Nintendo of Europe's planned games for today seemed almost set in stone since last week, but over the past few days we suddenly got a handful of extra games to complement update, bringing the total amount of new things this week up to seven. Still not quite as much as elsewhere, but at least they're inching their way ever closer!
By far the biggest deal this time is the single new Virtual Console release. Sonic & Knuckles works just the way it did originally. It can be played on its own, offering you more great 16-bit Sonic gameplay, but it can also be combined with Sonic the Hedgehog 1,2 or 3, if you've downloaded any of them, offering a whole bunch of extra content and bonuses. By far the most substantial is combining it with 3, but any Sonic fan won't want to miss the things the other two combinations offer up either. It took a long time for this to finally come out, but now it's finally here, and with full functionality! We'll have a review of it soon.
WiiWare brings us two games previously already released in North America. Konami's Frogger Returns might not involve vampires and whips, but is nonetheless also quite faithful to the old game it tries to be an upgrade of. It's got pretty much the same gameplay of the original arcade game - Make your way past traffic and numerous other obstacles to rescue your frog buddies at the top of the screen. But that's not all this time - There's several new levels and multiplayer modes to keep you entertained as well. We thought it was quite decent, and it only costs 500 Wii Points, so why not check it out?
It was a bit of a risky move bringing Overturn: Mecha Wars outside of Japan, but it was well worth the effort. As the title gives away completely, you take control of a large combat robot, and your goal is quite simply to beat other ones in multiple large arenas. Pretty simple (and fun), but the big draw here is the online multiplayer option. Not often seen in WiiWare titles, but very welcome for this particular one! If you're in the mood for some mecha-based combat, the game will not disappoint, so consider it well if you've got 800 Wii Points to spend.
DSiWare gets four new games this week, but half of that is comprised of the return of Electroplankton titles. In this case, it's Rec-Rec and Lumiloop. As before, which installment you'll like best is completely based on your own preferences, but you can read these two reviews to get an idea of what these two are about. Each costs 200 DSi Points.
Another not terribly interesting release is Sudoku 4Pockets. The umpteenth Sudoku game on DSiWare, you should know what these are about by now. As you can probably imagine, this particular one doesn't really stand out in any way or form, and so gets a rather appropriate score from us. It costs 500 DSi Points.
What might be interesting, however, is Let's Golf. A port of a PSP and iPhone game by Gameloft, it's a cutesy golf game which doesn't look particularly special. It doesn't look bad either though, so maybe it will be a nice alternative to the already quite good Nintendo Touch Golf? Like all Gameloft games (Well, except one), it costs 800 DSi Points. We'll review it soon.
There are no Virtual Console games planned for next week yet. Let's hope this ends well!
Comments 42
Good news for Sonic fans!
Um, there's a mistake. It says that all Gameloft games are 800. I don't know about in Europe, but Castle of Magic is 500.
Nothing for me this week. I really need a demo for Overturn: Mecha Wars because it looks like it could be boring pretty quick. I'm not sure about the Frogger game either. From what I have read, I've got a feeling that the controls are really awkward.
Hope we get Sonic & Knuckles next week. :3
Mecha Wars! Excellent, been dying to have a go at that. I can fall off my balance board in a whole new way, wooh!
S&K makes this the best VC update in quite some time
Today was a good day, as far as Nintendo ware releases.
If Sonic & Knuckles doesn't come to North America this Monday, Europe will finally have a game to brag about to us.
Nooooo!!!! Not more elecktroplkton =( Plus I'm not much of a fan of golf and so I'll give that a miss Not a good week for me =(
I hope that S&K comes this monday. I have 800 pts reserved just for it
one heck of a good week
Hopefully Monday we'll see Sonic.
@Xkhaoz: Ok, you got me there!
Hmm... damn it where's my Bit Trip Void and Blaster Master OverDrive!
Uh, Sonic 1? How did S&K combine with that?
@ Chunky Droid: It made a version of the Blue Sphere Minigame from Sonic 3/S&K. There's a lot more variety in it.
Love how they implemented the Lockon technology
Why was it a risky move to make Overturn available elsewhere from japan?
You need to review "Sonic & Knuckles" and "Sonic 3 & Knuckles" seperately. S3 and S&K by themselves are great 8/10 or 9/10 games, but when you lock them together to create what Sonic 3 was originally supposed to be, it's a masterpiece that deserves a rare 10/10.
Europe's update is making me wanna pop in Sonic Mega Collection into my Wii. :3
Sonic 3 & Knuckles is more than just DLC. It's more like a highly enhanced compilation of the two games. It combines the levels of both games, allowing you to play the whole set with features that were in only one of the original games (all the playable characters, save system, etc.), plus it adds a big extra feature that wasn't in either of the original games.
i wonder if the overturn it will be boring? i have hesitation a bit.
i'm fifty fifty.
Thanks TwilightV!
I agree with Bulba, S3&K is a straight 10/10 game. Huge adventure, 14 Emeralds to collect and the almighty Hyper Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, and Super Tails to blast around as, kicking ungodly amounts of ass. And lots of extra content like remixed (and considerably harder) bosses when playing as Knuckles, and alternate routes through levels that weren't possible in Sonic 3 alone.
Sonic 2 Featuring Knuckles is just as brilliant as Sonic 2 originally was, except now you get to climb around stuff and find extra bonuses, which is cool if not revolutionary - there's rarely much reason to climb things that you couldn't get up originally with a good burst of speed, but that's understandable considering S2 wasn't originally designed to cater for the echidna. And it's still fun regardless finding new ways to get across the zones.
As for Blue Sphere (Sonic 1 locked on), if you like S3/&K's Emerald stages, then hundreds of new levels of it can only be a good thing. And later levels get really, really challenging. A very welcome bonus.
With no planned VC titles next week, we will need to be patient for S.M.K! I hope we get it soon. I'm downloading Sonic & Knuckles later...
not bad for Wii, but still bad for DSi... nothing new, nothing original.
If I recall correctly Sonic 3 was originally released with a number of zones missing to meet the release deadline, but evidence of the cut was for some reason left behind. Flying Battery, Sandopolis and Mushroom Valley all appeared in the Sonic 3 level select screen but were only "accessible" (in a Sonic 2 Hidden Palace garbled graphics kinda way) with a Game Genie or Pro Action Replay. With that in mind you could say Sonic 3 locked on to S&K is the true Sonic 3.
I think those Electroplankton games are annoying. They should have made them in one game for 800 points...
@Ezekiel: Possibly because it's not that popular a genre outside of Japan (the Wii certainly isn't overflowing with them) and I imagine the presence of online requires a bit of investment on the part of the publisher which would necessarily increase the risk.
I do hope people will support the game because it's pretty well done and outside of a nameless budget release I cannot think of another robot fighting game on the Wii - unless you count Godzilla Unleashed...
For S&K, does the "lock-on" work with having the games on the SD card or does it rely on them being in main memory?
mario kart???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Super Mario Kart! Release it now!
Sonic & Knuckles! I'll be downloading that one for sure!
I've had Overturn for a bit now, and I like it. The cusomization is good with a new add-on when you defeat a boss. The online is really great but lacking in players. Which is my only complaint.
Sonic and Knuckles makes me forgive them for a lacking DSiWare release this week, because it has lock-on features!
I love sonic but I wouldve much rather had Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth. Please say its coming out next week. And dark void zero!
I hope it comes next week on the vc.
Overturn, Frogger, Sonic and Knuckles and even Rec Rec = insta-downloads....mad week for me, mad!
What the....!!!!
Where is Castlevania Rebirth?
Where is Blaster Master Overdrive?
Where is Dark Void Zero for the DSi?
The only.. ONLY.. reason for Nintendo NOT to release these games is cuz they want more money for Excite bike here in EU,
Only one Virtual Console game again! At least better than no game at all (like previous PAL releases). It's a shame that Nintendo is mostly relying on WiiWare nowadays and ignoring the potential of Virtual Console.
No game for me again this weekn! Sonic & Knuckles is a great game (even in the mediocre 50 Hz version you get on a PAL Wii), but I already own the Ultimate Megadrive Collection which is one of the best videogaming deals ever (13 GBP for thirty Megadrive games vs. 8 GBP for a Sonic game on Virtual Console).
When does Europe finally get Super Mario Kart? I still have 3000 unused Nintendo points I bought over three months ago awaiting new Virtual Console highlights.
Yeah lets wait another three weeks then we might get Super Mario Kart, or either that the Hanabi event in September.
Where. Is. MARIO KART.
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