Betagam7

Arthur looks so small in this game I can't imagine how squashed he'll be in the PAL version

A good list but its just depresses me that outside the TG16 so many ofthese titles received shoddy hafl arsed PAL conversions and I won't therefore waste my money downloading them

@TheLuigiDude
"Knowing Nintendo, it will. But frankly I could care less about this game"

No offense to LuigiDude meant but am I the only one that doesn't get why Americans use this phrase. Its a complete contradiction in terms. If you "could" care less then that means you do actually care, no?

Because of there cheapness NES games are some of the few non PAL optimised games I bother to pick up from the VC but I'm starting to resent doing that now that the C64 is here.
Sorry Nintendo, I'll play Castevania IV instead as I still need to beat it and ignore your trio of 50hz border-fests. Another £7 profit down the drain for you until you bother to correct the problem

Those three games alone represent about £20 in lost revenue for nintendo and their partners. Nothing spectacular but lets look at the bigger picture.
Nintendo has sold over 1 Million Wii's in the UK alone. Lets say just 10% of those consumers feel the same way we do...no lets go even lower and say only 5% are hacked off enough to have done what you've done (at a minimum) That's ONE MILLION POUNDS of lost revenue that Nintendo could have had if it it had just enforced a 60hz policy and that's in the UK alone!
If only this could be delivered to the, frankly, blind businessmen at NOE then they might start to listen...

It would be nice but unfortunately the only way we'll convince Nintendo of that is to hit them in their pockets.
I've spent over £200 on VC games so far (was quite shocked when I totted that up actually!) but I can think of many others I refuse to download because of this problem.
I'd like to see some sort of online database where you could log which games you havn't bought becasue of this problem that would provide a total amount of money lost by Nintendo as a result. This might convince them, alas I don't have a clue how to setup such a database. Anyone?

It wasn't so much the "tax" that bothered me as the fact that they seemed to be going to make up for it only to backtrack once word got out.
Compare that to Microsoft who, after slashing the UK price of the Xbox shortly after launch, recompensed ALL their early adopters with free games. Now if y9ou asked the average gamer who cared most about their customers, Nintendo or Microsoft not many people would pick the latter but its true. MS have had to do this in order to try and get a dominant position in the market. As you say, Nintendo got lazy and payed for it.
That's the advantage of being multiformat to me, if one company treats you poorly you can hop to another. That way it forces the other to up their game.
Case in point, instead of putting up with Sega's appaling PAL conversion of Streets of Rage I can go onto Xbox Live and get a properly converted version with extras.
If everybody did that, then Nintendo might start to up their game and start demanding proper conversions.
Sadly people are too blind to the problem. Even this website takes the attitude that people "just don't care".
That was the problem in the 90's and now were facing the same kind of apathy all over again.
As one of the major VC websites I wish that vc-reviews would take a more proactive attitude in campaining for this but they seem happy to let it slide.
Dissapointing, I think.

I always hark back to the N64 UK launch as my awakening.
(note: the following story contains only rough timescales)
I bought the machine for £250 on launch day. My cousin around a month later, just before Nintendo slashed the price by about £70.
Rumours started circulating that Nintendo were getting hammered with complaints over this. Further rumours (vehemently denied by Nintendo's contactable helpline staff and THE games) then materialised that if you complained Nintendo would recompense you with a free gift.
My cousin sent off a letter and within a week received a black N64 controller and Memory Pak (value around £45) along with an apologetic letter.
I did the same, quoting what he had received. I received a letter saying "although there was a limited amount of free stock, this has now been exhausted".
I felt cheated and bitter. I was the one who'd bought the machine on launch date wasn't I? I was the loyal one...the one who had slagged off the Mega Drive and beleived the anti-Sega hype and all I get is a letter?
I woke up that day. Loyalty is for mugs because the only thing these companies care about is themselves. This all may seem obvious to an adult but to a teenager who grew up hating the Spectrum for the same reasons (I owned a C64...err, so what?) it had never occured to me.
Anyway, since then I've been thankful for that day and the appallingly insulting letter. Its meant I've been able to experience Shenmue, Nights into Dreams, Panzer Dragoon Saga, GTA 4 and even Jetpac instead of being a loyal Nintendo zealot for life.
These are, unfortunately, multinational corporations were talking about, not freindly local corner shops. Hate everyone equally I say and treat them all with cynicism. Its the only way to game...

Zealots will always exist, just as long as people are insecure.
My point was that its better to be above them and enjoy the rich tapestry of gaming that exists cross format than to isolate yourself based on your "loyalty" to a company that doesn't give a damn about you.

I havn't noticed that odd glitching of the music in my copy (and I'm fairly sure that I would have as its unbelievably obvious on that video).
Incidently what does he mean about the removal of borders and creatures 2?

I appreciate people couldn't and wouldn't afford to buy more than one home computer back in the day but this doesn't mean that the whole "my computer is better than yours" argument belonged anywhere other than the playground. It was, and remains, simply a way for insecure people to justify their concerns that the huge amount of money they spent on some hardware might not be doing what the huge amount of money their neighour spent on another piece of hardware was doing.

The magazines and the companies exploit these insecurities and produce a generation of young zealots such as a certain now banned fan of Megaman who could previously be found filling up the VC forums with inane topics like "why the 360 is rubbish".
The only answer to stupid questions like that is of course "because I didn't buy one" and tells its own story about the person.

I think, or like to imagine, that most people nowerdays have become rightfully cynical to such ploys and will simply devote their energies to the games themselves.

By all means deny yourself access to the treasures of a different console for fiscal reasons (I'd have a PS3 to compliment my Wii and 360 if I could afford one). But because of "loyalty"? Then you're only cutting off your nose to spite your face...

Good point. I often don't think American's (particularly the young generation) appreciate just how good they have it.
They moan about having to wait whole weeks extra for some games to arrive on their VC like its a huge injustice. Try living in the early 90's when not only did Europe not even get half of their releases (it was decided, for example that we wouldn't enjoy RPG's but would just love the latest Madden franchise!) but that when we did we got a slower, bordered version based on the fact that we had a superior TV display!
I'd gladly swap not having the C64 on an emulator for the hundreds of games we've missed out on over the years, not to mention the continued 50hz misery Nintendo afflicts on us apparently on the purposes of "nostalgia"!

Bass X0. Theres a simple reason for the black and white. Its called cost reduction. As I say above they were trying to survive in an increasingly barren market (most certainly the same reason for the short length).
CF was much longer when there was more to review but got thinner and poorer quality as it went on with less to do and talk about.
It wsn't Super Play but it was a decent read (although yes, people did buy mags then mostly for the free tape)

Mr64: yes I know what you're saying but you seem to be suggesting the whole "my machines better than yours" elitism/justifying your purchase thing was a GOOD thing.

Have to say I couldn't disagree more. I woke up to the fact that company's are not your freind a very long time ago and have been all the happier for it. Owning multiple platforms is the way forward. No company should ever feel they have you in their pocket and the words "brand loyalty" are for mugs, in my opinion.

Yeah that too, but if you read the latter issues (available scanned at http://www.commodoreformat.co.uk/ then you can see how they are desperately slagging off the SNES and PC's as flashy graphics with awful gameplay (sorry CF you were a good magazine but GET REAL will you!).
The reason is simple, their livelihood on the magazine was being threatened (note the later magazines that have taglines like "a Massive FOUR games reviewed inside") and they needed to convince people the C64 was still a viable alternative so that they would keep buying there mag. The first ever game to receive 100% might just distract people away from drooling over Super Mario World for long enough to keep them on the breadline for another few weeks. Also its evident that they really did love the magazine and the system and who would want a job like that to end.

Wario4Mom: Luckily for me I have PDS at home to play on my Saturn
Interesting point though. If these games could be emulated then don't you find it odd the publishers arnt cashing in on their notoriety by charging high prices for them. I'm sure even a remake of Radient Silvergun could command a high price for download, yet they'd probably just whack it out for 1000 points!

Will, sounds like the corner shop guy was ripping you off a bit there. Those must have been the budget rereleases of the title you mentioned if they came in small cassette boxes. ALso the fact he was selling carts (which themselves were pretty rare) sounds like it was around the time of the C64 console that only ran on carts and had no keyboard. This would have been fairly late into the systems life.

Am I the only one hoping for Head over Heels incidently?

Will,

Can't tell you the name of the magazine unfortunately as I only ever read the wonderful Super Play.
It wasn't the offical Nintendo Magazine System (which would have seemed the most likely candidate) I only remember it had a front cover with 100% on it made up of Mario coins.
Much like CF's review score for MiM it was probably done as a sales gimmick.

MiccyMac

My point was that I don't think Alien Soldier is very good at all. I'd say its an average game at best and one of the worst Treasure games I've played. That is all.

I think with the advent of Mega Man 9 Nintendo and Capcom have conspired to find a way to fleece us of...sorry find a use for those extra 200 points.
Its a very cynical marketing strategy, by leaving you with "change" they know you'll be tempted to buy more

WHen this does come out, it might at least convince my local Gamestation to stop trying to flog there battered old copy for £59.99 as they've now been doing unsuccesfully for over two years!

Strange about the Irish prices. Are you sure that was always the case and they wernt just being sold for that near the end of its life?
In England the full price games were always around a tenner.
Full price games came in a bigger case (about twice the size of a normal cassette tape) wheras budget titles came in a normal cassette tape.

Wario4Mom: You can forget all about Sega Saturn games. The machine is nigh on impossible to emulate, not to mention the size issue. Also, even if they could do it, why on earth would they make it an alternative to the C64?

Commodore Format had a VERY good relationship with the creators of MiM. They would supply them with Creature's comic strips and gave them a month by month: Making of MiM diary.
Therefore its not surprising that a deal was obviously struck to give MiM some sort of super review (especially as they were trying to cutout the middleman and sell it themselves).
Also CF probably realised that its own readership was dwindling and needed a killer game to keep people interested in ít.

Incidently its incorrect to say that MiM received the only ever 100% review.
Super Mario Allstars also received this from an unnofficial Nintendo magazine that escapes my mention, wheras Micro Machines on the Mega Drive received a similar 10/10 from gamesmaster magazine if I recall (or maybe just for playability)

Mummydaddy: as explained in a previous topic C64 games are not overpriced compared to "yesteryear". The £1.99 games you speak of were ONLY budget games (and usually very poor ones). Most budget games were £2.99 and by the end of the C64's life £3.99. Full price new games were £9.99 to £12.99 and include the likes of Mayhem in Monsterland (and most of the other VC releases) which you can get on Wii for a meagre £3.50.

I like the way the music changes to give you an indication of whether to go Sonic rushing or careful Mario jumping

Yes I'd agree that rubbish like Cybernoid isn't worth 100 points let alone 500 but then surely the same can be said about certain NES games too. Just because they originally came on expensive carts doesn't stop themm being a steaming pile of plop

Yes, the controls feel odd to a console gamers but back in the day (I'm officially allowed to use this phrase since turning 30!) we used a joystick with one fire button so you can't complain really as MiM was not designed with a "classic" controller or Wii remote in mind.
As for downloading SMB 3 instead, can I just say "YAWN!"
For god's sake get an an original thought in your head. Do you just want to play and experience the same old things over and over and over again. Try opening your mind to new (albeit old) ideas and concepts and you might actually find you can have fun with something that doesnt feature a red capped italian stereotype

Is the PAL conversion any better on this one than on Turbo? Turbo wasn't even full screen (rare for a VC snes game)

Is there a reason this still hasnt come out in PAL territories? Some problem with the licence?

Anyone else noticed that this game heralds the long requested arrival of the Transparent keyboard (although not sure why as you don't need to use it)

Feng:

Orignal tapes in the day wern't £2.99. That was only budget titles and by the time Mayhem came out they had risen to £3.99.
Mayhem though wasn't a budget title and would have retailed for around £10.99 plus postage and package (it was only available through mail order)
Therefore the £3.50 it costs on the VC actually makes it cheaper than a budget title and about a third of what it would have cost back then when money was worth a lot more than it is today.
As such its something of a bargain

I've given this a whirl over the last hour (managed to get to the sad stage of level 2).
I'm happy to report it plays more like Mario than Sonic and that all that uncontrollable speeding about that the hedgehog does isn't as important as tight jumping and platforming.
Having said that when you do speed about it all moves very smoothly. I've yet to see any sign of slowdown and the game mechanics themselves are very tight.
Hard? Yes, but in the sense that when you die its your fault (I can never understand people raving about Mega Man becasue its unfairly and annoyingly hard due to its own gameplay inadequacies and bad level design).
Grat game and for 500 points better than nearly any NES game out there (SMB's excluded)

1. This weeks releases hardly constitute "getting the shaft" Mayhem in Monsterland is a bonifide classic and THE big game this week. Their is no sense overshadowing it by releasing mana alongside it. That makes no sense. USA won't be getting MIM so they got Mana a week in advance of us. Big deal!

2. For the Australians who say they can't get a CREDIT card. I'm thirty years old and have (willfully) never had a credit card in my life. A debit card on the other hand is very easy to obtain, practically anyone with a bank account can get one. If you are somehow unable to obtain a bank account then I'm very sorry but that's part of being a child I guess. There should be nothing stopping an adult (or even a teenager with a paper round) from getting one!

Ah, I guess with downloadable content its now possible to use up those points. I take your point that not everybody has a debit card.
It does amaze me thought that people are still complaining about not having C64 in Australia, I thought everybody knew how to do this trick by now?

I'm really pleased we've got this as I was too young to be allowed to mail order it first time round but I remember drooling over CF's never ending previews! Hopefully Creatures 1 & 2 will soon follow.
Wow, the C64 is starting to look like one of the best channels on VC. Great support and very few bad titles released for it.
For those worries about Mana, don't be, it'll come another week. Mayhemis this weeks killer app and there would have been no point relegating it to second spot.

Shiryu, DON'T buy a 2000 points card unless you also plan to buy 2 TG games as well. As slangman says any leftovers will be wiped when you switch back.
The minimal sacrafice to obtain axelay is to buy 1000 points with a credit or debit card ONCE you've switched region.
You'll lose the remaining 200 when you switch back, so think of it as an import tax. 1000 points is worth it for Axelay anyway

On the subject of MiM, I'm over the moon. I haven't got the time to play Mana just yet (still need to finish Mario RPG)
I remember reading the build ups to this game in Commadore Format many moons ago but by the time the game came out you had to mail order it as C64 shelf space had vanished.
Isn't it by the guys who did creatures?

Poketim, Mario Maniac and others. HOW MANY TIMES DOES IT HAVE TO BE SAID? There is NOTHING stopping you or anyone in PAL territories from getting C64 games. ALL you have to do is change your region settings to UK and go into the Wii shop. C64 will then be available to you.
Shiryu. You can do the exact same thing to obtain Axelay but changing your region settings to Australia

Alien Soldier is not worth the hype imo. Rare and expensive games arent always great (That Gundam game on the VB for example)

Rumble pak for the Metroid DS games won't work either

Dear CAPCOM, please don't waste our time bringing this to PAL territories. Not only is it inferior in graphics and sound to the SNES Turbo, it will also have bigger borders and run just as slow as your half hearted SNES vc effort did.

Oh god, will you please sort out the storage solution problem Nintendo!
What's so difficult, you release a HD people buy it, you get money.
People have more space for more games, you get more money!
Where's the downside.
I want Mana but probably won't have space for it when it arrives in Blighty

For everyone who's complaining that they havnt released X version, a simple question?
What makes you think they won't?
The VC has shown us that developers (I'm particularly looking at you Capcom) have no problem putting out the inferior version of a game first then releasing a beter one late (SF2) or vice versa (Ghouls and Goblins).
I wouldn't be surprised if the same doesnt happen with Jim, But seeing the emulation issues with this one ontop of the usual bad PAL translation of the Mega Drive VC games I'll be holding out for the future

@ WiiMan192 and other Australians.

Just change your region and you can get all the C64 games you want. Its not rocket science, I did it to get Axelay which we for some reason don't have in the UK.

I found it very interesting that Nintendo took the time to alter the PAL version of Smash Bros Brawl so that the unlockable demos (sorry "Masterpieces") ran in appalling 50hz bordered badness.
Proof that they know the games are different in this country and that they are worried that the casual factions might wonder why thegame they download from VC is slower and more squashed than the one they unlocked in Brawl.
The fact that PAL 60hz versions of Zelda exist already on the collectors disk for gamecube really shows the true extent of the laziness

Starwolf_UK

Yeah, I have a switched UK Saturn that has the region and HZ settings so thankfully I get to play those PAL games in 60hz.
I'm too nervous about bricking the Wii to run that kind of homebrew on it though. God it's so annoying that Nintendo is making people go to such absurd lengths when all it has to do is tell developers to get there games running at 60hz full screen before submitting them.
People call Microsoft greedy but you wouldn't catch them allowing 50hz bordered games on Arcade.
God I'm sick to the back teeth of Nintendo's complete disregard for its PAL customers.

Badknux, why not give it a chance first...oh, I see.

"The sad thing is video mode=60Hz+country=USA fixes it in 75% of Megadrive games"

Can you expand upon that? Are you saying that by switching the country to USA, Mega Drive games somehow run faster?

I'd rejoice more if they fixed the PAL conversion

Why don't I buy Dynamite headdy? For the same reason I havn't bought a single Mega Drive game since my first VC download (Gunstar Heroes):
Its the same lazy 50hz, bordered, 17% slower crap they insulted me with the first time around and if anyone can put me in touch with Maegawa I'll gladly tell him that.

"It's only a PAL conversion. Most of us Europeans have grown used to it anyways"

Sadly, its defeatism like this that ensures Nobody will ever bother to fix the problem.

"The slow releases and slow PAL games has made me resort to emulation"

If more people took that attitude perhaps the companies would stand up and pay attention

"The only game that really suffers imo is Sonic 1 on the Megadrive"

Wrong! Play PAL Waverace 64 and you'll soon notice a pretty big difference. Even more disgraceful that despite finding time to change the graphics of this game to promote the Wii and DS Nintendo chose to do NOTHING about fixing a game ruining problem!

"Dang! I wish I lived in Europe"

Okay I'll swap you we'll take full screen full speed 60hz games and you can have the 17% slower bordered garbage SEGA throws at the VC over here. Not really worth getting it slightly earlier when you consider the difference is it?