US VC Releases - 23rd June - Alex Kidd in Miracle World

Alex Kidd is indeed damn good

Also, first post, hurrah!

Very nice week! Alex Kidd is a game I've wanted ever since Master System's games where announced, it's a very fun game, I just hope it's still fun to play today.
And Gyrostarr looks like a great shooter, everyone wants it, but I'll wait some reviews before spending some Wii Points... I still need to finish R-Type and Blazing Lasers (though I don't believe I ever will )

Alex Kidd is okay. Not damn good.

I'm cleary biased since it was my first ever video game

I seem to recall an older Nintendo system called the 'Super Nintendo Entertainment System'. Do you guys suppose games for that system might also be released on the VC service some day?

Alex Kidd in Miracle Word is the game in the Alex Kidd series imo.

One is one of the best sms platform games ever. Alex Kidd in Mircale World also is one of the best Sms games ever imo. Hopefully there will be more great sms games making it to the vc like Zillion.

"Do you guys suppose games for that system might also be released on the VC service some day?"

God knows... I hope they put up Sonic 1 on the SMS soon. I'd download it as soon as it did.

@BAss XD & El cabarto

rofl

ontopic: Alex Kidd rocks !!!

I expect more Neo Geo titles before the summer is out. I think we will get King of Monsters and Neo Turf before SNK classics is released on 7/8/08. It seems like the summer of Neo Geo. I also expect Fatal Fury 2 and AOF 2 will follow shortly.
However, I really hope Sega Genesis games make their return soon:(

@ El cabarto
What is this Super Nintendo Entertaiment system you are reffering too? Does this system have any Zelda or Metriod titles? If so I may have to check out this system you speak so fondly of.

Going by Europe's releases, I assume Fatal Fury 2 will be our next Neo Geo game.

About time, too, that game is awesome.

um, another good week for some, and a bad week for others

An ok-ish week. Not the best but the likes of Alex Kidd saves this week from been generic. Should have also included Fatal Fury 2 to make up for the last month.

wow i officially hate VC

dissappointment after disappointment

hmmm about time another good wiiware title
comes out i still havent downloaded a wiiware
title yet looks like i get to choose from Gyrostarr
& Toki Tori niceeee

In other news, Marcel wins the award for being the most cheerful bringer of bad news in VC history.

Totally would Get Alex Kidd and Gyrostar. But of course, that isn't possible cause I dont have the space. Hear that nintendo, you could have gotten $12 off of me, but i dont have the space. Take a look at the logic in the situation and give us better storage!

I Agree with Hero10x

stinssd: Always stay positive I say, whining isn't going to do anything

it's a nice week, however I don't have any wii points I guess I'll be going out to get some more soon.

"wow i officially hate VC
dissappointment after disappointment"

No. you just have unrealistic high expectations and a very limited catalogue of what you would consider good. Alex Kidd is good. Samurai Shodown is good. Bio Miracle is good.

DDR, it IS possible. All you have to do is delete some stuff from your Wii. Don't blame Nintendo, blame your own laziness. You mustn't want those games very badly.

How is playing rock, paper, scissors over and over damn good? Its been a crappy half year for the VC so far.

Eh.

Now World Heroes 2 is added to the coming soon list. If you are not a Neo Geo fan you must wait it out.

there is a lot more to the game than just the boss fights...

Kevin? There's been more than 1 game in the series. Haven't played any of them, but I have this sneaking suspicion that you might want to check first.

Burning Fight is good because I'm pretty sure that was revealed on the ESRB list a long time ago. They're finally checking the ERSB list! And the last few weeks have been decent at least!

It's better than when we got no good games at ALL...

@Drake: Whining does plenty of things. Except with Nintendo.

Well, we're at least getting close to catching up to Europe. I expect fully to only have a single VC release next week and my best guess as to the game would be Fatal Fury 2.

@jogurt the yogurt
Do you happen to have an account at ipodtouchfans.com?
or is it just me! I swear I saw your name somewhere on there!

it just, its bad when we get this and japan is (probably) getting mario rpg tomorrow. its like, why cant we get some good games

we will. japan isn't necessarily much better off. and who knows - super mario rpg could come any week now. big name games tend to appear around a short period of time throughout the world.

@jogurt.

Honestly, i wouldn't mind getting those games, but I just spent 900 Wii Point on Samurai Shodown, and i dont have enough funds right now to buy a Wii Points Card.

I guess I am a bit lazy in not wanting to get rid of games. Its just really annoying to have to delete and move games onto the Flash Card and back to the HD. Oh well...maybe i WILL have to do all of that.

Dear god, stop whining already. If this is a bad week, what do you consider a good week?

they'd probably say whatever week super mario rpg is released in even if it gets released along with four 1-Star games. I'd like to live in a post SMRPG world to escape the whining.

@Adamant: A good week is when Nintendo actually releases something that I care about. Oh wow! Another Alex Kidd game? Yeah, let's release that instead of putting out one of the hundreds of SNES masterpieces that we've been neglecting for almost the entire year! And I'm not talking about SMRPG or Earthbound so please don't start your usual griping about people who anticipate those games.

@Bass: Even so, they'd still be screaming for either Earthbound, the entire Square SNES back catalog, possibly Mario All-Stars, and (as shown near the top of the thread) any popular game released on the SNES. I don't know if this is my SEGA kid mannerisms getting to me, but this is something that people need to grasp - if they get the green light, then they'll arrive when the time comes, and moping about it would only make it sound like the whole thing would take longer.

And everyone else, shut up and enjoy Alex Kidd

To hell with all this, give me Majora's Mask!

Also, I don't know why people are expecting Mario All-Stars any time soon. Nintendo's not going to release it for 800 Wii points considering NES Mario games continuously rank among the best-selling games on the VC individually.

I've been wanting to try Alex Kidd since it was first announced, so this is a good week to me. Now let's get some more Genesis games out!

Actually, scratch that. I want some more TG/TG-CD games out, we haven't had a new one in NA since February! It's almost July!

@Brad: Wasn't really aiming it at you.

This sucks, I want EarthBound and SMRPG and a Wii hard drive!!!

Well, I'm not probably going to buy anything this week on VC, but I can sure say this year's VC releases during summer are better than last year's most of the time. Looking back, we got Bloody Wolf, NES Tournament Golf Open (or whatever its name is), and World Sports Competition. I wouldn't say last year's releases are necessarily stellar considering many regard this Alex Kidd as awesome. But, alas, though I haven't been wishing for a certain game, I do hope Nintendo starts using a system to release games so people will stop whining about lack of games or too many.

Which one is probably worth my money more, Fantasy Zone or Alex Kidd?

All I want is Majora's Mask and I will never complain about the VC ever again...

Gyrostarr reminds me of a cross between Tempest 2000 and Wipeout. Might be fun. I would probably get Alex Kidd for nostalgia purposes.

Andrew, love the avatar. =w=

@Virus: "Which one is probably worth my money more, Fantasy Zone or Alex Kidd?"

Alex Kidd.

" Looking back, we got Bloody Wolf, NES Tournament Golf Open (or whatever its name is), and World Sports Competition."

Bloody Wolf and NES Open Tournament Golf are awesome, so that was no bad week.

Thanks, Eltigro. It's always nice to see a fellow fan of the Weez.

I definitely agree with the people saying that Nintendo has been neglecting the SNES lately. Super Mario Kart would feel pretty good right about now

This is an okay week.

A good week is 3 games, regardless of what they are. Granted, I haven't downloaded anything since Super Metroid came out but still, but my goal for the virtual console service was to have access to just about every game imaginable.

The more games they release a week, the better the week is.

Granted, I am waiting for Earthbound patiently... and may pick up ninja gaiden 2 when said earthbound drops, but until then, I wait on the sidelines watching and scowling at the sheer lack of number comparing last year to this.

You made it sound as if you'd scowl at the situation of Earthbound being a sole release for a future week and feel more content with five below-average titles crossing platforms from anything other than the SNES. Two games isn't bad though - just remember that quantity doesn't necessarily deter that they would all be quality titles.

Oh, no, not at all. But I want to be ABLE to have every game. I know that's a long shot but the more releases the week, the more likely this will come to pass.

Which, at this rate, means it shant.

That's not saying that if Earthbound is the only release in a week I won't gobble it up, but even if Mario RPG comes out and it's the only game, I'll still feel slighted. I just feel they're dragging their feet when it concerns the service, but hey, what do I know. I'm not in their market meetings.

I mean, I'm looking at the day when I can play things like Little Nemo or Rockin' Kats or Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout or little known tripe like that. Essentially, I just want more games to come out that I've owned so I could sell the hardware and have the software travel around with me.

I also hope they have a transfer service if the VC continues from the Wii to their next generation platform. But worries for the future.

If you keep expecting Earthbound to come out every week, and keep getting disapointed, I would just give up completely, I already downloaded Burning Fight, I've played the game before, I'm also excited that we got 3 Neo Geo games all together this month.

Good week for me.

Not quite what I was hoping for, but it 's definitely a solid week in comparison to what we usually get nowadays. I'll probably download Alex Kidd at some point.

I want to download Alex Kidd for sure....

Alex Kidd=good, but i'm not interested Neo Geo=okay, but ditto Gyrostarr? YES!! Now I am good for another week or two!! i dont need you, Ninty! I have 3rd party developers!! (I'm kidding, please make another zelda!)

The next Wii Zelda can't come soon enough, especially for me, as I found Twilight Princess incredibly disapointing. I definitely think it is the worst of the 3-D Zeldas.

45. Virus 23 Jun 2008, 23:16 GMT
Well, I'm not probably going to buy anything this week on VC, but I can sure say this year's VC releases during summer are better than last year's most of the time. Looking back, we got Bloody Wolf, NES Tournament Golf Open (or whatever its name is), and World Sports Competition. I wouldn't say last year's releases are necessarily stellar considering many regard this Alex Kidd as awesome. But, alas, though I haven't been wishing for a certain game, I do hope Nintendo starts using a system to release games so people will stop whining about lack of games or too many.

"You have got to be kidding! You couldn't be more wrong. Last year's releases were fantastic, but this year's games have been terrible."

@ Adamant and Mike
Hmm, it seems I was wrong. Well, I guess last summer I was depending on the VC for entertainment and since none of those games appealed to me, my anger was harsher than this year. Well, I might just keep my mouth shut. I don't think I can handle anymore corrections.

Very curious, neither of these appear to be Earthbound.

@Andrew: How about the Legend of Zelda Promotional disk for the GameCube that has the original two Zelda's from the NES and Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Four games, one GC disk. It'll play on your Wii, but you may need a GC memory card to save data, not sure how that works since I play mine on my GC.

They're a pretty wide range of costs on Ebay from $1.51 to Buy It Now for $99.95.

@Eltigro: Yeah, I have Zelda: Collector's Edition (which is great btw), but the version of Majora's Mask on the disc suffers from some graphical and sound problems which aren't on the original game cart. Plus, I like having all my Zeldas in downloadable form on the Wii.

@Andrew: Ah, I never played Majora much. Mainly just Ocarina and the Original quest.

It's funny, I own eight different Zelda games on four different consoles (originally on 6 different consoles), and I have never beaten a single one of them.

@Virus: Eh, I think we're getting good releases both now and then.

Also, have you actually played Bloody Wolf, or did you just outright disregard it due to not being familiar with the name? It's a very good game, and was well recieved on this site as well.

@Eltigro: Majora's Mask has SO much to offer, I think it is right up there with OoT in terms of quality. Its only downside is that it is way too short...

You haven't completed any of them?!!? Wow. Did you just lose interest or did you find them too difficult?

Lose interest mainly. I get bored with the original one. Adventures of Link I never really liked (although I gave it a second chance when I got my collectors disk). Link's Awakening I got to a particular dungeon and something didn't work like it should, item didn't work correctly or something, so I just kinda quit. Link to the Past I get to the part where he goes back and forth between the past and present and it just kind of stalls for me. Ocarina I got to Link to the adult stage and just stopped. Majora I just barely started and then stopped. Windwaker I got sidetracked by the photography/statue sidequest and never really got back into the main quest. Twilight Princess I got sidetracked by the bug collection quest and haven't gotten back into.

I could probably go back and pick up Windwaker and Twilight Princess and finish them as they are the two that I quit most recently. The others, it has been so long I would probably have to start over, and I just haven't had the time or inclination.

@Adamant
I was actually excited when it first came to the VC, but at the time I hadn't discovered this website (at least I don't think so). So I based my opinion off an unfavorable review on IGN. Yes, it's biased for me to do so, but alas, I did. I might just have to do some more research.

I would like to see three games a week for the VC though. Last summer had it definitely right in that respect.

I don't blame you for getting bored with the NES installments. You kind of have to be nostalgic to appreciate them (especially Adventure of Link). I always found Link to the Past to be overrated, but that's just me. OoT, however, never gets old to me. I've beaten it about two dozen times. I also love Wind Waker; the sailing didn't bother me like it did to most people. Twilight Princess was a letdown because it was way over-hyped as the "OoT killer". The developers tried so hard to copy OoT, they didn't give the game an identity of its own.

Even if Nintendo released Super Mario All Stars, it'd still sell because they removed Super Mario Bros : Lost Levels from Europe! That's the only reason I'd buy it not as I already downloaded the previous Mario games. And besides, a good week is this : Getting 3 games, 1 game being 4-5 stars, the others don't care because as long as you're getting one playable game that's decent, then odds are, you're in a good week. If you get Superman 64 in one week and that's your only title, that's a bad week.

A "good week?"

If it has to be just three a week, make sure they're all notable titles that someone out there really, really cares about or is respected as a classic. Who in the blazes wanted "Ice Hockey" or "Baseball" on the NES? "Altered Beast"? "China Warrior"? "Donkey Kong Jr. Math"? Need I go on? Who did they think actually enjoyed those games, other than some poor sucker who didn't know any better or didn't care to research them?

So if the best they can do is three a week, leave out the stuff that--let's be honest--nobody would call their favorite game ever until we got all the more highly-regarded (read: the stuff people WANT) classics.

@Andrew: The problem was that people wanted a relastic Zelda game and when Wind Waker was released many people were diassapointed. For me Wind Waker was the game that got me into the Zelda Franchise and I really enjoyed it. The reason why Nintendo made Twilight Princess the way they did though was because everybody wanted another Ocarina of Time and thats the way it ended up. Personally Twilight Princess is my favorite game in the Zelda series because I love the story and Midna was my favorite character. However, I think the game suffered also from lack of voice acting with all those cinematics.

You know its funny I completey forgot about VC releases and Wii Ware releases last week. I barely remembered for this week and that shows how much I care about the VC anymore. And once again nothing I wanted came out this week. This year for me has only been good because Harvest Moon got released. All I can do now is just wait.

I got Alex Kidd, which is great.

Otherwise, though, I'm pretty much gone playing Metal Gear Solid 4, which is making me wonder why I spent money on pretty much any other "next-gen" game I've gotten.

I for one wanted Ice Hockey and have also played more than Paper Mario for N64 (even though I finished that one).

"Who in the blazes wanted "Ice Hockey" or "Baseball" on the NES? "Altered Beast"? "China Warrior"? "Donkey Kong Jr. Math"? Need I go on?"

Its not that Nintendo thought people wanted those games, I'd suspect more that its just a case of those games being available to them so up they went.

"Who in the blazes wanted "Ice Hockey" or "Baseball" on the NES? "Altered Beast"? "China Warrior"? "Donkey Kong Jr. Math"? Need I go on?"

Dunno probably nostalgia freaks who played the games first time around, though i don't understand why anybody would want to play china warrior or DK Jr again though.

Lucky you. Japanese was more lucky, though:)

I am a proud nostalgia freak for Ice Hockey. As long as you have a friend to play against, it is well worth the 500 points!

To chip in on this, what I consider a "good week" is there being something that captures my interest (easy for me to say since the only VC console that I actually have a physical model of is the Genesis). Something that I've already played and enjoyed is a bonus IMO - only the rabid screamers (particularly for a lot of popular SNES games not released here yet) wouldn't dare to think outside the box.

@fordianslip: I understand your reasoning for wanting VC copies of every single game that you once owned, and since gaming systems don't hold the test of time as much as other media formats (particularly on the audio and video sides), I agree that it's hard to keep your childhood keepsakes alive. I'm in a similar boat with some of the games I owned as well, yet I doubt that Ranger X, Toy Story or even The Lion King would see the light of day on the Genesis side (again, reasons relating to licensing for 92% of the time). We just have to be greatful enough that we are given the chance to enjoy old-school gaming without the illegal evils that are ROMs and emulators

Well said Rexy.

I admit I give into playing ROMs. But then how else am I going to play Seiken Densetsu 3 in english? I still regularly buy Virtual Console titles though of games I like.

@Virus: " So I based my opinion off an unfavorable review on IGN."

Ow. IGN (and Gamespot and most other big review sites) and VC games do not mix well. I believe their main complaint was "ITS TO HARD BAWWW", which they usually say about all VC games. Believe me - Bloody Wolf is easily one of the best non-shmup Turbografx games out there. Give it a try.

@Cally: Ice Hockey kicks ass. I assume you've never played it, and just lumped it in with the other "name of sport" NES games due to it's name.

@Adamant: AMEN. I challenge anyone who doesn't like Ice Hockey to hand-to-hand combat! Or better yet, KOMBAT!!!

I admit I give into playing ROMs. But then how else am I going to play Seiken Densetsu 3 in english?

You have a point when it's material that would be unlikely to see the light of day in our home territories - I similarly had to suffer through ROM/Emulating just to see what Live A Live was like. ^^; But legal issues aside, I still feel more comfortable doing everything with a joypad rather than with a keyboard and any unpredictable nuances the software could provide.

Alex Kidd is pretty okay, but this is a boring week for me. I need a large dose of Super Mario Kart Right about now.

Ahh!!! oh well not my style of games this week... maybe next weekwe will see N64 or god forbid SNES...
@Rexy... Yay for ELINK!
SNES GAMESHOUT- SNES- Flashback./ SNES- Out of This World./
How many great games have yet to be released...
Nes- 700+ / Neogeo- 150+ / Super Nintendo- 100+ / Nintendo 64- 300+ / Sega Genesis- 100+ / Turbo graphix- 100+
So that's like 1500 games. If by miracle Nintendo decided to release just 2 games from any sytem every week until all games were released that would be.... like 15 years. Sounds like a Long wait.... now let's take away all the great titles from companies Nintendo is not going to work with (RARE). I only have one thing to say and that is.. Where's Conker!! =)
Nintendo has been out about 2yrs so that means we have 208 great games to choose from right?? SWEET!!!! only 13 more years to go.

Even so, remember like I said earlier - licencing issues would mean that not every game would ever see the light of day. I'm with you though - I want to play Conker's Bad Fur Day but I know that due to Rare's departure that's never going to happen. I know we've had their Donkey Kong titles though, but it's the only series Nintendo still has the rights to >.>

I am going to guess that the US will get King of Monsters or Neo Turf MAsters on Monday. Just a guess

I wish Nintendo would put out Mario Kart for the SNES. Its so hard to find Mario Kart Wii where I am located. Most stores in Delaware are not expecting to get MK until July/ August

@ Andrew Sorry I have to disagree, Zelda TP was not a letdown. It expanded the the world that OOT used. I was really happy with Zelda TP, its one of my favorite games.

Isn't Mario Kart 64 already out on the VC? If you want a Mario Kart fix then that could do you some good... or is there something specific about the SNES version that you particularly want to experience again?

Actually I like the GBA version which is similar to the SNES version. ALso I never got to play the SNES version that much. I would just like to try it again

@Adamant:

Perhaps I don't have a taste for most old sports games, or just didn't have the patience. (I thought Baseball Stars 2 was great fun, though, but that's mostly it) I also played Blades of Steel back in the day . . . which I guess lots of people also think is great. Which is to say, my severe mistake, apparently, in suggesting that no one cares about that.

"Isn't Mario Kart 64 already out on the VC? If you want a Mario Kart fix then that could do you some good... or is there something specific about the SNES version that you particularly want to experience again?"

I never understood the hate-ons for certain Mario Karts, but I've heard an awful lot of fans speak of a real soft spot for the original, and most fans insist that it's better than MK64 (even the review on this site, I think).

"licencing issues would mean that not every game would ever see the light of day"

True, but I really don't think there are too terribly many such issues, and I thought I remembered SMRPG having "issues with Square," it's co-developer. Well . . . they've clearly been resolved, no? I suspect a lot of companies (like Hudson) are just happy to get some bucks out of old stuff. Rare is now owned by Microsoft, I think, so of course they can't support a competing console, but beyond that, high consumer demand has a way of making things happen. (Shinji Mikami: "If Resident Evil 4 comes out for any other system, I will cut my head off" . . . I wonder where his head is right now . . .)

Twilight Princes was the best Zelda, IMO. However, it had some silly parts that took forever to get through--such as escorting the wagon through the plains, fighting off beasts while the wagon just circles round and round for no reason. There were a few places where you had to dust the cobwebs off every stone in a room in order to find out what on earth you're supposed to tug or push to get to the next room (I'm looking at you, final stage before the castle!).

But, TP had one of the most exciting fight scenes I've ever played in a game, where you have to rescue the kid from the band of orcs. I spent so much time attacking the underlings before I realized all I had to do was focus on knocking the leader's armor off. But, what fun trying to survive fighting the posse--I think I lasted 10 minutes at one point before I realized that the orcs re-appeared from nothing! What a game!

@Cally: Well, it is known that corporations like Square, Rare, Hudson and the like seem supportive of the VC to some degree, yet I was more thinking of the case of some games struggling to receive the green light from the licence holder (Axelay in Europe, anyone?), not to mention some corporations (e.g. Psygnosis) completely vanishing since the console days, or rather becoming a part of a rival team (like I said with Psygnosis now being Sony's Liverpool branch). It's those kind of complexities that get us thinking about the whole situation.

I don't understand the hate-ons for Mario Kart either - I just go with the flow concerning the lot, acknowleding that it without a doubt is the best Mario multiplayer franchise out there. I never would have thought there'd be a huge following for the SNES release in comparison to the N64 one, but then again it DID start the trend after all

Ah, Alex Kidd in miracle world. I posted my very first comment on this site on that review. Good times, goooood times.