Captain_Konami

@shadows262:
News flash everyone, no one in this thread expressed the idea that Banjo Kazooie or Goldeneye WOULD be coming out for the VC anytime soon.

And considering the number and variety of manuvers for Banjo-Kazooie in their game vs Mario in Mario64, and the detail and parallels of Goldeneye between the game and the movie, along with the missions and the fairly interactive environment for a FPS........I'm gonna have to give very little weight to anyone's gaming views who chooses to stomp on one of those games, much less both.

In other words, I heartily disagree.

Ok, I need to really enthusiastically support the original review and score here. People keep defending this game as a "good" game, but I challenge anyone to list even three things that make this game "good". I know people will list the selection of cars (which is a very poor small selection of cars compared to so many other racing games, and its not like the cars even handle that differently......it almost seems insulting to offer a set of different cars that all end up being the same in practice). And then what? The interactive tracks? (As I recall it was like driving down a hallway with scenery wallpapered up, save for the rare token objects to hit and have no effect on) The challenge of the other cars on the course? (My Commodore 64 Pole Position game had more AI, and was a fuller environment with more reactive car handling than this, and that's an ARCADE port some decade or more before this, on a weaker system......)

This game may be an ok arcade game, but how does that make it "good" in any other format, especially the one being reviewed here? It's a hollow game with a poor driving experience, very very few added things to create any depth of gameplay, and the visuals are so obviously flat and repetitive that this game is indeed an insult on any game system save for maybe the Atari 2600.

I have a challenging time believe that anyone's first experience with this game after the age of 12, or outside of "playing with your pal" (which can make even the worst game fun), I have a hard time believing this will provide a satisfying long term experience for anyone outside of those situations.

Needless to say this was a blind purchase for me by my mom back in the day, and it was one of the most disappointing and wasteful experiences I've had with a video game. Maybe if it hadn't been such a tragic underuse of so powerful and great a game system as the N64.

This game should roll over and thank its lucky stars for getting even 1 star. It's shallow, it's driving feel is so poor/lame/unreal as to almost not even count as a car game, and it's a flippin N64 game while accomplishing as little as it does. I encourage people who (have actually played the game and) question the 1 star score to raise their standards and look for something with more to offer than a handful of cars and a simpleton gaming experience. Acceptable game for the preteens. Terrible gaming standard for most anyone else. If you want your racing simple, go get a classics collection with something like Pole Position (or even Night Driver would be better ) and don't settle for poor and inadequate.

And two of the best N64 games will almost certainly never be on there either due to those issues, Banjo and Goldeneye (3 if you count Banjo Tooie).

Probably more great games made off of big (and problematic) licenses than otherwise. There really should be boundaries, or at least statues of limitations on using likenesses. Or originally granted authorizations to usage being irrevocable. Or something...... I'd thrill to having my NBA Live 96 (SNES) downloadable before my cartridge fails (in my opinion the last fun console basketball game).

Ditto to Stuffgamer's reasoning on the MSX versions of Metal Gear I and II. I'm covered, but some folks probably aren't, and additional systems on the VC is ENTIRELY welcome (though if it's MSX OR C64........sorry, MSX just doesn't have the value to be the one if it's an either/or), and I'd like to have them more convenient than to pop in a disc into my PS2.

@Stuffgamer:

After reading your own take on the original Star Fox, I'm set upon by a curiosity, which one did you play first in your gaming career, Star Fox or Star Fox 64? I've got a standing theory about first in later generation game experiences being detrimental to leter exposure to earlier generation console predecessors of a franchise.
(e.g. People newly on board the Final Fantasy franchise with VII not being capable of seeing the ultimate truth of II and III (US SNES) being the best FF of all out there. )

Hmm, a game just potentially good enough to make a one-game week palatable. Even if the game is not as strong as Startropics I in the intangibles (music, story, ambiance essentially), it's one of those relatively unplayed games by a great many that is just good enough that it needed to be made available to folks. And Nintendo VC at least delivered on that. I'll download it, but perhaps not immediately. Not good enough to demand immediate attention, but still important to not be set aside entirely.

As for the lists dejour that seem to be the thing at the moment, I can pull from others who've already posted for some of my games.... (only one person listing Chrystalis???????? And no mention of Faxandu yet?? ):

1. Bionic Commando (my favorite game to trot out and beat on an annual basis)
2. Goonies II (guarenteed to drive you nuts with the Cindy Lauper song while still enjoying the experience)
3. Starfox (SNES) (I promise this WILL have aged well....or at least to me. This is very playable and just purely well done action fun. Plus it netted me a free jacket and a tee shirt back in the day )
4. Final Fantasy (and II and III (SNES) .....though #2 is OBVIOUSLY the best ever, based on the redemption story..... with #1 being just a great bizarre twisting story and philosophical mindbender)
5. Pro Wrestling
6. Metal Gear I and II (and by "II" I'm asking for Snake's Revenge....which'll probably get me lynched clean out of here, but I really REALLY warmed up to the mix of styles and the boss situations and even the overly intracate infiltration bit at the start.....it's fondly regarded by me)
7. A Boy and His Blob (still got the cart, but would buy the VC version in a heartbeat)
8. Blaster Master (one of the games I love that has defied my attempts to beat it, but with a VC save point that could change )
9. Chrystalis
10. Faxandu
10.1 (CAN'T be left off......) Rygar

With Super Mario Kart (SNES) and Batman (NES) being FAR too cool for Nintendo to fail to get them out to VC. And I wouldn't mind seeing Willow, Clash at Demonhead, Ducktales, Caveman Games (I'd RATHER have it on the system I originally played it on, the C64, but either way), Shadowgate, Double Dragon II, Strider, Dragon Warrior, Golgo 13, Karnov, Gumshoe, TMNT: Tournament Fighters (SNES), ..........and C64 capability for NA along with Raid Over Moscow, Gi Joe, and Silent Service all rolled out soon after.

And that's my belated Nintendo VC Christmas list. Heck, if Big N would do any one of those in the next 6 months I'd shut my yap for a month. Any 2 of these in the next 6 months and I'd shut my Nintendo criticizing cake-hole indefinitely (unless they later did something just too heinous to stand by and watch without comment).

As an aside, I'd say Midway Arcade Treasures is one of the stronger collections of classic games available. A good choice even if not specifically for a certain game or another.

As for the Japanese release schedule, Smash Bros being released is really not really The WOW in my book. It's fun. It's an N64 title. It's Mario (and friends). But it's not something I'm going to defer to to play in place of other classic fighting games I've got. It's worthwhile as something to grab for sentiment sake, but even if it trickles down to NA within 6 months of of release in Japan, I'm probably not going to spend on it until I go through other top purchase options among the VC library.

And while it's better than having NOTHING likely to look forward to, it's just not enough to reverse my low opinion of Nintendo's support for VC currently. But, I guess for many others it's Any Port in a Storm......get it? Port? Port?? .....Neither do I.

Hopefully though, this might be an indicator of a return to proper N64 support for the VC. I wouldn't mind seeing Rogue Squadron on the VC at some point (if the license could be squeezed out of Ol George's god-complex.......that's the organization AND the personality trait ).

Um, Boogerman?

More seriously, between what I have on PS2 Capcom, Sega, and Namco collections, original NES, SNES, and N64 cartridges, just about the only things I've downloaded that aren't duplicated are WiiWare, TG16 games, Super Mario RPG, Startropics, Tennis, Mega Man 1, and Harvest Moon. I've made peace with duplication, for the sake of archival and convenience purposes.

@Bass X0: Not at all wrong........ just potentially masochistic.

But yes, I still have a tiny sparkle in my heart holding out hope that N will manage a Christmas effort in the next 24 hours.

@"The most awesome thing about a 2-D missile . . . the guy it's being fired at wouldn't be able to see it coming at him! XD (only everyone on the side)"

Yeah! But can you imagine how hard it is to hit someone with a missile that's only one pixel/atom wide? It better be a homing missile and turn on rails...... but then that's why they gave us 2D Freeze Beam.

And a new 3D 3rd person Metroid and/or a new 2D would obtain my money sight unreviewed. Truly a potentially great application of WiiWare (assuming they could be fit within Wii storage limits ).

@Cally's "<gets out a big sword and chases Metroid Prime-haters> "

Bah! I'd just blast ya with my 2-D missle.

Actually, even a dislike of the concept could not overcome the quality of the presentation, thus I actually purchased a used copy of Prime right after I added a Gamecube to my collection. (But we all know I just bought it to play the original Metroid ..... ).

Mr.Cheez, in my post #80 I copy/pasted the text from the FAQ page on the Club website that addresses registering VC games purchased prior to linking your Wii Shop account to your Club account.

If you go to the actual FAQ page on the Club website, and scroll down to right near the bottom, you'll find that text and a link in the text that will take you to a general Customer Support Form page to fill in and send in to Nintendo requesting registration of your VC games.

Just to inform people as much as possible, this is the response I got to my initial use of the form to ask about registering my VC games:

Hello,

Virtual Console and WiiWare games downloaded before you linked your Wii Shop Channel Account to your My Nintendo or Club Nintendo accounts will not be registered. In order for me to register them in your Club Nintendo account I need you to reply to this email with the following information:

Name

Home address

Email address

Wii console serial number

Game titles

Please make sure to include your original email as well as this response when you reply.

One more thing: It’s important to note that not all WiiWare and Virtual Console games are eligible for surveys to earn coins. More importantly, those surveys will not appear until four weeks after the game is registered. You can find a complete list of qualifying titles at our Club Nintendo FAQ. I’ve put a direct link to the FAQ below:

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/club/en/faq.jsp#register_all

Sincerely,

T. J. Geise
Nintendo of America Inc.

Hope this is of help to folks.

@Big A2: I empathize with your perspective, and that's really why I don't set my heart on any one game. I'm pretty easy to please, so long as the game(s) are high quality and ones I like. Any of those will do......

@Mr. Cheez: YEAH....... life can be a burden sometimes. Enjoy that 360. Once I get my hands on one, I doubt it'll convert me to a hardcore 1st person gamer, but I'll probably dabble a bit more than currently. The graphics are just to great, and at high res output........ gotta give them a taste. And I will at least conceed, in spite of my preference, that Prime seemed to be a high quality product. I can fully see why it is popular.

@Manicfatty: I had that very same reaction to the idea presented that kids were just not playing the Mature games these days. It IS happening. It IS disturbing. And it IS probably having enough momentum to continue (so long as parents choose to care more about paying attention to things other than realistic environments that allow preteens to shoot or beat a realistic representation of a living being to a bloody pulp. Even freedom of experience has limits and can reach unhealthy extremes, and parents are the only saftey valve. But in terms of the presentation, I imagine the game and game system makers are probably not losing too much sleep over it. But Nintendo certainly found a magic bullet to embrace new young gamers, new elderly gamers, and even somewhat intrigue long term gamers (though I assume the VC was probably just simply their strategy for hooking the hardcore and old school gamers who might have been the most immune to the Wowy Zowy of the "new" motion controls) with reliable wireless motion control schemes.

@Stuffgamer1: I'm sure once Nintendo puts out some motion sensitive shoes, they'll put out an immersive Virtual Metroid. Either that, or go the Mega Man 9 route and step back to old school. But I bet on them upping the ante beyond First Person, if they ever get around to doing something with the franchise again.

If we didn't have one, I'd have never bought a Wii. And I'd have left my Big 3 classic Nintendo systems hooked up. And I would have been lucky enough to have invested my Would-Be-Wii Money in an Xbox360 and feel the slimy hand of Microsoft love rather than the icy grip of Nintendo disregard.

Sorry, but as far as the "we're lucky" concept........that dog just won't hunt. Or that's not cricket. Or.......fill in your own euphemism for "No Sale".

@Mr. Cheez: Actually I HAVE heard rumors that someone out there actually enjoyed Metroid Prime. I heard that person lives in some remote village in Nebraska or Alaska ...... one of those askas.

Seriously though, I can see how a good many folks went for it. I'm an odd one and I'll cop to it. I like my first person shooter franchises to be first person shooter franchises and I like my spooky platformers to stay platformers. Even when Castlevania II went all different, it was still a platformer.

Besides, I'm historically First Person Shooter unaccepting. When done JUST right, I'll love it to death (see: Goldeneye), but otherwise as gaming concepts go it's just not my cup of cake. Metroid being made first person would be like the Metal Gear Solid franchise going entirely First Person Perspective. Just not an upgrade by my taste.

@Stuffgamer1:
I noticed ya Stuffgamer1. I just don't know what to say. I think Phantasy Star IV is great enough to ALMOST prop up the week, if it weren't a Christmas week that is. I do indeed own it on the 28 game Sega compilation, and I plan on buying it for my VC as well. It saves me having to swap out whatever PS2 disc I've got in the machine, track down which of my half dozen PS2 memory cards I have my Phantasy Star game saved on, etc etc. And I'm JUST ....BARELY.....on this side of the boundary where I'll still reward Nintendo for it's better VC releases by buying them if can at all justify it based on my love of the game.

And I am INDEED one of those people without an alternative current gen system aside from my Wii (which I would not buy compilations for even if they wer coming out for it hand over feet......my Mega Man, Sega, Sega Genesis, Metal Slug, etc etc anthologies are all on my PS2. It avoids Wii control issues. It avoids the unimpressiveness of the Gamecube controller and it's button mapping shortcomings. But I will either manifest the money for an Xbox 360 soon, and the better driving weather to obtain one (Jasper model only thank you......Microsoft's laziness spawned Red Ring of Death can just munch my butt ), or I will have no options regarding this mega mega Sega release of the future.

So I do what I can, I appreciate one more quality game that I can add to the convenience of my Wii's harddrive........harddrive ......Wah hahahahahahahahaha.....ahem.........harddrive.

@Shadx:
Having the cart for F-Zero IS more satisfying. I lost mine some time back and absolutely was not content until I picked up another one.
As for looking to get Double Dash, good luck with that. I think there are still copies out there, but from the time I finally jumped into owning a Gamecube (which was a late as possible due to me not liking the darn thing much.......I'm a cartridge devotee........as of last year when support went away and I snagged mine for $50 day after Thanksgiving from Amazon) the used Mario games generally have refused to drop in price, and I refuse to pay the full Gamecube price for an out of print game that I already have on cartridge for the N64 that does it well enough.

@"every Metroid game is a masterpiece":
I was going to say that it's impossible to argue with truth like that, but then I remembered the sacrilege done to the concept by converting to a 1st person shooter............. and then I can't entirely agree with that. So I'll partially agree with that, with regards to all non Gamecube Metroid games.

@Shadx:

As far as good multiplayer games, I have to highly recommend River City Ransom and Super Dodge Ball.
And Contra III is pretty good as well. Not quite as purely good as the original Contra, but with some nice weapon swapping abilities that #1 didn't have.
There is a nice set of multiplayer games under the N64 section of games. Wave Race is tight. Mario Kart is classic.
As for solo games, any Zelda, but especially the SNES one. Same thing goes for the Super Mario games.
Ninja Gaiden 2 is a top action game. And Mega Man 2 must be tried, as it is pure greatness. And F-Zero is plain yet classic racer.

"However I find that the ARCADE (not console) perfect conversions, proper PAL conversions as well as the extras that are always added to even the lowliest port are MORE than worth it.
If you're going to give people the rundown on Live Arcade at least give the positives and not just the negatives. Oh and the arcade conversions are nearly always games that people actually want rather than NES volleyball etc."

"The whole VC experiment, while a marvelous idea in principle has become a relative disaster. Any ideas people had about building up a virtual library to finally get rid of all those dust covered carts will surely have been abandoned long ago, while PAL gamers hoping to finally play the correct speed versions of there games also suffered dissapointment.
The storage situation, meanwhile remains a joke that Nintendo is not only not able to laugh at but seemingly unable to comprehend."

*Quoted for being entirely true and very well put. *

And on the idea that Big N can't get a hold of game licenses, thus leading to one game weeks, I'm pretty sure there are literally dozens of 1st party games that could supplement other titles into making for 2+ VC game weeks. Clu Clu Lad being a marvelous example of the at least semi-enjoyable 1st party games that could be released more frequently.

And while I don't find existence of compilations enough of a reason alone for me personally to avoid downloading a VC game (I value the above mentioned avoiding of carts/discs/etc quite highly), even the one-sided posters in this thread telling critics to shut up need to manifest enough sense to acknowledge the value difference between games that can't be obtained anymore and games that can be bought right now new and packaged with 5 or 10 other games included. I myself skipped VC Metal Slug expressly for getting around to buying it and SIX more Metal Slug games on one PS2 disc for only TWO times the price of Metal Slug VC.

But I encourage folks to continue RAH RAH RAHing the VC and utterly ignoring and stubbornly disregarding people's reasonable grounds for criticism. Just please STOP with the telling others what views they can express and where. Take that kind of arrogant dictatorship to someplace where people like others trying to play god toward them.

And based on the list of 17 high rated games that someone posted as absolute and complete evidence that no one can justifiably criticize the VC release schedule, even if people do like ya'll want and ignore reality, like some types of games being 5 star but not having a wide audience (the non-RPGers in this thread being a plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face example that you either ignored or failed to read before posting such) and other 5 star games that did not port well (due to PAL or whatnot) .....and you end up with AT BEST one GENERALLY great game per MONTH.

That is 17 great games per YEAR. Just how many YEARS do ya'll anti-critic critics think we have before the VC is no longer viable? Some of us don't have YEARS to spend making excuses for Nintendo and clinging to a vast potential that is utterly not being fulfilled.

You know what I love more than hypocrisy? Unrealistic and extreme one-sidedness. Honesty is grey. The VC has accomplishments, but it is also falling down on the job. Badly.

Bah, I should not wade in. The foolishness of ignoring negatives, and ordering others to do the same, is just too easy to show as bad form. The flaws don't even need to be pointed out, as they are numerous and without good solution beyond Nintendo just doing their work better.

Edit: @71. NintendoBrad: I think it would get exercised in only the first 50 or so posts if stubborn folks would not pick fights by taking an ill considered and timed argument describing the VC as "just fine". Certain people put gas on the fire and we end up with borderline flaming (get it? gas, fire, flame? That was clever. ). If people could speak their piece, the thread would probably settle down to game discussion sooner. But yeah, the negativity is getting old, almost as old as one game weeks for VC releases.

@Adamant:

You speak truth. I just wish we could get Big N to aim a little higher than "acceptable". People have been waiting decades to play some of the great classic NES, SNES, Master System, and Genesis games. Nintendo goes big by setting up a system to make dreams into reality and then.......... turns the spigot down to trickle. The word TEASE is too kind.

But Phantasy Star IV is certainly great enough to save the week from being an utter insult. Instead it converts to just a minor concern.

It is ......at least......... a decent game. At one game per week it'll take years to beef up my VC library with higher quality classics, but it is at least an upward trend from Enduro Racer.

I shall download this very very soon, but any sort of enthusiasm I was pondering for a spending spree on a handful of other semi-wanted VC games just plain went away with yet ANOTHER 1 game week over a Christmas holiday. Compared to other game system makers, Big N is the Scroogiest.

Oh well. A great game. There is that.

Well HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! .........A one game week even on Christmas. If it were anything worse than PSIV, I'd have to Bah Humbug in this post. As it stands, Big N just gets a Whatever.

I'll curl up with Phantasy Star IV and pretend/imagine that there haven't been so few seriously good games for months at a time and that all is well. PSIV will buy me just enough good will to invent such a mindset.

@Big A2:

Yowwwww. Half game weeks. I thought maybe ya'll had not been hit with such yet. I guess anything's possible for the Big N. I guess NA could even get nothing at all for Christmas (I doubt it..... but my faith in N's motivations has been diminished in past weeks/months).

@Big A2:

I get what yer saying, but since there were two games mentioned, isn't that 1 game per week, or two games per fortnight, if you prefer?

Well score Europe! Good show. Nintendo finally coughed it up after keeping it in their back pocket too long. Of the two absent games, SoM or Mario Golf, you easily got the better of two I'd say.

And with Sonic as the back up, just getting things up to a one-game-per-week status, eh....it could be worse.

Enjoy that SoM you guys!

I think people who tell other people to "KNOCK IT OFF!!" need to knock it off. People need to stop acting like......... and let other people speak their minds without others trying to beat them down.

Sorry, off topic, but I think it's important. It's still the Net, and people verbally abusing other people won't go away, but hopefully some of those that would, might find just enough maturity to skip doing so if reminded that it reflects badly on themselves more than accomplishing anything else.

I was looking over the list of potential catch-up games.......would Big N dare drop a single game week of Skate or Die on NA?

Heh, not quite as poor as Enduro Racer (personally I owned it, found it frustrating yet mildly charming.....but ALWAYS prefered my TandC Surf Design), but I suspect that might not be well received.

Personally, I'm now hoping for Clash at Demonhead from out of nowhere. I've tried hoping for CIII and PSIV and that hasn't worked. I don't dare hope for Pro Wrestling (which would make a really neat Christmas gift). So, I choose to look forward to a random favorite of mine like Clash at Demonhead.

Hah. Yeah, I suspect they had to make up for a lack of game length with some "quicksand" points along the way.

But then some of the most satisfying games I can look back on were the ones where they took the challenge right up to the edge of insanity.

Yeah, Decent Storage Capacity For a System Designed to Download Games for the win. The Wii just has too many frickin Wiiknesses to also not put its best foot forward with the quality of its game release schedule.

.......A SanDisk card for a hard drive. Stupidest move ever.

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Mega Geek:
GET EQUIPPED
WITH
COOLNESS BUSTER

But, were there any prior to this that combined the life like movement and physics with an interactive puzzle solving environment? I can't think of any that predate Impossible Mission. EPYX was almost always right on the edge of gaming for the C64. A lot of high quality offerings, as I recall. Good times.

Heh, brings back memories of trying to make those jumps across the river using my old atari joystick. It was annoying enough to almost ruin the game for me. A D-pad probably would have been much nicer. I still defer to my D-pad even on my Playstation 2 games that are primarily designed around the sticks. Perhaps the wost thing about the Gamecube was that horribly small D-pad on the Gamecube controllers.

@cheeseman: I dunno cheeseman, ............. somehow I'm just not feeling it. That just doesn't seem to work as a caption. I mean, isn't a bit ethnocentric to assume he's American? If anything I'd say he was Japanese.
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Oh, and two more:

"No. I'm not actually a Nintendo Game Tester. But I did fall asleep on an Ebay page last night.

"I r teh leet Sega gamer of ALL TIME. ...SEGA!! ....... ...... ....... ...This is where SegaCon is at, isn't it??"

@MaxPlastic: Heh, no lynching coming. (have I cultivated that intimidating a presence? )

I see your perspective, and in a certain way I agree with it. Readers (just like any consumer) should bring a minimum level of critical thought (questioning and identifying the limits of usefulness) to the stuff they consume, in this case the written word.

Where we split a bit is that, while I see weaknesses with reviews based on ROMs, the core of my concern actually lies in writing the review as if it is of the VC game, when (using ROMs) it typically is being meant as a review of the game in general, or perhaps more accurately the game concepts (since game controls and graphics and such are tied to the specific platform the game is played on).

The issue that primarily concerns me is the ambiguity of such. Now if each written review stated (in a box or in the text itself) what platform the review was being based on, that would (in my mind at least) solve that issue. People could have more confidence in "which grain of salt" to take with it (the review), so to speak. To regard the review as a direct review of the VC game itself, or take it as a generalized review that doesn't really speak to the reality of the VC experience of the game (which often enough will be almost indistinguishable, but still not always).

And then people would know if the mention or lack of mention of PAL slowdoown (for example) is due to there being no slow down, or the review not knowing.

And to be utterly frank, with none of us paying money for the site's content, a large part of me wouldn't blame the reviewers for sticking to the (free) ROM reviews over the direct VC reviews (that would cost the money download for every game that gets released). The reviews would still be FAR from valueless, just not quite the full meal deal. Certainly people would still be able to make some "interest" decisions based on ROM reviews, and those who want the details of the experience on the specific platform would get somewhat less value from the reviews and may need supplemental input from elsewhere to feel good about making the game purchase.

I guess it's one of those striking-a-balance issues. A "How much quality can be sacrificed for convenience?" without losing too much quality or without losing too much convenience. I don't have "the" answer to that. But at least perhaps a note or icon or something identifying the source material for the review, listed in the review, might be an all around positive thing regardless of which way the teeter totter ends up leaning.

And certainly I'd still like to humble ask for Full Meal Deal reviews of the VC versions themselves, while I'm currently expounding endlessly.

@MaxPlastic's comment about us being an "insatiable crowd":

NOW you've gone too far!!!! I demand a retraction!!!
By the way, where the heck is my Pro Wrestling?!?! Where's my A Boy and His Blob???? More!! More, I want more!!!! ............Um, never mind about that retraction.

Yeah Virus, that actually was more what I was originally anticipating. Everything about this setup says "Hey, we're here to make you happy, now please don't bother us."

If that is actually the case, GEE I guess it sure is a good thing I have one single registration code from my Wii Play.

All I can say is that it better start racking up points on my future VC purchases (the enthusiasm for such getting slimmer and slimmer all the time), else I'll then also have to blame Big N for wasting my time.

@Clayfrd: Yeah. Wii Play is kinda odd, it's great for short pick-up-and-play but poor for playing for any prolonged period of time. It's kind of the Vanilla Wafers of gameplay.

@Adamant: Thanks for the confirm. I guess I'll jump through the hoop and see where I land (or more appropriately, where my VC purchases land).

"I am Locutus of Nintendo. You WILL be assimilated!"

"Out of work Nintendo Mercenary.
Will play for food."

When Wii 1 was put to market to use regular size CDs (finally) and offer not even MUSIC CD support, much less DVD support....... and short in so many other areas as well (such as hard drive capacity and output video resolution)......... I've been a bit slow in coming around to it but it's become clear to me that this was a rush job to keep up with the other two Joneses (same cause as that of the Red Ring of Death %'s on that OTHER system) and strictly a test ground for their motion sensing equipment and software, as well as a way to nab some dough off people while Big N buys time to put out a proper modern gen console.

And I fell for it right along with so many others.

Oh well......I'll hold tight to what great VC games I've gotten out of my Wii, and seriously question if I'll ride their ride again when Wii 2 comes out, and that quite soon ( and probably closer Xbox360 Pro an PS3 price ranges when N finally puts out a proper system).

Or as Snoopy would put it .........Bleaaaaaaaaah.

I see now.

Only 1st party games. No controllers or other N hardware. And the Wii itself doesn't net you any coins either...... (the biggest dollar item a person can buy from them and it nets no coins............and I thought I was a cheapskate)

And did I read their page correctly, I need to send in an email (tech support request form) to get credit for (some?) my PreClubLaunch VC games that I own?

The pertinent paragraph reads:

To have Virtual Console games that were downloaded prior to creating the Wii Shop Channel/Club Nintendo link added to your list of registered products, please contact us via email by clicking here. You will need to provide us with all pertinent information (name, email address used when setting up your Club Nintendo account, Wii serial number, etc.). Not providing all of the pertinent information will increase the time it takes to find a solution and receive a reply. You can also call us at 1-800-255-3700. Representatives are available from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Pacific Time, 7 days a week.

Is there hope for our older VC game puchases, albeit a bit clunky? (Of course the subset of VC titles that qualify for surveys is still limited......)

I'd just like to drop in my 2 cents that I agree in large part with Betagam7 is saying. Certainly in agreement with his concern over reviews being based on essentially a different port of a game. Playing the NA games I do, I don't suffer under the PAL issue (though I've emulated games at various speeds and can fully appreciate the impacts of such on gameplay satisfaction) yet I do see differences to varying degrees between my NES carts of these games and what I download to my VC. Content is mostly the same, but responsiveness and some patterns seem to be off sometimes. Probably not significant enough or numerous enough that I'd expect to read about them in the game reviews, yet it is enough variation for me be somewhat disappointed that the reviews take the quick and easy way out.

I'm pretty sure no one is going fall apart or abandon VC reviews simply because the game reviews come out 2 or three days later. And with the slow rate of release per week, it makes review lag time even less of an issue than it would be otherwise.

And before someone counter points with a cop out like the fact that we don't pay money for the existence of this site, or the reviews that it's folks produce (and I'll say that I can and do have solid appreciation of the efforts made to produce the content on this site, while still commenting on what I see as a potential improvement to what/how it offers its material to the readers), I want to point out that an earnest criticism of how/what a website is providing for its readers is actually useful feedback and is of a desire to make things better rather than just gripping (or whinging as it were.....or was it winging? ).

I'd hope the reviewers will at least take the time consider and weigh some of the reasons folks are putting forth in support of the reviews actually being based on the VC port, and then can actually discuss the VC version experience rather than relying on recollections from their past and dancing around actually saying that they are describing experiences with the original cart or a ROM of the game.

People pay attention to such things probably more than writers realize, and like Betagam7 I also noted when past reviews actually targeted parts of their review to elements of the VC port of the game, and I have noticed such concrete connections being absent in many reviews, perhaps even more recently.

I highly appreciate the time folks are taking to write up a review (and perhaps even replaying the game before doing so, in SOME format or another), but with that recognized, I'd like to add my sincere vote for reviews being of that which the site is dedicated to.

The concept of a (perhaps largely harmless, that's up for debate) harmless sort of shellgame regarding source of reference for the reviews in principle concerns me somewhat. I'd hope that the reduced pressure of indie journalism could hold to higher standards than what passes for journalistic integrity these days in more mainstream printings.

Anyway, it's just a hope I have for an even better VC Reviews.

@lockelocke:
WiiPlay is a mixed bag. It's got enough games in it, and they are generally of enough quality that I suspect most everyone will find at least 2 or 3 of the games to be to their liking.
The Shooting Range one was solid, though for being sort of a nod to various NES lightgun games, I really missed the snickering dog at the bottom of the screen for missed shots.
The Find Mii and Pose Mii were interesting for little bit, but got a bit boring. But I guess they are good for a quick pick-up-and-play.
Table Tennis (Ping Pong) was unfortunately more like a graphically enhanced Pong and seemed to lack any depth of controls.
Laser Hockey was a fun little air hockey game, though I'd swear the physics went a little off between the paddle and the puck here and there when the puck got up to high speeds.
The Fishing game was interesting, but suffers for lack of a true 3D virtual GUI. Controlling things can get frustrating.
And for my taste, Billiards (a well designed and reasonably complete [9-ball only] pool game), Charge! (a cleanly designd basic cow riding racer), and Tanks! (a game enjoyably similar to the tank game in the Atari 2600 Combat game....which is a high praise comparison from me) are the best of the set.

I'd say it's absolutely worth the mere 10 dollars on top of the usual $40 Wiimote cost. Just don't expect a complete work of art.

@Betagam7: Yeah, that's sounds about right. But if the shop support/stock turns out to be that thin, I'd be fine with not even playing their game. Besides, I'd like to wait for something to be added to the shop I'd feel is worth the high coin count. I'll definitely try to be quick about it when that time comes.

Heh, this thread's over 160 posts now. Easily surpassing the activity following the Boogerman debacle of last month.

I'm in the same camp with folks who see Wii Sports as a highlight of the Wii. Even now, as long as the Wii has been out, and even with the lack of depth in some of the Wii Sports games, IMHO Wii sports is one of the best, cleanest, funnest applications of the motion controls for the Wii to-date.

If they put out a Wiiware program that allowed online multiplayer of some of the Wii Sports games, I'd consider it worth my money (and Wii memory).

I too overplayed my Wii Sports (that's how it goes for a free pack in game when new games will cost $50) to the point of being tired of it for a while (getting Pro in Tennis, Bowling, and Baseball was pretty THE thing to accomplish, what with the limited depth in the games), but now I can and do put it back in as often as any other Wii game I own (well, at least once I get 100% on Lego Batman). And with other people it is always a fresh experience.

I'll be waiting to see if Wii Sports Resort will have the same tight responsiveness as Wii Sports had, but if it does it'll be one of those select nonVC Wii games I'll put down the money for.

And you know, I think I Winged once......... back in 1982. It was highly overrated.

Well, at least it's something a bit interesting from Big N. The dollars-spent to coins-gained ratio seems to favor $5 VC titles (or the cheap "discount bin" Wii game titles).

The offerings seem a bit thin for rewards so far, with a heavy leaning toward DS users/fans. And 800 coins seems a bit MUCH for the classic Hanafuda cards. Maybe if they were the original MIB sets rather than rerelease.........then maybe 800 coins. But then I'm an admitted cheapskate!

As impressive as the water proof ice chest Wiimote holder is, I think I'll have to sit on what coins I'll have until some better choices for non DS rewards appear. I wonder how useful that gamerack would be for books?

A pity that Game and Watch collection doesn't have a few more classic titles in it. I think it was the Donkey Kong one I had an original G&W of back in the day. I'd love to still have it or some others, but any sort of emulation of them needs to have a bit more to it than just those 3 games. This rewards setup is at least better than the nothing there was before it, and some additional value from the money spent on Wii related stuff is hard to knock.

And folks, the first rule of New Release Websites/Computer Programs/Big-Ticket-Electronics club, give it a few days/weeks/months before charging in........ it's always more satisfying watching people run each other to get in the door, the checkstand, the ticket booth, etc when watching from the sidelines. Less fun watching it from inside the insanity.
I'll sign up for my points in a couple days, but still probably during off hours just to be safer and faster

But it sure is neat to see how elaborate the corporations are getting these days to get people to register their stuff and their personal information. I remember back in MY day all we go was a toaster.

Oh, and thanks for the article Corbie. As said previously, it's a relief to have some articles that don't tend to invoke (justified?) criticism of what Nintendo is up to in relation to the VC.

If my love of NoA weren't so absent right now, I'd feel compelled to counter that............ but NAH, go ahead and kick NoA's ass. I'll go find a whoopin stick for you to use.

Besides, raw game total seems less and less reliable an indicator of who is having more luck at getting quality gaming options these days ........take Enduro Racer.........
...........no I MEAN it, take my Enduro Racer. PLEASE!!

(Bah dum dum!)

.............. another .....popular .......release.

(Besides, I think I already OWN Paperboy .......and in my version I at least get to throw newspapers at stuff while I'm stuck rolling down the same road repeated over and over)

Even if Nintendo is running a (potentially) valid profit making strategy like spreading games out over time just so they'll have something to peddle, the reality is that such a concept does almost nothing for me (and many other consumers who have the simple desire to be provided enjoyable games).

So extremely ignoring the interests and motivations of the customers is the height of idiocy. Longetivity is a fine thing, but starving to death so you'll conserve food for 2 years from now seems like the most superficial of strategic concepts.

With support and development like that, the Wii won't last longer that way. It'll just wither on the vine due to jaded and disappointed peoples' word of mouth. Meanwhile, people will start steering toward consoles that put the better games out sooner (like Contra, TRON, Double Dragon, Bionic Commando, Banjo Kazooie, Track and Field, etc...... this is me actually considering an xbox 360 after reading tis evening what they already have out there).

Marginal current VC support will probably impact Wii owners enthusiasm in general too, affecting sales of those $50 games. Truely a really smart move in every respect by Nintendo. I mean who needs positive word of mouth, content Wii owners, and buyer enthusiasm, when you have release rights to the inconceivably impressive Enduro Racer burning a whole in you company's pocket?! Inconceivable!

Especially when N can load up on one day of good game releases on a singular holiday and make everyone just totally forget and forgive a month of marginals trickling out. And that's the best case scenario at this point.

Who can argue with planning like that?

My ramping up disappointment with Nintendo's development and handling of it's solid initial concepts is probably most politely summed up by saying that Nintendo is handling the VC about as POORLY as possible (only zero releases could be worse development model for the VC........ talk about aiming low).

Anyone know a good place to pick up a Jasper model Xbox 360?!

Yeah, probably some repressed social analyst in me along with the rampant nostalgic gamer. heh

And I should mention, after my last elongated post about what I like about this site, that the criticism is all good stuff (well, most of the time save for the folks whose only participation in discussions is to show up just enough to constantly play devils advocate) and if folks are here posting then inherent in that is some level of appreciation of this site and what it has going on.

Obviously, any site that gives Boogerman four stars while giving Castlevania 2 three stars CAN'T be entirely criticism proof.

@Manicfatty: Well, you know it IS a universal truth........... we all get it in the end.

@timp29: For a moment there I thought you were going to wrap up with the phrase "These questions - and many others - will be answered in the next episode of .......Soap!" I guess it betrays what I've been watching on DVD too much lately.

I rather wish I could just change a setting on my Wii and POOF ..... additional game selection.

It'd feel like I was getting away with something, specially if the something I was getting away with was C64 access. That was the only thing saving our Aussie brethren from the Ghost of Single Game Boogerman Weeks of NA Past this last week.

Something that just occurred to me while watching the video for IM2, assuming this is far enough back this seems like it might have been starting point for great action puzzle games that followed like Out of This World or Flashback: Quest for Identity.

Actually, just off the top of my head, it seems like games like Super C showing up without Contra would seem to eliminate a hard and fast rule in place about release of sequels only following release of originals.
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And regarding review score quality, I'd be willing to suggest that a game's score more often than not will "run afoul" of a player much more often due to it "not being their cup of tea" (that is, not a style or genre that they normally enjoy, and then react strongly to it getting a good score) rather than a wholly unreasonable rating for the game. I'd suspect a lack of larger perspective by the gamer trying the game for the first time rather than a seasoned gamer reviewing a game from years past experience (and hopefully present day replay on the console in question prior to posting their review).

The effort by folks to say this decades old games stands up well by current standards.....and THIS one doesn't.......it's sort of preposterous. To be TRULY honest, none-zilch-zero of the classic games (save MAYBE the most recent generation ones like N64 and such) will stand up well....... obviously, just based on system limitations and possibly also laziness of game makers of the time not pushing the limits of their respective consoles.

(taking this moment to note that while I was reading the EU release for last week, it reoccurred to me that the C64 may be the most fully utilized of gaming platforms ... perhaps of all time. With the NES getting some good efforts and the SNES some good efforts....and mostly the 3rd party companies getting lazier and lazier with each new generation of console, relying on just basic efforts and the increasing power of the systems to advance their game's graphics and control schemes)

thus the truth is that we have two choices with a site like this and games like these:

A. You use an objective standard for fun, graphics, control, speed, etc etc and 95% of the games on the VC and this site will all be squished into the 2, MAYBE 3 stars range...... pretty much without exception.

B. You score the games relative to the time frame they were released in, sentimentality included and probably unavoidable (the folks without the sentimentality aren't bothering with VC I suspect, or not seriously bothering with it ) and you take sentimentality as a given due to human memory over time. And when a high score gets placed on a game like.......oh, say, Boogerman, ......I can look at it and disagree with it (and use maturity enough to see that it's not my sort of genre/story-style, not even my sort of platformer, and not try the game and then blame the review for my dislike. And I could perhaps even manage to impartially appreciate the rater's perspective being born not just of sentimentality but also of respect for the boldness of the game's visual style and nonPC content).

I've seen plenty of rose colored glasses on plenty of people both posting as well as writing feature reviews here on this site. And actually I really appreciate and prefer that. It's a passion for the classics that will do better justice and better represent my love of the classics, rather than some Gamestop reviewer giving Zelda a 7, Mario Kart 64 a 6, Metroid and Kid Icarus 5's.....and games like Mega Man 1 going unscored!

An active and passionate site with review scores that will vary, but not stupidly so, and with at least a taste for what it means for a classic game to be "good" or "not good", based more on raw fun (which is a value that MUST include level sentimental value, since classic games bring that to the table of value as much as quality of gameplay, length of gameplay, depth of story, quality of controls, quality and appropriateness of graphics, and so on) than dominating the review and score with a hypothetical "What if this game had never been played before, even though it is from a decade or two ago?" approach that I think would reflect far too little of what draws the majority to the VC in the first place.

Regarding the newbies that don't have prior experience with these games to draw on, it is INDEED unfortunate that classic appropriate reviews for classic games will not work as well for them, they are sort of the collateral damage in the whole rerelease of classic games concept. Bit I think it's largely determinable which way the balance (of the reviewer perspective) should lean, given the intended audiance of the VC concept and classic game rereleases in general. It couldn't live purely on folks with no connection to the games, just taking fliers on things because they are something they've never seen to played before. If that's the majority set of consumers, then classic game rerelease concepts are DOA (the medical concept, not the game ) as a sustainable marketing concept.

Anyway.....once again my commentary went long. Apologies folks.

So yeah, .......... what I meant to say is............so where's my frickin Contra, man?!?!