Actually if you had the classic controller you didn't have to use the virtual keyboard as the cycle inventory buttons were mapped to buttons on the CC. Only the Wiimote required you to use the VK.
Great to see America getting Last Ninja 2, hopefully its a shot in the arm for C64 releases which have been non-existant in PAL regions while Commodore gaming have become ex-communicado.
Damo, Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm not saying this to be sarcastic or critical but given the thoughts expressed in this thread it looks to be pretty unanimous what your PAL readers are asking from NL. Clearly they don't consider the debate to be "done". Equally, it can't reasonably be claimed that they "don't care". Your PAL readers are asking for Nintendo Life to go about educating those who don't know any better and try to seek out answers from Sega. Both seem like perfectly reasonable requests. Given the comments in this thread, I would urge you to listen to your readers and give them what they want rather than ignoring them based on some percieved opinion that they "don't care" or that it won't work. As I've said I'm more than happy to assist you with this in any way with this matter, if its too much work for one of your staff to write a discussion piece on it then I'm more than happy to supply one to you as I've written about the issue before for my own website. One way or another it would surely be beneficial for the issue to be discussed properly among a larger part of your readership. I simply care about getting the issue resolved and about waking people up to a problem that has respawned due to consumer apathy and lack of awareness since it was almost eradicated in the early part of the decade. I believe sites like yours can make a real difference in alerting people to the problem and asking reasonable questions to the relevent people, so I urge you to listen to your readership and have a go.
Yes its particularly ironic that after doing so much to make the Dreamcast the standard bearer for 60hz gaming, ten years on Sega are the worst offenders. All the more reason for a site like this to ask their PR people some hard questions. A public relations persons job is to build relations with the public. We are that public and from what I'm reading on here, there are quite a few readers of NL who both care and are annoyed about SEGA's universally shoddy Megadrive, Master System and most shockingly of all, Hanabi PAL conversions.
Although I havn't downloaded it I'd be 99% sure that The VCA release is definately full speed. I've been tracking VC releases for the PAL conversion guide I posted on VC-forums So far, from feedback I've recieved it seems even Sega hasn't been stupid enough to willfully cripple their arcade releases yet. Its the ordinary VC games and the Hanabi titles you need to give a wide birth to if you care about the impacts of borders and slower gameplay.
Most people who criticise Illusion of Gaia do so for its linear nature but I'm rather surprised that Corbie finds the story to be its fault. In my view the story in IOG is the most well presented of the Soul Blazer trilogy, a deep, very philosophical and at times darkly tragic tale that advances some of the introspection found in Soul Blazer. The characters, especially the main group of friends are far better developed than in Soul Blazer where the story is rather undernourished at times. As for the difficulty curve, if anything I've seen criticism of the game that its too easy. I can't recall anything particularly difficult about it especially in comparison to Terranigma which was the first of the 3 to require grinding and had a maddendingly hard final boss.
I recently finished it for the first time on my SNES. It's a good game but its overshadowed by its two sequels, Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma. I'd have given it 8/10 as the dungeons can get repetative. I wouldn't worry about it coming to the VC, I expect the whole trilogy to come eventually but in the meantime everyone who wants it should make sure to download other Quintet releases such as Actraiser to boost its chances. All the Quintet games are notable for their interesting religious themes which survived NOA's strict "don't mention God" 90's policies more or less intact. God just became "the master".
Sean, first of all thank you for accepting the evidence and acknowledging the problem. As I've pointed out though, although its annoying that SEGA insists on giving us the original PAL releases as opposed to tidying them up as it does for the Xbox releases, the real problem is the Hanabi (import) games. On all other formats, i.e SNES, NES etc, Hanabi games are presented in 60hz and exactly as the NTSC games originally were (quite rightly given the 100 point extra cost) as they were never released in PAL territories. yet for some reason when PAL owners download a SEGA Hanabi title like MUSHA they are given a game with borders and slower running speed. It's as if Sega doesn't want to alert people to the fact that its other games have been butchered so is deliberately butchering its import titles so as not to draw attention to it. There is no reason whatsoever for these games to have borders or slowdown when SEGA could legitimately release the NTSC version as Nintendo et al do and to be honest no reason for Nintendo Life not to highlight this in its reviews of SEGA Hanabi games. I don't understand how anyone can not feel ripped off by paying an extra 100 points for an import title that has been deliberately downgraded!
@ Luigi-La-Bouncy and Opa-Opa, thanks for supporting my views. Perhaps it might demonstrate to those who doubt it that their are other people reading NL who care about this issue and that the argument is far from "done"!
p.s Luigi-La-bouncy, have you tried the hori-pad? Its a great Joypad for GC/Wii that works really well with 2D games like Sonic.
You'll see that only four comments in a disappointed reader has bought the PAL version and discovered it to be "no fun" because of how slow it runs. Presumably had he been warned about it in the review he might not have wasted his money. Just a thought.
Damo - I've heard you state before that "the debate is done" and that "Most don't care about it" but what exactly makes you sure of this? Have you conducted a survey among your readers or are you just guessing what millions of PAL gamers out there think? There might be bigger support for this than you think. Many people do care and as you say often its only ignorance of the problem that causes others not to. Often when people are told about it they have second thoughts, much like Stevie did when I informed him about the problem. Without this information, missing from the review, how could he have accurately judged the best version of golden Axe for him to buy?
Aside from this you are repeating that you contacted Nintendo and didn't get anywhere but I'm not asking Nintendolife to contact Nintendo or wage war on them. I'm asking if you'd speak to SEGA about it; a totally different proposition. Specifically I'm suggesting you politely email the PR person your site said they were in contact with when you were asking readers to submit their most wanted Sega games a while ago, who's job it is to handle criticism and explain controversial decisions. I'm not even asking you to push the issue of their conversions being ports of the 90's PAL games. I'm specifically talking about downgraded hanabi ports which I believe SHOULD be mentioned in any review as they are fundamentally different to the originals and can't be justified with the usual "like that to begin with" argument that lazy companies often use to explain their sloppy work. No other Hanabi games are downgraded by any of the other publishers involved so why do Sega do it? I don't get why this is an unreasonable question for NL to put to SEGA if they have the contacts. I'd do it myself but I have no such contact...unless you want to pass on the details.
Unfortunately one man can't win a war. But a website with a large readership might make an impact. I know that Damo has explained they contacted Nintendo early on in VC-reviews life about the problem and didn't get any joy but NL is a bigger website with a larger following now and by directly questioning, not Nintendo themselves, but the worst offender in Sega (who they've previously indicated having a PR contact with) then they might be able to get some answers, at least over the shocking Hanabi ports. Can it really hurt to try again?
Stevie, If you have the option it might be best to pick up the Sega Megadrive Collection for either 360 or PS3 as it features all 3 Golden Axe's and importantly lets you play them in full screen and full speed 60hz which for some unkown reason Sega refuses to let us do on the VC, even with their Hanabi titles which are bizarrely downgraded to 50hz and have big black borders added to them so as not to stand out from their ordinary PAL releases.
EDIT: Stevie, there is indeed a similar PS2 collection:
Features all 3 Golden Axes and gives you the option of choosing between the old 50hz releases and running them in 60hz as they should be to remove borders and slowdown.
Meanwhile you can complain directly to Sega about their lame PAL VC ports by writing here:
Sega Europe 27 Great West Road Brentford Middlesex TW8 9BW United Kingdom
It's a pity that Nintendolife, with their more direct contacts won't pick up the baton on this, especially when it comes to the needless downgrading of Hanabi titles where Sega can't even use the old "it was like that to begin with" excuse.
I'm glad this review mostly concentrated on the game rather than just comparing it with the Megadrive game as some duplicate reviews have recently done but once again its missing an important factor in deciding which version to get. The Megadrive version in PAL territories is also inflicted with SEGA's usual awful PAL conversion which means big black borders and slower gameplay. This is another area where the Arcade version imporves on the available Megadrive port. While I'm aware that this won't affect NA when the game hits that territory its worth noting for Europeans and Australians pondering which game to buy.
IT DOESN'T. It's a publicity stunt by nintendo that nobody will actually be able to achieve. As Drake said only 5 people in the whole of Japan have actually achieved it and they probably bought 20 Wii's to do so.
Not worth getting excited about bar the 500 points you might be able to get taking a new Wii owner online.
That's the thing really, they know they'll give away many 500 points for people connecting one or two friends who don't know better, but I'll be surprised if we ever see more than 5 Platinum people in the UK
I remember reading about this on a Japanese news blog but as I could only find one reference to it on the whole of the internet I assumed it was a hoax. I'd be surprised if they can offer 3rd party games though but then if only 5 people in the whole of Japan have qualified then its a pretty nothing promotion.
And thus my point remains. I can't find a single paragraph in this review that talks about "areas where the game is blatently let down". If a game is going to score a 7 then, as NL's own policy dictates, there must surely be some? What are they?
The NES review only mentions that "Like most NES games the graphics and sound are now very dated" but the arcade review clearly indicates an improvement saying "One obvious difference between the two versions is the game's graphics and sound quality, as you might've guessed" although it then contradicts itself by saying that actually "the music and sound actually don't really sound that much different". Presumabley its the graphics that are better then? Or are they? This is the problem with spending over half the review talking about a different version and the problem with assuming everyone has already bought the NES version, the actual plusses and minuses of the game don't get covered and the score ends up coming out of nowhere with nothing to back it up.
I've read it, but the original review is actually shorter than this one and uses the phrase "we'd highly recommend you check this out"...before also giving it it 7/10
I don't mind admitting I'm confused as to how the final score for both games were achieved as both reviews include phrases that imply the game is a near must have then give it a score that merely indicates 'slightly better than average'.
Alot of assuming going on there I feel. Just because a game is already available doesn't mean people will necessarily know anything about it, least of all 'most' people. If you were reviewing another version of Super Mario Bros then that might be a reasonable assumption but Soloman's Key, while not being outright obscure, isn't exactly the sort of game that is known to the masses. The bottom line is that after reading the review I have a firm idea that this is a better game than the NES version...but that's all. There's nothing to tell me why it gets the score it does or why I should or shouldn't consider investing in it, which, in my view at least, is why I would read a review. Simply stating why its better than another version doesn't help me decide on it as an individial purchase it just tells me that if I do get it I should get this version. The review summary says "If, for some reason, you haven't yet bought the NES version" which makes it sound like you feel it has been a pretty essential purchase in its NES incarnation, but then the game only gets 7/10 which doesn't really scream 'must buy'. More detail on the game itself and less details about the NES version might have got across the merits of the game as a piece of entertainment rather than a duplicate of something you feel most people will already be familiar with.
Like I say, I'm not saying comparison pieces can't be useful or shouldn't have a place on VC sites with all the duplicating that goes on but I don't feel a review is the place for them as I'd rather read about the game itself and see it judged on its own merits.
While its definately appropriate to mention that a NES version already exists this review dwells on it to the point where it just becomes a list of the differences. Only the second paragraph seems geared to telling you about the game without mentioning the word NES somehow (which is mentioned 10 times throughout the review!). By all means write a comparison article but try and keep it seperate from the review which should really focus on the game itself not just comparing areas of it with another version that might be available.
Okay, I've now deleted and redownloaded Rygar and there are still sound problems. The game emits a hideous crackling noise at random intervals that corrupts the music and sound (most often near the end of the level, when entering the vault). Has anyone else had this issue yet. I'm playing the PAL release.
I've been doing a Five Credit run on it so far and can get to level 8 quite easily. I didn't realise that the game had 27 levels though so I may allow myself some more credits to play through with. Its very hard to get on the games high score table as you don't just have to get a high score but you have to achieve it on a high level with a good rank. Because of this I've beaten my own high score yet didn't get onto the table above a lower score I registered.
Anyone else experiencing sound problems with this. When I played it tonight there was a crackling sound that randomly appeared every minute or so. Tried reloading it and it was still there. Other VC games were fine so it wasn't my telly.
For me the game has big nostalgia factor from playing it on the C64. Alot of reviews keep mentioning the NES version but seem to forget that not everyone owned a NES and in England especially home computers like the C64 and Spectrum were the norm so this is a superior version of the game to the one many of us played as children. Even among my NES owning friends i don't recall anyone owning Rygar so perhaps the game wasn't as well known in some countries as others. A six seems a tad low for me as there's good replay value with high scores and rankings to attain and challenge over (which the review doesn't mention). That was always the point in arcade games which were never about flashy endings, but its something that's lost on the current generation who've been led towards expecting individual reward over competative 'king of the arcade' style bragging rights. I'd give it a 7 if I had no nostalgia coming into it and an 8 with the added nostalgia factor because its a genuinely challenging title that rewards skill unlike so many arcade titles that just rely on coin drainage, its more than possible to master Rygar so that it can be completed within a reasonable amount of credits.
Either way, this is the first VCA title to convince me to part with my money and at 600 points its good value I feel. Roll on Rastan Saga!
The review is technically incorrect on one point. Rygar (or Lygar) is not the name of the hero in this game, that's a misconception. Its actually the name of the villain. The hero is simply known as the Warrior of Argos
I wonder why they left out double firepower when the classic "pose" is included on the character select screen. Slightly disappointed to have my fears that they've basically remade a level from Contra 3 instead of making all new content. Contra: Rehash?
@ Chibi and other Australians upset at not having contra.
Just change your region to the UK, your games won't dissapear, however any wiipoints you have when you change WILL, Permanently.
If you don't have any points sitting there doing nothing on your account though then there is no problem. Change your region to the UK, purchase 1000 points, buy Contra then change back. The pricing of Contra is actually perfect for region swapping as provided you don't have spare points lying arond you lose nothing and gain a game!
Great to see pilotwings finally arrive but I have it for Snes already. Here's hoping Nintendo will bring the N64 version to the VC. But only if they fix its horendous PAL borders first.
If we already own Metroid Prime which includes a 60hz version of Metroid as an unlockable we get to spend £30 rebuying the same game without the unlockable but get nintendo's broken 50hz vc game instead.
Airola, you need to look harder. There have been Strip Poker games since the days of the ZX Spectrum. It's not a new concept but just like it ws on the ZX Spectrum it remains a pointless one.
You're right to say that other games are equally unworthy of their release but even if they are bad game at least they are trying to be games. Nobody is seriously buying "games" like this for the "game", hence the optinon of free galleries to "look at".
I think many people here are missing the point of my argument (Airola & jbrodack) in particular. I am not in the slightest bit bothered about people who want to pleasure themselves over pictures of naked and or semi naked girls nor do I feel such material should be outlawed. The point, as I see it is that their is plenty of this type of material freely available over the internet or to purchase in other mediums. It's not therefore necessary for a developer to try to sell it over the Wii's gaming portal by tacking a joke of a card game onto it. I would prefer it if Nintendo were to encourage developers to shy away from disguising soft porn as videogames as soft porn is readily available in other forms that don't eat up the Wii's release schedule. For those who think this doesn't have an impact on the VC, sorry but it does. The "Nintendo Download" as it is these days is made up of releases for all three formats: Wiiware, DSiware and VC. When garbage like this is released it eats up a space that might have been taken by a proper game either on vc or Wiiware that was is scheduled for release (like SMK for example). People can find plenty of hentai on the internet for free. also freely available on the internet are many potential VC releases. Nintendo might want to start concentrating on those growing impatient to legally purchase the latter instead of giving them the former.
The fact that this "game" has been rated M is also a sad indictment on an industry that's still being viewed with kid gloves. Until it grows up and stops tittering and obsessing over breasts its hard to see how it will ever be taken seriously when nudity is required for genuine artistic reasons.
Gabbo, how about you actually read what I said instead of putting your own interpretation of it in 'oh so clever' inverted commas. The fact that gameloft does not have the rights to Donkey Kong or Earthbound or even Super Mario Kart does not change the fact that Nintendo DOES and could possibly be releasing them now if space in the release schedule wasn't being taken up by unadulterated purile guff like this "game". What I was suggesting was that instead of crying into its soup that the game doesn't have nudity the review might be better served lamenting that Nintendo ever passed this rubbish fit for release ahead of some of the great titles its sitting on in the first place. While a review might be important/necessary to tell people how bad a "game" this is. The fact that over 200 words of it are spent bemoaning the fact that it doesn't have real women in and/or nudity in it is a sad reflection of what score the reviewer might have given it had it contained such elements. Those two hundred words might have better been spent reflecting on how garbage like this is filling up the Nintendo download release schedule ahead of the things most of us actually got the Wii for: Video-games.
Instead of this review crying that there's no nudity in the game like an adolescent boy perhaps it would be more productive to condemn garbage like this for even being suggested as a release in the first place. As evilralfwiggum points out in his post we are being passed over for the likes of Donkey Kong Arcade and Earthbound so that utter drivel like this can be pumped out and sold to 13 year old boys who havn't discovered how to do a google search. I know why I bought a Wii and it wasn't to download softcore hentai/ hardcore porn or anything else of that kind, it was to play a great library of videogames...remember them? I'm all for Nintendo and indeed the games industry growing up. This however is more like a regression into infancy.
Adroitone, I did not say anything about the disk releases being superior emulations of the games. My complaint was in the comparison of price and lousy PAL conversion. As an NTSC gamer you don't suffer the problems PAL users do with the NEO GEO's lousy VC conversions (borders, squashed graphics and slower gameplay and music). Consider yourself fortunate you don't.
Corbie, what do SNK expect but poor sales figures for NEO GEO downloads when they give us downloadable games that are ten times as expensive and inferior in options and PAL conversions to their disk based release? Do they honestly think people will pay hundreds of pounds/dollars to acquire NEO GEO games that can be obtained for a fraction of the price on complilation disks and which are superior in port quality and features? NEO GEO downloads are the biggest rip off on VC in my opinion, up their with SEGA's PAL Hanabi games.
Much better value getting one of the Pac Man collections for GBA or DS than paying for just Pac Mania even though its good. Hurry up and give us Donkey Kong arcade please Nintendo
To everyone asking for Shock Troopers, you can get it for a fraction of the cost along with most of the VC NEO GEO Library on the SNK collection for Wii. For PAL regions you get the "bonus" that those games are in 60hz and run proberly unlike the broken offerings on the VC
I do find myself agreeing with the author of this piece. The total lack of marketing for the VC is a disgrace, they pretty much leave it to chance that people will discover it. I've heard stories of people randomly stumbling across it and being blown away that all those games are available. The VC could be a mayor selling point for people turned off by the waggle craze but I guess nintendo doens't need to worry about selling points at the moment.
Comments 549
Re: Nintendo Download: Cubes, Ninjas, Tennis, Strategy Games and Cameras (US)
@ 9. Drake
Actually if you had the classic controller you didn't have to use the virtual keyboard as the cycle inventory buttons were mapped to buttons on the CC. Only the Wiimote required you to use the VK.
Great to see America getting Last Ninja 2, hopefully its a shot in the arm for C64 releases which have been non-existant in PAL regions while Commodore gaming have become ex-communicado.
Re: Review: Golden Axe (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Damo, Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm not saying this to be sarcastic or critical but given the thoughts expressed in this thread it looks to be pretty unanimous what your PAL readers are asking from NL. Clearly they don't consider the debate to be "done". Equally, it can't reasonably be claimed that they "don't care".
Your PAL readers are asking for Nintendo Life to go about educating those who don't know any better and try to seek out answers from Sega. Both seem like perfectly reasonable requests.
Given the comments in this thread, I would urge you to listen to your readers and give them what they want rather than ignoring them based on some percieved opinion that they "don't care" or that it won't work.
As I've said I'm more than happy to assist you with this in any way with this matter, if its too much work for one of your staff to write a discussion piece on it then I'm more than happy to supply one to you as I've written about the issue before for my own website. One way or another it would surely be beneficial for the issue to be discussed properly among a larger part of your readership. I simply care about getting the issue resolved and about waking people up to a problem that has respawned due to consumer apathy and lack of awareness since it was almost eradicated in the early part of the decade.
I believe sites like yours can make a real difference in alerting people to the problem and asking reasonable questions to the relevent people, so I urge you to listen to your readership and have a go.
Re: Review: Golden Axe (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Yes its particularly ironic that after doing so much to make the Dreamcast the standard bearer for 60hz gaming, ten years on Sega are the worst offenders. All the more reason for a site like this to ask their PR people some hard questions. A public relations persons job is to build relations with the public. We are that public and from what I'm reading on here, there are quite a few readers of NL who both care and are annoyed about SEGA's universally shoddy Megadrive, Master System and most shockingly of all, Hanabi PAL conversions.
Re: Review: Golden Axe (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
@Container1024
Although I havn't downloaded it I'd be 99% sure that The VCA release is definately full speed. I've been tracking VC releases for the PAL conversion guide I posted on VC-forums So far, from feedback I've recieved it seems even Sega hasn't been stupid enough to willfully cripple their arcade releases yet. Its the ordinary VC games and the Hanabi titles you need to give a wide birth to if you care about the impacts of borders and slower gameplay.
Re: Review: Soul Blazer (Super Nintendo)
Most people who criticise Illusion of Gaia do so for its linear nature but I'm rather surprised that Corbie finds the story to be its fault. In my view the story in IOG is the most well presented of the Soul Blazer trilogy, a deep, very philosophical and at times darkly tragic tale that advances some of the introspection found in Soul Blazer. The characters, especially the main group of friends are far better developed than in Soul Blazer where the story is rather undernourished at times.
As for the difficulty curve, if anything I've seen criticism of the game that its too easy. I can't recall anything particularly difficult about it especially in comparison to Terranigma which was the first of the 3 to require grinding and had a maddendingly hard final boss.
Re: Review: Soul Blazer (Super Nintendo)
I recently finished it for the first time on my SNES. It's a good game but its overshadowed by its two sequels, Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma. I'd have given it 8/10 as the dungeons can get repetative.
I wouldn't worry about it coming to the VC, I expect the whole trilogy to come eventually but in the meantime everyone who wants it should make sure to download other Quintet releases such as Actraiser to boost its chances.
All the Quintet games are notable for their interesting religious themes which survived NOA's strict "don't mention God" 90's policies more or less intact. God just became "the master".
Re: Review: Golden Axe (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Sean, first of all thank you for accepting the evidence and acknowledging the problem. As I've pointed out though, although its annoying that SEGA insists on giving us the original PAL releases as opposed to tidying them up as it does for the Xbox releases, the real problem is the Hanabi (import) games. On all other formats, i.e SNES, NES etc, Hanabi games are presented in 60hz and exactly as the NTSC games originally were (quite rightly given the 100 point extra cost) as they were never released in PAL territories. yet for some reason when PAL owners download a SEGA Hanabi title like MUSHA they are given a game with borders and slower running speed. It's as if Sega doesn't want to alert people to the fact that its other games have been butchered so is deliberately butchering its import titles so as not to draw attention to it.
There is no reason whatsoever for these games to have borders or slowdown when SEGA could legitimately release the NTSC version as Nintendo et al do and to be honest no reason for Nintendo Life not to highlight this in its reviews of SEGA Hanabi games.
I don't understand how anyone can not feel ripped off by paying an extra 100 points for an import title that has been deliberately downgraded!
Re: Review: Golden Axe (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
@ Bulbasauras Rex
Yes Sonic Mega Collection for Gamecube supports 60hz so is a good alternative to the VC for Wii.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(video_game)
@ Luigi-La-Bouncy and Opa-Opa, thanks for supporting my views. Perhaps it might demonstrate to those who doubt it that their are other people reading NL who care about this issue and that the argument is far from "done"!
p.s Luigi-La-bouncy, have you tried the hori-pad? Its a great Joypad for GC/Wii that works really well with 2D games like Sonic.
Re: Review: Golden Axe (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Good for you Sean, you obviously don't mind playing an inferior port. I'm presuming it isn't a speed reliant game like Sonic the Hedgehog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0llsb77Esc&feature=related
Watch that comparison, then tell me you don't see a difference. Meanwhile if you look at the original Megadrive review on your site:
http://vc.nintendolife.com/games/megadrive/golden_axe
You'll see that only four comments in a disappointed reader has bought the PAL version and discovered it to be "no fun" because of how slow it runs. Presumably had he been warned about it in the review he might not have wasted his money. Just a thought.
Re: Review: Golden Axe (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Damo - I've heard you state before that "the debate is done" and that "Most don't care about it" but what exactly makes you sure of this? Have you conducted a survey among your readers or are you just guessing what millions of PAL gamers out there think? There might be bigger support for this than you think.
Many people do care and as you say often its only ignorance of the problem that causes others not to. Often when people are told about it they have second thoughts, much like Stevie did when I informed him about the problem. Without this information, missing from the review, how could he have accurately judged the best version of golden Axe for him to buy?
Aside from this you are repeating that you contacted Nintendo and didn't get anywhere but I'm not asking Nintendolife to contact Nintendo or wage war on them.
I'm asking if you'd speak to SEGA about it; a totally different proposition. Specifically I'm suggesting you politely email the PR person your site said they were in contact with when you were asking readers to submit their most wanted Sega games a while ago, who's job it is to handle criticism and explain controversial decisions.
I'm not even asking you to push the issue of their conversions being ports of the 90's PAL games. I'm specifically talking about downgraded hanabi ports which I believe SHOULD be mentioned in any review as they are fundamentally different to the originals and can't be justified with the usual "like that to begin with" argument that lazy companies often use to explain their sloppy work.
No other Hanabi games are downgraded by any of the other publishers involved so why do Sega do it? I don't get why this is an unreasonable question for NL to put to SEGA if they have the contacts.
I'd do it myself but I have no such contact...unless you want to pass on the details.
Re: Review: Golden Axe (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Unfortunately one man can't win a war. But a website with a large readership might make an impact. I know that Damo has explained they contacted Nintendo early on in VC-reviews life about the problem and didn't get any joy but NL is a bigger website with a larger following now and by directly questioning, not Nintendo themselves, but the worst offender in Sega (who they've previously indicated having a PR contact with) then they might be able to get some answers, at least over the shocking Hanabi ports.
Can it really hurt to try again?
Re: Review: Golden Axe (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Stevie, If you have the option it might be best to pick up the Sega Megadrive Collection for either 360 or PS3 as it features all 3 Golden Axe's and importantly lets you play them in full screen and full speed 60hz which for some unkown reason Sega refuses to let us do on the VC, even with their Hanabi titles which are bizarrely downgraded to 50hz and have big black borders added to them so as not to stand out from their ordinary PAL releases.
EDIT: Stevie, there is indeed a similar PS2 collection:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Genesis_Collection
Features all 3 Golden Axes and gives you the option of choosing between the old 50hz releases and running them in 60hz as they should be to remove borders and slowdown.
Meanwhile you can complain directly to Sega about their lame PAL VC ports by writing here:
Sega Europe
27 Great West Road
Brentford
Middlesex
TW8 9BW
United Kingdom
It's a pity that Nintendolife, with their more direct contacts won't pick up the baton on this, especially when it comes to the needless downgrading of Hanabi titles where Sega can't even use the old "it was like that to begin with" excuse.
Re: Review: Golden Axe (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
I'm glad this review mostly concentrated on the game rather than just comparing it with the Megadrive game as some duplicate reviews have recently done but once again its missing an important factor in deciding which version to get. The Megadrive version in PAL territories is also inflicted with SEGA's usual awful PAL conversion which means big black borders and slower gameplay. This is another area where the Arcade version imporves on the available Megadrive port.
While I'm aware that this won't affect NA when the game hits that territory its worth noting for Europeans and Australians pondering which game to buy.
Re: Nintendo Download: Super Star Wars, Golden Axe, Magnetis, PooYoos and MySims Camera (EU)
@1. Sneaker
Never fear the developers Wayforward have confirmed that they expect LIT to appear "within a month" so we will get it before the end of the year.
Re: Review: Rygar (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Fixed the sound issues by resetting the game.
Re: Help People Get Their Wii Consoles Online, Get Free Games
Mario Maniac, if it was that easy wouldn't you think that more than 5 people in the whole of Japan would have done it by now?
Re: Help People Get Their Wii Consoles Online, Get Free Games
For everyone asking "how does this work":
IT DOESN'T. It's a publicity stunt by nintendo that nobody will actually be able to achieve. As Drake said only 5 people in the whole of Japan have actually achieved it and they probably bought 20 Wii's to do so.
Not worth getting excited about bar the 500 points you might be able to get taking a new Wii owner online.
Re: Help People Get Their Wii Consoles Online, Get Free Games
That's the thing really, they know they'll give away many 500 points for people connecting one or two friends who don't know better, but I'll be surprised if we ever see more than 5 Platinum people in the UK
Re: Help People Get Their Wii Consoles Online, Get Free Games
I remember reading about this on a Japanese news blog but as I could only find one reference to it on the whole of the internet I assumed it was a hoax.
I'd be surprised if they can offer 3rd party games though but then if only 5 people in the whole of Japan have qualified then its a pretty nothing promotion.
Re: Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge
The move 'Spazz roll' will have to be edited out if it comes to europe. Nintendo already got into trouble once over using that in Mario Party.
Re: Review: Solomon's Key (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
@ Sean Aaron
And thus my point remains. I can't find a single paragraph in this review that talks about "areas where the game is blatently let down".
If a game is going to score a 7 then, as NL's own policy dictates, there must surely be some? What are they?
The NES review only mentions that "Like most NES games the graphics and sound are now very dated" but the arcade review clearly indicates an improvement saying "One obvious difference between the two versions is the game's graphics and sound quality, as you might've guessed" although it then contradicts itself by saying that actually "the music and sound actually don't really sound that much different". Presumabley its the graphics that are better then? Or are they? This is the problem with spending over half the review talking about a different version and the problem with assuming everyone has already bought the NES version, the actual plusses and minuses of the game don't get covered and the score ends up coming out of nowhere with nothing to back it up.
Re: Nintendo Trademarks "The Last Story"
I rather hope it is a new IP. Nintendo could so with some.
Re: Super Nintendo Review Fridays
Actually Mario did appear on the C64 as Mario Bros was released for it.
Re: Review: Solomon's Key (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Adam,
I've read it, but the original review is actually shorter than this one and uses the phrase "we'd highly recommend you check this out"...before also giving it it 7/10
I don't mind admitting I'm confused as to how the final score for both games were achieved as both reviews include phrases that imply the game is a near must have then give it a score that merely indicates 'slightly better than average'.
Re: Review: Solomon's Key (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Alot of assuming going on there I feel. Just because a game is already available doesn't mean people will necessarily know anything about it, least of all 'most' people. If you were reviewing another version of Super Mario Bros then that might be a reasonable assumption but Soloman's Key, while not being outright obscure, isn't exactly the sort of game that is known to the masses.
The bottom line is that after reading the review I have a firm idea that this is a better game than the NES version...but that's all. There's nothing to tell me why it gets the score it does or why I should or shouldn't consider investing in it, which, in my view at least, is why I would read a review. Simply stating why its better than another version doesn't help me decide on it as an individial purchase it just tells me that if I do get it I should get this version.
The review summary says "If, for some reason, you haven't yet bought the NES version" which makes it sound like you feel it has been a pretty essential purchase in its NES incarnation, but then the game only gets 7/10 which doesn't really scream 'must buy'.
More detail on the game itself and less details about the NES version might have got across the merits of the game as a piece of entertainment rather than a duplicate of something you feel most people will already be familiar with.
Like I say, I'm not saying comparison pieces can't be useful or shouldn't have a place on VC sites with all the duplicating that goes on but I don't feel a review is the place for them as I'd rather read about the game itself and see it judged on its own merits.
Re: Review: Solomon's Key (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
While its definately appropriate to mention that a NES version already exists this review dwells on it to the point where it just becomes a list of the differences. Only the second paragraph seems geared to telling you about the game without mentioning the word NES somehow (which is mentioned 10 times throughout the review!).
By all means write a comparison article but try and keep it seperate from the review which should really focus on the game itself not just comparing areas of it with another version that might be available.
Re: Review: Rygar (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Okay, I've now deleted and redownloaded Rygar and there are still sound problems. The game emits a hideous crackling noise at random intervals that corrupts the music and sound (most often near the end of the level, when entering the vault).
Has anyone else had this issue yet. I'm playing the PAL release.
Re: Review: Rygar (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
I've been doing a Five Credit run on it so far and can get to level 8 quite easily. I didn't realise that the game had 27 levels though so I may allow myself some more credits to play through with. Its very hard to get on the games high score table as you don't just have to get a high score but you have to achieve it on a high level with a good rank. Because of this I've beaten my own high score yet didn't get onto the table above a lower score I registered.
Re: Review: Rygar (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
Anyone else experiencing sound problems with this. When I played it tonight there was a crackling sound that randomly appeared every minute or so. Tried reloading it and it was still there. Other VC games were fine so it wasn't my telly.
Re: Review: Rygar (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
For me the game has big nostalgia factor from playing it on the C64. Alot of reviews keep mentioning the NES version but seem to forget that not everyone owned a NES and in England especially home computers like the C64 and Spectrum were the norm so this is a superior version of the game to the one many of us played as children. Even among my NES owning friends i don't recall anyone owning Rygar so perhaps the game wasn't as well known in some countries as others.
A six seems a tad low for me as there's good replay value with high scores and rankings to attain and challenge over (which the review doesn't mention). That was always the point in arcade games which were never about flashy endings, but its something that's lost on the current generation who've been led towards expecting individual reward over competative 'king of the arcade' style bragging rights. I'd give it a 7 if I had no nostalgia coming into it and an 8 with the added nostalgia factor because its a genuinely challenging title that rewards skill unlike so many arcade titles that just rely on coin drainage, its more than possible to master Rygar so that it can be completed within a reasonable amount of credits.
Either way, this is the first VCA title to convince me to part with my money and at 600 points its good value I feel. Roll on Rastan Saga!
Re: Rygar
The review is technically incorrect on one point. Rygar (or Lygar) is not the name of the hero in this game, that's a misconception. Its actually the name of the villain. The hero is simply known as the Warrior of Argos
Re: Review: Contra ReBirth (WiiWare)
I count 3 buttons on my wiimote: A, 1 and 2. Surely A could have been used for a smartbomb.
Re: Review: Contra ReBirth (WiiWare)
I wonder why they left out double firepower when the classic "pose" is included on the character select screen.
Slightly disappointed to have my fears that they've basically remade a level from Contra 3 instead of making all new content. Contra: Rehash?
Re: Nintendo Download: Contra Rebirth, 6 in 1 Dictionary (EU)
@ Chibi and other Australians upset at not having contra.
Just change your region to the UK, your games won't dissapear, however any wiipoints you have when you change WILL, Permanently.
If you don't have any points sitting there doing nothing on your account though then there is no problem.
Change your region to the UK, purchase 1000 points, buy Contra then change back. The pricing of Contra is actually perfect for region swapping as provided you don't have spare points lying arond you lose nothing and gain a game!
Re: Japanese Virtual Console list - September 2009
Fuzzy, no we have the first SNES Goemon game, this is the third one.
Re: Review: Shadowrun (Super Nintendo)
I don't think its aged at all.
Re: Review: Shadowrun (Super Nintendo)
Great game, great memories, beat it three or four times and found new things evertime.
Totally unique on a platform crowded with jrpgs
Re: Mario vs. Donkey Kong and Pilotwings Out in Europe This Friday
Great to see pilotwings finally arrive but I have it for Snes already. Here's hoping Nintendo will bring the N64 version to the VC. But only if they fix its horendous PAL borders first.
Re: Buy Metroid Prime Trilogy, Get the Original Metroid Free
So lets get this straight:
If we already own Metroid Prime which includes a 60hz version of Metroid as an unlockable we get to spend £30 rebuying the same game without the unlockable but get nintendo's broken 50hz vc game instead.
No thanks!
Re: Revenge of Shinobi - Spidey goes pink!
StarwolfUK: Any idea if M2 are also responsible for the PAL downgrade in Megadrive Hanabi titles?
Re: Review: Sexy Poker (WiiWare)
Airola, you need to look harder. There have been Strip Poker games since the days of the ZX Spectrum. It's not a new concept but just like it ws on the ZX Spectrum it remains a pointless one.
You're right to say that other games are equally unworthy of their release but even if they are bad game at least they are trying to be games. Nobody is seriously buying "games" like this for the "game", hence the optinon of free galleries to "look at".
Re: Review: Sexy Poker (WiiWare)
I think many people here are missing the point of my argument (Airola & jbrodack) in particular.
I am not in the slightest bit bothered about people who want to pleasure themselves over pictures of naked and or semi naked girls nor do I feel such material should be outlawed. The point, as I see it is that their is plenty of this type of material freely available over the internet or to purchase in other mediums. It's not therefore necessary for a developer to try to sell it over the Wii's gaming portal by tacking a joke of a card game onto it.
I would prefer it if Nintendo were to encourage developers to shy away from disguising soft porn as videogames as soft porn is readily available in other forms that don't eat up the Wii's release schedule.
For those who think this doesn't have an impact on the VC, sorry but it does. The "Nintendo Download" as it is these days is made up of releases for all three formats: Wiiware, DSiware and VC. When garbage like this is released it eats up a space that might have been taken by a proper game either on vc or Wiiware that was is scheduled for release (like SMK for example).
People can find plenty of hentai on the internet for free. also freely available on the internet are many potential VC releases. Nintendo might want to start concentrating on those growing impatient to legally purchase the latter instead of giving them the former.
The fact that this "game" has been rated M is also a sad indictment on an industry that's still being viewed with kid gloves. Until it grows up and stops tittering and obsessing over breasts its hard to see how it will ever be taken seriously when nudity is required for genuine artistic reasons.
Re: Review: Sexy Poker (WiiWare)
Gabbo, how about you actually read what I said instead of putting your own interpretation of it in 'oh so clever' inverted commas. The fact that gameloft does not have the rights to Donkey Kong or Earthbound or even Super Mario Kart does not change the fact that Nintendo DOES and could possibly be releasing them now if space in the release schedule wasn't being taken up by unadulterated purile guff like this "game".
What I was suggesting was that instead of crying into its soup that the game doesn't have nudity the review might be better served lamenting that Nintendo ever passed this rubbish fit for release ahead of some of the great titles its sitting on in the first place.
While a review might be important/necessary to tell people how bad a "game" this is. The fact that over 200 words of it are spent bemoaning the fact that it doesn't have real women in and/or nudity in it is a sad reflection of what score the reviewer might have given it had it contained such elements.
Those two hundred words might have better been spent reflecting on how garbage like this is filling up the Nintendo download release schedule ahead of the things most of us actually got the Wii for: Video-games.
Re: Review: Sexy Poker (WiiWare)
Instead of this review crying that there's no nudity in the game like an adolescent boy perhaps it would be more productive to condemn garbage like this for even being suggested as a release in the first place.
As evilralfwiggum points out in his post we are being passed over for the likes of Donkey Kong Arcade and Earthbound so that utter drivel like this can be pumped out and sold to 13 year old boys who havn't discovered how to do a google search.
I know why I bought a Wii and it wasn't to download softcore hentai/ hardcore porn or anything else of that kind, it was to play a great library of videogames...remember them?
I'm all for Nintendo and indeed the games industry growing up. This however is more like a regression into infancy.
Re: Wrecking Crew
Can you jump in this game?
Re: What Neo Geo games do you want to see on the Virtual Console?
Adroitone, I did not say anything about the disk releases being superior emulations of the games. My complaint was in the comparison of price and lousy PAL conversion.
As an NTSC gamer you don't suffer the problems PAL users do with the NEO GEO's lousy VC conversions (borders, squashed graphics and slower gameplay and music). Consider yourself fortunate you don't.
Re: What Neo Geo games do you want to see on the Virtual Console?
Corbie, what do SNK expect but poor sales figures for NEO GEO downloads when they give us downloadable games that are ten times as expensive and inferior in options and PAL conversions to their disk based release? Do they honestly think people will pay hundreds of pounds/dollars to acquire NEO GEO games that can be obtained for a fraction of the price on complilation disks and which are superior in port quality and features?
NEO GEO downloads are the biggest rip off on VC in my opinion, up their with SEGA's PAL Hanabi games.
Re: Japanese Virtual Console list - August 2009
Much better value getting one of the Pac Man collections for GBA or DS than paying for just Pac Mania even though its good. Hurry up and give us Donkey Kong arcade please Nintendo
Re: What Neo Geo games do you want to see on the Virtual Console?
To everyone asking for Shock Troopers, you can get it for a fraction of the cost along with most of the VC NEO GEO Library on the SNK collection for Wii. For PAL regions you get the "bonus" that those games are in 60hz and run proberly unlike the broken offerings on the VC
Re: Nintendo Rep: Virtual Console Being Toned Down
I do find myself agreeing with the author of this piece. The total lack of marketing for the VC is a disgrace, they pretty much leave it to chance that people will discover it. I've heard stories of people randomly stumbling across it and being blown away that all those games are available. The VC could be a mayor selling point for people turned off by the waggle craze but I guess nintendo doens't need to worry about selling points at the moment.