Wii Virtual Console News
June2008
News OFLC Update - Super Mario RPG On Its Way To Europe
It's time to rejoice, as Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars has been rated by the OFLC today!
Fans have longed for this game's release on VC for an eternity - It was listed on the ESRB around the Wii's launch but mysteriously disappeared along with some other games later. After not hearing anything about the game for about a year, it was...
News EU VC Releases - 13th June - The Last Ninja 2, Alex Kidd and more!
After last week's VC disaster, we assume everybody was hoping Nintendo would release an extra large amount of new games this week as some sort of apology. Well, they have chosen to do exactly that, as there's five new games now available!
Last Ninja 2: Back with a Vengeance is quite similar to the first game (also on VC), featuring the same...
Review Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Virtual Console / Master System)
In Miracle World you'll have to contend with the evil Janken the Great, who will send his henchmen and monsters at you to thwart your progress.
Following the incredible success of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros series, Sega decided that it too needed a platform game with an identifiable mascot. The result was Alex Kidd in Miracle World, which...
Review Last Ninja 2: Back with a Vengeance (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
The Ninja, known as the Mystic Shadow Warriors, were the elite fighting force of Ninth Century Feudal Japan.
The second instalment of the Last Ninja trilogy transports Armakuni to New York, where he must confront the evil Shogun Kunitoki once more. Your travels are once again displayed in a flip screen isometric format, as you explore the...
Review Nebulus (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
Weird things are happening on Planet Nebulus.
Nebulus (known as Tower Toppler in the US and Castelian in its NES and Game Boy incarnations) is another title from Hewson that is memorable largely due to its idiosyncratic presentation. The game is particularly noted for its striking visual design, and justifiably so, as it takes the basic structure of...
News SNK Virtual Console Releases In Jeopardy?
It’s been on the cards for some time now but Ignition Entertainment has officially announced the Euro release of SNK’s Arcade Classics Collection, Volume One.
This retro anthology is already available on the Sony PS2 and PSP and contains 16 choice cuts from the back catalogue of this illustrious company. All of the games are taken from the...
News Only Geeks And Otaku Want Extra Storage On The Wii
In a recent interview with Edge Magazine, Laurent Fischer, managing director of marketing at Nintendo Europe had the nerve to call Nintendo fans wishing for more storage space to download VC and WiiWare games “geeks and otaku”!
Here is a section of the interview directly from this month’s Edge: First Nintendo will not be concentrating any...
Review Dig Dug (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Do we dig it?
Pac-Man wasn't the only popular arcade game Namco made. Aside from Galaga, Mappy, and others, there was also Dig Dug. In Dig Dug, your objective is to dig through the earth's soil and eliminate the monsters lurking within it. You can move through the soil (Thus creating tunnels) by simply moving around, but defeating the monsters is...
News US VC Releases - 9th June - NES Import Duo
If you've been pining for some more imports in the US, you're in luck today - There's two of them. You might think one of them was in fact released outside Japan, but the contrary is true - It, surprisingly, never was.
That game is Dig Dug, the arcade game from Namco where you control "Dig Dug" (Later officially named Taizo Hori), a digger...
Review Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Oh baby!
Let's be honest, a platformer built around a tiny baby and his rattle doesn't exactly beam with potential from the start, so it's no small wonder that this game was originally rejected by Nintendo of America at the time it was submitted for release in the US. But if you look at screenshots of Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa and prematurely dismiss...
News EU - 6th June - No Virtual Console Games!
When we got Paradroid during the week of the WiiWare launch, many thought we narrowly dodged a bullet (As the US and Japan both got no VC games at all with the WiiWare launch). Sadly, it seems Nintendo of Europe has decided to make us suffer through a no-VC-game-week after all, because that is the case today.
It's not as if the Wii Shop is unupdated...
Review Ninja Combat (Virtual Console / Neo Geo)
Ninja Combat is a scrolling beat 'em up featuring, as the title suggests, ninjas.
One of the first releases for SNK’s Neo Geo console, Ninja Combat is unsurprisingly a little rough around the edges. Graphically it’s not really a massive leap up from the likes of the SNES or Megadrive/Genesis (bear in mind that when this game was first published...
News US VC Release - 2nd June - Ninja Combat
Minimal pickings
This week isn't very interesting for the US Virtual Console, sadly. It is suggested that this week you take a look at WiiWare instead. The only VC release this week is Ninja Combat for the Neo Geo. After seeing the success of games like Final Fight and Streets of Rage, Alpha Denshi decided to attempt a beat 'em up themselves. While...
May2008
Review Burning Fight (Virtual Console / Neo Geo)
A poor mans Final Fight
In the early days of the Neo-Geo SNK tried its hardest to cover all of the potential money-making bases of arcade and home console gaming. Fatal Fury catered to the one-on-one fighting crowd, NAM 1975 was an Operation Wolf clone with a difference, and Burning Fight clearly looked towards Capcom’s Final Fight for...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - June 2008 (Super Mario RPG!)
Japan is bound to make every single person in the US, Europe and the rest of the world jealous next month - There's a certain SNES RPG featuring everybody's favourite plumber on the release list, after all... One of the Mega Drive's finest RPGs is also on its way to the land of the rising sun.
The full list is: Famicom: Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa...
Review Samurai Shodown (Virtual Console / Neo Geo)
VICTOLY!
SNK became something of a fighting game factory in the early ‘90s, releasing titles like Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury to capitalize on public interest in the genre that had been kick started by a certain 2D fighting title from Cacpom. However, Samurai Showdown (or Samurai Spirits, as it was known in Japan) marked a real change of pace...
News EU VC Releases - 30th May - Samurai Shodown
If you like SNK fighters and N64 puzzlers you're in luck today. There's two news games that fall into the former category, and one that falls in the latter. I think you can guess the N64 game!
The top pick this week is Samurai Shodown. Instead of making yet another generic modern-day fighter with special moves, like fireballs and such, they decided...
News MSX Hits Japanese VC, Includes Special Options
As you might remember, the MSX was set to get its first games on the Japanese Virtual Console this month. Up until yesterday, the two slated games (Aleste and Eggy) still did not have an actual release date though, and it seemed as if they would be delayed again (Making it almost a year after their initial planned release date!). At the very last minute, Nintendo of Japan decided to release Aleste yesterday, together with the rest of the games that were planned for this week.
That's not all - Aleste (And we assum...
News US VC Releases - 26th May - Metal Slug
A rather crowded day for the US today - There's two well-known titles, accompanied by two lesser-known ones. One of each of these two sets is a Virtual Console game.
The well-known VC game is of course Metal Slug for the Neo Geo. As Marco Rossi or Tarma Roving, you have to take on a whole army full of soldiers, tanks, planes, artillery and other...
Review City Connection (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Driving round a bend
City Connection was a moderately popular arcade game in the early '80s. The game stars you as a rather strapping young man driving around the world to paint the roads white in order to prove he's been there. Doesn't make much sense to us, but hey, whatever floats his boat! While doing so you must watch out for cars (including...
News Soul Blazer – The Virtual Console Release That Never Was?
During our trips around the wonderful World Wide Web we noticed that a few sites seem to be listing Enix’s excellent Soul Blazer (also know as Soul Blader in Japan) as a Virtual Console title, even going as far as to state that it saw release in North America on the 12th May alongside Konami’s Tiny Toon Adventures. We’ve also had several emails from concerned readers regarding this, too.
A cursory glance at the Virtual Console shop on our American Wii shows that neither Soul Blazer or Tiny Toons are available, so we??...
News EU VC Release - 23rd May - Paradroid
Seemingly copying the US, Europe's VC only gets one new week. However, because WiiWare launched earlier this week, that makes Europe the only region to get a VC game in the same week as the WiiWare launch (Australia doesn't get C64 games, so we assume they get nothing today!).
Paradroid puts you in control of a robot on board an abandoned starship...
Review Paradroid (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
The droid crew of a galactic space freighter have turned against their masters and eradicated every human crew member!
Legendary amongst C64 fans, and one of the highest rated games of the time, Paradroid’s depth of gameplay has kept it a firm favourite over 20 years later. Loosely categorised as a shoot-em-up, this description belies the subtle...
News US VC Release - May 19th - Sky Kid
After the amount of VC games in the US gradually started going down (Culminating in no VC games at all last week), it now appears to be slowly going up again, as there's just one new game this week.
Sky Kid is a NES port of a moderately popular arcade game. It's a shoot 'em up starring the world-famous World War I air pilots, the Red Baron and the...
Review Sky Kid (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
We're not kidding
Sky Kid is a NES port of the arcade game with the same name. You play as the Red Baron or Blue Max, both famous World War I pilots. Your mission is to fly through hordes of enemy formations, pick up a bomb, and drop it on the enemy's headquarters or main weapon. It is noteworthy that in this game, unlike most shoot 'em ups, you go...
Review Digital Champ: Battle Boxing (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
Digital Champ Battle Boxing is a first-person-perspective boxing title that plunges players into the raw intensity of the ring!
When it was first released in 1989 Digital Champ caused quite a stir. Boxing games up to this point had been graphically modest affairs; Punch Out! was (and some would say, still is) the title of choice for prospective...
Review Gley Lancer (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
In the year 2025, a war breaks out between humans and a hostile alien race.
The Virtual Console certainly isn’t short of 2D shooters. We’ve seen some excellent (and not so excellent) examples of the genre come and go, but most of the games we’ve experienced so far are retro classics and will have been familiar to fans already. Gley Lancer, on...
Feature Square-Enix Changes Its Mind About The Virtual Console?
Time will tell
Highly respected Japanese developer Square-Enix has broken its silence regarding the lack of support for Nintendo’s Virtual Console service in a recent interview at the 2008 Game Developers Conference. Producer of WiiWare title Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King Toshihiro Tsuchida lifted the lid on why the company...
News EU VC Releases - 16th May - Third Hanabi Festival Week
If you're a shooter fan you're in real luck this week: There's two import shooters, and both of them are generally considered to be fantastic and some of the best the genre has to offer. There's also an import boxing game.
The first import shooter this week is Star Parodier on the Turbografx. After Konami made a wacky spin-off of Gradius called...
Review Star Parodier (Wii Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
Cute'em-up.
Star Parodier is not only one of the best cute'em-ups ever created, it's also one of the best shooters ever made as well. Combining sugary sweet visuals, a stunning musical score, and some of the most responsive play control ever found in a shooter, Star Parodier proves that video game spoofs can be every bit as good, if not better, than...
News Introducing WiiWare World
The smell of change is in the air. On Monday 12th May the WiiWare service is launching in the USA. Will the world ever be the same again?
To coincide with this momentous occasion it is with great pleasure that we can announce we will be launching a new site specifically dedicated to WiiWare (or Wii Software to Euro gamers!). Behold the future,...
Review Metal Slug (Virtual Console / Neo Geo)
Overthrow General Morden and win back the stolen weapon!
This game might be a bit redundant - seven of the games in the Metal Slug series were already released on the Wii in collective form as Metal Slug Anthology. However, none of the games on that disc allow for classic controller use, so if you desperately want to use it, then you have no choice...
News EU VC Releases - 9th May - Metal Slug and More Imports
After last week's relatively good batch of games we honestly expected Nintendo would choose the least interesting upcoming imports to release this week. Thankfully we've been proven wrong - They only chose a single bad one, plus two good ones, and on top of that, we get a non-import game!
Metal Slug needs no introduction amongst most hardcore...
Review Break In (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
A bit of a break from the norm of Naxat Soft's other games.
Break In could have been a great game where you could play a burglar trying to steal some precious jewels; instead it is pool game simulator. These games used to be ten a penny in the arcade halls of old so it is only fitting that some home conversions were made. I am no expert on the game...
Review Cho Aniki (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
Idaten or Benten are celestial warriors who are out to bring an end to the tyrannical rule of the emperor of Planet Builder.
The Japanese are often accused of creating some seriously weird and wonderful videogames. While this reputation is often underserved (with games like Jet Set Willy, Western developers are just as guilty of producing bonkers...
Feature Playtest: The Shaft Virtual Console joystick
As old school gamers on Wii the only thing we missed was a joystick peripheral for that authentic arcade feel
. Back in the days anyone who was serious about Street Fighter II on the SNES would have owned a Super Advantage joystick. The NEO GEO was famed for the quality of its joystick – indeed it was almost as big as the console itself. Why...
News Nintendo Channel for Wii now available in North America
The Nintendo Channel, the interactive guide to Nintendo and Wii, has gone live in North America.
The channel is built to host a collection of promotional material and information for recent releases and upcoming games. This will include trailers, documentaries, demo videos and future downloads. American Wii gamers were sent the following message to...
Review Renegade (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
A beat-em-up best forgotten
Technos' Double Dragon became a household name and River City Ransom gained rave reviews from all and sundry, but people often forget that the company also released Renegade on the NES, forming what many fans deem to be a classic trilogy of 8-bit fighting games. Sadly, Renegade is easily the worst of this trio. Although...
Review Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
Gordon the Gofer
This is an almost arcade-perfect port of the arcade version of Gradius II, which was also known as Vulcan Adventure. Konami made no compromises in choosing the PC Engine’s Super CD format to release this game on, and the music sounds better than ever as a result. Sadly this never made it to the west as a TurboGrafx-CD game, so...
News US VC Releases - 5th May - Pokemon Puzzle League
So what wonderful games can you get your grubby mitts on this Monday? Prepared to be amazed as the Virtual Console is getting a new N64 game in the shape of Pokémon Puzzle League.
For those not in the know Pokémon Puzzle League uses the exact same gameplay found in the old SNES and Game Boy title Tetris Attack. You're given a Tetris-like field...
News Star Parodier and other imports in the next Hanabi festival
In today's Nintendo Europe news in a rare moment of transparency from Nintendo we now know what to expect from the next Hanabi festival:
Over the coming weeks, you’ll also be able to enjoy other never-before-seen greats such as Gley Lancer (SEGA MEGA DRIVE), Cho Aniki (Muscle Brothers) (Turbografx), Puyo Puyo 2 (SEGA MEGA DRIVE) and Star Parodier...
News ESRB Update: EarthBound Finally Coming To Virtual Console!
It's finally happening!
If you're familiar at all with the Mother series (Only the second game was released outside Japan, as EarthBound) you should know it's got an enormous cult following. In fact, EarthBound was the number one wanted VC game in the Nintendo Power poll just a few days ago! Fans have pleaded for Nintendo to release the other games...
News EU VC Releases - 2nd May - The Hanabi Festival Returns!
Europeans who have had their Wii for a while will no doubt remember last September - Nintendo of Europe introduced a special "Hanabi Festival" dedicated to give us import game goodness. With games such as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Mario's Super Picross and Sin and Punishment becoming available to us for the first time ever, who could refuse? Certainly not us!
Well, it looks like Nintendo knows that we won't say no to imports, because today's update includes three games, all import titles, and all marked with the Hanabi Festival fireworks icon that the import titles last year were labelled w...
Review Final Soldier (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
Once again its your job to protect the Galactic Empire from an alien invasion using nothing but your trusty starfighter.
There were basically three Star Soldier releases for the PC Engine/Turbografx-16 system, not counting the cute 'em up spin-off Star Parodier. Two of those releases, Super Star Soldier and Soldier Blade, saw a release in the US...
News Nintendo Wii hard drive coming soon?
A recent press release from Nintendo makes interesting reading. In addition to news that the company's fortunes continue to soar there was also an interesting bit of information from company president Satoru Iwata in regards to the hot topic of the Wii's limited flash memory:
Q6 I am personally enjoying WiiWare and Virtual Console but feel Wii’s...
News RPG Titles Dominate Nintendo Power’s Most Wanted List
As we reported a while back, respected US magazine Nintendo Power recently asked Virtual Console fans to submit which games they would like to see on the service in the hope that it would make the Big N sit up and take notice. The results are now in and (unsurprisingly) SNES RPGs dominate.
Here’s the reader’s top 5 most wanted: Earthbound...
April2008
News South Korea gets their own Virtual Console
Interestingly the Wii finally went on sale in South Korea for the first time yesterday on the 26th April. This wouldn’t normally be a news item for us but with the Wii launch comes a whole new Virtual Console region with different prices!
Let’s take a look at the launch games as listed on the Korean Nintendo site: Famicom / NES (400 Wii...
News Bionic Commando NOT coming to the Virtual Console!
Our pals at IGN, recently interviewed Capcom's Ben Judd on the upcoming PSN/XBLA remake of the original Bionic Commando Rearmed.
This might not be of great interest if you only own a Wii console, but interestingly the interview managed to open a can of worms regarding the possibility of the NES version of Bionic Commando coming to the Virtual...
News US VC Releases - 28th April - Double Dragon
Hot on the tails of River City Ransom from last week the theme of violence continues with the legendary Double Dragon on the NES punching its way to the Virtual Console.
The NES version is a fun adaptation of the original arcade classic however there is no 2 player simultaneous option in the main game which is a crying shame (even the Master System...
Review World Games (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
Look out, world. Here we come!
After the well received Summer and Winter Games, Epyx turned their attention to various events from around the globe and brought us World Games. As before, you have the choice of which events to play, and can compete with up to 8 players (each picking a country to represent). Only two of the eight events allow for...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - May 2008
None of them are true shockers
Konami will be bringing out the big guns with Ganbare Goemon 2, the second SNES Goemon game. This one was never released outside Japan, despite arguably being one of the best games in the series, so we hope this becomes an import title! Shooter fans will be happy that Axelay, Gynoug, Super Fantasy Zone and Star...
Review Double Dragon (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Single Dragon
Double Dragon is a classic NES game that was immensely popular in its day, so much so that it led to a string of sequels. Predictably the NES conversion of the arcade original made some compromises and changes to the game, so the question is whether it stands up well in the current day. In terms of differences from the arcade version,...
News EU VC Releases - 25th April - The Last Ninja
It seems every two weeks we get a Commodore 64 week now - No complaints from us, especially when it means that we get The Last Ninja, an excellent action platformer/puzzler hybrid featuring an agile ninja with a whole assortment of weaponry. The game was incredibly well-received in its day, being the number one selling original creation on the Commodore 64.
Accompanying it is World Games. In a fashion similar to California Games, it features a number of sports, only this time, from around the world instead of California. The game is not too special, but...
Review The Last Ninja (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
The evil Shogun Kunitoki has long envied the powers of the Ninja brotherhood and would do anything to acquire their knowledge.
Critically acclaimed at the time, and still praiseworthy today, The Last Ninja sees you exploring several superbly detailed environments on your quest to defeat the evil Kunitoki. Picking up weapons along the way, you...
News Top 20 'popular titles' on the Virtual Console - April 2008 (USA)
Following last month’s look at the top 20 popular VC titles for the USA it is interesting to see how things have changed a month later. There are no surprises really, Americans can’t get enough of the old classics like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, they aren’t going anywhere!
Games from non-Nintendo consoles are nowhere to be seen. Surely some...
News Sega Fans Rejoice: Alex Kidd In Miracle World Is Coming
It was the news that Sega fans all over the globe had been waiting for ever since the announcement that Master System games would be available on the Virtual Console.
Ok, maybe not all Sega fans, but we were certainly hoping it would come true, and it has. Alex Kidd’s finest adventure is inbound. Sega’s forgotten mascot may have already made his...
News Three Interplay-Owned Franchises Coming to VC
Gaming news site Gamasutra has reported something which will no doubt please many - 3 franchises currently owned by Interplay are making their way to VC.
After the recent relaunch of Interplay's website, there was some speculation on if there would be resurrections of the franchises shown around the company's logo. Well, these aren't exactly...
News US VC Releases - 21st April - River City Ransom
Fancy a bit of a punch up this week? Maybe embarking on an epic quest spanning several generations is your thing? If so you are in luck!
What better way to herald in the series of weekly NES beat ‘em ups than to begin with the mighty River City Ransom? Our North American readers were green with envy when Europe got this in their Wii Shop (entitled...
Review Phantasy Star III (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
As Rhys, the crown prince of the Orakian kingdom of Landen
By the time Phantasy Star III was released the series was well on its way to becoming a solid favourite with Western Sega fans, having already become pretty famous in its homeland Japan. With the third game Sega decided to make some sweeping alterations, but the core gameplay fundamentally...
News Japan To Get Dracula X And Metal Slug Next Tuesday
Even the most optimistic Nintendo fan would be hard pressed to deny that this week’s European Virtual Console update was a tad underwhelming. Just to make you feel even worse about it, not only is Japan getting four (count ‘em) games this coming Tuesday (22nd), but two of those releases are Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood and Metal Slug.
E...
News EU VC Release - 18th April - Sega Week - Phantasy Star III
After the 4-game blowout last week, some Europeans wondered if Nintendo of Europe had somehow completely turned around and would start to throw out multiple games every week from now on. This dream has been quickly shattered, because it's just one game again this week.
Apparently not considering the two Master System games last week as a true...
News Super Turrican - Director's Cut Possibly Coming To VC?
As you might know, videogame forum NeoGAF is quite popular among people in the industry - Various videogame developers and publishers post there. One individual, called Turrican, claims he works at Factor 5, and has given some information on Turrican's VC future in NeoGAF's Virtual Console thread.
First up, if you downloaded Super Turrican, you...
News 3 NES Beat 'em Ups Coming To US Virtual Console Soon
The North American Virtual Console is in for a treat over the next three Mondays as our pals at IGN have revealed that River City Ransom, Double Dragon and Renegade will be punching their way to the Virtual Console in successive weeks.
Much to the annoyance of North American VC fans the rather excellent River City Ransom came out in February in...
News Wii SNES Controller Hits Japan
We don’t get jealous often here at Virtual Console Reviews – we don’t need to, being the famous international playboys that we are – but when we spotted some shots of one particularly lucky chap unpacking his limited edition Wii Super Famicom (SNES in the West) controller, we couldn’t help but go a little green with envy.
It was reported...
Feature Top 10 C64 games wanted on the Virtual Console
Can you guess?
Now that the Commodore 64 is firmly established on the Virtual Console (at least for Europe) it seemed like an opportune time to compile a list of C64 games that I feel deserve a home on the Virtual Console. All of these choices are influenced by games that I loved at the time, and, in my opinion, retain superb playability to this...
News US VC Releases - 14th April - Mega Turrican
If you like blasting things then you are in for a treat this week as this Monday’s Virtual Console selection will give you hours of blasting pleasure.
First up is Mega Turrican on the Sega Genesis. You might remember this as Turrican 3 on the Commodore Amiga. It's kind of a mix between Metroid, Contra and Gunstar Heroes but that doesn’t really...
Review Impossible Mission (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
During the past three days, key military computer installations of every major world power have reported security failures.
Impossible Mission is highly regarded as one of the classic Commodore 64 titles, particularly impressive given that it was one of the earliest games released for the system. The considerable success of the game led to numerous...
News OFLC Update: Three New Neo Geo Games Rated
Neo Geo support hasn’t been brilliant on the Virtual Console up to now but fans of the machine will be pleased to hear that three more titles have been earmarked for release. Predictably they’re all fighting games; as we know full well the Neo-Geo certainly had its fair share of those.
Burning Fight is your typical Final Fight clone, with three...
News EU VC Releases - 11th April - C64 And Master System Madness
You might remember that Europe got the first two Commodore 64 games two weeks ago. Well, this week two more games join them. But that's not all, because the Sega Master System also arrives, and also brings two games with it!
As a new console is arguably more important, we'll list the Master System's games first - Fantasy Zone is a rather colourful...
Review California Games (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
California knows how to party.
The fifth game in Epyx’s highly respected multi-event sports game series, California Games offered just 6 events, as opposed to the 7 or 8 of previous instalments. That’s not to say it suffers as a result, because some of the new events arguably have a lot more depth than, say, sprinting or weight lifting. As in...
Review Fantasy Zone (Virtual Console / Master System)
Take command of the spaceship Opa-Opa and blast your way through various fantastical levels as you try to take out all the enemy bases in each stage.
Fantasy Zone is one of those great forgotten franchises from the 8-bit/16-bit era that enjoyed lots of attention back in its heyday but tends to be ignored these days. Featuring the exploits of the...
News Wii to support BBC's iPlayer (UK only)
An update is now available to allow Wii users to use the BBC's iPlayer on their Wii console via the Internet Channel. The BBC said a message would be sent to Wii owners to alert them to its availability. This appears to be for the United Kingdom only at present.
The BBC's iPlayer video service will soon be available via the Nintendo Wii. The video...
Feature Top 10 RPGs We Want To Come To The Virtual Console
RPWiis
Role-playing games have always been extremely popular in Japan, but over the years they've become quite popular in other parts of the world as well. There's just something amazing about getting to take part in an epic story line and watching as it all unfolds in front of you. I personally own over 130 role-playing games at last count, so I...
Review Bases Loaded (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Not quite a home run.
To herald the start of the new baseball season in the USA, it seems fitting that Bases Loaded should get a Virtual Console release. When this was first released on the NES twenty years ago there wasn’t really much that came close to it. The simple, yet innovative gameplay struck a home run with baseball fans all over the...
Review Yoshi's Cookie (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Mmmm, cookies!
Another Mario puzzler? Say it ain't so! Like Yoshi (Mario & Yoshi in Europe), Yoshi's Cookie is less well known than Dr. Mario and Wario's Woods, mainly because, well, it's not that interesting. To its merit, it's not another falling block puzzler. In fact, this is one of the more unique puzzlers on Virtual Console. The objective...
Feature Will Sega CD Support Ever Come To The Virtual Console?
Probably not
Since the very welcome introduction of TG-16 CD-ROM games to Nintendo’s Virtual Console service we’ve seen a steady flow of requests for the same treatment to be given to Sega’s ill-fated Sega CD add-on (also known as the Mega CD in Europe and Japan). This much-hyped peripheral was rolled out in the early ‘90s (a few years...
News US VC Releases - 7th April - Yoshi's Cookie
If you ask us, this is yet another rather uninteresting week for Americans. Yoshi's Cookie for NES is an OK game to waste some time with, but with so much better puzzlers already available on VC, and the SNES version of the game being better (A situation similar to Wario's Woods), we just can't highly recommend it.
Today's other choice might...
News Another OFLC Update - Turbografx Imports Galore!
The Turbografx is getting lots of imports - Recently, the OFLC rated Break In and Final Soldier, both of them imports for the system never released outside Japan. Those two haven't even been released yet, but Hudson already submitted four more games to the OFLC, and all of them are, once again, both imports and Turbografx titles.
The strangest pick...
News EU VC Release - 4th April - Yoshi's Cookie
So what’s up for grabs on the European Virtual Console update this week? Well, sadly nothing other than a rather lonely looking Yoshi’s Cookie!
It is hard to get too enthusiastic as the VC already has an abundance of Nintendo puzzlers such as Mario & Yoshi, Wario’s Woods, etc but it is not such a bad thing that this has finally come out...
News OFLC Update - Another Konami Import Title
In an OFLC update today, three more titles have been rated for eventual Australia release (As always, this should most likely mean they will also come to Europe).
The only "new" game of the bunch is Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (Bio Miracle Baby Upa), a Kirby-esque game starring a baby called Upa. This baby would later appear in a few of...
News Nintendo Power Poll - What Games Do You Want To See?
American magazine Nintendo Power is running a poll to determine which retro titles Virtual Console players would most like to see on the service. Once the results are in the magazine will publish the Top 100 most requested titles.
Here's the request as it appears in the magazine: What classic games do you want to see come to Virtual Console? Send...
Feature Why April Is A Massive Month For the Virtual Console
If you count yourself as a hardcore gamer then you will have read our recent news piece about April’s Japanese Virtual Console games with marked interest. Sure, there’s the usual amount of filler in there, like Famicom Detective Club Part II and Bokosuka Wars (neither of which are likely to make the leap over to the US/Euro VC service), but there’s a trio of games that should cause your pulse to race uncontrollably – Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, MUSHA Aleste and Metal Slug.
Dracula X is widely regarded...
Review Wonder Boy (Virtual Console / Master System)
Small Wonder
Wonder Boy was one of the first games I got for my beloved Sega Master System. Having played the original arcade game on seaside weekends of my youth it seemed amazing to have such a faithful conversion of the game in my bedroom at the time. The hero of the game, Tom-Tom isn’t known for providing in-car navigation, rather he is...
March2008
News APRIL FOOLS: Virtual Boy Confirmed for Virtual Console
Ok, so we jumped the gun a little by posting this a day early but we did at least say the press conference was on April 1st! Sorry for getting everyone so excited (who would have thought Nintendo's biggest hardware failure would be so welcome on the Virtual Console?) and thanks for taking it in the spirit it was intended...look forward to next year, folks! ;)
It may rank as one of Nintendo’s biggest mistakes but the ill-fated Virtual Boy is finally getting a new lease of life thanks to the company’s retro download porta...
News US VC Releases - March 31st - Wonder Boy
Not to be outdone by Europe getting the first Commodore 64 games on Friday it turns out that the North American Virtual Console service is getting its first Sega Master System game in this week’s VC releases!
For those not in the know about the Master System you can read up on the system in Damo’s hardware focus. Basically it was the 8-bit...
Review Cruis'n USA (Virtual Console / Nintendo 64)
Put pedal to metal and hang on for a wild ride across the highways of America!
One of the first games to be announced for Nintendo’s 64-bit console, Cruis’n USA was given a fair amount of attention when it was first released; for the 32-bit generation, driving games that had established the credentials of rival machines (Ridge Racer for the...
Review International Karate (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
It's karate time!
You could almost hear the groans of disappointment when this game was announced for the Virtual Console, simply because the sequel, "International Karate Plus", is so legendary. But that's a disservice to the original, as it is a strong game in its own right. Those looking for a quick pick-up-and-play brawler will be...
Review Uridium (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)
15 Super-Dreadnought ships have invaded your galaxy, each looking to steal a different precious metal.
Uridium is a much loved classic amongst Commodore 64 enthusiasts. Well known for its fast-paced gameplay and unique game mechanics, at least some of that reputation is deserved. Designer Andrew Braybrook was known for his idiosyncratic but...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - April 2008
After a somewhat subpar March, Japan's April schedule will probably blow you away. It includes a certain TurboGrafx-CD game everybody wants that was recently rereleased on PSP - Yep, it's Dracula X, the only Castlevania game to never be released outside Japan (It was ported to SNES, but with a massive music/graphics downgrade, and the PSP version just isn't the same!). See if you can spot the other classics on the list:
Famicom:-Teenage Mutan...
News EU VC Releases - 28th March - Commodore 64
If you like the number 64 you're in luck today - Not only are there three new games, they're all for the Commodore 64 and Nintendo 64! Obviously this also means there's now a new system on VC. Commodore 64 games cost 500 Wii Points each.
As the C64 is arguably bigger news than a new N64 game (It's not that great of a game anyway), its two games are...
News Master System Hitting US 'Soon', 400 Points Per Game
In a press release issued today, Sega has announced that Master System games will indeed be heading to the US Virtual Console. The games will cost 400 Wii Points each, 100 less than in Japan, where they're 500 each.
The first two games will be Wonder Boy and Fantasy Zone. No exact date yet, but Sega says you can expect them "soon". No word...
Review Powerball (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Who will be the powerball champ?
This forgotten futuristic sports game by Namco undoubtedly takes some inspiration from Speedball 2, which was really popular at the time. The basic premise is that Powerball is a futuristic sport that takes the brutal elements of rugby or American football and mixes them with soccer. You can play as eight different...
Review King's Knight (Virtual Console / NES)
In the kingdom of Izander, the fair Princess Claire has been kidnapped by a foul and insidious dragon, and it is the mission of four brave fighters to save her.
Since the inception of the Virtual Console, fans have been waiting hopefully for many must-have titles; people usually have one game they’re especially fond of and would like to see given...
News US VC Releases - March 24th - King's Knight
Normally we lead with our favourite game of the week but as the Sega Genesis choice isn’t going to blow you away we’ll lead with Square’s King’s Knight this week just because, you know, um, it was developed by Square. Think of it as a skeleton in Square’s closet! This is no Final Fantasy it has to be said.
Here at the VC:R we admit we do...
News Virtual Console Top 20 - March 2008 (EU)
Below is a list of the top 20 most popular Virtual Console games for Europe as currently listed in the Wii Shop. As there is no exact time period specified for this list we can probably assume that these are the most popular games over the last month, not of all time.
Much like the USA top 20 for March the Euro list is also dominated by first party...
Review Mega Turrican (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
The Machine has enslaved the galaxy under its tyrannical rule.
I know what you’re all thinking: why have another Turrican title on the Virtual Console when we’ve only recently been blessed with the delights of the sublime Super Turrican – especially when you consider these 16-bit titles look very much the same? However, while it’s true that...
News EU VC Release - March 21st - Sega Week - Mega Turrican
Tomorrow's Good Friday in most of Europe - Last year, Nintendo of Europe updated the VC a few hours earlier than normal because of this. Not this year though, the update was at the regular time!
Super Turrican was only added 3 weeks ago - But now you can get the game that was originally released before it: Mega Turrican! This game's a bit more...
News Virtual Console Top 20 - March 2008 (USA)
A quick glance at the top 20 most downloaded Virtual Console titles for North America in the Wii Shop shows that Wii gamers just can’t seem to get enough of Nintendo titles. In the entire top 20 this March, all 20 games are from the NES, SNES or N64 systems. Poor old Genesis, TG-16 and Neo Geo!
There is no date range specified for the top 20...
Review Spelunker (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Going underground
Spelunker is a blast from the past. It started out life on home computers such as the Commodore 64 and was eventually ported to the NES. The game’s protagonist is tasked with working their way down a giant cave to find the great treasure that is rumoured to be hidden within the depths. Along the way, perils such as water, uneven...
Talking Point The State of Play of the Virtual Console
How do you find things?
Since the end of last year there’s been an unpleasant undercurrent of tension in the world of the Virtual Console. It all started when Nintendo’s VC releases began to strangely dry up, with the usual three-game weeks becoming a thing of the past. This controversial move then kick-started a tirade of anger, with each...
