Author Profile
- Username
- Sean_Aaron
- Articles
- 350 (105 reviews)
- First Article
- Sat 20th, December 2008
- Avg. Review Score
- 6.3
Nintendo Download 9th June 2009 (Japan)
Music streaming, a Nintendo classic franchise and Namco arcade fun on the Wii and a murder mystery on DSi next week.
WiiWare releases in Japan next Tuesday include something new in the form of Game Sound Station from Gust Co., Ltd. For 1000 points you get access to a number of tracks from dozens of video game soundtracks. You can then purchase...
Review Space Harrier (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
An interesting slice of gaming history for fans of early 3D games.
Space Harrier is notable for being one of the first arcade games to use a motorised cabinet in its sit-down version, and in the realms of sprite-based third-person 3D shooters it's certainly at the more advanced end of the scale. It was highly popular back when it was released in the...
Nintendo Download 2 June 2009 (Japan)
A 3+3 week for the Wii and another break for the DSiWare service.
The DSiWare service seems to be taking another holiday next week, but the Wii gets another six downloads with three new WiiWare titles and three new VC titles. No real surprises here as these games have been forecast in the press previously (the VC ones only today!). WiiWare titles...
First Impressions Muscle March
Namco delivers possibly the most bizarre game to come from Japan in years.
If you've gotten into the Japanese import scene at all you've probably discovered that there's games released in Japan that never see localisation outside of Japan. Japanese game developers have a knack for coming up with some pretty unusual game concepts and Japanese...
First Impressions Arkanoid Plus!
Taito plays it safe in bringing back a classic.
Whilst Atari's Breakout and Super Breakout pioneered the arcade block-breaking games that are well-worn cliches today, Taito's Arkanoid really took the idea to the next level and no one's improved upon it since. The game concept is pretty simple: a bar at the bottom of the screen is used to bounce a...
Nintendo Download 26 May 2009 (Japan)
Four for WiiWare
A little bit of madness and some exciting Arcade Classic surprises coming to the Japanese Wii next week, whilst the Japanese DSiWare service comes out of a dry spell. On the WiiWare front we have four titles coming out next Tuesday: Muscle March from Namco Bandai for 800 points features body builders and a...polar bear...trying to...
First Impressions Tsuppari Oozumou Wii Heya
Su-mo! Su-mo!
Back in 1987 Tecmo released Tsuppari Oozumou for the Famicom. This was the first (and one of the only) sumo wrestling games to come to home consoles and was basically a button masher at heart where the object, like real sumo, is to force your opponent out of the ring or put him on his back like a fat unruly turtle. A sequel followed...
Review Minon: Everyday Hero (Wii)
He may be an everyday hero, but Minon certainly isn't ordinary...
The Japanese have a rightly earned reputation for releasing oddball game titles; it's not so much that the gameplay is unusual, but the content itself. Minon: Everyday Hero (Go! Go! Minon in Japan) is a prime example, seeing as the titular super hero does mundane things like helping...
Nintendo Download 19 May 2009 (Japan)
It's VC week!
Next week is a VC-heavy week for Japan with only one WiiWare title and four Virtual Console titles. The Japanese DSiWare front has been quiet since the 1st of the month which saw the release of the viewer for downloading videos from the latest Nintendo Wii channel: Wii no Ma. Shika Gari (sic) or Deer Hunt is a simple deer-hunting...
First Impressions Contra ReBirth
BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT!
Remember Contra? After Green Beret (Rush 'N' Attack to Americans) it was the definitive run-and-gun game from Konami which saw two games in the arcade and ports and sequels on home consoles. I cannot say I ever played the latter, but the former I remember well. Despite being punishingly difficult (to me, anyway) there was...
Nintendo Download 12 May 2009 (Japan)
This week sees some catching up and another Rebirth!
After last week's focus on the new streaming media channel from Nintendo with no new Japanese WiiWare or VC content, this week we're back to the standard 7 releases. Most of these are catching up with the NA/EU territories, but there's a couple of new titles in there as well including one that...
Talking Point About "The Waggle"
A button press by any other name...
For some reason the fact that motion controls (or "gestures") are a major part of the Wii control interface bothers people; it is felt that this ruins the gaming experience and that the majority of such implementations would be better served by traditional digital button presses. Indeed some people go so...
News Williams Pinball EU Release Date Confirmed for September
Finally the collection pinball fans in Europe have been waiting for!
System 3 Software, the UK-based publisher of Williams Pinball Classics in Europe, has not only created a brand-new website featuring all of their products but also seen fit to put forward a new release date of 11th September 2009 for it. Whilst we have no idea what has caused the...
News Mr. T and Will Wright Vs. The Nazis?
Okay, we didn't see this one coming...
ZootFly, developers of action games for the PC and Xbox have turned their attention to licensed properties and after completing a game based upon hit TV show Prison Break are going to tackle the Mr. T graphic novel license. Not only are they planning on doing a Mr. T game, but apparently a series of Mr. T games...
News The Conduit: More Multiplayer Details Revealed
Hopefully this will save a lot of tooth enamel...
IGN blogger gamingmaster42 had many questions about the multiplayer aspects of The Conduit (as do many of our own forumites) and decided to send off a missive to get the straight story from High Voltage regarding ranking/achievements, friend codes and WiiSpeak. Here is the response from Josh Olson,...
Nintendo Download 28 April 2009 (Japan)
Another six releases for our Japanese friends.
I'm sure many in the PAL/NA territories will be green with envy and I've got to say I'm going to have a hard decision to make here. You see amongst the three WiiWare releases coming to Japan next week is Bit.Trip.Beat. Given that there's no projected release date for Europe whatsoever, can I resist...
News Peter Moore at MI6 Conference: Capturing the Wii Audience with Original Content
Encouraging words from EA...do they finally get it?
During the conference keynote address EA Sports head Peter Moore spoke about EA Sports' current philosophy towards the Wii stating that "You can't simply take what you're doing on the PS3 or Xbox 360 and port – that's a dirty word – down to the Wii." New titles like Grand Slam Tennis...
News Game Center CX Looks at the Virtual Console
Is Arino up to the challenge?
If you don't already know what Game Center CX is well, I'll tell you: a Japanese T.V. show which started out being about Japanese arcades and retro games, with a "challenge" featuring Shinya Arino, a Japanese comedian with meagre gaming skills. The series has had its own DS game (released in the west as Retro...
News NES Controller is in the Bag
Quite literally
Crafty Etsy gal inhope has decided to grace her online shop with this lovely NES-controller bag -- not a bag for carrying a NES controller, but a ladies shoulder bag which has NES controller stylings (it does look like you could probably fit a Wii into that thing along with a large wallet, however). inhope is based in the USA and...
Nintendo Download 21 April 2009 (Japan)
Green shades anyone?
In Japan you simply cannot have a download release list that's less than four games and next week will be no exception with a mixed total of six. Only two WiiWare releases: World of Goo published by Nintendo themselves for 1500 points -- I think everyone knows what this game is by now! Hajiite Block Rush from Agenda for 500...
First Impressions Let's Hitchhike!
Nippon Ichi delivers an oddball game as only the Japanese can.
It's literally called Let's Zenryoku Hitchihaiku!!!!!!!!! (yes nine exclamations!), which I guess you could translate as Let's Totally Hitchhike, Dude! (the "Dude" is my personal addition) and it's a recent release to the Japanese WiiWare service which I just had to try out...
Nintendo Download 14 April 2009 (Japan)
Another week, another 5 releases for Japan.
It's true the Japanese have another week with a mix of VC and WiiWare content, but Wii owners in North America and Europe need not feel the usual pangs of jealousy (well, I guess that depends on how much you've been wanting to see a couple of these...). On the WiiWare front we have a couple of things that...
Talking Point Copyright and Video Games
What is stopping us from experiencing the entire history of video games?
Last year Taito issued Space Invaders Get Even on the WiiWare download service as well as multiple versions of the original game on the Japanese, PAL and North American Virtual Consoles. This was in celebration of the 30th annivesary of the release of Space Invaders in arcades...
First Impressions Puzzle Bobble Wii
Taito delivers another enjoyable update to an arcade franchise.
For those who aren't familiar Puzzle Bobble is a late-90s arcade puzzle franchise from Taito featuring Baburun and Boburun from Bubble Bobble. Fans in the rest of the world may remember this game better as the ill-titled "Bust-A-Move." It's had five arcade iterations, two of...
