I think you people are missing the point - you don't need to own or even like Rock Band in order to redeem the free Points. Plus, they're only technically giving away Points because Nintendo's shop system doesn't allow them to provide direct downloads as it does for other platforms, so complaining about it not being worth it is a waste of time, especially as a Pepsi + 200 Points is cheaper than buying them outright. Sheesh.

I'm pretty sure Mountain Dew is one of the other Pepsi products, in case that changes your mind...

The PAL release is subtitled Build Fuse Destroy, not the NA release. Also, the game came out an April 3 of this year in Europe (not Australia, hence why Sean ended up reviewing this and not me, argh), not September 26 of last year.

@Stuffgamer1 - don't you think you're being just a tad melodramatic? I don't care whether you get the game or not, but it seems entirely unreasonable to deny yourself the chance to play a worthwhile game because you can't read Game Freak's take on "The princess is in another castle!" This isn't Hemingway, it's a 90's platformer. Lighten up.

Also, Sega are generally pretty good about cross-region releases so I wouldn't expect there to be much of a wait.

@Stuffgamer1 - I replied to sfog because I couldn't be bothered to find the username of whoever he quoted (ie. you). The game's story is entirely untranslated. Buy it anyway.

@sfog - based on my quick experiences with the VC release I believe it is entirely untranslated, much like the US Sega Channel release. It's been a long time since I played the original but I'm positive that nothing at all has been translated. Honestly, none of the Japanese text is vital to the gameplay and you'll get the gist of the cutscenes regardless of the fact that the subtitles aren't in English.

I really wish the VC reviews actually addressed some of this stuff and weren't just based on downloaded ROMs.

@Luke - I actually changed some of of the tennis terminology in my review based on stuff I'd been told by an EA Australia rep - guess I should have known better than to trust a desk jockey, heh.

Yeah, exactly. Make no mistake about it - if you want a tennis game with more depth and precision than Wii Sports but aren't looking to spend countless hours taking on the computer or playing online tournaments then Grand Slam Tennis is definitely worth grabbing, especially if you're in Europe where it comes bundled with the MotionPlus. Personally, I find it hard to be too enthused about as I've played it alongside VT2009 the entire time, and played both of those alongside Tiger Woods which puts both games to shame as far as controls are concerned.

@pixelman - I know when you're supposed to calibrate the Wiimote - the problem is that it'll do it whenever you hold the Wiimote still for a few moments, so if you go directly from a replay to a serve without taking a moment to recalibrate your player suddenly develops osteoporosis. They chould have at least required you to hold down a button or something so it doesn't recalibrate whenever it damn well pleases.

@Kokstra - VT2009 has more consistent MotionPlus controls, a far deeper single-player experience and more online modes. It's easier to play and there's more to do. I wouldn't give it the 9 that James gave it, but I definitely feel it's the superior game.

Disgaea is a fun game for those looking for a serious SRPG and the DS version has a few neat bonuses like the Prinny commentary. I think Knights In The Nightmare has it beat in terms of the sheer OCD-esque amount of stats and mechanics present, but Disgaea and Nippon Ichi are still the benchmark for this sort of number-crunching excess. Nice review!

I personally do not get the appeal of this game. In terms of difficulty and saccharine kiddiness it makes the Kirby games look like freakin' Metal Gear Solid. Oh well.

@Rockbandmonkey - you do realise it takes hundreds of experience point to level up past level 10 or so and thousands beyond that? Unless you want Popeye-esque forearms there's no way anyone will be using the PokeWalker as a primary training method or even to cheat.

Super Smash Bros. Fan1999 - Tatsunoko is a Japanese anime studio with a ton of popular franchises, the most famous of which are Speed Racer and Gatchaman (Battle Of The Planets outside Japan).

@Stuffgamer1 - that face towel is exclusive to Japan and Australia I believe - aside from the towel, the Aussie Club Nintendo (which only launced a few months ago) is identical to the American version. The UK version at least had some neat stuff every now and again, like the Mario Galaxy Kite, but it's still got nothing on glorious Nippon.

@Terranigma - having played both (PSZ since release, RODS for a few hours a few months ago) I'd probably give PSZ the edge, but if you enjoy one you'll enjoy the other. I'll probably write a "head-to-head" article comparing the two closer to release.

@madgear - which Sparkster did you play? The Megadrive and SNES games shared the same name but were totally different games.

This isn't a cheap tie-in, it's been out since late 2007. Cheap, yes... tie-in, not really.

That'd be "people", yeah?

@Danny August - I took an excerpt from this TV show, for the sake of brevity. Believe what you will.

@lilcookie - I'm not sure what relevance your question has to the article, haha. Anyway...

There'll be "DSi-enhanced" games that will work on a regular DS but offer extra features and content when played on a DSi. Eventually there will be games that work only on the DSi, but that's a long way off.

The only games that actually make use of the DSi's enhanced hardware at this time (aside from DSiWare games as Corbie mentioned) are some Ubisoft cookbooks and health guides and whatnot, so nothing essential.

@Prosody - yeah, similar sorta gameplay, but more "cheesy 80's action movie" than "cheesy cartoon war movie" and a more brutal difficulty. Contra III for SNES is the best one currently on VC, but all the 8/16-bit ones (three for NES, one for Game Boy, one for SNES and one for Megadrive) are worth getting, as well as Contra 4 for DS. The PSX/PS2 games are better left unmentioned.

@Terranigma:

1 - The Gradius series has a history of re-using a lot of familiar elements from game to game - "Shoot the core!" bosses, Moai head levels, incredibly wimpy final bosses, etc. The levels/bosses in ReBirth are, by Gradius standards, fairly original, and are by no means copy/paste or anything as they all deviate quite significantly from the original. I expect the other ReBirth games to be similar - original content directly inspired by classic moments from the older games.

2 - There isn't a lot of info there, but my first guess would be that it's beind developed by Mobile21, a subsidiary of Konami who mostly do cellphone stuff and program the VC emulators, but are also responsible for Gradius ReBirth and Gradius Advance on the GBA (as well as the upcoming (Salamander ReBirth).

@Ragnor - "balance"? What games were you playing? The GB/GBC games (moreso Blue/Red/Yellow, but Gold/Silver/Crystal too) were broken beyond comprehension.

Righteous!

Now they just need to release Gradius ReBirth in PAL territories already.

For those who care - the game had massive slowdown issues with split-screen multiplayer so it was dropped, and they had full LAN play working but Nintendo made them remove it.

Coming out in Europe on the 12th, with WSR coming out on the 24th.

I wonder if the "enhanced and improved control scheme" will be patched in for the NA release.

@Atlantis1992 - there's no need to worry. No More Heroes was not and will probably never be a Nintendo-published title, and the publishers of the original game have stated that they were extremely pleased with the sales of the original, so there is no risk of losing NMH2. You can quote me on that.

Salamander ReBirth, hell yes! My Japanese Wii is used almost solely for playing Gradius ReBirth, so I guess I should wait until that gets a PAL release before I get too excited, but still...

@Corbie - Deathsmiles could have been region-free but Cave decided against it for whatever reason. As far as 360 and region-loocks go, it's left entirely upto the developer.

@Starwolf_UK - I don't believe the scan is from ONM. I do have the name of it (I think, may have deleted it) but it wasn't ONM.

Don't worry, we're already on it.

KDR_11k - the story involves you playing as a new rookie 'Buster alongside the cast from the movie and at certain points you'll have to rescue the veterans from ghosts and traps and whatnot. This is the case for both single-player and co-op mode and is just the way the game plays.

I agree - the game's only short if all you plan to do is play through to the end. For the completist there's a ton of hidden levels, treasures and objectives to find.

@Terranigma - the first Puyo Puyo game was rebranded for international release as Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine for Sega Megadrive and Kirby's Avalanche for SNES, both of which are available on the Virtual Console, so give 'em a shot!

Can't say I was too fond of this one - if the Wii wasn't so lacking in decent third-party titles I doubt many would have even given it a second look. I guess it's not bad, but it's just another generic platformer to me.

Also, that pun in the tagline is really pushing it

I enjoyed this one far more than I expected to, actually. The stylus controls come with a learning curve, but ultimately work for the better. Plus, I'm into bullet-hell stuff and the DS isn't exactly overflowing with such titles.

Also, it's worth pointing out to Wii owners that there's a downloadble demo of Big Bang Mini available for free via the Nintendo Channel, if you want to try it out for yourself.

Nah, from the info released so far it's basically Tales Of Symphonia with turn-based battles - so, nothing groundbreaking, but worth keeping an eye on nonetheless.