News US VC Releases - 21st January - Super Street Fighter II
The second update to Capcom's legendary fighter Street Fighter II arrives in the US today - Super Street Fighter II introduces many new things (Including fan favourite fighter Cammy), but also removes some things from the first update - Street Fighter II Turbo. There's only one SNES Street Fighter game left now - Street Fighter Alpha 2!
It was a bit...
News EU VC Releases - 18th January - 1080 Snowboarding
Tennnn Eightyyy
Hot on the heels of Japan, who got the game on Tuesday, Europe has gotten the next N64 game - 1080 Snowboarding! This is another "realistic" racer, similar to Wave Race 64, except that you're, of course, snowboarding instead of riding jetskis. Like the other 3 N64 racers on VC, it holds up quite well and is well worth checking out...
Review Pac-Attack (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Watch your back or Pac will attack, you don't want that!
Not even Pac-Man escaped the 8 and 16-bit eras without a spinoff puzzle game to his name. Pac-Attack was an obvious cash-in by Namco on games like Tetris, Dr. Mario, and Puyo-Puyo, but it's actually quite good! The game is an edited version of the arcade game Cosmo Gang the Puzzle (based on...
News US VC Releases - 14th January - Pac-Attack
Pac Attack
From out of nowhere (It was not previously announced or rated) comes Pac-Attack, a surprisingly good Pac-Man rendition of the falling block puzzle genre. In this one out of few Pac-Man spinoffs, your job is to keep the screen clear of blocks and ghosts, by creating rows of blocks and letting Pac-Man eat the ghosts. Today's other game is...
News EU VC Releases - 11th January - StarTropics
Once again, Europe does not get 3 or more games this week. And once again, Nintendo seems to try and make up for it by making one of the games they do release a great one (The other is ok). Well, at least it wasn't just one game again! The great game this time is StarTropics, the first of only two games in Nintendo's (unfortunately) dead franchise of the same name. It's a lot like the original The Legend of Zelda, with some improvements, leading some to refer to it as "everything Zelda II should've been". It's still a mystery why Nintendo killed this franchise off. Let's hope for StarTropics 3 someday!
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Embark on an extraordinary adventure
On first sight, StarTropics looks eerily like Zelda (in fact, when you start it up, there's the same name entry screen!). So you might be thinking, what's all the fuss about? StarTropics is about a typical American teenager, Mike Jones, who heads to the tropics to meet his archaeologist uncle after receiving a...
News US VC Releases - 7th January - StarTropics
Two cult classics for the US today. First is StarTropics, the first in an (unfortunately) dead Nintendo series which spanned only two games. The game borrows heavily from Zelda, but is a lot more light-hearted and, according to quite a few people, more fun. The original game required a letter which came packed with the game in order to progress at one point - If anybody who played the game on NES can download it on VC and see for us how they fixed this, it would be appreciated.
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Review Harvest Moon (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Farm life
Harvest Moon, a role-playing game based around the noble profession of farming, was one of the later Super NES releases when it arrived in 1997. If you are not familiar with this series, stay with us — it's not as bad or as boring as it sounds on paper This is basically The Sims on a farm. So, if you're a fan of simulation and RPG...
News EU VC Release - 4th January - Harvest Moon
After ending 2007 with a one-game week, people hoped Nintendo would start the next year with multiple games. Unfortunately, they fail to deliver, and it's one game once again!
Just like last week, it's not a complete mess, however, as it's a quality title - Harvest Moon for the SNES. This is the first game in the popular farming series, and it's...
News US VC Releases - 31st December - Light Crusader
The US plays catchup today, as they get three games Europe's already had a while. All of them are good, though, so hopefully no complaining this time!
Leading the pack is Treasure's Genesis RPG, Light Crusader. This is to this day probably Treasure's only Western game, featuring almost no obvious Japanese influence. It's also usually named as one of...
News Japanese Virtual Console List - January 2008
Not quite as much games for Japan in January as in previous months, but that doesn't really matter when almost every one that's getting released is a "big" title, including the next N64 game. Take a look:
Japanese VC schedule for January: Famicom: Yie Air Kung Fu (January 8th) (Master Takahashi's) Adventure Island Devil World Mappy Super...
Review Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Double the trouble, double the fun?
After the stellar Donkey Kong Country 2, people were wondering if the third game would be even more amazing. It was released very late in the SNES's lifecycle, so naturally it was expected that Rare would be pulling out all the stops. In DK Country 3’s storyline, both DK and Diddy have been kidnapped. You're...
News US VC Releases - Christmas Eve - Donkey Kong Country 3
Merry Christmas! Nintendo's gift for Americans is the final game in the DKC trilogy, Donkey Kong Country 3! The game was released late in the SNES's life, meaning a lot of people missed out on it. Now is the time to make up for that mistake, as it's a great game, although not as good as DKC2. Here's a secret - Enter your name on the file select screen as "MERRY" for a very Christmas-y experience!
Today's other releases probably won't cater to as much people, unfortunately. Blades of Steel is one of very f...
Review Blades of Steel (Virtual Console / NES)
With sharpened blades and a lethal stick, you slash into a rink surrounded by thousands of screaming fans.
Blades of Steel, much like one of Konami's other NES sports games, Double Dribble, was loved all over the world back in the day. Double Dribble didn't hold up that well, so you may wonder how its ice hockey has fared. Actually, it has aged...
News US VC Releases - 17th December - Cybernator
A lot of shooting in today's three US games! First up is Cybernator, the SNES game where you control a large robotic suit and blast your way through a multitude of stages. It's one of the more popular "lesser known" SNES games and as such is quite a cult classic.
The second game today is Monster Lair, the TurboGrafx-CD version of Wonder...
Review Mega Man 2 (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Can Mega Man save the world again?
Surprisingly, the original Mega Man (or Rockman, as the series is known in Japan) did not perform very well. Initially reluctant, Capcom allowed its creator Keiji Inafune to create a sequel as a side-project in his own spare time, however, and with the effort of a few colleagues and a lot of time, he created Mega...
Review Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy (Virtual Console / Neo Geo)
Take on the role of either Roddy or Cathy, bounty hunters in this side-scrolling action game set far in the future when humans have colonized space.
I'm sure many have played at least one game in SNK's awesome shoot 'em up franchise, Metal Slug. But did you know that SNK also created a game that's similar, yet at the same time quite different? They...
News EU VC Releases - 14th December - Mega Man 2
After already releasing Pokemon Snap earlier in the week, some people wondered whether Nintendo would release games at the normal time as well. Thankfully they did - And they included one of the greatest NES games in the update as well! Mega Man 2 is usually called the best classic Mega Man series game ever made (With heavy competition from Mega Man 3 - Which I personally find better). It's the only Mega Man game with an easier mode (Making it perfect for series newcomers), it's got an absolutely amazing soundtrack for the time, it's slightly less linear, and it's just plain fun! If you've never played it, do yourself a favour and do so now!
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News Surprise EU VC Release - Pokemon Snap + worldwide Photo Channel update
As some of you might have already noticed this morning, everybody's favourite blue Wii light was flashing. If you turn on your Wii you'll have gotten a message from Nintendo alerting you that the Wii Shop gift feature is now available (After a Wii Shop update). But that's not all!
Nintendo of Europe also saw fit to release Pokemon Snap together with...
Review Pokémon Snap (Virtual Console / Nintendo 64)
Playing this is a snap
Pokémon Snap's an odd one - it's not an adventure game like the handheld versions or a fighting game like those on the console. Instead, you have to take pictures of Pokémon! You play as Todd, who you might know from the anime. He has been asked by Professor Oak to take pictures of the various Pokémon around the island for...
Review Ghosts 'n Goblins (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Arthur's first ghostly quest
You thought Ghouls 'n Ghosts and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts were hard? The NES original, Ghosts 'n Goblins set the bar. The main focus of the game is pretty much the same as in the sequels. Princess Prin-Prin has been kidnapped by demons and Arthur, the one-man army, sets out to rescue her. He's armed with only a lance and...
News Wii Gift feature out now in EU and US
The long-awaited Wii Shop gift feature has launched in both Europe and the US! Now you can send your friend(s) VC games! Naturally you have to pay for them first, and there's no discount or anything, but hey, surely you want to let your friends enjoy Urban Champion as well, right?
The full quote about the feature from today's press release is as...
News US VC Releases - 10th December - Pokemon Snap
The first Pokemon game hits VC in the US today! It's the strange but fun Pokemon Snap for Nintendo 64, where instead of capturing Pokemon in Pokeballs, you capture them on film. The game itself is good fun, but as an overall package it is a bit lacking. Still, if you're a Pokemon fan, better make do with this, because this will most likely be one of extremely few Pokemon titles to come to VC (We think the only other one will be Pokemon Puzzle League). Another thing worth considering is that this version of Pokemon Snap has a VC-exclusive feature!
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News Nintendo of Europe relaunches with Wii Points exchange!
After a little over two weeks of downtime, the Nintendo of Europe site has relaunched with a totally new look and new features. One of these is the ability to swap your stars for Wii Points!
Go to and select your country. After logging in you can exchange your hard earned stars for Wii Points! They come rather expensive though - 4 stars for 1 Wii...
