I can't access the new streetpass shop. The bunny tries to talk to me, but it then crashes before anything happens.

@Pod The Master System version IS already available for download on the Wii's Virtual Console. Handheld gets the Game Gear version. Makes sense to me!

Decided I'm not doing one after all. I realised I'm too camera shy. :/

Under Ground Zone's boss is too luck-based. On the Game Gear, you can hardly see around you giving you even less time to react to the bouncy balls of instant death. The way Eggman rushes you at the end of the fight is just cheap too.

Sky High Zone is such a short level, but has one of the hardest gaps to jump across with the ridiculous hang glider. I guarantee that anyone who plays this will fall and fall and fall into that gap.
Act 2 is better, but it's weird how you can't tell when a cloud is solid or when a cloud is just scenery. Sometimes only half of a cloud is solid. Why is it not distinct?

Aqua Lake zone is annoying in itself for being the underwater stage, but the boss really drove me mad. He demonstrates to the player how to beat it by hurting himself once, by bouncing his ball up, it lands on him and he gets hurt. Except when Sonic touches the ball, it kills you. I had to look at a video to realise that you have to hit him while he's CREATING the ball, not when he THROWS it, completely contradicting the demonstration. That's just unacceptable.

And if you reach the final stage having missed just any one of the emeralds? Too bad, you don't get to play the final stage. WTF.

The game is just full of BS moments in every level. I can't stand it, it's like the game is actively resenting you playing it. I really don't like Sonic 2 on GG/MS

@XavandSo, wait, are we talking about 8-bit or 16-bit Sonic 2? I LOVE 16-bit Mega Drive Sonic 2. I was referring to Game Gear/Master System Sonic 2, the one with the ridiculous hang glider and a level named "Gimmick Mountain Zone".

Tails wasn't introduced yet when this game was made.

8-bit Sonic 1 is the only 8-bit sonic I would consider able to rival the Mega Drive games.

8-bit Sonic 2 was counter-intuitive, cheap, and not all that fun. Sonic Chaos was really underwhelming and short. Sonic Triple Trouble was okay but not all that great. And Sonic Blast was UNSPEAKABLY bad in almost every regard.

So Sonic 1 is the only 8-bit Sonic I would heartily recommend!

"And so you end up having all of these different teams working essentially on what amounts to the one main game and the derivative versions of it"

Oh god, Sonic the Hedgehog is so guilty of this! Just look at Sonic Unleashed on 360 and Sonic Unleashed on Wii. There is no comparison...They are two entirely different products with the exact same name. I reeaaally don't like it when that happens.

I love 8-bit Sonic 1. I've got the Game Gear version already on the GameCube (Sonic Adventure DX) and on PS2 (Sonic Mega Collection Plus), and I have the Master System version on Wii Virtual Console. Maybe I should get it on 3DS because it's the first time I'll have it portable?

Iwata let me get the last of the pink pieces for Fire Emblem's puzzle. Now I just need to waste enough play coins to complete it.

I might do something, though laziness may get the better of me. I'll see how I feel in a couple of days. I've never made a real video before, so I guess filming with an iPhone will have to do. You guys don't mind low quality video as long as it has the wonderful sentiment of the Nintendo 3DS, right?

With the Wii having GCN compatibility, the DS Lite having GBA compatibility, 3DS and Wii/WiiU having virtual console downloads... How on earth will this generation miss out on Nintendo's past releases? It seems like Nintendo are the ONLY one who care about past releases, seeing as Xbox One isn't going to be compatible with 360 games for whatever reason.

AWOL just means gone without any notice. I think it originally stood for "away without official leave", maybe?

I don't get the point of Nintendo Zone. It's just a tiny web page that you can't view from home. Whyyyyyyy...?

The thing about this though, there are some Wii games that support classic and GCN, but the controls are different. For example in Sonic Unleashed, left punch and right punch are L and R on GCN controller, but X and Y on Classic controller. This means that, if played on a Wii U with this thing, it's still going to be bound to the Classic controller setup unless you change it. But even then, it's going to be tricky to pull off quicktime events in Sonic Unleashed if the buttons displayed aren't the same as the controller it thinks you're using.

Personally, I'm not getting rid of my Wii, and I'm not transerring anything off my Wii, precisely because of games with GCN controller support.

Wavebirds should work, 'cause the small box thing just plugs in to a GCN port like any other GCN controller.

No, but this will make the Wii U think there's a Classic controller attached, when in reality it is connected to your GCN controller. Smash Bros is no doubt going to support classic controller, and if both Smash AND this controller are customisable, it should be no probs getting the controls of Smash Bros to mimic Melee / Brawl.

If there are 3DS and Wii U versions of each, do they count as separate games? I know I would definitely say that Sonic Colours DS and Sonic Generations 3DS were entirely separate games from the console versions.

Pikmin 3 has been my most anticipated game for a long, long time.

Passwords should work. Unless they altered the actual game to change passwords (like they did with Wii virtual console version of Kid Icarus)

Well, if the advance shop is not open in the 3DS version, then there's no reason to play them over the GBC carts. I'm actually very disappointed with this news. ;(

The two games feel so closely tied together that I don't really think it matters to talk about which one is "better". You can't have one without the other, so just get both and enjoy the massive adventure.

These two were my life for a long time as a small child. Walking around every inch of Labrynna, Holodrum and of course Subrosia. There's just a crazy amount of stuff to do in these games.

My only complaint is that you can't visit every square of the map on your first playthrough. There's this one tiny square in the ocean that Link just can't get to without playing a linked game that started from Seasons. Drives me crazy. :/

One of my favourite Sonic games. It's probably one of the easiest games in the series though. A single playthrough takes one to two hours, so if you play once it's a short game...but that's missing the point. There are ten endings, and you unlock the true final level when you see them all... so, as a minimum you're gonna have to play the game ten times. Plus A-ranking each level and finding the hidden keys can add some more reply value. And then you unlock Expert mode after A-ranking everything...which is still super easy.
I'd rather have easy and well-designed (Shadow) than challenging but impossible to control (Heroes).

Everyone who thinks this game is bad because it doesn't "fit" with the sonic atmosphere... is not looking at what this game is. All the existing Sonic characters act perfectly in-character, as you would expect. The general atmosphere never gets moodier than Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, and everyone who hates this game seems to love that one.
My verdict: Just try it, it's a great game.
That's my mini-review/summary in the comments here.

the thing about DK64 is that it contains two retro games - Jetpac made by Rare and the original DK arcade. You can't just remove them from the game because the coins you win from these games are required to open the final boss door. As long as Rare are partnered with Microsoft and as long as they still own Jetpac, DK64 isn't coming out on the Wii U.

One thing's for sure, these guys will be better villains than Mephiles.

The small Catan-esque planet seen in the screenshot reminds me of Sonic CD's Little Planet. Probably has nothing to do with much, but maybe some crazy Sonic CD-style environments could be seen here.

This news makes me more excited. I'm always glad when Sega DOESN'T listen to their whining fanbase. Sonic 06 and Sonic 4 Ep 1 were products of Sega doing just that, and they're not the greatest of titles in the series.

I love all of Sonic's new gameplay elements. Shadow the Hedgehog is one of my favourite games in the series. I liked the Werehog, I liked finding emerald shards with Knuckles and Rouge. I loved the six characters sharing an intertwined story in Adventure 1. I pretty much like every Sonic game. I have no doubt Sega will deliver more exciting goodness.

I like all of Sonic's friends. Even the ones others find annoying like Big or Cream or Silver... I like 'em all. Certainly like them better than the millions of nondescript human characters included in games like Unleashed. I don't get the aversion to including lots of Sonic's friends, it makes it seem like people don't trust Sega to make a worthwhile game with them.

Everybody hates it when Sonic games have extra "gimmicks" such as fishing with Big the Cat or turning into a Werehog... I don't hate those so much. so I'm gonna say that I hope Sega put as MANY gimmicks in this new game as they possibly can. Mmmhm.

@MrMario02 and you could also argue that Yancham's name is actually "Yanchamu", too. Point is, Japanese names have a lot of variability in the possible romanisation, so it doesn't mean much until we hear the English names anyway.

As much as I love the old games, I'm hoping for a bit more substance here. I loved Generations, but it was a quite short with only a nine levels (and five small missions for each level). On the other hand, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle had like a bajillion levels AS WELL AS five missions for each level, and it was awesomesauce amazing.

I don't like it when I hear news of Sega making an old-style Sonic game. Sonic 4 was just really weird. It looked weird, like all the environments were made of plastic or something, and it controlled really awkwardly to the point I just couldn't stand it. Just make something new and great and stop listening to the fans so much.

I was also wondering about GBA mode in regards to Season and Ages whenever they come out. I guess I forgot that this game also had GBA features. I sure hope it does. I remember that playing these games on the GameCube did in fact count as a GBA, which was cool.

Played this on the GBC, and the cartridge was really expensive. I recommend this game.

It's also a shame that some of the best games don't get translated in the first place. I've been playing Tales of Destiny PS2 version, and it's just a shame that no-one in this country can really get to play it. Same with games like Tales of Rebirth and Tales of Innocence and of course the PS3 Vesperia. But then, the astoundingly rubbish games in the series like Legendia, the first Radiant Mythology and ToS:Ratatosk DO get translated. So what does that mean?

Since Symphonia was the first to be released in all regions, it was the first to be the most successful. Why can't Namco realise this and just release all games everywhere?

Vesperia should have been more popular. It's just the problem that it was on the Xbox 360.
Vesperia is probably the best, or at least largest and most polished entry in the series, with Abyss not far behind. Abyss's main problem was that it was never released in Europe until the 3DS, and I bet the 3DS version didn't sell much, huh? It's kind of the exact same issue with Eternia, only being released on the PSP here.
Symphonia was the first game to reach all three markets, and it being on Nintendo's Cube definitely had some factor to play in its success.

I have a question about something I don't really know anything about, but may be helpful in predicting the future for this kind of thing: How are old online things handled for Dreamcast games?
I know that some games like Phantasy Star Online are somehow still being played, but I also know that there are some games like Skies of Arcadia and Sonic Adventure 2 that had DLC... is it currently impossible to download DLC to a Dreamcast game in any way?

...If so, then I can see a problem for the future of this era's games.

...If it really will make Metroid Prime 3's friend credit thing stop working, then that just makes me think even worse about that game's inclusion of such a pointless unlockable system. I already thought it was a stupid idea to begin with, but never really considered that it would be able to be made impossible just by time flowing forward.

I wonder if it's possible for Wii hobbyists to simulate a friend credit transmission for that game, even with Wiiconnect24 dead.

...This makes me wonder about the future fate of things like Xbox Live. You can't support online things forever, yet still people will want to play old games for the foreseeable future.

All I need is Japanese keyboard support. Why give us access to Japanese boards if we can't type in them?

If the iPhone version allows us to use the phone's kana keyboard, I will be happy. I don't know why they give us access to the Japanese Miiverse if we can't even friggin' type in Japanese using a PAL WII U. That made me so annoyed.

Lack of component cable support kills this thing in my mind. I'm the sort of person who bought the expensive and rare Japanese component cable for the GameCube, and I use an old CRT television for anything N64 or older. I just can't stand it when my games look like crap.

The timer in the first Pikmin was the only thing that made it as good as it was. The sense of a restriction and the potential of optimising around it was what made it so full of strategy and replayability. Pikmin 2 got so repetitive, I never even bothered to finish the second playthrough when I got the new-play control version. It's not a bad game, it's just.... an okay game, and nowhere near as enthralling as Pikmin 1.

I am so excited for Pikmin 3. From the sounds of everything, it's going to turn out to be the most perfect thing. The day I get a Wii U will be the day Pikmin is released.

At first glance I thought that was a screenshot of the character you play is in Pokémon XD. Then I actually looked at it and it was an entirely different thing indeed.

Don't know how this is relevant. Oh well.

People name Pokémon anything they want. Though some strategies are only possible due to some items, and if you want to utilise a specific strategy effectively, you have to raise the Pokémon so that it's entirely devoted to that strategy... so why not give it a name that fits for its purpose?

If I had one of those level 1 Aron with Endeavor, Sturdy, a Shell Bell and sandstorm support, I would definitely name it something different to one I was going to evolve into an Aggron. I would name it something like "immortal obnoxious tiny dinosaur thing that kills most things unprepared for it", except condenced into 10 characters. Mmm hm.

Heh, those moves on Cloyster aren't rare. It's just utilising a good strategy, using Icicle Spear and Rock Blast in combination with its (assumed) Skill Link ability. Though getting the perfect type and strength on Hidden Power is always a pain, so if the prize is accurate to the original Cloyster, it's a pretty good one.

I don't really care how Pokémon evolves, but I know that Game Freak are going to keep to the tried and true battle system, with all its intricacies and competitive potential. I know pretty much for certain that there isn't going to be a huge change in terms of the battle system. All I can expect is general usability and accessibility changes, such as the infinitely reusable TMs from Gen V. Maybe it will become less of a chore to get competitively viable Pokémon on your team. I remember in Gen III where the move tutors only taught one move once ever, and it was ridiculous. I love the direction Black and White have moved in, and I just hope we get closer to the ideal Pokémon game.

Currently my most wanted thing to come out right now is a Battle Revolution game for Gen V. If it had an online matchup mode, the ability to enforce rules and clauses, flat-battling at either lvl 50 or lvl 100 as the default, fast gameplay that isn't as slow-paced as Colosseum and XD, animations that don't look silly (like when bird Pokés are standing in mid-air on the airborne turn of Fly), a Poké storage functionality where you can dump boxfuls of Pokés to the Wii memory (as apposed to the limited 1-on-1 trading like Colosseum and XD had), and some other general things like the ability to win rare-ish items that you need in order to create teams such as evolution stones, the Electirizer/Magmarizer and other awesome things like the Focus Sash... if it's a completely fully-featured online Poké battle game for the Wii or WiiU, then I'll be completely satisfied with whatever comes out, even if there isn't any sort of story adventure mode like in Colosseum and XD.

I don't know what this game is, but I see Yuri Lowell up there and as a huge Tales fan, this has got me interested.

@Tsuchinoko I'm pretty sure that a lot of Chinese restaurants would be aware that many Western people just aren't all that knowledgeable about the differences between East Asian languages, and so that if they were asked "what does ebi mean?", they'd just nod and say "shrimp" without making a whole issue about it. I would presume that ebi sushi is well-known enough for Chinese restaurant staff to know that ebi means shrimp in Japanese.

@Klyo
That's precisely what I was getting at.
Ebi sushi is sushi with ebi on it.
As you can see in the image, the title has エビ in it. "エ" is just "e", and "ビ" is just "bi". So, this says "ebi".
Ebi is the Japanese word for prawns or shrimp.
"シールド" is pretty much just the English word "shield" all spelled out. it's pronounced sort of like "shiirudo" in Japanese.
So therefore, the title is "shrimp shield".

Hmm. I wonder if I can explain myself better than this. Though this WAS pretty tedious an explanation! it'll have to do.