Japanese Releases News, Japanese Releases Features - Page 16 of 17

Gradius Rebirth is out now in Japan and the guys at Konami have done a good job bringing the classic series back for another outing, this time on WiiWare.

ReBirth isn’t an all new game, more of a remix of past Gradius titles, all presented in a lovely retro style. The first thing that hits you is the charming 16-bit graphics and sound, which are very much like what you would expect from a SNES..

Here’s a pleasant surprise – it only seems like five minutes ago that we were able to announce the development of Gradius ReBirth for WiiWare, and now the game is almost with us!

The 2D shooter will be arriving on the Japanese WiiWare service next Tuesday (alongside Midnight Bowling and what appears to be some kind of Othello variant), which means it will beat the similarly retro-themed Mega..

Some big things in Japan next month. After taking a multi-month break, the N64 is finally back in action! Square Enix is also finally putting up one of their most wanted RPGs for the SNES (That isn't Super Mario RPG). It's obviously not Chrono Trigger, nor is it Final Fantasy. Look below if you want to know!

The full list of games to be released in...

Lucky Japanese WiiWare gamers will be enjoying the awesome looking Alien Crush Returns and Space Invaders Get Even soon. Both are going to be made available on the Japanese WiiWare service this Tuesday (26 Aug).

Whilst both games look undeniably awesome, Alien Crush Returns has to be the pick of the two. This looks like the perfect homage to the original much loved TurboGrafx pinball sim. With the..

It's the last Friday of the month again, and you know what that means - Nintendo of Japan has revealed their plans for August. There are no big surprises this month, but there is one small surprise that everybody expected: Capcom has managed to sneak an extra release into July to milk out its main franchise even further! Aside from Nintendo releasing one of their more obscure classics, there is nothing too interesting to speak of here.

Japan's last update of July (Next Tuesday) is: Rockman (Mega Man, FC) Street Figh..

Some of our American readers have felt a bit miffed that their European cousins have been enjoying Mega Man 1 & 2 on the Virtual Console for quite some time now.

For a long while we have heard such comments as “No fair” and “this sucks ass” in relation to this Mega Man delay. Well guys, it’s not just you who have been waiting, even the...

As it's the last Friday of the month once again, Nintendo of Japan has revealed their Virtual Console plans for the next month. There are some notable games here, including (finally) Donkey Kong 3, the first Space Harrier, another Fire Emblem, and Shining Force II.

The full list is as follows: Famicom: Dig Dug (July 1st) Chack'n Pop Donkey Kong 3 Super Famicom: Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 Nintendo..

This is an interesting titbit of news for the WiiWare service in Japan. Sunsoft have recently announced that later this summer they will be distributing comics digitally via WiiWare.

The work of legendary anime creator Leiji Matsumoto should be amongst the first comics on WiiWare. So before long our Wii owning Japanese friends might be reading Galaxy Express on their TV screen, so they can save..

It's a big day for Japanese Wii owners - Earlier today, Super Mario RPG was made available for download in the Wii Shop. The game costs 900 Wii Points (For some reason, a bunch of games in Japan, mostly RPGs, cost more than normal).

The game was recently rated by the OFLC, so it should be coming to Europe/Australia as well. As it was never released...

On Tuesday 24th June, Japanese WiiWare gamers will get their hands on an puzzle game called Saikyou Ginsei Igo which is the second in the series of six board game simulations which Silver Star are bringing to WiiWare. It is based on the Board game called “Go” from the looks of it. It will cost 500 Wii points.

If you would like to see more there are some screenshots and a video on Silverstar’s..

Blue Oasis (Hudson's virtual aquarium) official site has opened. You can see the promotional trailer below.

Details from the site : Customize your tank from scratch, including the glass, the scenery, the lighting, and the type of fishes that will populate it. You can choose among 40 species of fishes, and create 6 different tanks No advanced technical knowledge required, as there is no..

Pop til you can't stop!

When it comes to great inventions we all know that the Japanese create the wackiest things in the world. A good example of this would be the bubble wrap keychain. What kind of mind could have come up with something so bizarre? This little device not only simulates the stress relieving powers of popping bubble wrap but every...

Japan is bound to make every single person in the US, Europe and the rest of the world jealous next month - There's a certain SNES RPG featuring everybody's favourite plumber on the release list, after all... One of the Mega Drive's finest RPGs is also on its way to the land of the rising sun.

The full list is: Famicom: Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa...

As you might remember, the MSX was set to get its first games on the Japanese Virtual Console this month. Up until yesterday, the two slated games (Aleste and Eggy) still did not have an actual release date though, and it seemed as if they would be delayed again (Making it almost a year after their initial planned release date!). At the very last minute, Nintendo of Japan decided to release Aleste yesterday, together with the rest of the games that were planned for this week.

That's not all - Aleste (And we assume every future MSX game) actually includes some special options on the VC. You can press the "-..

This coming Tuesday (27 May) our friends in the land of the rising sun get two new WiiWare games up in their Wii Shop. Isn’t it nice how Nintendo of Japan is so kind to publish a release schedule?

These are the two delights that they are getting: Saikyou Ginhoshi Shougi - 500 points Oekaki Logic (features downloadable content) - 500 points Saikyou Ginhoshi Shougi appears to be some kind of crazy..

Although a number of arguably "big" things are coming to Japan this month, none of them are true shockers. Konami will be bringing out the big guns with Ganbare Goemon 2, the second SNES Goemon game. This one was never released outside Japan, despite arguably being one of the best games in the series, so we hope this becomes an import title!

Shooter fans will be happy that Axelay, Gynoug,..

Even the most optimistic Nintendo fan would be hard pressed to deny that this week’s European Virtual Console update was a tad underwhelming. Just to make you feel even worse about it, not only is Japan getting four (count ‘em) games this coming Tuesday (22nd), but two of those releases are Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood and Metal Slug.

Envy is a terrible thing, isn’t it? Rondo is..

If you count yourself as a hardcore gamer then you will have read our recent news piece about April’s Japanese Virtual Console games with marked interest. Sure, there’s the usual amount of filler in there, like Famicom Detective Club Part II and Bokosuka Wars (neither of which are likely to make the leap over to the US/Euro VC service), but there’s a trio of games that should cause your pulse to race uncontrollably – Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, MUSHA Aleste and Metal Slug.

Dracula X is widely regarded...

After a somewhat subpar March, Japan's April schedule will probably blow you away. It includes a certain TurboGrafx-CD game everybody wants that was recently rereleased on PSP - Yep, it's Dracula X, the only Castlevania game to never be released outside Japan (It was ported to SNES, but with a massive music/graphics downgrade, and the PSP version just isn't the same!). See if you can spot the other classics on the list:

Famicom:-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (April 1st)-Sky Kid (April 1st)-Volguard II-Bokosuka War..