US VC Releases - 19th November - Wrecking Crew

The Wii's out a year today in the US, so to celebrate, have another Mario game! Wrecking Crew is one of the more unknown Mario games, frequently not even being mentioned in lists of his games. Despite this, the game has held up very well, and those who've played it agree that's it really fun. With 100 stages and a level editor it's more than worth the price.

by Marcel van Duyn Mon 19th Nov 2007

Nintendo also apparently found it a good idea to release another Sonic game today. Great, right? Well, normally we'd say yes, but as it's Sonic 3D Blast we're not so happy. Download at your own risk, as it's probably the worst Genesis Sonic game.

Finally today, you get the TurboGrafx-CD game that was supposed to come out in the US in October - Super Air Zonk. Fans of Air Zonk would expect great things from this CD sequel, but unfortunately, the only real improvement's in the music - There's actually a couple of downgrades!

To celebrate the Wii's anniversary, you get a game from all three "big" characters of the Virtual Console's major companies (Mario, Sonic, Bonk/Zonk!).

1
Kevin
Mon 19th Nov 2007

Well, at least I can play Wrecking Crew now. Are they ever going to release Vectorman? Its better than Sonic 3d Blast for god's sake!

2
__DonBon
Mon 19th Nov 2007

I have been waiting awhile for Wrecking Crew and Super Air Zonk. That just made my Monday even better.

3
jg233
Mon 19th Nov 2007

DON"T get 3D Blast! It is terrible!

4
Bass_X0
Mon 19th Nov 2007

The U.S is just playing catch up to Europe this week. We already got those three games a while ago.

5
mummydaddy
Mon 19th Nov 2007

hmmmm, seems like Nintendo are playing down the VC games in favour of having you go out and shell out for proper wii games.

6
Stuffgamer1
Mon 19th Nov 2007

I've been waiting for Wrecking Crew ever since Europe got it (way back on August 24th). About time we got it! It's one of my all-time favorite NES games!

7
Bass_X0
Mon 19th Nov 2007

i do hate how you can get stuck on some levels of wrecking crew with no way to get unstuck without suiciding.

8
Drake
Mon 19th Nov 2007

Remember, you can also press Select to just go back to the title screen - Then just press start again to restart that stage (The level counter will be on the last level you played).

9
Mon 19th Nov 2007

if nintendo were to release majora's mask, i would soil myself with joy...

10
SMBSS
Mon 19th Nov 2007

What? No Double Dribble this week?

11
__WarioFan63
Mon 19th Nov 2007

Geez, I had so much fun with 3D Blast, both on Genesis AND on Mega Collection, that I was shocked to see that its so hated...

12
Don
Mon 19th Nov 2007

Darn! I was hoping they would release Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley, and Yoshi's Safari for the VC to celebrate the release of the Wii Zapper!

13
Bass_X0
Mon 19th Nov 2007

I really don't think the Wiimote would work as a substitute NES Zapper. The premise may be the same - pointing at the screen and pressing a button but the actual mechanics behind the NES games are completely different. Now the wiimote as a substitute SNES mouse should work.

Also, why is there only one Bomberman game on the virtual console (two in Japan)? Hudson have released sequels to many of their other series yet has forgotten about Bomberman...

14
__retromaster
Mon 19th Nov 2007

Still no pro Wresslinnd or mega man. Oh well there is still wrecking crew.

15
alvieao
Mon 19th Nov 2007

Sonic 3D joins the list of games from Sonic Mega Collection to the Virtual Console... and joined by the lesser-known Wrecking Crew, which came out at the same time as Super Mario Bros..

16
__Steve2
Mon 19th Nov 2007

"I really don't think the Wiimote would work as a substitute NES Zapper. The premise may be the same - pointing at the screen and pressing a button but the actual mechanics behind the NES games are completely different."

Nonsense. That's like saying the Wii Remote can't work for NES games because it's wireless and the NES controller wasn't.

IIRC, the NES zapper simply recorded the color it was pointing at when the trigger was pressed. Certainly, the Wii remote can't do this. However, as with everything else on the VC, the NES zapper could easily be emulated. All the game needs to do is capture the screen color at the position the player is pointing the Wiimote and pass it into the virtual Zapper. Nintendo will probably also want to put an actual on-screen cursor into these games since we all know the wiimote's pointer is simulated.

It's certainly nothing that hasn't been done with emulators in the past.

17
StarSoldier1
Mon 19th Nov 2007

weak week.

18
__JediTrix2
Mon 19th Nov 2007

I bet the zaper games come out as WiiWare

19
__KruzeS
Mon 19th Nov 2007

I loved Sonic 3D. I'd just like to play the Saturn one for a change.

20
Adamant
Mon 19th Nov 2007

Weak wek? What? Super Air Zonk is awesome, and Wrecking Crew is pretty cool too. Dammit people, nothing pleases you?

I disagree with Sonic 3D Blast being the worst Mega Drive Sonic game - that honor has to go to Sonic Spinball. 3D Blast is a good number 2, though.

21
Mr_Nintendo21
Tue 20th Nov 2007

I agree with some other people on here. It's a weak week to a point. Sure those are 3 games that are most likely pretty good (I might download 2 of those in the future), but on the VC, they had an announcement posted up there for the one year anniversery, and acted like something big and amazing was comming, but these are minor games compared to what many people speculated. I even thought that for a one year anniversary there would be one big blockbuster game, instead of getting the "virtual cake", it's a "virtual slap in the face" considering what both VC's have gotten within the past week. Hopefully Nintendo will not give us something cheap come christmas time.