Nintendo has added three more games to Switch Online retro libraries today. There are two SNES games and one NES title.
These games include Fighter's History (1994, Data East Corporation), Kirby's Avalanche (1995, HAL, Banpresto, Compile) and Daiva Story 6: Imperial of Nirsartia (1986, Toshiba Emi) Here's a look:
Japan's Switch Online service has received the Super Famicom remake of Kirby's Star Stacker (1998), Fighter's History and also Daiva Story 6. See them in action below:
Will you be checking any of these games out? Tell us in the comments.
Further reading:
Comments 127
Why do they run this service the way they do…
Kirby's Avalanche. That's actually kinda surprising, considering getting Super Puyo Tsu on the SNES service when it first launched.
I ain’t mad at these at all.
@Goat_FromBOTW My thoughts exactly.
I love a good Nintendo puzzler. Bring it on!
With Japan getting Kirby's Super Star Stacker (Japan exclusive game) and outside Japan getting Kirby's Avalanche (never released in Japan) NSO now has all the NES, SNES and N64 Kirby games.
Hey I'm down for some Kirby's Avalanche! Star Stacker, too. But I was also hoping they'd finally get Fire Emblem Thracia 776 on the Japanese SFC app.
@Liam Doolan
Kirby Avalanche and Kirby Star Stacker are not the same games.
Great more Puyo Puyo, this is like what the 100th times already but Fighter's History is a good choice. I rather prefer that Kirby Super Stacker over Avalanche.
I mean, didn't think we'd get Kirby's Avalanche with the SNES port of Puyo Puyo 2 already there so that's pretty neat but do wish the Western service also got Kirby Super Star Stacker, especially since a full English translation isn't 100% needed to enjoy it.
Puyo Puyo Kirby has my attention, also, I'm kinda curious Daiva since I never heard of it. Like others, I'm surprised Kirby's Avalanche is showing up because we have Super Puyo Puyo 2 already on the service.
“Kirbys avalanche” oooo😲
Appreciate that they’re releasing a Japanese title. It makes the collection feel diversified.
Why does Fighter History has many assets of Strret Fighter 2? Even the voice of “Round 1, Fight!” Is the same … and the life bars.
@YoshiF2 My first thought was "this looks like a bootleg of Street Fighter".
Never heard of any of these 3 titles but hey more games!
@Arkay @YoshiF2 Apparently Capcom had the same thoughts.
From Wikipedia...
"At the time of the game's release, Capcom U.S.A. sued Data East Corp. over Fighter's History due to what Capcom U.S.A. felt were infringements on its Street Fighter II property. Capcom also filed similar claims against Data East in Japan. Data East Corp.'s largest objection in court was that their 1984 arcade game Karate Champ was the true originator of the competitive fighting game genre, which predated the original Street Fighter by three years Judge Orrick set an October 31, 1994 trial date, stating that he could not deny "the strong evidence that it set out to copy Street Fighter's success", noting similarities such as a "Chun-Li clone" (referring to Feilin) and several comparable special moves. However, Capcom U.S.A. lost the case on grounds that the copied elements were scenes a faire and thus excluded from copyright."
Kirby Avalanche is a nice addition. I've always liked the puyo puyo clones.
Nothing I'm personally interested in, but hopefully some people will enjoy these. I'm just waiting for gameboy to come to NSO (fingers crossed). NSO cloud save saved me a lot of pain recently so I'm pretty happy with NSO right now regardless.
It's ridiculous how they only seem to add games every three to six months. The Nes and Snes library of games is quite large and that's the best they can do in all that time. Not to mention the fact that this is still just a glorified rental service. Who misses VC? I sure do. You could actually own the games.
@Truegamer79 You don't technically own it when you buy it digitally.
@GrailUK
Maybe not but i have had digital VC games on my Wii since launch and they are still there on my SD card and they still work. That's close enough to owning them.
I don’t like the Neo Geo version of Fighting History. So I probably won’t like the SNES version of it.
Kirby's Star Stacker was finally added!
...In Japan only, while the rest of us get Kirby's Mean Bean Machine.
I'm just going to get the Japanese app already...
@SuperCharr At least you can buy the games you want and play them whenever (post console lifespan etc.)
Still waiting for Capcom to expand the SNES game library with Final Fight 2 and Fight Fight 3.
@GrailUK yeah plus on wii even if you somehow delete them from your wii SD card previously downloaded games are still available to re-download. Even after a decade off the market. That's pretty much owning them.
Update the graphic filter options please.
I'm really excited for Fighter's history, mainly due to its history. The two Kirby games are cool, but that's the one I'm most interested in.
Since I've bought an Xbox Series S, I'm catching up on games like Elden Ring and Psychonauts 2 and haven't touched my Switch in a while.
These games are fine. But I'm really surprised we haven't got The Mysterious Murasame Castle on the service yet. They sold an English version on the 3DS/Wii U eShop. Seems like a no-brainer first party inclusion.
BIG TORNADO!
Back in the days, we had Fighter’s History in one of our college cafeterias. My friends and I often randomly quoted the voices and the announcer, who quickly became our favorite due to how he seems to be genuinely enthused when a character wins a round and is supremely disappointed when your character loses (in single player).
@NintendoBMA I rather prefer they release a Final Fight Collection with all 16 games for Switch and PC instead:
Mario rpg when?
Just bring back the Virtual Console service Nintendo.
introducing our august lineup: tetris (nintendo), tetris (mega drive), tetris (unlicensed)
Enjoy!
@Liam_Doolan @GrailUK @Grumblevolcano So...uh??? Daiva is MIA! It literally wasn't added in the update lol. 😂
Edit: Nope definitely not added here in North America. 😑
2nd Edit: Okay I had to delete and reinstall the NES app to get the new game to show up. 😚
A puyo puyo rip off and a street fighter 2 rip off....
And Daiva Story 6: Imperial of Nirsartia is borderline unplayable.
Korby's Avalanche is by far the best Puyo Puyo game, in my opinion. Great music, solid graphics, funny voice samples. 👍
I'd never heard of Daiva Story 6: Imperial of Nirsartia, or Fighter's History prior to this article. Having said that, I'll definitely be giving Fighter's History a try, and of course Kirby's Avalanche as well.
@YoshiFlutterJump The Japanese apps are pretty cool. Once you download the Virtual Consoles you can go ahead and delete you Japanese profiles. (Otherwise you will be getting a ton of Japanese news letters.)
The only console that's an issue is the N64 because it's hard to tell apart from the American app. Luckily with folders you just group them together.
As fas as classic Puyo Puyo goes, now we have Super Puyo Puyo Tsuu, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Kirby's Avalanche, Puyo Puyo on the Japanese Mega Drive app, as well as the SEGA AGES versions of Puyo Puyo and Puyo Puyo Tsuu.
I've always wondered why they never release Kirby's Avalanche in Japan and Kirby's Super Star Stacker in the west.
@Serpenterror This could become good set of games for Capcom Fighting Collection 2, with majority focused on the Final Fight series. Throwing in Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max, (especially with Maki being a playable character in this version) would make this package very enticing.
@thinkhector the best way to tell the N64 apps apart is in the name. The western one says "Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online" (with a dash in the middle, like the other apps) while the Japanese one says "NINTENDO 64 Nintendo Switch Online" (no dash and the console name is in English and capital letters).
Where is my DuckTales >:/
Ummmm..ok. I guess I'll try these out 🤷♂️
Mostly a bunch of games that you’ve never heard of & you’ll play for less than 5 minutes and never play again.
Not the best games, but certainly not the worst they've added...
@masterLEON I was hearing Baked Potato.😅
...Still waiting for Super Mario RPG ...and GBA games. I still have the Wii U for that, but it sure would be nice to have everything in one place ...especially with Nintendo continuing to burn down their legacy just to save a few pennies on server costs.
Fighters History is actually a really good fighter and a surprising welcome addition.
Star stacker time!!
I didn’t know Kirby Puyo was a thing!
And that Daiva Story game plays like an 8bit version of No Man’s Sky.
I love these Thursday night surprises. 😄
Just throw 5hit on a wall and hope it sticks 😄
Still waiting for Battle City.
needs more square classics and of course the 1st earthworm jim but yeah terrible choices as usual
Bring back Virtual Console!
@dustinprewitt You do realize both this and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine ARE Puyo Puyo? The game was modified on SNES and Genesis because the devs didn't think the original aesthetics would be accepted by the North American and European markets. Same dev so NOT a ripoff lol. 😂
@TowaHerschel7 a rip off is a rip off is a rip off. Same game, different skins.
And I never did realize how shamelessly fighters edge ripped off street fighter 2 until I played it for myself. It's a wonder how data east survived copyright infringement.
Try raising your standards, kid. It might feel more disappointing than not, but in the end, you'll enjoy and appreciate quality more.
@Moistnado ikr. I'd gladly buy some of my Wii & WiiU VC games again with online play added.
Meh. If its going to be such mediocre releases then why not release more at a time?
Okay, but when are the GB and GBA games dropping, Nintendo!?
@dustinprewitt A ripoff is called a ripoff because it copies work of another IP. That isn't applicable if both games are made by the same company as they aren't ripping their own selves off lol. 😹
It's not what you're saying is wrong persey, but I just wanted to clarify what the definition of ripoff is when talking about IP.
@YoshiFlutterJump in order to download the Japanese app you'll need to make a Japanese eshop account.
I just want the turtles game on there. But with the collection coming out, I can't see it happening.
@Moonlessky square enix characters are in super mario rpg. They would have to negotiate with square enix.
KIRBY'S AVALANCHE?! WELL I KNOW WHAT I'M PLAYING ON MY ROAD TRIP TODAY WAHOO!
@ValZ Yeah, that seems unnecessary with Tsu already being there.
@SwagaliciousJohnson When the Switch 2 releases
The SNES port of Fighter's History seems somewhat pointless when you can buy and play the arcade version (Johnny Turbo's Arcade: Fighter's History) on the Switch for $2.00.
That's great! More games is always good and Kirby's Avalanche is a great game
@YoshiF2 Data East was sued by Capcom over Fighter’s History, back in the day. The court ruled in Data East’s favor, concluding that no copyright infringement occurred. That’s why
@solarwolf07 I gotchu
https://youtu.be/typ2Q7-flqI
@dustinprewitt Wow condescending much? 😠
More games from an already solid collection can only be a good thing...........or so you would think.
Fight Fever on the NeoGeo is the most blatant rip-off of Street Fighter II. Fighters History may be infamous of going to court for being similar to Street Fighter II but Fight Fever flew under the radar for doing so. Check out this image
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/neo/562903-fight-fever/images/210
@zbinks Not I’m the UK you can’t. We didn’t get Fighters History as part of the Johnny Turbo’s Arcade range.
Idk why I get so flabbergasted every time I see these, it’s the same thing every time!
@dustinprewitt
“a rip off is a rip off is a rip off. Same game, different skins.”
Do you really think that Sega would have allowed Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine to be allowed on the Super Nintendo back then?
No. They would not. So they had to change the skin for the Super Nintendo version to feature a Nintendo owned character.
@HammerGalladeBro America didn’t get Puyo Puyo so no need to release Kirby’s Avalanche in Japan because it’s just an Americanisation of Puyo Puyo.
And Kirby’s Star Stacker came out late in the Super Famicom’s life in 1997 that the Nintendo 64 had already been released so no point bringing it to America as it just wouldn’t have sold.
People should be aware that Kirby's Avalanche as a game in terms of gameplay is entirely inferior to Puyo Puyo 2, which is already on the service.
@Snatcher I mean at least we got a solid second party game with Kirby's Avalanche. Even if it's Puyo Puyo, it still looks nicer than Mean Bean Machine, visually at least. 😉
@johnvboy It's a bit tame in here...early days though I suppose. I never knew about Kirby's Avalanche, an obvious reskin of Super Puyo Puyo which was a great laugh.
@masterLEON not to mention Karnov making a nice fun cameo!
@OorWullie "Apparently Capcom had the same thoughts.
From Wikipedia...
"At the time of the game's release, Capcom U.S.A. sued Data East Corp. over Fighter's History due to what Capcom U.S.A. felt were infringements on its Street Fighter II property..."
I bought every Data East Johnny Turbo's Arcade game on Switch...except for Fighter's History. Even at $2 bucks I would feel swindled.
@RobotReptile I disagree. I call it sheer laziness if it’s not localized. It’s hard to enjoy a game one can’t understand (case in point the other Japanese games in the NA Switch Online service).
Does anyone have any prior experience playing Daiva?
I appreciate originals over dolled-up localisations, but we already got the 16 bit Puyo Puyo on SMD, so hey. And Daiva Story 6 looks like yet another Japanese game getting an official overseas (if not necessarily translated😆) release at loooong looooong laaaaast. Plus an actual Kirby puzzler in the Japanese app!
@ValZ well, that was Tsu. This one is the previous Super entry but in its official Kirby-shaped form the west saw way back when.
Well at least we got one game that anyone has actually heard about before
@Serpenterror I'd definitely be down for a Final Fight collection!
Yes, Kirby's Avalanche! I prefer it over Mean Bean Machine because the music, visuals and characters are better to me.
Nice, something to hold me over until next week!
Cool game rentals.
Uh, a Puyo-Puyo reskin? The NES shooter looks interesting at least.
I always found it odd that Capcom chose to sue Data East for Fighter's History. If anything, World Heroes had more similarities to Street Fighter than Fighter's History did.
Anyway, it's not a bad game but goes without saying Dynamite (which never got a SNES port) is superior.
(Sees Kirby Puyo, straps back in)
Way to feed the Puyo addiction, Nintendo. Kind of surprising given that the SNES already has the Japanese version, but let's go
@Magrane BA-LOOOOON! Lol!
@Mrkittyhead That is also correct 🤣 I also like Mizoguchi’s “A REAL FIGHT!” and “HIP-YAH! HIP-YAH! HIP-YAH! HIP-YAH! HIP-YAH!” (x infinity)
@TowaHerschel7 your right, at least.
This whole region lock thing needs to stop. I loved the virtual console on wii and wii u but one thing I was pissed about is the region locked games. Why? A Japanese exclusive should not be only in Japan. That goes for vice versa.
USA and Europe exclusives should not be exclusive to them regions.
Maybe Daiva is one of those playable Japanese games.
But it's one of those games that, even as a huge Famicom fan, I don't remember anything about it. Like, maybe I played it for a few minutes at some point. But not enough to even remember.
Still, literally the only thing I know about it is that it's called Daiva Story 6 because they made six other games on six other concurrent Japanese consoles/computers.
Not sure how great the original Fighter's History is (I watch a streamer who loves the sequel Fighter's History Dynamite for the NeoGeo), other than its place in history as the game Capcom tried to sue and lost.
@solarwolf07 I know! Why does the "Disney Afternoon Collection" exist on other console but NOT Nintendo Switch??
Well those are all horrible lol.
@dustinprewitt Kirby's Avalanche is a not a ripoff. It's a real Puyo Puyo, just with a different character. Because something somehow cuter than Kirby was deemed not viable for the attitude-heavy American market of the '90s.
Fighter's History is a legally-distinct clone of Street Fighter II. It's most famous thing is that Capcom tried to sue the makers of it, and Capcom lost.
Haven't been many things to complain about with Switch but the way Nintendo handles the NES, SNES and N64 releases is just pathetic.
Not the most exciting update
@HoodedNath Yeah I just saw the post earlier on the site, a lot of the third parties that released some of the classic games on the NES and SNES want that money for themselves, hence all these collections coming out by them.
@YoshiF2
Capcom actually sued Data East for that game back in the day. I remember reading about it in a magazine (maybe EGM - it's been a while).
@zbinks True if you don't had friends otherwise the NSO version is the only way you could play online against a friend.
Why not both? You can have the subscription based service of games and you can allow non subscribers to purchase games VC style. I don’t see much incentive since I don’t play online to pay $50 a year to access these games only part of the time. Paying just for the games I want and it would be nice if our past vc purchases were honored and we could just redownload them on and on continuing from one gen to the next.
@TowaHerschel7 Eek. A bit of clunk starting to creep in the service. I think we need some more stability!
They always surprise me with these SNES games. I keep thinking they’re done and then BOOM, new Kirby game I’ve never even heard of. Love it.
Why doesn't the west deserve Star Stacker?
Looks like these titles are knockoffs titled “Street Brawler” for Street Fighter, “Dr. Machino’s Angry Legume Contraption” for Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, and the last one, I dunno, looks pretty cool and decent. No knockoffs I can think of.
I've been playing Daiva for the past two hours and it's a shockingly legit game (especially shocking in the context of everyone making fun of it on Twitter).
It's kinda impenetrable at first because of the language barrier and the lack of an instruction booklet, but it's pretty straightforward once you know what's what. It's a surprisingly non-linear, open-ended, and even chill experience, weirdly modern in its pacing and structure. You can choose the order you tackle the levels in, you can partake in grid-based strategy space battles or drop down into planets for side-scrolling shooting, you can build an army as you finish levels... I mean, it's way simpler than you're probably picturing from that previous sentence, but it works.
I'm not totally sold on the moment-to-moment shooting gameplay — I mean, Moon Patrol from several years before has a similar vibe in some respects, and that has a much tighter, better-realized game feel — but what's here isn't bad, even if it's far from shmup royalty. You kind of sense the game should have included power-ups to spice things up instead of just leaving you stuck with a pea-shooter. And some of the enemy patterns and placements are weirdly choreographed and repetitive, but never soul-crushingly so. The open, laid-back nature of the game makes up for many of its less-inspiring aspects.
I'd recommend reading through this Gamefaq to offset the lack of a manual: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/578336-daiva-story-6-imperial-of-nirsartia/faqs/42309. You can skip the level-by-level walkthrough if you think that's cheating and just read the basics at the beginning. (That's what the manual probably explains, assuming it exists in Japanese.)
Also, don't feel bad about using save states after you finish a planet. You're supposed to go back to your home base to pick up more ships (for the apparently optional space battles) and get your password after each level, and you should do that for the ships but not for those Japanese passwords. Just save state and move on.
@Beaucine
thanks for the insight. I just started to play it yesterday and I was wondering what lies ahead of me. Now I'm pretty excited tbh.
I love the game's "mood". Its kinda unique.
@dustinprewitt you can play Daiva Story 6: Imperial of Nirsartia
on 1player where the password is do not input any password just press end and the game starting up
@dustinprewitt but it was some ***** games this time lmao its better with the stabilizer update hahaha
0 points honestly whats the point of adding games tjat no one Will play
@Beaucine Appreciate the time you took to try this game to dispell all the jump gun Twitter hot takes.
@Itakiteacher @Austrian
I just finished it this morning and I can confidently say it's a really neat game. I had the same "what the heck is this" reaction as everyone else when I first heard of it, but I think it's worth trying out.
Like I said before, the game feel isn't quite there. The way your mech just slides across the level looks weird and if you stay in a corner of the screen many enemies will just fly over and avoid you. In the easier levels, it's like a moonwalking simulator, as you safely auto-scroll to the boss and watch the 8-bit scenery move by.
But, provided you don't mind the mech-in-low-gravity logic of the controls and physics, I do think the shooting gameplay ends up being responsive and twitchy, and the harder levels are very fun. There is a measure of strategy, too, in when you decide to have your three items drop down into the level. (You want your health pickup right before the boss, and the missiles and power bomb wherever you're having trouble.)
The space battle mode (or space chess) I never really understood. (You enter it by intercepting an enemy ship rather than a planet.) As far as I can make out, you have ships of varying strength and range, and you're supposed to place them across the board in an optimal way. But without a manual or English text, I was pretty much in the dark. They were still fun in their random trial-and-error sort of way, though, and you can speed through the turns, so the battles are quick (and, again, optional).
Besides that, the game is relatively forgiving and devoid of Nintendo-hard unreasonableness. Granted I played on the easiest difficulty setting, but I didn't run into many cheap deaths or how-are-you-supposed-to-avoid-that annoyances. Most challenges can be cleared by just planning your route and doing crowd control with incoming enemies. And the open-ended nature of the game means you can just try a different level or planet if you're frustrated with the one you're in. (Flying around the planet system is the jankiest part of the game, but also the most stress-free, since it's just a glorified level select screen. I do like the way you have to effectively find the planet among the stars, like you're actually travelling through space.)
There's a lot of color-swapping and repeated textures and enemy types, as in most NES games, but even within these tech constraints and across over a dozen levels, I think Daiva Story still manages to make you feel like you're really visiting different planets, each with a distinct mood and palette and bizarre architectural structures, so it never got boring for me nor did it outstay its welcome.
Anyway, sorry for the review-length post, but I doubt there are many other reviews of the game out there on the internet, so I thought it might be useful.
@Beaucine i love Daiva best game ever but thats my opunion
@Pk-glitch Two games other people have heard of. One game you have heard of before, I think is the correct expression.
I'll concede that Daiva is a game even I, a retro maniac, have no idea what it is.
@thinkhector then u miss out on the demos in the Japanese store, if u delete ur account from the console. I think that's worth the newsletters. U can unsubscribe to most of those, anyways, i think.
@dustinprewitt I remember it now. Data East surely knew what they could get away with from a decade earlier when they themselves sued, I think was it International Karate for the Commodore 64, for copying Karate Champ.
@YoshiF2
I believe you will find that Capcom had the same questions just before suing Data East.
@Serpenterror
I would love to see this happen!
@WiltonRoots,
Pretty sure they are just getting warned up, head over to the Switch sports update comment section, some real gems on there. 😂
Data East is the most nothing game developer ever. Kirby's Avalanche is great, but Data East's games are not good at all.
Fighters History is a good bit of fun, Daiva seems ok but maybe I need to give it a bit more of a go.
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