Adamant

Ah, I see - haven't checked the shop channel yet.
I don't see how calling it FF4 would be confusing, though - calling it FF2 would be MORE confusing, given that it's NOT FF2, and it's not like they're not putting out rereleases of FF2 and FF4 under their real names on a regular basis either.

They don't change the title screen, no, but they occasionally give the game a different name in the shop/menu/description. Calling it "Final Fantasy IV" and having the description say "This game was originally released as Final Fantasy II in America on the SNES, as the real FF2 and FF3 were unreleased at the time" would've been the best. Calling it Final Fantasy II everywhere implies that the game IS FF2, which it, well, isn't.

Final Fantasy "II"? Jesus Christ, Square Enix, just when you had almost managed to make people understand that this is really the fourth game in the series. You even have the direct sequel up on Wiiware with the "IV" number on it. Guh.

Fatal Fury Special's single player mode is far more enjoyable than the army of walking brick walls KoF94 tosses at you, at least.

In multiplayer... well, they're different, at least. FFS is much closer to the Street Fighter games, and giving it the same score as SF2T, SF2CE and SSF2 feels very correct. I'd say Street Fighter still wins out, but FFS comes VERY close.

You forgot to mention the FF1 characters they tossed in.

And yeah, this game was the first REAL contender for Street Fighter II. They're both equally good in my opinion, and that makes this a must-download for all SF2 fans.

@LinktotheFuture: If they DO come out with a vol 2 (which seems annoyingly unlikely), they'll most likely put Fatal Fury 2, not Fatal Fury Special, on it. This one should be a safe download

@mariofanatic128: "Not for everyone" does not equal "a bad download". And it most definitely doesn't equal "shovelware", SSBF1999. Zaxxon is a classic. Read the review, not just the score.

I'd personally have rated it higher (7, probably - at least 6), but I see the logic behind the score. I just think games should be rated on their entertainment level for being what they are. Zaxxon's appeal DID largely come from "omg3Dbestgraphicsever", but it's still a fun little game.

Much more so than Congo Bongo and it's horrendously annoying controls, at least.

In Megaman and Bass, his weaknesses were the lack of a slide, the inability to charge his weapons (made fighting bosses without their weakness weapon a huge pain), and the inability to run and shoot at the same time. Mega Man lacks two first of those in this game, too, so yeah, it looks like he'll be pretty overpowered.

"Just announced"? It was kind of written in the operation guide

I beat the game, can I say MM9 was better?

@Gmls719" it's wired BTW that I can find rare japanese games on ebay for 10 dollars"

I'd say that's simply because the games aren't as rare as you were told they were

I'll have to agree with SmurfIT - this review seems more concerned with explaining the reviewer's disdain for the darts genre (which yes, is a perfectly valid video game genre that has seen plenty of games over the years, not something completely original this company invented). I'm no darts fan myself either, but all I got out of this review is learning that the reviewer thinks it's a stupid idea for a video game and would rate every darts game more or less the same. That's not a good review.

Why not? 5-in-1 Solitaire was a relatively solid collection of 5 solitaire games which wasn't particularly outstanding in any areas, and this is a new and entertaining puzzler which is annoyingly thin in some areas. 7/10 is a perfectly fair score for both.

8$ for portable virtual Scrabble with all the modes anyone really plays (seriously, what else of interest could the bloated retail version have?) is a pretty decent deal.
Yeah, sure, there's no download play (pass-around play would make it too easy to peek at your opponent's pieces, so that's a bad idea anyway), but how often are you really going to be sitting around with you Scrabble-loving DSi-bringing friends without a nearby board anyway? This one is more for quick gaming on the go, save the multiplayer for the real Scrabble board (and hey, for those who really needs that feature, it's something to make the more expensive cart version more appealing, and the developers sure needs something to make those still be viable purchases for someone out there)

Can't see this one getting a European release, though. No one's going to buy English word games outside English-speaking countries, so there's 90% of the market gone already.

@ JebbyDeringer: Luxor 3 is 20$ on Amazon, and is stated to have "over 150 levels", so this one would give you the most bang for you buck, I guess.

It's cheap, it's fun, it has no control problems, and it's horrendously unoriginal. Not a bad buy. I haven't finished Luxor 2 yet, so I'm passing on this one, though.

@WonderboY101: "I own on it on the 'SNK Arcade Classics Volume1' collection, not the VC, so maybe I'm missing something."

Yes. Definitely. I wouldn't have liked it had I first played it there and got the wrong impression, either. Believe me, the VC version is a zillion times better.

@Chunky Droid: It's not a new game, you know. This game was developed about 15 years before the reviews for the "last" game ticked in.

@Swerd_Murd: "Why are these games 800 points? I just can't figure out this pricing...."

The originals came out in the 16-bit era, and are comparable to SNES and Mega Drive games, so I assume they just looked at the VC's pricing points.

Had the game not been Mario-ed up, I'm sure it'd have eventually been released overseas anyway, though. It went above and beyond it's competition in NES platforming at the time, and had nothing about it that would make any bigwigs think it wouldn't appeal to western tastes. It wasn't just "a good game", at it's time it was "the best".

Solitaire on home consoles never made much sense. Is there really that huge an audience of people who don't have a solitaire-playing computer near their TV?

Quarth was also released under the horrendously generic name "Block Game" on Konami GB Classics.

Fun game, though. Go download, Japanese Wii owners

Tatsunoko were "involved" with Macross, yes. They didn't "make" Macross. The game cast consists of actual Tatsunoko characters, not "characters from series Tatsunoko had something to do with at some point". Macross is a Studio Nue series.

@Sean Aaron: "I almost want to import it now and have both versions, but it seems a bit mental."

Nah. You know you want them.

(I got both, and still played the original a bit today, working on unlocking some more endings. The original has much much better music, a character not in the remake (Hakushon Daimaoh - I don't like him much, but at least he's unique), animated endings, a sound test, full character profiles, and a whole slew of fun minigames. All missing from the remake, in place of 5 new characters, online and a "new" minigame)

Yeah.
Cross Generation.
All-stars.

(and of course, the subtitle is written on the box, too)

@Sean Aaron: "Can anyone confirm if the Japanese soundtrack is intact from the early trailers for the original game?"

It's not, which is a crying shame, and the biggest problem with this new release. Picking up the Japanese original is a good idea (just make sure you don't accidentally get the Japanese Ultimate All-Stars).

(oh, and the review has somewhat of an error - "Ultimate All-stars" is not the localizated version of "Cross Generation of Heroes", it's an updated rerelease similar to all those "Champion Editions" from the Street Fighter days. Ultimate All-stars is getting a Japanese release as well)

The lack of familiarity with the Tatsunoko characters is also, of course, a ridiculous reason to skip on the game. Nearly every fighting game comes with a decent selection of new characters, yet you never see anyone yell "I'm not buying Soul Calibur 3 because I don't know who Setsuka, Tira, Zasalamel and all these other weirdos are!"

(though amusingly enough, I was unfamiliar with more Capcom characters in this game than Tatsunoko characters - this was my introduction to Saki, Soki, Batsu and that Lost Planet bot (though I'm not sure if he counts))

A polar bear from NORWAY.

Worth the 500 for that alone.

On the internet you may find this game referred to as "the gayest game ever."

Isn't that usually referring to the one-on-one fighter sequel, though? Generally, the internet people complaining about how horrible this game is and how they'll never play it because they're not gay (which, as mentioned, is missing the point completely) tend to be a bit confused about whether or not there's multiple games in the series or not.

And yeah, this game is both funny and well-made. And hey, if Muscle March can make it outside japan, why can't this?

Where is Picross?

(actually, never mind, it's apparantly a massively expanded version of the original PTX-40A game, so it's new after all.)

Yea, the problem isn't the score itself, but the fact that Nintendolife ALREADY gave this game an 8/10. This review does in no way explain why the Wiiware version is supposedly so much worse than the DS version, it's just two different people giving two different opinions on the same game. Representing that as "this version is good and this version is not" isn't particularly professional - near-identical version of the same game should be reviewed by the same person.

I respect Spencer's opinion on the game (though I don't think people who don't like certain genres should be assigned to review games in that genre, as these end up being more a review of the genre as a whole than the particular game), but the message you're sending here isn't "Tommy thinks this game is good, and Spencer doesn't like the genre in the first place, and this game didn't convince him to start doing so", but rather "the DS version is very good, and the Wiiware version is just average".

@thewiirocks: I agree that releasing this information shouldn't be necessary, but you saw the comments on the previous news story? 9/10 of them were idiots yelling "lol butthurt fanboys, Greenpeace are always right" at the people correctly pointing out what a joke this report is.
Hell, you see it in the comments here as well.

This again?
No, Nintendo don't need to "clean up their act", Greenpeace needs to stop regarding "did not put any information on this specific point on their website" as "is probably neglecting said point in the worst way possible".

Seriously, try actually looking into the case before making yourself look like fools by reporting what Greenpeace wants people to believe, eh?

2$ for 30 levels isn't a bad deal at all. Back in the day we happily paid 60$ for what, 100 levels?

The playable characters in this game are Haggar, Guy, new chick Lucia and new guy Dean.

Somewhat late answer but the apple is eaten automatically. If you have an apple in your inventory, dying results in losing the apple instead of a life. In essence, it's an extra life.

Or make something that's not another "tap the screen in the right places to tell the game what answer to give" trick, since all these Magic Made Fun things are just variations on each other and ridiculously obvious.

That's completely individual, though. If you need a study to tell you you might not use something as much as you thought you were, that says more about you than the product.

Groundbreaking news! Getting a gym membership does not automatically make you want to go to the gym and work out! Consider this before signing up for one!!

"The Wii version include a single layer disc featuring only English voices. "

Ew.
puts PS2 version on to buy-list

@Objection_Blaster: Tell me a video game that doesn't start with "Metal Gear" that had a good dub.

The Turbografx was a failure too, though not on the same level. The purpose of the VC isn't solely to sell people games they have already played, either, as evidence by the selection of import games. If Konami find it worth releasing the likes of Bokutte Upa, there's nothing preventing them for giving Space Manbow a go either.

Zaxxon is fun, but has a definite learning curve that will lead people to utter a lot of swear words the first few times they play. Use your bullets to gauge your position.

I got two versions of Zaxxon already, so I have no personal interest in this one, but give it a try, people.

I pretty much remember the old early 90s Norwegian Nintendo mags word by word. Hopefully that will impress someone someday.

Yes. No. Maybe. It's different enough from all the "Street Fighter 2" games that it's worth buying in addition to whichever of those you prefer (hint: Turbo)

"It's not clear how much knowledge of Japanese is required to play Metal Gear"

I wouldn't attempt it without a guide, unless you feel like calling every number on your transceiver in every room - and then go back and do it in every room a couple more times at regular intervals.

This isn't mahjong.

"You might think Mahjong for WiiWare is a Mahjong game, but you'd be surprised to find out that it actually isn't."

I'm not surprised. Annoyed, but not surprised. 99% of all non-Japanese games that claim to be mahjong games are really shanghai games.

Stop calling it "Mahjong" already. God.

But uh, yeah, this is cool, I guess. Wouldn't mind a real mahjong game, though.

Tell him to review Takeshi no Chousenjou.

Does this have Tripeaks?

@TheLonelyGamer: I fail to see how your opinion on the genre has anything to do with your "knowledge" that the game would get a negative review.

Hey, if anyone's still playing this and having trouble against Rugal, I just discovered a great tactic.

Play as the England Team, and have your lineup be Yuri, King and Mai in that order. For the first round, have Yuri do her strong forward kick (the buttslam), which Rugal should block. Do it again right away, and you should toss him. Do this twice, then run off to the corner, and duck while blocking. Rugal will walk over and punch you, but won't deal enough damage, so he'll lose on timeout. If Rugal hits you during the attempts at tossing him, simply toss him a couple more times. If things go really bad, just keep tossing him until you die, and have King duck in the corner the next round - it's not completely critical that Yuri survives to the next round. For round 2, Yuri's strong Kohken or King's weak Venom Strike are both very effective against Rugal.

If he charges, he'll get hit. If he jumps, he'll likely land on it and get hit. If he uses his reflector shield, he will often (almost always with the weak Venom Strike) screw up the timing and get hit (if not, just block the returning attack). If he uses Reppuken, your attack will cancel it out. If he uses the Kaiser Wave, it will destroy your attack and keep going - King will usually be able to block in time (if you fire before you see him fire), Yuri WILL unfortunately get hit. He'll also get hit if he's charging a Kaiser Wave, but doesn't manage to fire it in time before your attack reaches him.

So, the strategy is simply to back into the corner, firing a constant barrage of your projectile, and blocking if he uses the Kaiser Wave. If he gets close, you'll probably take a couple hits - your projectile is more likely to hit than anything else, so keep using it, blocking between attacks, and hope he goes away to attack from a distance quick. If he's half a screen away instead of all the way, it can be hard to get your attacks off in time for the Reppukens, so they may hit sometimes. The Kaiser Wave is VERY hard to get ready for at this distance, so you'll likely take those hits.

The strategy is somewhat situational, and requires a lot of cooperation from Rugal as well as your ability to not screw up a single Hadouken motion, but you'll take relatively little chip damage since you'll be cancelling Reppuken instead of blocking it or jumping it (jumping sets you up for attacks). As mentioned, the strategy works much better with King, since the Venom Strike is fired fast and has short recovery time, but you'll be much better off if Yuri can knock off some damage before dying. You probably won't win, but you should be able to win on timeout.

@TheLonelyGamer: "This is a Shanghai game, and people like Shanghai", I would guess? I mean, did you even read the review? The problem isn't with the overall gameplay (it's Shangai with some extra modes with some twists to the gameplay, nothing more complicated than that. What were you expecting?), but the lousy attempt at translating the user interface from PC to console.
How could you "know it would be a stinker" when all you knew was "it's a Shanghai game I haven't heard of before"?