Virtual Console News, Virtual Console Features

Let's not get our hopes up

We reported last week that Shadow of the Eternals - the "spiritual successor" to GameCube spook-'em-up title Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - would make its way to the Wii U next year should its crowdfunding campaign prove to be a success. We know developer

Everybody wants to rule the World

Right from the six-note melody that opens the first stage, you can tell there's something special about Super Mario World. This is the Super Nintendo launch title that set the bar impossibly high for day-one releases, created the magic that games such as Super Mario 64, Sonic Adventure, and Luigi's Mansion have...

An interesting twist on the beat 'em up genre

Given the popularity of arcade titles like Final Fight and Double Dragon, the beat 'em up genre was a big draw in arcades during the late eighties and early nineties. Hoping to cash in on some of this success, SNK created its own unique take on the genre with Sengoku for its Neo Geo system. While the...

Slippery controls are on thin ice

Ice Climber, despite the self-explanatory title, is more complex than a cursory glance would suggest. Popo the parka-toting lad (and identical twin Nana in the multiplayer mode) must scale thirty-two vertically scrolling mountains to rescue a large number of delicious eggplants, using only wits and indestructible...

We chat with Nintendo's head PR honcho about 3DS, Earthbound and Zelda

Between test drives of a selection of Nintendo's 2013 line-up, including The Legend of Zelda 3DS, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and Animal Crossing: New Leaf, we had the chance to catch up with Nintendo of America's PR wizard Marc Franklin to talk about w

Time for the real deal

So far we've seen glimpses of the Wii U Virtual Console, courtesy of the Famicom Anniversary celebrations bringing us one classic a month for just £0.30/$0.30. And yet, following next week's system update, the real thing will arrive and bring regular retro downloads to the system. As we've already experienced, the VC...

War is heaven

Although NAM-1975 was an early Neo Geo release, it's certainly not short on fun. Released in 1990, it took a simple shooting approach and built an interesting war theme around it. Simple mechanics and a level of playability that wasn't too common in the genre made for an amazing gameplay experience. Now SNK Playmore is bringing back...

They skipped Wii VC, so now their time has come

Earlier this week we were rather pleased the share the news, based on a couple of sources, that Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse looks set to come to Wii U. It's unclear whether it'll be a straight-up re-release (on the Virtual Console) or a remastered port, but whatever the case it's a SEGA...

Third time's a charm?

Art of Fighting sprang onto the Neo Geo arcade scene in 1993 and brought with it several innovations that would become a staple of future Neo fighting titles. For one thing the game featured huge character sprites, some spanning nearly the height of the screen. It also introduced the now famous SNK zoom system that would keep...

Heavy Hitter

Boxing is a fascinating sport. Two human beings enter the ring, then skilfully and tactfully beat the tar out of one another using nothing but their own gloved fists. It’s the perfect fodder for a video game, and that’s exactly why the Punch-Out!! series is such a classic. Originally released in North America as Mike Tyson's...

The best there ever was

For many 2D fighting game fans, The King of Fighters '98 represents the zenith of the series; the crowning glory of the only rival lineage to truly bloody the nose of Capcom’s genre-defining Street Fighter. It’s not hard to see why this is the case; the game looks stunning, has a massive roster of characters and boasts...

News of a new entry is sullied by the removal of the SNES version from the Virtual Console

The latest issue of German Retro Gamer magazine has revealed that a new entry in the Turrican series is on its way. Turrican Rebirth will be a 2D shooter with a heavy emphasis on customisation, allowing players to make their own weapons and stages to share...

Jet setter

Speed upgrades became all of the rage during the early fighting game craze during the early '90s — Capcom practically made a living at it for a while. So when arcade gamers began complaining about the sluggish speed of World Heroes 2, SNK did the logical thing and borrowed a page from Capcom's book. When World Heroes 2 Jet burst onto...

Nintendo does listen, after all

If you're a European gamer then you'll no doubt be aware of how TV standards can impact the way games play. Back in the days of the SNES, NES and Mega Drive, EU gamers were saddled with slower versions of existing software. This is because Japanese and American TVs used the NTSC standard, while in Europe the PAL...

Hitting the streets with Wii U, going digging, time travelling and more

It may be the most loved up day of the year and an occasion for Nintendo Direct madness, but we still have a download update to deal with. Nintendo delayed the details slightly while Reggie Fils-Aime and company did their thing, but now we know about a Wii U app and a mixture of...

Sucking up your coins

It's Club Nintendo Rewards time again, North American gamers, with more downloadable goodies becoming available in exchange for some treasured gold coins. This month offers a mixture of retro Virtual Console treats and some DSiWare titles, detailed below. Bird & Beans — 100 Coins Metal Torrent — 150 Coins Paper Mario...

Fourth time a charm?

If there's one thing that can be said with any degree of certainty, it's that SNK's Metal Slug series always remained fairly consistent over the course of their releases. The gameplay remained pretty much the same, with little more than a few tweaks here and there for good measure. Metal Slug 4 was developed by Korean firm Mega...

Ken is raging, the Blue Bomber returns, concentration testing and more

Nintendo has confirmed what download delights are coming to North America this week, and it's certainly a diverse range. We have a download-only retail game on Wii U — if you can tolerate the term — some retro goodness and a long-awaited demo joining a major retail release on...

If in doubt, go retro

The start of a new Nintendo generation is always cause for excitement for many, with the promise of new entries in the company’s greatest franchises often enough to convince many to buy the system on day one. But with Wii U, Nintendo kept very quiet about its big franchises, and when the system arrived we had little idea of...