Wii U eShop Game Reviews
Review Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting (Wii U eShop / SNES)
The need for speed
Although many will accuse Capcom of flogging the Street Fighter license within an inch of its life, the company wasn't solely to blame for the production line of incremental updates which appeared after the release of the original Street Fighter II. Unscrupulous arcade owners would "hack" arcade boards to increase the speed of the...
Review The Legend of Zelda (Wii U eShop / NES)
A Link from the past
When The Legend of Zelda was released in 1986, it was at least as much an eye-opening experience for gamers as Super Mario Bros. had been. Whereas that game expanded and solidified the left-to-right nature of platformers for generations to come, The Legend of Zelda opened sprawling worlds before us, and allowed us to go wherever...
Review Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams (Wii U eShop)
A real dream game
When The Great Giana Sisters was released way back in 1987, it quickly became notorious for its remarkable similarities to Super Mario Bros. So much so, in fact, that it attracted the legal attention of Nintendo and was swiftly withdrawn from sale. The franchise later re-emerged in the form of a DS sequel in 2009 and while it...
Review Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (Wii U eShop / SNES)
The original, but sadly not the best
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior was nothing short of a phenomenon. If you're old enough to remember when the game hit the Super Nintendo two decades ago then you may recall it as all you ever thought of or spoke about for weeks on end. The gaming world seemed to gravitate around Capcom's seminal one-on-one...
Review Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Depth incarnate
If there's one thing that you could pretty much be assured of when it came to a Koei game back in the day, it was getting a lot of depth to your gameplay experience. Not only were you generally treated to a very high production value visual experience, but the attention to detail and historical accuracy was always of high quality...
Review Galaga (Wii U eShop / NES)
That man is playing Galaga!
Galaga is old. It may well state 1988 on Galaga’s NES title screen, but that refers to its European and US release date, the Japanese Famicom conversion was released early in 1985 and they are all based on a port of Namco’s 1981 coin-op. This means that with any Wii U Virtual Console purchase you must consider if you...
Review Pokémon Rumble U (Wii U eShop)
Wind me up
Nintendo has never been afraid to spin one of its biggest money makers, Pokémon, off into various weird and wonderful directions in between the mainline RPGs that are the franchise's bread and Butterfree. There have been puzzle games, the delightful safari of Pokémon Snap and, perhaps strangest of all, a crossover with Nobunaga's...
Review DuckTales: Remastered (Wii U eShop)
Tales of derring-do
It’s difficult to determine exactly who video game remakes are geared towards. On one hand you have generations worth of gamers who played the original and would love to experience it again on a modern console with updated graphics. It’s possible, however, that these people are no longer playing video games or don’t own...
Review Spin the Bottle: Bumpie's Party (Wii U eShop)
You spin me right 'round baby, right 'round
If there’s one unique selling point that the Wii U truly has over other systems, it’s the potential that it has for local multiplayer. Up until now, asymmetric multiplayer has been a pretty big deal to Nintendo, with the GamePad being the key to unlocking these new kinds of gameplay experiences...
Review Art Academy: SketchPad (Wii U eShop)
A masterpiece or sketchy at best?
One of the most fascinating things about Miiverse is how Nintendo is paying such close attention to it. Not just in the sense that it is regularly updating it, but rather the company is actually listening to what its consumers are saying on the platform. It's remarkably unusual for a company that until now had been...
Review Harvest Moon (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Barnstorming
Early wake ups, extensive hours, back-breaking labour and ever-vulnerable to unpredictable weather patterns – farming doesn't sound like the most tantalising profession on paper. Way back when, however, developer Natsume clearly caught a glimpse of the positive aspects of the job and was inspired to create one of gaming's most beloved...
Review Cloudberry Kingdom (Wii U eShop)
Maddeningly brilliant
Cloudberry Kingdom has never left anyone in doubt — it wants to test and infuriate gamers. Yes, there are easier options and levels, but its trump card is filling a screen with what looks like an impassable range of obstacles and then teasing the gamer with the hint of a possibility that it can be beaten. It's a cruel,...
Review Kid Icarus (Wii U eShop / NES)
A demonic angel
The popularity of Pit, even before his triumphant return in Kid Icarus: Uprising, was focused around nostalgia for his first two appearances on NES and Game Boy, with the home console original setting the tone with catchy music, quirky mythological enemies and lashings of creativity. This was impressive in the days of the early 8-bit...
Review EarthBound (Wii U eShop / SNES)
An RPG experience unlike any other
EarthBound landed on the SNES in 1995 with a dull thud. While the game didn't exactly light up the sales charts in North America and failed to make it to Europe, it has certainly gone on to become one of the most sought-after games in the second-hand market, selling for upwards of $80 as nothing more than a loose...
Review Donkey Kong (Wii U eShop / NES)
Klassic Kong
This month marks the 30th anniversary of the initial Japanese launch of the Nintendo Family Computer, more popularly known around the world as the Famicom. Among the landmark console’s launch titles was Donkey Kong, a port of the arcade hit that began Nintendo’s launch into video game history. Now, just in time for the anniversary...
Review Metroid (Wii U eShop / NES)
By Zebes, it’s Metroid on the Wii U
The NES section of the Wii U's Virtual Console expands by another notch with the addition of Metroid, regarded by many as one of the best entries that amazing series has to offer. The great news is that it's every bit as wonderful as you remember; the bad news is that it's no more interested in holding your hand...
Review Star Wars Pinball (Wii U eShop)
Laugh it up, pinball
If the Disneyland Star Tours attraction was systematically dismantled and reassembled by brilliant maniacs who love tabletop arcade games a whole lot, it would surely be a perfect doppelganger to Star Wars Pinball. The creators of Zen Pinball and Pinball FX have somehow managed to stuff all the joy and adventure of Star Wars...
Review Pilotwings (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Empty skies
Most readers here will remember the launch titles of the 3DS quite well, and as such they're probably familiar with the existence of Pilotwings Resort. While we certainly enjoyed the title there was a great deal of talk about it essentially feeling like a retail tech demo, more of a proof of concept for the new hardware than a game in...
Review Vegas Stakes (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Jackpot winner or total craps?
Nothing says “SNES classic” like a high-stakes trip to a menagerie of Las Vegas casinos. You’re invited to bust open the bank account for a night of potentially irresponsible entertainment as you hop from game to gambling game with your crew of potentially irresponsible friends. Even if a 1993 rendition of...
Review Wrecking Crew (Wii U eShop / NES)
It's wrecking time!
Mario's claim to fame has often been jumping; a simple skill, but unfailingly entertaining. It can be tough to remember a time when he traded high-flying acrobatics for a hammer and an insatiable appetite for destruction, but that's exactly the case in Wrecking Crew. Smashing things to bits is the straightforward goal, but...
Review Mario Bros. (Wii U eShop / NES)
Definitely not super
If you've ever been curious about Mario and Luigi's actual credibility as plumbers, you'll want to look all the way back to 1983's Mario Bros., the game which established pipe-cleaning as their true vocation and served as something of a bridge between arcade sensation Donkey Kong and early platforming masterpiece Super Mario...
Review New Super Luigi U (Wii U eShop)
New Super DLC for U
So, what is New Super Luigi U? It's not straight-up DLC, nor is it sizable enough to justify a full price retail game, so Nintendo has opted for a best of both worlds approach; it's available as either pricey DLC for New Super Mario Bros. U or as an inexpensive standalone retail game to be released at a later date. What does it...
Review Mutant Mudds Deluxe (Wii U eShop)
A muddled experience
In early 2012, Mutant Mudds hit the 3DS eShop, and we loved it. Its faux-retro sprite design and satisfying difficulty made for a great gaming experience, as did the fact that it actually used the 3D effect in an interesting way; our hero Max could leap forward and backward through the background layers in order progress through...
Review Spelunker (Wii U eShop / NES)
Deeper underground
Ask a few western gamers about Spelunker and it's likely that barely any of them will have heard of the game, despite it being originally developed by an American company. Ask Japanese gamers, though, and it's a completely different story — the game is very well known to them and is joked about online all the time, though not...
Review Mega Man 4 (Wii U eShop / NES)
The Blue Bomber jumps onto the GamePad
In 1991 the world got a fourth entry in what had quickly shaped up to be one of the NES's most popular series. This game was Mega Man 4, and expectations were high. After all, the first game laid down a solid — if static — template that resonated very well with gamers, the second game refined the formula...
Review Yoshi (Wii U eShop / NES)
Not very eggciting
With so many tile-matching games available on so many different gaming platforms, it’s surprising to see that, despite the Wii U launching six months ago, there have yet to be any released on the new console. Nintendo has finally decided to fill that empty gap with the Virtual Console release of Yoshi, an NES era puzzler...
Review Mega Man 3 (Wii U eShop / NES)
The Blue Bomber jumps onto the GamePad
It's fitting that Mega Man 3 introduces our hero's antagonistic, cocksure older brother Proto Man, as the game itself seems to eternally duke it out with its own brother Mega Man 2 for the coveted title of Best in Series. But wherever you may fall on the question, there's no doubt that this third installment in...
Review Mega Man 2 (Wii U eShop / NES)
The Blue Bomber jumps onto the GamePad
In 1987, Capcom released the original Mega Man. It was well-received by both gamers and critics, but it was not much of a financial success. Over the course of the next year, however, Mega Man 2 was developed as a labour of love by Keiji Inafune and his team, alongside other projects that were expected to be...
Review Ghosts 'n Goblins (Wii U eShop / NES)
Lots of pain for little gain
From Software's Demon's Souls and Dark Souls titles have been hailed as two of the most engaging games of this current hardware generation, praised by critics and gamers alike for their intense difficulty and complete lack of hand-holding. Set against other modern titles — which seem to fall over themselves to make the...
Review Kirby's Dream Course (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Augusta this 'ain't
Kirby, being a lovable if slightly non-descript pink ball, can lend his hands — or flappy arms, whatever — to lots of things. Being shaped like a ball and all, he's indulged in pinball, for example, and when participating in his named spin-offs generally performs as the ball, rather than going all Mario and playing the sports...
