Wii Virtual Console News
March2009
News USA VC Update: Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars
It's back to Sega games this week, it seems. Today's new game is the second game in the Alex Kidd series.
Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars was the beginning of a steep slope downhill for Sega's original mascot. The first Alex Kidd game was fairly good (We gave it a 7/10), but for the second game Sega made a massive mistake - They basically completely...
Review Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (MD)
The once quiet town of Xenobia is under attack by fierce, gruesome monsters and no one can stop them!
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair might seem incredibly familiar to Virtual Console addicts because the game has technically already been released on Nintendo’s download service – in the guise of Monster Lair on the TG-16! The complexities of the...
News EU VC Update: Clu Clu Land and Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair
Let's see how generous Nintendo is for Europe this week - We get a game the US already has and a game which is already available in a superior form!
Clu Clu Land is likely the third-last non-import Nintendo game for the NES (The last remaining likely games being Golf and Pro Wrestling). You play as Bubbles as you float around a maze, grabbing poles...
Review Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen (SNES)
You must succeed in ousting the evil usurpers - your fate, and that of the entire population, depends on it.
The Ogre Battle series has long been a favorite among hardcore strategy fans and it won't take you long to see why that is once you begin playing any of them. This Super Nintendo release of Ogre Battle has become quite a coveted game...
News USA VC Update: Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen
You're in for a treat today - Another Square Enix classic will be available in the Wii Shop. Some might say it's one of their best games, but what is definitely a fact is that it's one of the rarest SNES games - Only about 25000 copies were released in the US, meaning the VC version will be much cheaper than actually finding the game.
Ogre Battle:...
February2009
News The TurboGrafx-16 Returns to North America in March
Remember when the last TG16 games were released in North America? It was way back in October last year. Since then there hasn't been a single Hudson game on VC - A lot of people even thought that they dropped support entirely.
We can now say for sure however that this is definitely not the case - Hudson Entertainments's North American TG16 VC site...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - March 2009
Even Japan seems to be getting less and less VC games - Only 7 games will be released in March! There's two surprises this time - One's a great game which was thought to be stuck in licensing hell, while the other's a legendary Japan-only game which is commonly thought to be one of the worst games ever made!
The full list is as follows: Famicom:...
News Wisconsin Set To Tax Digital Downloads
With the popularity of digital downloads at an all-time high, it should come as no surprise that governments are beginning to look at ways to tax them.
The State of Wisconsin just recently signed a bill into law that allows for a 5% tax on all digital downloads spanning music, books, ring tones, and even video games. The state expects to rack up...
News Japan to get the Classic Controller Pro
In an interesting move, Nintendo of Japan today announced that they are planning to release an updated version of the Classic Controller, called the Classic Controller Pro.
It mostly seems to be a design change - The cord connecting it to the Wii remote is now on the top instead of the bottom, there are now two grips to make holding the controller...
News Nintendo reveal Classic Controller PRO
Nintendo of Japan's website has recently had an update which now includes an additional Wii controller, the Classic Controller PRO.
The new controller seems to be extremely similar to the existing Classic Controller but has the additional shoulder buttons (found on Gamecube) and a more Gamecube controller shape. The website states the controller...
News USA VC Update: Commodore 64 Launches With Three Games
As many guessed from the hints in last week's press release, the Commodore 64 has joined the North American Virtual Console today. With it come three games - An action game, a fighter, and a racer, so there's got to be at least something for a lot of people. All C64 games cost 500 Wii Points, just like in Europe.
The Last Ninja is the first game in...
10/10
The observant among you may have noticed that the scoring system has changed at VC Reviews from a five star system to a far more expressive scale of ten. We have debated making this change for some time as so many classics ended up getting rated with five stars (rightly of course!). Now you’ll notice a lot more 9/10 scores and only a handful...
This is the winter portion of the world's foremost amateur sports competition, matching skills against the top athletes from one hundred countries.
It was inevitable that after two batches of events from the summer side of the Olympic festival that the third entry in the Games series would concentrate on the winter side instead. Offering seven...
News EU VC Update: MERCS and Winter Games
This week offers no real surprises for Europe. One game was released in the US last week instead of ClayFighter, heavily hinting it would hit Europe soon, and the other game was bound to come sometime!
Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS is the second game in the Commando series. You can take control of one of a number of muscular characters as you trek...
Review Life Force (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Use the force!
For those not in the know, Life Force started out life known as Salamander in Japan and was renamed for Western audiences. The Salamander series is a spin off to Konami’s famous Gradius franchise of shooters; the main differences in Salamander are the introduction of a simultaneous 2 player mode, vertically scrolling stages in...
Rumour EarthBound Not Coming to Virtual Console
You're no doubt aware that the much wanted EarthBound was ESRB rated quite some time ago. Nintendo has never particularly done much with the Mother series outside Japan, only releasing EarthBound in the US and for the most part just letting people wonder where Ness from Super Smash Bros. was from. Obviously, when the ESRB rating appeared, many people got excited that one of the biggest cult classics ever could possibly be rereleased on VC.
Sadly, it appears that this is not going to happen now. As yo...
News USA VC Update: Life Force
Good news for shoot 'em up fans - Arguably the best shmup on the NES is available today!
Life Force is a spin-off of the Gradius series. You once again control Vic Viper (Or Lord British) as you make your way through numerous stages to beat the aliens again. The main difference between Life Force and the Gradius games is the level layout - Gradius...
News Hudson Not Abandoning Virtual Console After All?
While there's no denying that Hudson has already enjoyed quite a bit of success on Nintendo's WiiWare service, it's not been all good news for those of us who are still anxiously awaiting more Turbografx-16 Virtual Console releases.
Since they began releasing games on the WiiWare service, Hudson has all but stopped releasing any Turbografx-16 titles...
News OFLC Update: Even More Imports!
The OFLC has updated once again with ratings for some games which will soon be coming to Europe/Australia.
The least surprising of the lot is Clu Clu Land. It's already available in the US and was released in PAL regions originally, so it's no shock that it's coming to the VC elsewhere. Also not really unexpected is Kirby's Dream Land 3. Also...
Review Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS (MD)
Join a group of professional mercenaries to undergo secret missions, battling through enemy lines to go where no ordinary soldier would dare to go.
Once upon a time, back before Capcom officially started supporting the Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega acquired licence to reprogram various arcade classics produced by the developer. Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts,...
News USA VC Update: Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS
Instead of ClayFighter, today sees the VC release of another Capcom classic. It's not that surprising though, because Capcom hinted that it would be released not too long ago!
Mercs, now renamed Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS, as promised by Capcom, is an overhead run and gun game for the Genesis. You can pick one of a number of characters as you...
ClayFighter is a 2D fighting game in which the characters, as the name suggests, are made completely out of clay.
When Clayfighter was first released on the 16-bit consoles in 1993, claymation had never before been used in video gaming. While television shows and motion pictures had experimented with the technology to varying degrees of success, it...
News EU VC Update: ClayFighter and Sonic Chaos
Hanabi Festival enthusiasts have to wait a bit longer, it seems - Due to recent OFLC ratings, many thought one would be right around the corner, but Nintendo seems to have given this VC week to Sega instead.
The first new game this week is ClayFighter for the Mega Drive. Attempting to cash in on other popular games at the time, such as Street...
News Weekly Virtual Console Round Up (4th Feb)
Nintendo's Virtual Console shop has 1 new release this week, Sonic Chaos (SMS).
Sonic Chaos: System: Master SystemRelease Date: Mon 2nd Feb (US) Play as Sonic or Tails in Sonic Chaos, which was originally made for the Sega Master System. Dr. Eggman (a.k.a. Dr. Robotnik) has stolen the Red Chaos Emerald to create nuclear weapons. This has thrown the...
Play as Sonic or Tails
For those gamers in 1993 who were still unfortunate enough to not have not upgraded to the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis this third 8-bit Sonic adventure might hold some memories. It is unlikely that many will remember this Master System swansong however. That nasty piece of work, Dr. Robotnik is up to no good again and has...
News USA VC Update: Sonic Chaos
The streak of high-profile releases for the US continues - As Sonic 3 wasn't remade for the Master System, Sega has decided it's time to release the other Sonic games for the system.
Sonic Chaos is the third Master System Sonic game. The Chaos Emeralds have been stolen yet again, so Sonic and Tails will have to travel through six zones to get them...
January2009
News Japanese Virtual Console list - February 2009
It's that time of the month again! Time to see what VC games Japan will be getting next month. Not much surprises this time really - Square Enix continues its support with a Japan-exclusive game, while Sega releases another game in their original mascot's franchise. Nothing really too stunning this time though! Two new games which could potentially be released elsewhere are on the list too.
The complete VC list for Japan in February is as follows: Famicom: Formation Z (Februar...
News Mercs Coming Soon, With a Different Name!
Capcom occassionally makes a blog post about their upcoming VC games - They've done it again today for Mercs. The game was already rated by various rating boards ages ago (And released in Japan not so long ago), so it's nice to finally see it released on VC in the US and Europe.
What's interesting is that the blog post also says they have renamed...
News OFLC Update: Two More Imports
It's been quite a while since the last OFLC update, but today they've finally revealed some new VC games again! Both of them are imports, which might mean that another Hanabi Festival for Europe is not too far away.
Bomberman '94 is the sequel to Bomberman '93. If you're familiar with Mega Bomberman for the Mega Drive, this is the same game,...
News USA VC Update: Wonder Boy in Monster Land
Today's US VC update isn't very surprising. This week's new game was released in Europe last Friday.
Wonder Boy in Monster Land is the second game in the Wonder Boy series and the first to introduce more RPG elements. Unlike later games however, it still clearly has some features from the original game, such as the fact it's rock-hard! If you don't...
Review Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Wii Virtual Console / Master System)
Ale or mead?
Sega’s follow-up to the legendary Wonder Boy on the Master System took our hero Tom-Tom out of his former prehistoric setting into a medieval fantasy world. This game started out life as an arcade machine and also got ports to home computers and the Japanese PC Engine (TG-16) under the name of Bikkuriman World. Wonder Boy II really...
News Wonder Boy in Monster Land Includes Special Options
Here's some interesting news - According to those who have already downloaded Wonder Boy in Monster Land, it is possible to press the "-" button during gameplay to open up a special menu containing two options.
The first option is fairly simple. It allows you to swap the functions of the 1 and 2 buttons on the Wii remote. The second...
News EU VC Update: Mario Golf and Wonder Boy in Monster Land
This week, Europe finally gets another N64 game! Can you believe it's been almost 8 months since the last one? Accompanying it is what is likely to be the last Wonder Boy game on VC.
Mario Golf was strangely already released in the US and Japan months ago before finally appearing in Europe this week. This is the first Mario Golf game, and although...
News Nintendo Channel: Ian Livingstone C64 Interview
Some of our readers have informed us that there's another C64 interview available on the Nintendo Channel in select European countries - This one's with Ian Livingstone, the co-creator of Games Workshop, nowadays mostly known for their Warhammer franchise of board and videogames. Ian also created Fighting Fantasy, a popular choose your own adventure book series.
As in the John Rowlands interview, the focus is mostly on the memories of playing C64 games and what his favourite one is. Naturally we also see him playing the game on the VC, because it is available. Unlike the previous interview, this one's not split into part...
Review MUSHA (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
We've got much love for MUSHA!
Mention the name Compile to any serious shooter fanatic and you’re likely to be faced with a barrage of nostalgic ranting. The now defunct company was responsible for some of the finest blasters the video game industry has seen, including Super Aleste (also known as Space Megaforce), Gunhed and Zanac. Surprisingly,...
News Nintendo Channel: John Rowlands C64 Interview
If you live in the UK and you've got the Nintendo Channel installed you can now watch an interview with a popular C64 developer - John Rowlands, the creator of Mayhem in Monsterland, Creatures 1 and 2, and other classics.
Strangely enough the video isn't available in most European countries (And obviously not in the rest of the world either), but...
Nintendo's streak of good VC games continues this week with a fantastic Genesis shoot 'em up! It's also a super-rare game, so for people who've been longing to play the game this will be a much cheaper option than hunting down a cartridge.
MUSHA is the US title for Musha Aleste, which is, as you can obviously tell from the title, part of the Aleste...
If you've been following VC news since the Wii was released, you might still remember that the ESRB rated a few titles before the Wii was even on store shelves. Games such as Super Mario RPG, Kirby's Dream Land 3 and more were all rated back in 2006.
About mid-2007 some of these games were mysteriously removed - Super Mario RPG, Kirby's Dream Land...
News USA VC Update: Castlevania III
Nintendo of America continues their one-VC-game-a-week strategy, releasing just one new VC game once again this week. Thankfully it's yet another good one!
You might remember Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse being released in Europe on Halloween, which was quite obviously a perfect date. Strangely enough it just didn't get released in the US for...
News ESRB Update: Super Punch-Out!! and Ogre Battle on Their Way to the US
There haven't really been too many great games released in the US recently - Aside from StarTropics II, Phantasy Star IV and possibly Kirby's Dream Land 3 it's been quite a bleak affair. Thankfully it seems like Nintendo are stepping up their game a little bit sometime soon, as two awesome games have been given the go-ahead by the ESRB.
Super...
News Ten Games We'd Like To See On The Virtual Console In 2009
We've already experienced two years worth of Virtual Console goodness since the launch of the Nintendo Wii console back in November of 2006 and despite some reservations about what 2009 will bring as far as Virtual Console support goes, we're trying quite hard to remain optimistic that this year will be another strong year for the service.
We've...
News EU VC Update: Enduro Racer and Donkey Kong 3
Today marks the first time in quite a while that the European VC update doesn't really have anything good - Both new games today are arcade ports, although one of them is actually totally different from the arcade game it's supposed to resemble.
Enduro Racer for the Master System was Sega's attempt at bringing the arcade game with the same name to...
Talking Point Is the Virtual Console On The Slide?
Since the birth of the Virtual Console a couple of years back we’ve been granted some truly amazing slices of retro-related brilliance. Zelda, Phantasy Star, Street Fighter, Alex Kidd, Mario, Castlevania, Sonic…all of these franchises (plus many others) have been reborn in a blaze of glory thanks to Nintendo’s download portal.
At the start of...
Review Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Kirby for beginners
Kirby's Dream Land 3 obviously had a lot to live up to - It was released not long after the amazing Kirby Super Star (Kirby's Fun Pak in Europe), which is still regarded as the greatest Kirby game ever. The game returns to the gameplay from the second Dream Land game for Game Boy - It's got rather standard Kirby platforming, but...
News USA VC Update: Kirby's Dream Land 3
Nintendo of America has released one Virtual Console game and two WiiWare games every single week for the past two months - You thought they couldn't sink any lower? Guess again, because this week it's one VC game and one WiiWare game! Much like last week, the VC game is a good one, but that doesn't really make up for anything!
Kirby's Dream Land 3...
December2008
Feature Virtual Console Reviews - Best of 2008
Wii Round Up
This year brought two new systems to the Virtual Console with the Commodore 64 computer added to the European Virtual Console and the Sega Master System added to both the European and North American Virtual Console services. We also saw a host of new releases on the systems already available on the service including some very high...
Review Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II (NES)
Revenge of Zoda
While the original StarTropics was a great game, it did have some nagging problems. In 1994, after the SNES was already out for 3 years in the US, Nintendo saw fit to finally make a sequel to one of the (sadly) most underrated games on the NES. But they didn't make it for the SNES - They actually made it for the NES as well! In...
News USA VC Update: StarTropics II
What better way than to close the year with another Nintendo-developed game? Sure, it's just one game yet again, but at least it's another good one.
Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II is, naturally, the sequel to StarTropics. As you might have guessed from the title, the villain from the first game, Zoda, is back - He is trying to steal the Tetrads,...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - January 2009
After a somewhat lackluster December, Nintendo of Japan has decided to start the new year with a rather good month. Aside from one of the most wanted N64 games, the general theme seems to be sequels - There's a lot of them planned for January!
The full schedule is as follows: Famicom: Tantei Jinguji Saburo Kikena Faturi (January 6th) Getsu Fuuma...
News EU VC Update: Secret of Mana and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Master System)
Today's update was already revealed a few days ago - No additional games have been added to the two games that were announced, but does it really matter when one of them is Secret of Mana?
Secret of Mana is probably Square's most well-known SNES game aside from the Final Fantasies and Chrono Trigger. Unlike those two, it's an action RPG - There's no...
News USA VC Update: Phantasy Star IV
You won't believe it - A lot of people were probably expecting multiple games this week because of the holidays, but Nintendo of America has decided to continue the trend once more, releasing just one new game again! This time, it's an amazing classic RPG.
Phantasy Star IV is the final title in the "main" Phantasy Star storyline. After the...
News Mana From Heaven For RPG Fans On Boxing Day In Europe
Hopefully European readers have asked Santa for lots of Wii points this Christmas as it seems ours pals at Nintendo have been holding back on you for a boxing day surprise this coming Friday.
Obviously the surprise is completely ruined now! Isn’t the Internet good for doing that? All the same we think you will be delighted to hear that one of the...
Competition SnakeByte Christmas Compo - Win Yourself Some Wii Goodies
Christmas, as we all know, is about giving. And those kind chaps at SnakeByte (we reviewed a couple of their products recently) are clearly in a festive mood as they’ve given us a goodie bag of Wii peripherals to give to one lucky person.
Up for grabs we have: XS Starter Pack (White) Remote XS Controller (Pink) Retro Controller Charging...
News Club Nintendo Coming To North America
Well it's good news for North American Nintendo fans as the company has just announced the North American launch of Club Nintendo. The official Club Nintendo site is now up and you can surf over there to register all of your Nintendo goodies and take part in surveys that will earn you special coins that can be used to purchased various rewards. If you already have a My Nintendo account, you can even transfer all of your previously registered items to your new Club Nintendo account.
...
Review Enduro Racer (Virtual Console / Master System)
Enduro Racer takes you on an intense set of adrenaline-designed courses
Enduro Racer started out life as an arcade machine by Sega; it was a normal racing game like its better known stable mates Hang-On and Out Run. The idea was to ride your dirt bike through the rocky roads pulling wheelies over jumps. It was quite a popular game at the time and...
News USA VC Update: Enduro Racer
Shockingly enough, Nintendo of America has decided to have another week with just 1 VC game! While the previous few weeks were at least somewhat tolerable as the games were ok to good, this week is a real miss.
Enduro Racer is Sega's attempt at porting the arcade game with the same name. Apparently they didn't manage, though, as the Master System...
Review Impossible Mission II (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
Elvin Atombender is up to his old tricks again!
As soon as Impossible Mission II loads up, the improvements are immediate and obvious. The producers clearly went to work on almost every aspect of the original game, polishing, adding and fixing until this sequel was the result. There are no great changes to the concept; players familiar with the...
Review Last Ninja 3 (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
Epic fail...
Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that we have revised this review in light of the game-breaking bug which prevents the player from progressing beyond level one in the game. We raised this with Commodore Gaming at the time of release and was assured that a patch would be made available ASAP. As this patch is still not available we did...
News EU VC Update: Last Ninja 3, Impossible Mission II and Boogerman
After a short hiatus, the Commodore 64 is back with two new games - One is easily one of the most stunning games on the system, while the other is a good platform/action game. They're accompanied by a platformer on the Mega Drive.
Last Ninja 3 is the final part of the Last Ninja series. It's basically more of the same - Explore your isometric...
Review Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Virtual Console / Master System)
Sonic is back for a second 8-bit outing
In 1992 if you weren’t lucky enough to have upgraded to a Sega Mega Drive / Genesis system and still had a humble Master System you might have picked this up. Interestingly the Master System version was released slightly earlier than its 16-bit counterpart so no one can accuse this of being a soulless...
News Hands on with SnakeByte's XS Starter Pack
It’s always struck us as rather strange that Nintendo held off allowing third party manufacturers to produce controllers for the Wii for such a long time. It’s only recently that we’ve seen ‘unofficial’ Wiimotes and Nunchuks hitting the marketplace, and considering the relatively high price of Nintendo’s own brand of peripherals, it’s a welcome move.
SnakeByte – the company behind the Retro Controllers we reviewed recently – has now pushed its own interpretation of Nintendo’s Wiimote and Nunchuk combo onto shop...
News USA VC Update: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Master System)
It's the third week in a row with just one VC game! This time, it's a big-name title, but to be honest, even fans of the franchise might be disappointed.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Master System is not at all like the Genesis version. Yes, it's a platformer as well, but the levels, bosses and almost everything else is completely different. This...
News USA VC Update: Metal Slug 2
Sadly, it seems Nintendo of America once again prefers WiiWare this week! You'll only be able to download one new VC game today.
Metal Slug 2 is quite obviously the second game in the Metal Slug series. It improves on everything from the first game - More characters, more weapons, more enemies, more vehicles, better graphics... It's every bit as...
November2008
Review Metal Slug 2 (Virtual Console / Neo Geo)
More run and gun fun
Not many games at the time could go toe-to-toe with Konami's Contra series quite like the Metal Slug titles. Not only did they feature the same run-n-gun arcade action of Contra, but they also took things to new levels of intensity and sported some of the largest and most creative boss encounters ever seen in a game of their...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - December 2008
It doesn't look like Japan's going to get much of a holiday treat - There's only one notable game to speak of being released the whole month, and pretty much all of the other games were never released in the west! There's only 10 titles lined up for the month in total, which is also a surprisingly low amount.
The full schedule for December is as...
News EU VC Update: Metal Slug 2, Forgotten Worlds and Space Invaders
Not many surprises for Europe again this week! It's basically the exact same as the US update last week, with the addition of one more game.
Metal Slug 2 basically just builds on the standard set by the original Metal Slug. If you like rock-hard shooting/platforming action this is the game for you! This time, there's four characters to play as, more...
Review Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
While investigating Professor Stinkbaum's lab, Boogerman stumbles upon a strange machine that opens a portal to another dimension.
Almost everybody knows Earthworm Jim - But Boogerman, which was created inbetween the first two Jim games, is much less familiar. This is a bit unjust, as it's every bit as quirky and fun as the aforementioned series...
It's just one game again this week, and unfortunately it's neither of the big-name titles (Castlevania III and Phantasy Star IV) which Europe recently got. What you get instead is Interplay's next title.
Boogerman is a rather average game in terms of gameplay - Just run and jump your way through the stages. What really sets it apart from other...
News Hands On With SnakeByte's Wireless Retro Controller
Mine's a snakebyte and black!
For those of you that don’t know SnakeByte is a European peripheral manufacturer that is making some serious waves at the moment. The company has unleashed a whole host of Wii-related controllers, including their own version of the Wii Remote – which is quite a significant product as you’ll remember that Nintendo...
News Hori Announces New Classic Controller For Japan
We've already seen a wealth of third-party classic controller offerings, but for those who love auto-fire capabilities on their controllers, Hori has just what you're looking for in their creatively titled new classic controller called the Classic Controller. There's really no telling how much marketing money was thrown at coming up with just the right name for this unique controller, but those funds were obviously well spent.
Not only does the controller mimic the original Gamecube controller in form and function, but it also offers up three different autofire...
News Wii Firmware Update That Makes Transferring to SD Faster
If you haven’t already seen an inviting blue flashing light emitting from your Wii then you might like to know that Wii firmware version 3.4 is now available.
This update vastly improves the time taken to transfer WiiWare or Virtual Console games to a SD card. Some have said it is now around 5x faster with a 320 block game such as World of Goo...
News Virtual Console Reviews is Two Today!
Time sure does fly when you’re having fun. Two years ago today Virtual Console Reviews was brought kicking and screaming into the world. That’s 731 days (or 17,544 hours) of Virtual Console-related news, reviews and features – quite a feat, we’re sure you’ll agree.
Since last year’s birthday celebrations quite a lot has happened to the...
Review Forgotten Worlds (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
You will never forget this one!
Forgotten Worlds was an interesting shoot-em-up arcade game back in the days. Not only was it developed by Capcom, it featured 2 player simultaneous play and a innovative control system were you rotated a second joystick on a 360 degree axis to determine what direction you wanted to fire in. On the shiny new CPS-1...
Review Space Invaders: The Original Game (Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Experience one of gaming's iconic franchises
In 1978 Space Invaders was the talk of the town, people were lining up in their droves to part with pocket change for a turn on this new groundbreaking videogame from Taito. Of course as videogame technology moved on this humble game was surpassed by many cocky new contenders to the shoot-em-up throne,...
News USA VC Update: Forgotten Worlds and Space Invaders
Hot on the heels of Mega Man 3, Capcom has released yet another of their classics on VC! It's accompanied by a popular, yet aged arcade game by Taito.
Forgotten Worlds is the Genesis port of Capcom's arcade shooter. You control a flying warrior in a robotic suit who, as is usually the case in shooters, has to take down an evil overlord and his...
Review Phantasy Star IV (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
In the year AW 2284, planet Motavia is once again plagued by strange biocreatures.
After two successful Phantasy Star releases, Sega decided to change things up a bit for their third release in the series Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom. The game featured more of a medieval look to it instead of the science fiction theme that had been such an...
News EU VC Update: Phantasy Star IV and Mega Man 3
Fear not, European Mega Man fans. You don't have to wait long for Mega Man 3 - It's available now! And while it alone would make for a great update, Sega has decided to give us a special treat as well - One of the best Mega Drive games ever made!
Phantasy Star IV is often considered one of the greatest games ever made for the Mega Drive. It pushes...
Review Mega Man 3 (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Good to be three
After two successful Mega Man releases on NES, Capcom decided to upgrade the series with a few new twists for Mega Man 3, adding a little more variety to an already amazing series. With eight brand new Robot Masters for players to take on, the game would prove to be a huge success and went on to become a fan favourite among gamers...
News USA VC Update: Mega Man 3
It’s another one game week for the Virtual Console this week, but who can complain when the game is as good as Mega Man 3? Fans of the series often cite the third instalment of the series as being the greatest despite arguments from others who claim the second or even fifth Mega Man game is the best!
Whatever your view you it is hard to deny that...
News OFLC Update: M.U.S.H.A and More
Exciting news for shooter fans today, because Australia's OFLC has rated three new VC games, including one of the most popular Mega Drive shooters ever made.
M.U.S.H.A is the western name for Musha Aleste, one of the installments in the Aleste series. Japanese Wii owners have already been able to get Musha Aleste for a while, but we suspected it...
News USA VC Update: Space Harrier
Welcome to the Fantasy Zone! Today’s solo Virtual Console game is none other than Space Harrier from the Sega Master System. A console which many North Americans simply won’t even remember. As such we can’t help feeling that today’s update is a bit of a kick in the teeth, sure it’s not a bad game, but releasing it with no other games is hard to stomach. This is already out in Europe so you can check out our review for more info.
On a more exciting...
Review Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Drac's back!
After the success of the original Castlevania title on the NES system, Konami decided to change things up quite a bit for Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. Gone was the straight-ahead platforming action of the original, replaced with a much more rpg-flavored approach that placed more emphasis on item collection and exploration. While...
Review Devil World (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
A devilish Pac-Man clone from Miyamoto
Devil World is one of extremely few Nintendo titles that was released in Europe, but not the US. Most likely this was due to Nintendo of America's strict rule not to feature any "religious" factors in games, and seeing as the game includes a devil, that just wouldn't slide with them. It's actually a pretty fun...
October2008
News Japanese Virtual Console list - November 2008
November actually has quite a few surprises in store for Japan. Although there are no new Nintendo 64, Neo Geo or MSX games, Japanese Wii owners will soon be able to download Mega Man 3, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Master System), and the next Square Enix game, among others.
The full list is as follows: Famicom: Mega Man 3 (November 4th) Smash Ping...
Feature Corbie's Top 20 Virtual Console Releases - Part 2
We've already done quite a few Top 10 lists of games we'd like to see hit the Virtual Console, but now that we're quickly approaching 300 Virtual Console releases, we thought it might be a good time to come up with a list of our favorite Virtual Console releases already available for the service.
I'm going to kick things off with my own personal Top...
Feature Corbie's Top 20 Virtual Console Releases - Part 1
We've already done quite a few Top 10 lists of games we'd like to see hit the Virtual Console, but now that we're quickly approaching 300 Virtual Console releases, we thought it might be a good time to come up with a list of our favorite Virtual Console releases already available for the service.
I'm going to kick things off with my own personal Top...
News EU VC Update: NES Halloween Trio
This week's update falls right on Halloween - Nintendo of Europe would be fools not to take advantage of this! Thankfully they are aware of it - All three games released today have a horror theme.
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse is the final NES installment of the Castlevania series. After the rather mediocre Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Konami...
News Weekly Virtual Console Round Up (29th Oct)
Nintendo's Virtual Console shop has 1 new release this week, Earthworm Jim (MD).
Earthworm Jim: System: Sega Mega DriveRelease Date: Mon 27th Oct (US) A crow is chasing a worm named Jim, while in outer space, Psy-Crow is chasing a renegade ship. The ship's captain has stolen an ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit and Queen...
News USA VC Release - Earthworm Jim
Just the one game for the US today, but it's a classic - It's everybody's favourite earthworm, Earthworm Jim!
Earthworm Jim for the Genesis might not be the most graphically advanced version of the game, but that doesn't really matter when you consider the fact that it has an extra level which only also appeared in a later enhanced PC edition of the...
News Weekly Virtual Console Round Up (22nd Oct)
Nintendo's Virtual Console shop has 5 new releases this week, Mayhem in Monsterland (C64), Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou (TG-16), Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (MD), Space Harrier (SMS), Digital Champ: Battle Boxing (TG-16).
Mayhem in Monsterland: System: Commodore 64Release Date: Fri 17th Oct (EU) Mayhem is an unhappy dinosaur, as...
News Kaasa Interview - Commodore 64 on Wii Virtual Console
Bringing the mighty breadbox to the Wii
If we had reported back in 2006 that the Virtual Console would ever play host to a series of Commodore 64 games we might have been branded as crazy. Heck, some of our readers are too young to know what this home computer was, some even questioned if the beloved breadbox was a competitor of the Nintendo 64!...
News USA VC Releases: Gradius II and Digital Champ
After a failed earlier attempt, Hudson have finally managed to get their latest games out - They were initially listed to be released multiple weeks ago, but were delayed until now for no apparent reason.
Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou is the sequel to the original Gradius. Strangely enough, neither the arcade version, nor any of its home ports ever...
Review Mayhem in Monsterland (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
Mayhem is an unhappy dinosaur, as Monsterland is an unhappy place, due to an apprentice magic dinosaur who decided to practice some of his master's spells, after drinking too much cactus juice.
The year 1993 saw the last of the full-price commercial games for the C64 hit the shelves as the market for 8-bit fare was finally grinding to a halt. In...
Review Space Harrier (Virtual Console / Master System)
Blow your mind in a fantasy zone
When Sega released the Master System back in the ‘80s the company was facing an uphill struggle against Nintendo’s NES. The NES had the software support and thanks to Nintendo’s nefarious practice of making developers agree to keep their titles exclusive, it left Sega with little in the way of third party...
News EU VC Releases: Mayhem in Monsterland and More
A very nice surprise for Commodore 64 fans today - Out of nowhere, Commodore has released one of their most popular games. Accompanying it are two Sega classics.
Mayhem in Monsterland was one of the very last Commodore 64 games, and is seen by many as the last great game released on the system. Aside from very colourful graphics and nice music, the...
News Weekly Virtual Console Round Up (15th Oct)
Nintendo's Virtual Console shop has 2 new releases this week, Secret of Mana (SNES), Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (MD).
Secret of Mana: System: Super NintendoRelease Date: Mon 13th Oct (US) Good and evil battle for a young warrior’s heart. There is one force in the universe that keeps good and evil in perfect balance. It is called...
Review Secret of Mana (Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Good and evil battle for a young warrior’s heart. There is one force in the universe that keeps good and evil in perfect balance.
As action rpgs started to gain in popularity during the 16-bit era, many game companies began cashing in on this new trend. Some were good, and some not so good. Enix had already created a hit with their action rpg Soul...
Review Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Street Fighting SEGA style.
Back when Street Fighter II-mania was gripping the global gaming community, Capcom’s decision to release the first home port of the game on Nintendo’s SNES spoke volumes. This move showed that the company was backing Nintendo in the 16-bit war (up to this point all of Capcom’s Megadrive/Genesis games had actually...
News USA VC Releases: Secret of Mana and Street Fighter II Genesis
It's another big week for the USA. A timeless Square classic and yet another update to Capcom's fighting series will be available later today.
Aside from Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana is one of Square's most highly regarded games. While it's not readily apparent, the game is actually a sequel to Final Fantasy Adventure on the Game...
Mega Man 3 isn't all that was today revealed to be coming to the VC - According to the USK, Europeans will also be able to look forward to Wizball for the Commodore 64.
In Wizball, you play as a wizard, who takes the form of a strange green ball. His objective is to "paint" the game - Every level starts off in drab, grayscale colours, but...
