the price hike on Sin & Punishment as they seem to have stopped doing that for Europe.
The two never-before-released-Earthbounds cost more but the likes of The Lost Levels and Super Picross are priced the same as all the other NES/SNES games.

They might still increase the price for the Europe/Oceania release but I've noticed (in the UK at least - someone previous mentioned € prices are the same) eShop N64 already costs more than the Wii Shopping channel with games increasing from £7.00 (imports £8.40) to £8.99.

@Other_Dave That's strange. The prices are actually the opposite in Aus. They're AU$15/£6.93 on the Wii Virtual Console (1000 points), whereas on Wii U they're AU$13/£6.01.

So other than a small credit card fee for overseas transaction it'd probably be cheaper to buy those from the Australian eShop.

yes! great games!

FINALLY NINTENDO!!!!!!!

@Mario_maniac Thanks for the info. I'll definitely keep that in mind for future eShop purchases.

@BulbasaurusRex
I can assure you that the European Virtual Console versions of Super Mario RPG and EarthBound are, for the most part, directly the USA versions. They are not converted into PAL, and they run at 60hz NTSC . There are no additional translations done either - these two games come in English only.

@Mario_maniac
Despite what I just said, though, there was one line of dialogue in SMRPG that WAS in fact altered for the EU VC release. In the original, Croco says "You're a persistent bugger!", which was changed to "You're a persistent pest!".
"Bugger" is definitely not an appropriate word for small British children, so it makes sense.
But this does show that Nintendo aren't just throwing a game up on the service without a care - they are actively looking at each game to see if anything needs to be changed for the new audience, even if they aren't doing MUCH extra work.

@EarthboundBenjy Ah, good call. But I mean, they've also altered games like when it came to the advertisements in Wave Race 64, and then there was the photo gallery feature in Pokémon Snap. They didn't charge any extra for those alterations, and keeping SMRPG politically correct by going over the dialogue shouldn't have come out of the customer's pockets either. But you're right when you suggest that they do care about their audiences when they do things like that.

It's hardly the worst thing in the world to pay a couple of bucks extra given the quality of the titles — I love Nintendo forever for bring SMRPG into my life back during the Wii days haha — but I think the whole premium-price thing is silly when they would otherwise charge the same amount for shallow experiences like NES Tennis and fuller games like Super Mario Bros. They seem to value their older games based on what regions they were released in moreso than the actual quality of the games, and that's my biggest issue with it all.

@faint
I own them both so yeah, I've played them. It would be cool if Nintendo brought over Disaster Day of Crisis or Fatal Frame... Stuff they didn't bring to the U.S.

I just bought a light gun a few weeks back along with Link's crossbow training (awesome garage sale find) so I might grab the wii version but man why is the N64 title $11.99??? I though these were all going to be $9.99? I know it's only two bucks but it seems a bit greedy.

Hurrah! I hope we start getting closer to full parity with our Euro friends soon enough. I likely wont pick this up today, but at some point soon without a doubt.

Could not get into the first one at all. The whole thing was just a drudgery. Treasure's games are normally much better than this.

@Dr_Corndog The wiimote makes for a much better streamlined experience in the sequel. Way more intuitive and more fun than the original. Classic treasure game

Another week of catching up... strange times now.

I already played the hell out of both games. So, this kind of news just make me long for more treasure/Nintendo collaborations.

I hope the N64 version comes to Wii U virtual console in Europe.

I only played the second one, so I am open to trying the first one. Will be odd playing without a wiimote though.

Too expensive.

Never could beat the N64 game on the Wii VC. Time to give it another go, with restore points though, because the game's too unforgiving with its checkpoints, iirc.

I wonder how much the discount is gonna be, since I already have the Wii Shop Channel release. Also, I have the sequel on disc. Its amazing, and not to discourage a good download, but I think the physical copy might be much cheaper used...

@Tedikuma
Me too! Hopefully he is just not interested in these types of games, and not just underwhelmed by Treasure as a developer.

@VR32F1END I know it is in Canada. The VC cost is probably going to be $24.99 (INSANE!) and I just remembered I saw a used copy for $14.99 complete.

@OorWullie How odd! I'm the exact opposite. The 1st one didn't click with me, but the 2nd one I absolutely adored. Maybe it was the indecipherable story, maybe it was my mindset at the time.

The 2nd one worked for me really well. I basically describe it to friends as Star Fox but with a lot more bullets (if S&P2 was re-skinned with Star Fox, I feel like a lot more peolle would have enjoyed it).

I'll definitely be giving the 1st one another try.

Fingers crossed for dual stick controls! The only flaw in the N64 game I felt was moving the buttons to move the character left and right.

Regardless, the N64 game is seriously one of the best on the system . . .the action never stops. I heard great things about the Wii game, but haven't delved too far into it.

I always wanted to try these games....too bad I have too many games to play, and with big titles coming out between now and Christmas, I don't see this problem going away.

@EarthboundBenjy : Interesting. This is precisely why I dislike the fact that Australia is grouped with Europe in these kinds of situations, because we're often bound by whatever cultural changes or censorship that occurs in the European releases (and in some cases, content is excised from the U.S. release of a game while it is considered perfectly acceptable in Europe).

If I am not mistaken, "bugger" is not at all considered to be a "rude word" in Australia, particularly as it is very seldom used, except as an exclamation ("Oh, bugger!") as opposed to its traditional meaning, which I believe is still used in a legal context.

Sin & Punishment 2 is fantastic. The first one hasn't aged very well. And if you play S&P2 with stick controls instead of the Wiimote, you're a fool.

I got the N64 one on Wii, discount!!

@Mario_maniac Well, they kind of needed to keep the increased import cost for those of us updating from the Wii to Wii U version. Otherwise, they'd either have to give out the update for free, or they'd have people complaining about it being cheaper for new Wii U purchases than the combined cost of the Wii version and the Wii U update.

@BulbasaurusRex That's not how I see it. They could still (and would) charge for the update from Wii > Wii U even if the price was lower on the latter service. Did you see my comment earlier about how N64 games are AU$15 on Wii's Virtual Console and AU$13 on Wii U's Virtual Console? It's still another AU$2.60 to upgrade from Wii to Wii U in Australia, making it $17.60 for people who bought the game earlier compared to those who bought it just on Wii U.

So it'd be the latter case you mentioned happening, but the thing the complainers would need to keep in mind is that they've had the game for a longer time, and that the game was altered to specifically suit the service they downloaded it from. I'm not complaining about having to pay $4.60 more for Paper Mario, because I had all that time with it back on the Wii. There is no compelling argument I can see as to why Nintendo should be charging a premium for these games.

Sin & Punishment: Successor of the Earth was the first video game I ever bought imported. I was super nervous about it because I was just a little kid at the time, and I never knew anyone else who had done it before. Importing games wasn't nearly as common back then, and there was almost no information on the reliability of the online stores that offered them. I had to save up money for six months because it was $70, plus $30 for an N64 passport adapter and some more for shipping.

Luckily, it all worked out and I loved the game enough to feel like it was all worth it in the end. It was like no game I'd ever played before, and felt very ahead of its time. The fact that it was only released in Japan, yet all the voice work was in English blew my mind. Not to mention, it had the coolest box art I had ever seen! I decided that I'd never part with it, and kept it on display in my room until the day I moved out.

if you dont already own them, why not??

I might take a peek at the N64 version since I've never played it. I have the Wii Version which is very nice

$20 is insane for S&P2. It should be a remaster for that price. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game, but get it for $5 used at GameStop instead of $20 on the E-Shop.

Get both! Both games are treasures!

@vincentgoodwin Funny that,I was sure I would love the sequel but it just didn't click for me.Maybe like you it was just my mindset at the time and if I give it another try I'll enjoy it more.I've still got my Wii there,well unplugged and in the cupboard but it's there,one day I'll give it another go