Wii Virtual Console Reviews
Review Super Star Wars (Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Is the force strong with this one?
When Super Star Wars was released in 1992, it was an instant success. Offering old-school platforming but set in the Star Wars universe and culminating in the destruction of the Death Star, the video game format fit the movies like Harrison Ford fits the role of a roguish scoundrel. At the time, video game critics...
Review The Revenge of Shinobi (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Joe Musashi returns in what is arguably the best ninja game ever
There’s a common assumption that a console’s best titles come towards the end of its lifespan. This is mainly because developers take time to get to grips with a new machine’s power and as a result you have to wait a couple of years before you see what each console is truly...
Review Tecmo Bowl (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Older. Prettier. Just not wiser.
In every genre there is one game that stands as a pinnacle to which other games in that genre aspire. Final Fantasy VII, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Sexy Poker. In their respective genres, these games are the standard by which other games are judged. Tecmo Bowl for the NES is often cited as that...
Review Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Super Nintendo)
Perhaps the greatest platformer of all-time.
When remembering the great games of the past, our thoughts tend to drift towards the revolutionary titles; the literal game-changers. And any gamer worth a darn knows that the indisputable king of these wonderful permutations is Shigeru Miyamoto. The man's M.O. is completely altering the landscape of...
Review Smash Table Tennis (Virtual Console / NES)
Smash Table Tennis delivers a backhand to your wallet.
Sometimes, you just have to wonder who at Nintendo is in charge of the Virtual Console game selection. Perhaps it's one of those people who, when unable to decide what to do, throws a dart at a dartboard with possible "options" on it in order to come to a decision. That almost has to...
Is this monster mash worth all your quarters?
Today people might look at Midway as the financial disaster that they are and chuckle. In the better days of arcades, however, Midway developed a number of hit arcade games including their hit Mortal Kombat series of fighters. While MK is likely their most famous effort, they also had some respectable...
Review Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Nintendo 64)
You know it makes sense!
Save Japan from a group of stage performers by throwing coins and hitting robots with your trusty kiseru pipe. What do you get if you take a generous helping of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, mix well with a portion of Mario 64, and add a heavy sprinkling of traditional Japanese culture? The answer, of course, is...
Review Pulseman (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Will Pulseman's quality shock you?
Ask yourself this - what games have Game Freak actually developed? Many people will probably only answer with "Pokémon," but the truth is, before Pokémon was even created, Game Freak was responsible for a handful of unique titles of their own. Pulseman was strangely only released in Japan originally. It was...
Review Altered Beast (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Welcome to your doom!
There’s no two ways about it: Altered Beast is a terrible game. Even here, in a perfect conversion of the arcade original, it’s so horrendously stodgy and repetitive that it makes you wonder quite why anyone holds it in the slightest bit of regard. For those lucky few amongst you yet to engage in a little beast altering,...
Review SimEarth: The Living Planet (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
Put the weight of the world in your hands...
The simulation genre has come a long way - maybe not so much in the area of depth, as that's always been there. Where it has really progressed is in presentation: nowadays it’s no longer up to the player to have enough imagination to fill in the gaps left by technical limitations. Unfortunately, those...
Review Princess Maker - Legend of Another World (Super Nintendo)
Overall, a pretty regal experience.
The Princess Maker series by Akai/Gainax isn't all that well known in the West – which is hardly surprising. Besides one failed translation project by SoftEgg in 1993, the franchise has never reached Western shores, and while the game may be considered by some as catering to a niche market, it is in fact a...
Review Super Smash Bros. (Virtual Console / Nintendo 64)
Does the original Super Smash Bros. still knock out the competition these days?
Nintendo's most popular (and only!) fighting franchise started off quite strangely - in fact, it originally didn't even have any existing Nintendo characters! Created by Kirby Creator Masahiro Sakurai of HAL Laboratory and Satoru Iwata, the game was originally called...
Review Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf (SNES)
Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!
Koei's 'Universal Ruler' simulator lets you live the life of the Mongol legend himself. You'll go where he goes, defile what he defiles and eat who he eats. But before you misjudge this game as an indecipherable Japanese take on medieval Mongolian life, understand that Genghis Khan II is actually a conquer the world style game...
Review Space Harrier (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
An interesting slice of gaming history for fans of early 3D games.
Space Harrier is notable for being one of the first arcade games to use a motorised cabinet in its sit-down version, and in the realms of sprite-based third-person 3D shooters it's certainly at the more advanced end of the scale. It was highly popular back when it was released in the...
Review Fantasy Zone II (Virtual Console / Master System)
Does Opa-Opa's second adventure feature the same unique charm of the original?
The original Fantasy Zone release kicked off a series of shooters that's still quite popular to this day. When the game was released on the Sega Master System, it immediately became one of the more beloved titles for the console so it was pretty much a given that a sequel...
Review Galaxy Force II (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Galaxy Force II is another classic Sega arcade shooter that hasn't aged very well.
Galaxy Force II debuted as a Sega arcade release, using the same type of sprite scaling seen in Sega's other arcade title Space Harrier, and basically mimicked 3-D scrolling without the use of actual polygon graphics. While Sega's Saturn console would later get a...
Review Nobunaga's Ambition (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
An ambitious strategy game from a nobler time.
It is hard to imagine now, but there was once a time when strategy games were the primary style of play on home computers. Japanese game developer Koei made it their mission to bring this style of game to consoles. And by appearances, they were successful given the sheer volume of games they were able...
Review Sutte Hakkun (Super Nintendo)
Sutte Hakkun might just be one of the most unique video game experiences ever crafted.
Every so often a game comes along that makes you take your thumb off the fire button and don your thinking cap. But who wants to have to spend a lot of time thinking just to get through a game, you say? Well one thing that stands abundantly clear from playing...
Review Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (Super Nintendo)
Lufia II might not be as recognizable as some of the bigger name Super Nintendo RPGs, but that doesn't mean it packs any less of a punch.
If it's one thing the Super Nintendo System had a lot of, it was RPGs. Some were good, some were bad, and some were outstanding. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals would fall into the latter category. Not only does...
Review Secret Command (Virtual Console / Master System)
Secret Command takes you back to an era when run 'n gun titles ruled arcades.
With overhead run 'n gun titles like Ikari Warriors and Commando snatching up large numbers of tokens in arcades, it comes as no real surprise that Sega would have to create one of their own for their Sega Master System. The game was originally released under the name...
Review Terranigma (Super Nintendo)
Does the final release in Enix's Gaia Trilogy hold up?
It was during the 16-bit era that the action-style role-playing game began to take off. Instead of using the turn-based battle system found in most traditional RPGs, many developers were putting the player more in control of the actual battles in an attempt to broaden the appeal of the genre...
Review Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Can Harry Jr. fill his father's boots?
The two original Pitfall games for the Atari 2600 have become quite dated now – walking across a handful of endlessly repeating screens in the hope of finding treasure has lost its appeal. Activision once tried to "upgrade" the formula by allowing the Japanese developer Pony Canyon to make Super...
Review Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64)
One mean %&*@% Squirrel…
Once upon a time, there was a cute little squirrel that captivated the hearts of children in his debut game for the Game Boy Colour. This red-tailed critter was known as Conker: Conker The Squirrel. No one knows the full extent of what happened to this cute woodland creature in his transition to the N64; he had a...
The Super Famicom version of Star Ocean might feature a lot of flashy technology, but it's the game's epic storyline and unique combat system that's made it such a beloved classic among 16-bit RPG fans over the years.
The Super Nintendo is well known for sporting a rather large and outstanding library of RPGs, but there were several of these...
Review Uncharted Waters: New Horizons (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Look forward to new horizons
Koei released quite an arsenal of strategy titles during the 16-bit era, many of them on the Super Nintendo console. While the original Uncharted Waters laid the foundation, its sequel New Horizons picked up right where it left off and managed to add quite a few new game play ideas to the mix to form one of the most...
Review The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
There's no just masking how great it still is
Ocarina of Time proved that the Zelda series was even more captivating in 3D than it was in 2D. It is still regarded as one of the greatest games ever made, but despite this, at the very end of the N64's life, it got a sequel that quite a few people missed out on – Majora's Mask. Not counting the...
Review The Tower of Druaga (Arcade)
Scale a skyscraper to rescue your lost love in The Tower of Druaga.
The Tower of Druaga is a moderately infamous arcade game. As the knight Gil (Who is really Gilgamesh) you must work your way up a gigantic 60-floor tower to rescue your beloved princess Ki from the clutches of the evil Druaga. Each floor is quite literally a maze - Your objective on...
Remember the timeless classic, Galaga? Say hello to its successor, as the arcade version of Gaplus hits Virtual Console!
When Galaga first burst onto the scene back in 1981, it garnered almost instant popularity due to its intense shooting action and almost endless level of variety and challenge. Gone were the days where a fixed group of aliens...
It's a cat-and-mouse game like no other as you take control of Mappy, a brave police-mouse.
Arguably the most popular game in the first batch of arcade releases, Mappy follows the formula of other succesful titles of the time, including Namco's own Pac-Man - Your job is to collect objects while avoiding all enemies. The premise is that a gang of...
A huge global hit at the arcades, this classic shooter blasts its way back on Virtual Console!
Star Force was originally released in arcades in 1984 by Tecmo. It was yet another title in the rapidly growing crop of vertical scrolling shooters that were gaining in popularity during the time period. While the game play was still quite basic and didn't...
