JamieO

@Betagam7 Yep, Zero Wing should be remembered for one reason and one reason only; Being a great Mega Drive shooter! Nt. Mean Machines, Issue 10 (July, 1991), magazine review scan link is from Mean Machines Archive.

@Betagam7 I agree with you completely, in that these shooters would make an incredible addition to a new SNK Arcade Classics: Vol. 2, Wii compilation. I think that the more of us who shout out for Ignition to release a second edition to their comp, the better. Surely they must be considering that as an option, otherwise they would not have had the 'Vol. 1' sub-heading on their compilation, in the first place.
**** Edit: Mate, if you have a spare minute, could you tell me a little bit more about the 'SNK Arcade Classics: Vol. 0' compilation you mentioned, please? I have not heard of that before. Does it include old SNK arcade games from the late '80s? I would be well up for playing 'Ikari Warriors', 'Psycho Soldier', 'Guerrilla War', 'Victory Road', 'Prehistoric Isle' and 'P.O.W.' on a compilation. Is it for Wii? ****

On a side note, the screenshot of Andro Dunos has a main sprite which looks loads like the ship from Mega Drive Zero Wing, (Toaplan, 1991). They could be twin brothers! I imagine that the Andro Dunos ship does not have a tractor beam, though.

@Corbie (comment 10): Seriously, "Fair play" ! That is a class way to take a break from writing. I bet that your house is popular!
I wonder how many miles it would be for me to fly over to come and visit.

Whoa, this it the type of article that I absolutely love to read! A spot on list Corbie, excellent choices. I have only ever had the chance to play Last Resort on the Wii's SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1. I really enjoy it, it is hard but fair. I like that it pays a sort of homage to R-Type. I have also played the Strikers 1945 I & II arcade emulation which was released as a compilation on PS2, (are they similar to 'Plus'?), and the Mega Drive conversion of Viewpoint (of all things!). I have had a few goes of the original arcade Prehistoric Isle (1989) too, which is ace.

I always value Corbie's opinion on shooters. I see him as being a shmup guru, I remember reading about his shooter collection (including original arcade games), on one of his review comments. I have Last Resort, but I would buy all of the others, if they were on Virtual Console. I am with @Dazza, in that I would particularly like to get the chance to play Blazing Star. From reading this I would like to see Blazing Star and Pulstar most of all, but c'mon D4, bring them all to VC! As Corbie states, it would help shed the myth that Neo Geo AES was only good for one-on-one fighters!

Plus the layout of this article is completely lush! Those screenshots, and coloured heading bars, really pop off the screen! Beautiful presentation, guys. Great work.

Happy Anniversary Nintendo Life! I really love this site, although I am very much a newbie compared to many of you guys. I visited VC-Reviews and WiiWare-World for a long time, but I did not actually join them as a user. I only joined Nlife as a user in Aug. 2009. Compared to many of you, I am really quite quiet here. I have work and study reasons for that, but I can't wait to be more actively involved in a few Nlife shenanigans, when I have more time. I find the Nlife community to not only be knowledgeable, but they are super-friendly with it.

I love the extent of its merged coverage, from the old to the modern, the crusty carts to the shiny discs. There is so much to learn about gaming here. It is Nintendo-tastic! The extent of the Wii, WiiWare, DS and DSiWare cover is brilliant. Plus, because of the links to Virtual Console and retro, it also covers my fave old systems like SNES, Mega Drive, Neo Geo AES, N64 and PC Engine.

If anyone knows me, it will be clear that retro gaming is my main thing and I treat Nlife as being part of my education. There are honestly not that many places that you could find a dedicated retro review analysis of the likes of: Earthbound (SNES), Densetsu no Stafi 3 (GBA), DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure (SNES), Ironclad (Neo Geo), Jack Bros (VB), Ordyne (PCE) and Space Manbow (MSX). Talk about awesome! Nlife is a history lesson for me.

Cheers lots, to everyone at Nintendo Life. Roll on E3 '10! I am grateful, lucky and privileged to have taken my own (admittedly extremely small) part in this great site. Congratulations.

Just for a moment, regardless of this April 1st date, we should allow ourselves to dream. Gaze out of the window, fixate on the reflection of the Spring sun as it takes up offence against the puddles lodged into the roadside potholes. Enjoy a teeny daydream about how amazing it would be to have Game Boy, GBA, Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear and Neo Geo Pocket Colour on DSi Virtual Console. Man, they could include WonderSwan Colour while they were at it. It would be absolutely freakin' awesome.

I would don a pair of ruby red slippers, click my heels together and shout out loud,
"There's no place like SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium's Ghosts 'n Goblins mini-game, there's no place like SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium's Ghosts 'n Goblins mini-game"!

April fool, or no April fool... Nintendo, please, "Make it so"!

Plus, the 'Wii Virtual Console Reviews' and 'WiiWare World' design layouts are an absolutely superb contribution to the April Fools Day japes. Genius! Just navigating through NLife today is going to be a sweet nostalgic experience in itself. Great idea and excellent work, Nintendo Life.

@Maxsh Ha, ha, I agree that Nintendo Magazine System (NMS) is not the greatest name for a magazine, but it had an excellent team of writers. With games journalists like Julian Rignall, Tim Boone, Radion Automatic, Paul Davies and Angus Swan it was a great read. Many of their team were already legendary characters from their C&VG and Mean Machines days. Whilst I think that many fans of the mag from back in the day will have their favourite writers out of that list, the magazine did change its editors, and some of the more anarchic aspects of Mean Machines were stiffled by such close connections to Nintendo. However, everyone must agree that Jaz Rignall is a legend. Paul Davies is cool too, he now has a regular column in Retro Gamer each month. I think the title Nintendo Magazine System holds up well today, as it adds a quirky element to the retro mag.

@SepticLemon Man, I'm sorry that you sold off some of your early issues of NMS cheap, I guess when you are younger you do not always realise that you may still be wanting to read them in 15, or 20 years time. I'm lucky that I kept loads of my old mags, however you're in luck too, because as long as you download the ComicRack reader, you can also download the Star Fox issue of NMS (Issue 6, March 1993). Head over to Out-of-Print Archive to get it, they have four more issues of NMS to download, too.

I am just reiterating what Sean said above, but I really enjoy reading Damo's pieces in Retro Gamer. I still return to my back issues now, so I've read his coverage of the likes of Starfox, History of the Game & Watch, plus The Making of the Nintendo Virtual Boy and Making of Game Boy, before. However, I often go back to these features, there is so much to learn from them about gaming's history.

The depth of coverage that goes into these Retro Gamer pieces is staggering. After you read through this level of writing you really appreciate the extent of the research, including interviews with key people, as well as anecdotes and retro details that you would not be able to find easily, not even on the web. I would recommend to any retro fan to pick up the magazine and its back issues.

Print and paper magazine coverage is very much alive and I am a big fan of the UK's video game magazines, from the past and present. We have a rich history of great gaming mags. It is brilliant to see these articles being republished here on Nintendo Life.

Wow! This is an incredibly impressive list of games, to all be released within a short period.

There is going to be a lot of happy gamers, who own a Japanese Wii, this late March/April.
There will also be lots of holes in their pockets, too. In a good way.

Well then, I was just saying on Mean Machines Archive's forums the other day how I'd love to play this smart looking cute 'em up and wha'dya'know it has been on Virtual Console for years. It just goes to show that the VC will keep on delivering surprise treats long into the future, even if Nintendo has slowed down its release schedule.

Nice review @Dazza, I hereby declare you to be a better shooter player than me, 'cause I can not even reach Ordyne's Mode 7 style maze, yet. I can only get up to the boss rush on Round 6, I presume that the swanky stage described in the review is either Round 7 or 8. I was even stuck on Round 3's boss too, but I soon learnt a technique to take it out easily. I'm not complaining though, I love the way these old school 1989 games do not even offer a difficulty select, the gameplay is so balanced, that you play this one Namco's way, or the highway. I have said before that I suck at shooters. Ah, well!

I am in full agreement regarding the power-up system, many of them like the Pac-Man shield providing 'Stock Bomber' are brilliant, although they can make some boss battles a bit easy. They do not last long enough to be much help on that darn boss rush level, though. The bomb system is put to good use in a side-scrolling shooter too, which makes sense considering that Namco made Xevious. I like the shop set-up, it reminds me of Mega Drive Forgotten Worlds and the wacky 'Dream Co. Ltd' store is a nice way to place a bet on cheap upgrades.

Cheers for providing the game's back-story, I did not even realise that the Scientist was a dude, I thought it was a crimson haired lady! lol. I think that this game is going to be great in simultaneous two player, I haven't tried that yet. Download Ordyne people.

Whoa, it delivered on the controls! Fair play, I was a bit cynical about this. The Japanese/ Spaghetti Western soundtrack sounds really creative. I definitely like the visuals from screens, as Jon says XIII had a cracking art style too, it is a shame that the environments can become a bit dull.

Regardless, successfully mixing "shooting and slicing" is quite an achievement. Great review, Jon.

@110percentful Jaw-dropping!

8/10 is a very good score, reading the review left me wanting to buy it, trouble is I've been spending way too much on games recently! This is one for me to buy in the future.

@TrevorTheChan Whoa, 90 hours of game time is a substantial amount to build on any game's clock. Fair play.

This is a quality, detailed review. Even though it notes the lack of new ideas that would have helped develop the series, from the review I may still purchase this in the future.

I have only played Wii Super Paper Mario, so I think that I would buy this one before the N64 version. If they are both similar, I might as well have the visually superior GCN game. Cheers, Trevor.

Apologies mate, I wasn't thinking. I've removed the details of my above comment.

@Prosody Whoa, you covered lots of subjects in your chat James, great stuff.

Hey Ryan, it is great to see you reviewing for NLife, nice one.

Picross puzzle games are not really my cup of tea, but I still enjoyed reading your review, particularly the historical links to previous Game Boy and SNES games which were confined to Japan, in your intro.

This is not the first genre where the leap to 3D has convoluted the gameplay either, sometimes devs should bite the bullet and stick to 2D. Not that the review, or its score indicate that this is a bad game. A seven is still decent and I haven't played any of these Picross games to really comment, however I just feel that sticking to 2D gameplay is often the perfect fit for some genres, especially if the 3D camera creates issues that were never present from a 2D viewpoint. Cheers.

It is simply brilliant to see Rondo of Blood on Virtual Console, I am chuffed. I will download this one, even if I have already got it on PSP. Like the other comments have mentioned, it needs to be played on the big TV screen, hooking my PSP up to the telly does not compare to this.

@Omega The two titles are similar, I will note my understanding of the differences, but I am not an expert, so any NLife 'Castlevania Connoisseurs' are welcome to correct me. SNES Dracula XX has the same story and comparable visual design (though not as strong as the PC-Engine CD ROM original), but the levels are different. The SNES version does not have the Anime style cut-scenes, there are not as many secret areas and while you still save Maria, you don't get to play her on SNES.

The UK independent SNES mag Super Play reviewed the PAL version as Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss in issue 35 (Sept 1995), with a score of 80%. Their main complaints were that basing it on the PC Engine CD ROM title actually held it back! They stated "it's a regressive step, considering Castlevania IV appeared in 1991". They said that No.IV's SNES mode 7 graphics were more technically flash and controlling Super Castlevania IV's Simon is better than Dracula XX's Richter. They noted that Simon had more versatile primary attacks, they listed that he could power-up his weapon strengths and had greater upward direction and spinnable whip ability (as @Donatello mentioned above).

Super Play may have had sour grapes though, they probably knew that SNES Dracula XX (Vampire's Kiss) was a decent game, but was ultimaterly inferior to PC Engine Rondo of Blood. I would still get the SNES game, just get the PC Engine version first.

@y2josh Have you given Wizard Fire (1992) a blast yet, mate? I was really pleased to stumble across that co-op isometric adventure, I had never even heard of it before. You know that a game is good when within the first 30 secs the big first level boss dragon has swooped above your head and within 2 mins you are battling it out with him. It is not a game to take too seriously either, seeing as it is packed with cheesetastic speech and laughable shuffling feet animation. It is sweet how that game takes up the entire widescreen on a HDTV, the sprites and backgrounds look great in full screen. I wonder if it was a 16:9 game in the arcade?.

Wizard Fire reminds me of Dungeon Magic (1993/1994), or Lightbringer as it was known in Japan, which featured on the PS2 compilation, Taito Legends 2.

Good stuff.

@slapshot82 Cheers mate, I remember reading the Konami Krazy Racers reviews, Konami did a great job on that one for an early 2001 launch title. I decided to skip it back in the day, because I was waiting for Mario Kart: Super Circuit.

My GBA collection is not bad, although I am becoming more and more interested in starting to collect more Japanese GBA titles. I only have 12 Japanese GBA games and while there can be issues with recognising the characters to save the game and reading text for stories, I really like the style and presentation of their boxes/ instruction manuals. Genki Video Games had the Japanese Konami Wai Wai Racing Advance in the UK for £15 ($23), which is a good price, but it has sold now. I will keep an eye out for it coming back in and for GBA Jet Set/Grind Radio too.

I have the pseudo-sequel to GBA Krazy Racers which was released on iPhone, Konami's Krazy Kart Racing, but it is not a great kart racer, it is beaten on that platform by Gameloft's Shrek Kart. Incidently Shrek Kart would be a nice fit for DSi Ware, if Gameloft are listening, as a cheap kart racer. Not that the NDS needs any more with the awesome Mario Kart DS and recently released Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing providing plenty of kart racing fun already. Edit: Apologies for drifting off topic here!

Thanks.

@Stuffgamer1 Whoa $3, that it is only £1.98! I would snap that up quick smart, especially if it is boxed with instructions.

@Bass X0 This is a bit off-topic, but my copy of Data East Arcade Classics arrived and I would fully recommend buying it, if you have the option of importing.

Heavy Barrel (1987) and Secret Agent (1989) turned out to be as good as I hoped and Wizard Fire (1992) was a great surprise, it is a fun co-op isometric action/ fantasy game (it is even set to display in full widescreen on a HDTV).

Oh yeah, if NLife keeps reviewing these forgotten GBA gems, I am going to have to look into new purchases to improve my GBA collection. I like its cel-shaded take on the isometric viewpoint.
As Jon says in his intro, the GBA had lots of games which continued Sega franchises which were dear to gamer's hearts. Vicarious Visions mastered the isometric viewpoint in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 right in time for GBA's 2001 launch, even though you had to be perfectly lined up for grinds in that one, it was still a good translation of the console games. Funnily enough the GBA music for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 grated after a while, too.
A class pick for a GBA review, nice one Jon.

I have just been playing Takara's SNES conversion of this just a minute ago, funnily enough. Obviously it is not a patch on the Neo Geo original, but it is still fun.
I have Neo Geo Fatal Fury Special on PS2 through Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Volume 1 and I really love it. Those backgrounds are amazing, particularly as the coloured skyline changes and the ones which keep on scrolling along. There is so much character in the raft on the rapids, the train journey past Mount Rushmore and Andy Bogard's stage taking a trip through Venice. The sprites are large, well designed and animated and the shift between the background and foreground planes differentiates its gameplay from Street Fighter II.
Great review Corbie.

I unlocked arcade Zaxxon on Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection (PS3). I only have a limited amount of experience with it, because it did not hold my attention, so I agree completely with Sean's review.

It is nice to see that they have set up the pillarbox and scan lines. I can appreciate that the isometric graphics were stunning for 1982, but the visuals impede on the gameplay in a way that wasn't a factor in the Neo Geo game Viewpoint. I think that Corbie's comment that VC reviews, "view them from an "every gamer" perspective " is absolutely spot on. A good point, well made.

For me this is the best bit of Virtual Console news in ages. Sean's review is brilliant, before then the game was barely on my radar, but his coverage of the Japanese version placed Ironclad high up on my wish list. I never really thought it would make it to the West, though.
Anyway that is a lesson learned, keep your glass half full and proper retro treats like this will keep on coming. Sweet, indeed. Cheers for the news Jon and to his source, too. Hug the messengers!

@SeanAaron Cheers to you mate, I knew from NLife's forums that you were planning on reviewing it, so I held back until your final verdict. I do like Video Games Plus, I'm sure that they will get it back in stock soon. Canada has been a reliable source for my imported Wii games for a while now, DVD Box Office has free shipping, but does not seem to stock as many niche retro titles.
Obviously the best way for a UK gamer to play this is if it gets that PAL release, so good luck convincing Majesco. I am a big fan of retro compilations, I like to know that I have the games on disc, even with titles that I've downloaded.
I hope that Ignition read your review, because lots of gamers are still enthusiastic about retro compilations and a Wii SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 2 would be a must buy.

Ha, ha, "mouldy oldies", I like that.

I've been looking forward to Data East Arcade Classics since it was announced, but I decided to wait for Sean's review before I spent my pennies. I'm pleased they put the effort into 480p, the awesome Wii Metal Slug Anthology and SNK comp did not seem to bother.
The Heavy Barrel controls seem to make sense, I'm looking forward to playing that, but I think that I will play Sly Spy: Secret Agent first, I am really curious about that title. I will move onto Caveman Ninja, Crude Buster and Bad Dudes after that, 'cause "I'm Bad", too!
I hope that Pal retro gamers get to play this one and I really hope that it sells, so like @AlphaNerd01 mentions, we get a sequel and arcade Midnight Resistance is included. My list of preferred titles for a sequel is similar to @Yanagi's, a friend on Twitter was telling me that Data East's Act Fancer (1989) is a really fun, but hard run-and-gun game.
Thanks Sean, my order is in to import it from VideoGamePlus.Ca. Whoa, I think that I have just bought their last copy, they now list it as sold out!.

These trailers reiterate that this is going to be a non-stop blasting, action packed, roller coaster ride of a Wii game and I simply can't wait to get to play it. I'm really pleased that @Dazza came back from the summit celebrating the Zapper shooting controls. Awesome stuff.

Whoa, these impressions have definitely got me even more hyped up for this. The way it follows on from Super Metroid, the mix of controls/modes and its fast-paced blasting action sound completely great.
It is shaping up to be an inventive take on the series. Cheers Prosody and Dazza.

I'm with @Dragoon, I'm loving the Super Mario World music, starting around about 48 secs in and up until 1min 10 secs, into the video.

From the video Super Mario Galaxy 2 simply looks gorgeous, on all fronts, from the graphics to the gameplay. I do not remember being so excited about a Summer line-up (including Metroid: Other M and Sin and Punishment 2), Wii owners are spoilt by two 'real-deal' iterations of Mario on one hardware, the likes of which we haven't seen since the NES days (obviously the SNES had Super Mario World 2 starring Yoshi, but GameCube only had Super Mario Sunshine which I still consider to be a completely charming Summer title).
These are good times, indeedy!
Absolutely fantastic 'Live Text' Nintendo European Gamers Summit coverage BTW, thanks to everyone involved at NLife.

@Awesome5 It will be approximately 11 hours and 55 mins from now until 10.30am (UK Thurs).
Therefore that is 11 hours and 25 mins until 10am (UK Thurs).
Doh, this comment does not help much, sorry about that. @Zaphod_Beeblebrox 's answer (below) is much more helpful and specific for US gamers.

I still have a bit of an interest in this, I always thought that its screens looked a touch more detailed than ZAMN, but I never knew why people were not as enthusiastic about it as they were with the first game.
I'm glad that Corbie was able to review this one as well as Zombies Ate My Neighbours, because it provides a direct point of reviewer comparison between the two titles. I can see how less precise controls in Ghoul Patrol could detract from its gameplay. Cheers @Corbie

Capcom's manic and hyperactive input to the fighting genre has entertained me since I bought X-Men: Children of the Atom on Saturn and this looks like it may potentially beat Marvel Vs Capcom 2 as my favourite, wacky crossover fighter. The inclusion of the Ultimate All-Shooters mini-game is the icing on the cake, showing that Capcom is willing to go the extra mile. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is a welcome exclusive for Wii owners to get excited about, just in case their PS3 buddies have been ranting about BlazBlue!
I look forward to buying this when I have spare pennies and time, fortunately I have recently been given PS3 Street Fighter IV to tide me over in the meantime.
Cheers @Damo, the review has me amped up for this game. I'm glad I've got my Soul Calibur II Cube stick, 'cause I agree with what Damo said, the GCN controller's tiny D-pad and kidney shaped button layout is dire for fighters, as my only other alternative (I shockingly do not own a classic controller).
I have the Battle of the Planets theme stuck in my head now!

I have lots of time for Mega Drive Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi, it is action packed, I love the charge & attack Yamato dog gameplay mechanic and the set-pieces like Stage 1-2's environmental changes, plus ascending The Statue of Liberty whilst avoiding the helicopter on Stage 3-2 created memorable 16-bit gaming moments. The base jumping off the side of a skyscraper bonus stages were brilliant, as was the way in which your pooch turned into a cutie li'l puppy after taking a hit.
It was under-appreciated by the UK gaming press in 1990, possibly because it removed Revenge of Shinobi's double jump and energy bar and reverted back to the original arcade Shinobi's more unforgiving gameplay style of one hit kills. Robert Swan from classic mag C&VG was particularly tough on it, infamously awarding it a meagre 63%! C&VG were also disappointed that it was not a conversion of arcade Shadow Dancer, but in hindsight releasing a Mega Drive exclusive version was cool. The music is pretty decent too, as Darren noted it is not Yūzō Koshiro, a quick Google search suggests it it may be Yuri Kobayashi (Tsukachan), but don't quote me on that!
Excellent review, @Dazza.

As a few of the above comments have noted, Final Fight 3 is not perfect: I think that it would have benefited from a greater visual variety to its backgrounds (Final Fight 2 was more diverse graphically), some enemy sprites are poorly drawn/ animated and as @outrun2sp mentioned it was another of the SNES side-scrolling brawlers to struggle with displaying a large number of enemy sprites (e.g. for example Batman Returns addressed this on the SNES by having a really quick turnaround of sprites, in that as soon as one was beaten, another would imediately enter from the side of the screen).
However, I still consider it to be the best of the 4 SNES Final Fight games (I am including Final Fight Guy, there), I am pleased to see it on Virtual Console and its gameplay and move set does warrant an 8/10, even if my Japanese copy of Final Fight Tough has probably just dipped in value! Regardless, I would not sell it anyway and I would rather everyone else got a chance to play it.
Great review @Corbie.

I have just re-read my review, when it occurred to me that the sentence "Konami had already mastered a variety of video game genres on Nintendo's 16-bit magic machine, it was apt that they should try their hand at their first SNES side-scrolling beat 'em up next", could be misconstrued. Just to clear it up, Konami released their arcade side-scrolling fighting game conversion of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time on SNES in 1992, a year before Batman Returns. However, I was referring to how Batman Returns was Konami's first SNES exclusive brawler, built from the ground up specifically for the SNES hardware. Apologies if my wording was ambiguous, there.
@deggs I would say that Konami's 1994 SNES game The Adventures of Batman & Robin is definitely worth playing, it is a super colourful adaption of the animated TV series, with lots of the classic villains to battle. However, it is not actually a brawler in the way Batman Returns adopts the Final Fight perspective, it is an action title which includes platforming alongside the fighting.

@LEGEND_MARIOID I reiterate what Sean and Mickeymac say above; Castlevania The Adventure ReBirth is very approachable, not only with the three difficulty settings (Easy, Medium and Hard), but also because you can set your adventure up starting with from one to nine lives. If you have got approximately a spare hour and a half/ a hour and three quarters, you will be able to complete this one in a sitting.

@John3714 Man, that is a shame that you made it all the way to the fifth level and had to turn it off, there are only six stages in total and the final one is really short, because it is set up as a boss fight. You must have been really close to completing it.

I downloaded this last night and enjoyed every second of it, especially the boss battles. The variety in the backgrounds is ace and I like the way it has dynamic scenery like whippable staircases, swinging platform balls and clockwork cogs (the NLife screenshots provide a good indication of these). The colours are really vivid too, the use of moonlit pastel coloured skies is striking and the sound is completely superb. A brilliant review @Corbie, just like you said I made the trade off and swapped my blue cross power-up for a key and became a bit stuck on the screen full of fire breathing dragon skulls and the sizable gap on Stage 4.
Konami's ReBirth titles are my favourite games on WiiWare.

This review has the potential to spark a debate regarding its score, so I will elaborate upon it a little; Batman Returns in my opinion is a superior game to SNES Final Fight, it is a high 7, because it is more diverse and therefore more enjoyable to play through. However, it is not as good a game as arcade Final Fight and it all comes down to the lack of multiplayer. Since arcade Double Dragon the entire side-scrolling beat 'em up genre's play experience has thrived from teaming up with a buddy, to clean up the streets. If Batman Returns was able to include co-op play, simultaneous two player to extend the fun and replayability, it would have received an 8/10.
Have a brilliant Christmas Day, everyone at Nintendo Life. "Merry Christmas!"

@Djungelurban I would snap up a VCA release of Chase HQ faster than you could say "punch the pedal!", that would make my day. The variety of '80s cars means that licensing issues would probably stop it coming out, though. I was just wondering how the X68k conversion stood up, because it has never really received a truly arcade accurate console, or computer port. It would give me a gage as to how powerful the X68k was, I do not know much about it as a retro machine, you see.

Regarding the Wikipedia X68k games list: One of my favourite retro racing games is arcade Chase HQ, does anyone know how the X68k compares to the PC Engine port?
Its sprites look nice and large in this X68000 you tube video, it is full screen with no ugly top border, plus it has the lovely sunset level intact. I am not convinced by its scrolling, or its shortened track layout, though.

X68k Mode sounds ace, I didn't realise that it would take precedence over the Wii mode, but from what you have said, I am pleased that the authentic version is available. The use of power-ups to strategically work your way through the levels sounds cool, but if the difficulty is ramped up more than R-Type, it is most likely that I will not make much progress in this one!
Quality first impressions, Sean.

This is a Zombieland style 'double tap' piece of brilliant news! I have Castlevania: Rondo of Blood on my PSP, but it looks quite pixelated when I hook it up to my LCD, so I would get a Virtual Console version, too. Plus, since Sean's review I have been looking forward to the chance to play Chōtetsu Brikin'ger. Cheers @Drake.

I wonder how Billy Hatcher's festive themed track will work its way into a game with a 2010 release date. It may simply be a snow swept course and not completely Christmas based, or even better there might be a Christmas Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing late in 2010, just like Christmas Nights. Still, I am getting way ahead of myself there and it is not that likely, but however it turns out this short vid and a shot of Billy Hatcher's reckless driving, put a Chrimbo smile on my face. He is the egg man, coo coo ka choo!

@Sean_Aaron Cheers lots for your time, Sean. The ebay seller was sound, the system is Japanese and he is pretty sure that it is region free, but he is not completley sure. He confirmed what you said about peripheral support, but I was a bit shocked at the price of Space Manbow on ebay, it is priced at least £150 for a Japanese copy at the moment, so I have decided to leave it for the time being. I don't know enough about MSX2 to buy it on a whim and Christmas has been really expensive so far, already!
Perhaps another time, although I will have to add it to my 2010 shopping list, alongside a Japanese PSN card, a GenMobile (portable Mega Drive) and 64GB iPod touch!
For the price of MSX Space Manbow, I think that importing a Japanese Wii would be the best option at some point in 2010, in any case I am most excited about Chōtetsu Brikin'ger.
Thanks loads for all of your advice, though.
@Starboy91 I really like Parodius, too. That would be a sweet SNES or PC Engine game for Konami to bring to Virtual Console. I don't know much about the MSX version though, it would be worth importing the PSP collection.

@Sean_Aaron Wow, cheers for for that Sean, "really hard up" is a perfect description of my finaces at the moment. lol.
I just checked it out and it is a great price, it is only at £11 (plus £15 postage) at the moment, it finishes at 10.06pm though, so it may rise. To be honest scraping together a quick £30 may be tough for me at this time of year.
I am clueless about the MSX, I can not even tell if it is an import machine, I wonder if its menus would be in Japanese?
Would it be quite easy to find a joypad and a copy of Space Manbow for it?
I'm wondering if Play Asia sells them.
Sorry about all the questions, I could always e-mail the seller when I get back from the Christmas shops!
Thanks again.