Review Kirby's Dream Course (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
A new spin on crazy golf
Review Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik) is searching for the Chaos Emeralds to fuel his new Death Egg engine.
News - June, 2007
Saturday30th Jun 2007
Review Kirby's Dream Course (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
A new spin on crazy golf
Kirby much like our friend Mario has never been afraid to offer his own take on another genre. In this case the world renowned sport of mini golf. Unlike other pitch and putt games like EA’s Zany Golf on the Megadrive Kirby has a few tricks up his sleeve. To destroy enemies in your path you roll into them rather than...
Friday29th Jun 2007
News Japanese Virtual Console list - July 2007
Nintendo of Japan have updated their list of upcoming games for the Japanese Virtual Console for July / Summer 2007. No great surprises there really other than the excellent Wave Race on the N64 and Treasure's Dynamite Headdy on the Megadrive. Many of the games are already out in the USA or EU, of course no one has got Paper Mario yet but it's only a matter of time.
Check out the list: NES: Star Soldier - Hudson Flappy - DB Soft Ca...
News Europe VC Releases - 29th June - Kirby's Dream Course
Here are the goodies on the Virtual Console for you cool cats in the EU this week:
Kirby's Dream Course - SNES - 800 Points Dream Course is a golf video game which is viewed from an isometric perspective. Instead of using a ball, Kirby is used as the ball. The player must set the power, angle, and spin to connect with various enemies found...
Thursday28th Jun 2007
News Nintendo Announce WiiWare
New online service for downloading independently created original content for Wii!
"The search for the next ingeniously ground-breaking video game has begun. At a private developers conference this week, Nintendo announced the introduction of WiiWare™, a game-creation service that will allow developers large and small to create new downloadable...
Wednesday27th Jun 2007
News WiiWare - Brand new downloadable games for 2008
Not to be outdone by Microsoft's XBOX Live Arcade service our friends at Nintendo have announced they want a slice of the action in an announcement made this morning. The WiiWare game creation service looks like it will be a much less rigorous system than Microsoft's offering.
This looks to be fantastic news, but here at the VCA we can't help but...
Tuesday26th Jun 2007
Review Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Time to get hyper
If there's one thing the Virtual Console service has taught us, it's that some games have aged better than others. Playing the original Street Fighter II after all these years is a real eye-opening experience - it is almost too slow to be playable (especially for PAL gamers). After years of Street Fighter updates from Capcom, it...
Monday25th Jun 2007
Nintendo reveal Princess Zelda as the latest character to enter Super Smash Bros. Brawl heading to Wii this year.
"Just like Link, Zelda’s design has also changed. She has a slightly more subdued color scheme. Her movement capabilities are not that good, but her magic adds power to her physical attacks. There’s a reason why her hands and feet...
News US VC Releases - 25th June - SF2 Turbo
American gamers - eat, drink and be happy - Nintendo does love you after all! F-Zero X has finally been released so you can stop all the moaning and groaning.
One of the finest games on the N64, this really needs to be downloaded by everyone. It remains impressive even to this day, with loads of craft on-screen and blisteringly fast racing action...
Sunday24th Jun 2007
Sega announce their partnership with BioWare to bring a new RPG for the famous blue hedgehog.
"We’re thrilled to be working with SEGA on Sonic, one of the industry’s most enduring and compelling icons,” said Greg Zeschuk, president of BioWare. “As huge fans of Sonic ourselves, we’re committed to delivering a truly amazing story-driven...
More 2D scrolling action from the kings at Konami, Contra 4 heading to Nintendo's DS console before the end of the year.
"Contra 4 takes place two years after the events of Contra III: The Alien Wars. After saving earth from invasion by Red Falcon, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean are confronted with a new extraterrestrial menace: the terrifying Black...
Ever found it painfully hard to create a killer icon on Mario Kart DS? Your pain is over, DSicons.com has all the answers for you.
"Lately we've found ourselves pimping out our Karts on Mario Kart DS, and we thought to ourselves, "Selves, why don't we build a website where we can share our killer DS icons with the rest of the world? We could get...
After getting an "Adult Only" rating in the US, neither Nintendo or Sony are prepared to release the game.
This week we saw that Manhunt 2 was rejected any classification in the UK, now the game has been rated in the US its left the publisher alittle miffed as both Nintendo and Sony have stated they won't release games with an "Adult Only" rating,...
The new slim-line E3 should still provide us with a wealth of new information, but what exactly should we expect?
Thankfully the guys over at Gaming Target have compiled an interest list of predictions regarding E3, here's the ones that caught our eye. "It should be noted that these are all educated guesses based entirely on available information...
News Wii Sales Eclipse 8 Million
It seems that Nintendo's Wii console has now sold a staggering 8,000,000 units in under 7 months, fast approaching the target of the Xbox 360.
Of course numbers are just numbers and they differ depending on who your talking too, for instance the NexGenWars site tells a slightly different story.. There's one fact that comes into play here and that's...
News Corruption Primed For Launch
Delayed but not forgotten, journalists find out about the fruits of labour in Retro Studios Metroid Prime 3.
"As one of the few that got to play Metroid Prime 3: Corruption at Nintendo’s Media Summit several weeks ago, those from the magazine got to experience first-hand the benefits of the game’s delays. There are MINOR SPOILERS below, so you...
Saturday23rd Jun 2007
News Super Turrican 1 & 2 coming to the Virtual Console
There was a pleasant surprise as two top notch retro blast-em-ups were rated by the ESRB for release on the Wii Virtual Console. Factor 5's Super Turrican and Super Turrican 2 are both top quality games. The series started life in 1990 on the Commodore..
There was a pleasant surprise as two top notch retro blast-em-ups were rated by the ESRB for...
Friday22nd Jun 2007
Review Mega Man (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
The Blue Bomber's debut
The Mega Man series will need no introduction to most gamers; this game spawned five sequels on the NES, not to mention numerous games on other systems over the years. Mega Man has come a long way since his début way back in 1987. This originally story spins the yarn that Dr Light created six master robots for industrial...
News Europe VC Releases - 22nd June - Mega Man
It was always going to be a tough act to beat following last week's release of F-Zero X on the N64. Still it's as if Nintendo of Europe is not even trying! Here are this week's new releases:
Mega Man - NES - 500 Points This is where it all started. Capcom's cute robot blaster franchise all started here 20 years ago. The graphics and sound are very...
News Super Paper Mario Due In September
The quarter 3 Nintendo release dates are in and there is still quite a long haul until Super Paper Mario finally hits UK stores.
Q3 Wii Release Schedule * Resident Evil: 4 Wii edition (Capcom) 29th June 2007 * Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix (EA) 29th June 2007 * Scarface (Vivendi Games) 30th June 2007 * Mortal Kombat:...
Review China Warrior (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
China Warrior is a side-scrolling action game that was released around the same time as the TurboGrafx16 in Japan.
When the PC Engine was first released in Japan, China Warrior (or 'The Kung Fu' as it was known in the Land of the Rising Sun) was put forward as a showcase for its graphical prowess. Technically the first game on the system (it was...
Thursday21st Jun 2007
Feature Top 10 shmups we want to come to the Virtual Console
Every good retro gamer enjoys a good shmup
During the late 80s and early 90s almost every other game was a shmup. They were very much the FPS of the day! The gaming history books are littered with many failures and uninspired clones but we'll cut through the crap and bring you the cream of the crop that we one day hope to see on the Virtual Console...
Wednesday20th Jun 2007
News Stop The H.A.M.M.E.R Time?
Rumours surround Nintendo's forgotten Project H.A.M.M.E.R, has it been canned? No-one knows!
A number of reports have surfaced this week that Nintendo has cancelled Project HAMMER, a game that was demoed at E3 in 2006 in which we've heard nothing since. "Insiders close to development studio NST allege to IGN that the software company's Wii action...
Let's Boogie!
EA's dance-em-up was dated earlier this week, now we've got a new trailer to show us alittle more about how the game might work.. "Players will dance, sing and create music videos with this ultimate videogame party package that takes advantage of the innovative Wii controls getting gamers off their couch and playing to a new beat...
News Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles Trailer
Shoot-em-up
Those of us that snagged Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition recently have probably noticed the "Bonus Feature" of a Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles trailer.. "Resident Evil®: The Umbrella chronicles is a brand new game in the Resident Evil® franchise, with familiar locales from the entire series. This action/shooter hybrid reveals the...
Tuesday19th Jun 2007
Review Bloody Wolf (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
Rambo on the TG16
Anyone familiar with Ikari Warriors, Mercs or Capcom's Commando will instantly recognise this style of run n' gun action. Yes it's another Rambo clone! That's not such a bad thing - guns, explosions and death is what we all want from our retro games right? The action is viewed from a pseudo overhead / side-on perspective which...
News Manhunt 2 Rejected By BBFC
British Board of Film Classifications have spoken, Manhunt 2 is too violent for you, you can't play it, shame on you for even thinking it.
As announced by the BBFC today Manhunt 2 has been rejected classification meaning it is ineligible for release in its current form. The director of the BBFC, David Cooke, has issued the following statement trying...
News Gore Prevails, Resident Evil 4 Out Today
Violence fans rejoice, whilst your waiting for Manhunt 2 you can get your paws on Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition in the US from today.
"Resident Evil® 4 is one of the highest rated games on Game Rankings.com and Metacritic.com, garnering dozens of awards and nominations for its amazing game play and incredible re-invention of the...
Monday18th Jun 2007
Review Mercury Meltdown Revolution (Wii)
Bored of companies cashing in on the Wii craze by lazily tacking on motion sensing control? So are we. However, Ignition Banbury buck the trend in spectacular fashion by giving us a title that is so perfectly realized it’s hard to imagine it was ever available on any other machine.
Even the most stubbornly loyal Sony fanboy would admit, albeit...
Feature Top 10 platform games we want to come to the Virtual Console
Platformers. They're one of the most popular videogame genres, and for a good reason: They're simple, fun and easy to get in to. VC's already packed with quite a bit of them, but there's still many greats that are missing. Here's a selection of platformers I feel should be added to VC soon, because it'd be a shame to not have them on there:
10. The...
EA announce that music/dance-em-up will launch on August 31st across Europe, including free microphone!
"Shake it. Sing it. Create it. Electronic Arts announced today that Boogie™ – an all new intellectual property in development at EA Montreal will be released for the Wii™ on 31st August 2007 in Europe. The game will ship to retail stores...
News No Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 For Wii
Konami have today announced details for the latest PES game, no mention of Wii though, only the DS for Nintendo this time.
"Marking the series’ first appearance on PLAYSTATION®3, and its second Xbox 360 outing, these and the PC-DVD ‘Next Generation’ versions of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008’s are further enhanced by stunning aesthetic elements...
News US VC Releases - 18th June - Bloody Wolf
Cries of outrage and despair can be heard across the Americas today as F-Zero X is not going to be up on the Virtual Console as it was last Friday for the Europe! So is it all bad news? Nah, it's not all that bad.
Bloody Wolf is our top pick this week. This run and gun game deserves to be played by everyone. It's not much to look at but it is good...
Saturday16th Jun 2007
It seems the Wii can absolutely do no wrong; even G.I. Joe has ordered a console for his squadron.
Well, not actually fictional character G.I. Joe himself - but moreover the army have been using the Wii's cutesy graphics and innovative controls as a mental chill pill for working soldiers, and even as a recovery tool. With the Wii keeping...
Friday15th Jun 2007
News Europe VC Releases - 15th June - F-Zero X on the N64
For the 100th Virtual Console game for the EU our friends at Nintendo of Europe have pulled out all the stops. We are treated to the excellent F-Zero X on the N64! Now that's the way to celebrate the 100th game!!
Anyone who has played the original F-Zero on the SNES will have an idea of what to expect here. Pick a futuristic craft and battle it out...
Thursday14th Jun 2007
Competition Trioncube Competition Winners
We announce the winners of our Trioncube competition, selected at random by our super computer shuffle routine.
To celebrate the launch of Trioncube on the DS we partnered up with Atari to give away 3 copies of the game to our members. We asked the question What is the name of the King in Trioncube? which of course was King Pluto. We powered up our...
Wednesday13th Jun 2007
News Resident Evil 4 Gore Fest Confirmed
Destructoid snags some proof that RE4 Wii Edition will indeed be the blood fest us mature gamers expected, despite being toned down in Japan.
There was rumours flying around the interweb over the past month or two that the western release of Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition would be toned down like its Japanese counterpart, a huge blow to fans of the...
News Wii: Your Personal Murder Training Device
American comedian Jack Thompson has done it again, apparently the Wii acts as a training device that might prepare us for committing an offence.
"Florida retailers are scheduled to sell a very violent video game called Manhunt 2 which will be available, remarkably, for “play” on the kids-friendly Nintendo Wii gaming platform. The Wii device does...
There's a fair whiff of a rumour, posted last week by fellow UKers, Wii-UK, its possible we'll see a hard drive from Nintendo as early as E3.
According to our friends GoNintendo, the latest episode of the IGN podcast hints rather strongly that Nintendo may be making some announcement regarding a hard drive attachment for Wii at this year's E3 games...
Wahhhhhh!
Ubi-doers have released another new video of Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 for Wii taken from their Ubi Day show a few weeks back.. "After invading the world of Rayman, the insane Rabbids have a new objective: THE INVASION OF PLANET EARTH! Setting their home base at a shopping mall, the Rabbids try to study human behavior and mimic everything...
News Dojo Talks Brawl Controls
Proof that the Wii controls won't work for everything, Nintendo opt for a 4 way control system on upcoming Super Smash Bros Brawl.
"The Nintendo Wii really is a versatile piece of hardware. I mean, when it comes to controllers, there are pretty much four different types. I guess I have no choice but implement them all! There’s no need to be...
Tuesday12th Jun 2007
Review Lode Runner (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
A lode of rubbish or not?
The timing could have been a bit better for this as the far superior Battle Lode Runner for the TurboGrafx became available on the Virtual Console only two months ago. Is there a reason to bother with the NES original when for just 100 more points you could be enjoying better graphics, music and a whole host of new gameplay...
Review Golden Axe II (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Not long after the malign reign of Death Adder has ended, another evil rises.
When I first clapped eyes on Golden Axe 2 as a lad I was over the moon. Being a massive fan of the original I simply could not wait to play this. Graphically, it looked even better than the original and promised to be the sequel I was waiting for. Sadly, it actually turned...
Monday11th Jun 2007
Feature Hardware Lookback: The Virtual Boy
Headache-inducing monstrosity or misunderstood classic? Whatever the answer, the Virtual Boy represents Nintendo's biggest cock-up. We investigate the history of this strange console.
‘Failure’ is not a word you’d usually associate with Nintendo. Sure, there have been some crushing disappointments in the company’s illustrious history – the...
News US VC Releases - 11th June - Sonic 2
ot a bad day for retro gamers in North America. Here's what you get: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - Sega Genesis - 800 Points Without a doubt the best Sonic game to date. Sega managed to top the original Sonic with this one. It's our personal belief that Sonic 2..
ot a bad day for retro gamers in North America. Here's what you get: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 -...
Review Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik) is searching for the Chaos Emeralds to fuel his new Death Egg engine.
Any gamer worth his or her salt will remember the day Sonic 2 was released. Cheekily dubbed 'Sonic Twos-Day' (it was released worldwide on a Tuesday, you see) it became a massive seller for Sega and cemented Sonic's position as one of the most popular...
Saturday9th Jun 2007
Review Balloon Fight (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Balloon Light
Before games like Metroid and The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo's NES console relied on simple arcade titles to keep itself afloat. Balloon Fight used an already-successful gameplay mechanic similar to that of William's Joust arcade release, and while it offers up some simple arcade enjoyment, the repetitive gameplay keeps it from lasting,...
Friday8th Jun 2007
Review Adventures of Lolo (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Run Lolo Run
Before HAL labs created our favourite pink puffball named Kirby there was a blue blob by the name of Lolo. In 1989 when Adventures of Lolo was first released it got modest attention due to the quality of the game but as a brand never really made it big. However Lolo has been known to surface as a bad guy in some of the Kirby games so...
The DS certainly isn't short of puzzle games. Does Namco Bandai's latest release have enough charm to stand out from the crowd and represent a worthwhile purchase?
Handheld consoles and puzzle games go hand in hand. Through the history of portable entertainment every major machine has played host to at least one truly ‘essential’ puzzler. The...
News Europe VC Releases - 8th June - Adventures of Lolo
Europe didn't quite make it to the 100 game mark this week. Today's releases take the EU library to the 99th game so next week might be a biggie. Still it's not all bad this week! Many hardened retro gamers will be delighted to hear that Adventures of Lolo is finally out. Lolo is a great example of the old NES top down puzzler, these sort of games were a dime a dozen but Lolo stood out as one of the best. It is well worth a look and comes highly recommended.
Many...
Competition Win A Copy Of Trioncube For DS
To celebrate today's European launch of Trioncube for Nintendo DS, we've teamed up with Atari to give away 3 copies of the game to members of the site.
"In Trioncube, the player takes the role of the captain on the mighty space ship Penko and embarks on a journey across eight planets into the depths of space to rescue the fair princess from the...
Thursday7th Jun 2007
News Australia to get TurboGrafx-16 games in July
bit of a turn up for the books this one. Our Austrailian counterparts have been restricted from downloading TurboGrafx-16 games since the start of the Virtual Console service seemingly because the console never made a debut in that region. It wasn't the..
bit of a turn up for the books this one. Our Austrailian counterparts have been restricted from...
Monday4th Jun 2007
Review Milon's Secret Castle (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
A musty old place
Milon’s Secret Castle is one of those games you’ve never heard of, but when you do finally acknowledge its presence you realize that it inexplicably has an enormous following. A minor classic in the Hudson library, Milon was originally published in 1986 to fairly lukewarm critical response. To be perfectly honest, time has...
News 4.7 Million Virtual Console Sales
Nintendo have announced that the Virtual Console service has already generated over 4.7 million sales, with Mario being the favourite.
"No one has more value in their back catalog than Nintendo. Huge numbers of gamers remember and love their favorite NES and Super NES games; the ability to buy and play those games on the Wii without having to hook...
You learn something new every day, it seems last month Google quietly released a special Wii UI for Google Reader.
"Google quietly launched Google Reader specifically designed for the Wii last night — the new interface even makes use of the buttons found on your Wiimote. On my initial digging, I cannot find a similar interface designed...
News Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition Receives Top Scores
Infamous Famitsu magazine in Japan has given almost perfect scores to the rehashed Resident Evil 4 for Wii.
"Of the 4 review scores given, two editors gave the game a 10/10. The other two were still lovin’ the Wii version enough to give it a 9/10. The reviewers said that even though the content is almost the same as the GameCube title, the...
News US VC Releases - 4th June - Zelda II
oday's Virtual Console update for North America is a bit lacking in the old WOW factor. Nintendo have made a big deal about Zelda II being the hundred game on the American VC so we will mention it first as by our reckoning it is actually the 97th! haha -..
oday's Virtual Console update for North America is a bit lacking in the old WOW factor...
Review Dead Moon (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
This side-scrolling shooter includes a total of six scenes spanning areas from Earth to the moon.
Those naughty aliens! At least this time they had the sense not to try and invade the planet Earth. They are just intent on wrecking the moon instead rather annoyingly! As a solo starfighter pilot it is your job to put an end to this intergalactic...
Saturday2nd Jun 2007
News Zelda II is the 100th Classic Game Added To Virtual Console
Here's a recent press release from Nintendo. It should be of interest to North American readers who are patiently waiting for Zelda II to be available in their region. Nintendo was saving it for the 100th game to be made available on the Virtual Console. How sweet! The bad news is they've decided Paper Mario will be the 250th game! (Tee hee, only joking!)
What is interesting is the most downloaded games figures. This really illustrates how the classic Nintendo franchises are still loved by the gaming community and perhaps those getting back into gaming with the Wii after a while. 4.7 million downloads to date! Nintendo must b...
Friday1st Jun 2007
Review World Sports Competition (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
Feeling sporty?
There won't be many gamers out there that remember this one most likely. World Sports Competition is a game based on the Olympic Games, but without the official license. As to be expected the games are represented as a series of mini-games which you and up to four other friends can take part in. All the usual Olympic events are...
Review ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Funky!
The original ToeJam & Earl was a quite a big hit for Sega at the time so it was a no-brainer than a sequel should be released. With the success of Sonic the Hedgehog it must have seemed like a logical step to reinvent ToeJam & Earl to be a 2D side-scrolling platform game as well. The exploration of an almost open-end world and long...
News Europe VC Releases - 1st June - Sega goodies
Much like last month Sega release there of their classic back catalogue on the Virtual Console in Europe. Gamers will be delighted to finally get their greasy mitts on Streets of Rage 2 finally, for many this is considered the holy grail of two player scrolling beat em ups. Kid Chameleon and Toejam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron are also up for grabs. Both are average examples of the platform genre unfortunately. Other Sega platformers such as Sonic and Ristar are much more accomplished.
Not to b...
