Kelvin

I have to admit, I owned both the Mario and Street Fighter CDs back in the day.

Xenoblade Chronicles was one of the best games on the Wii, and the best rpg in years — and yes, I'm counting the overrated Skyrim in that — so I'd be very pleased to see a follow-up. If this is true, then they've just sold a WiiU.

I can't figure out how they'd make it much smaller than it already is!

Super Mario World is the best, although New Super Mario Bros Wii is almost as good, and there has never been a better Nintendo soundtrack than that of Super Mario Galaxy.

@Tech101 I've not played it with the classic controller, so I don't know how that compares, but the control scheme is quite well designed for the Wiimote. I have some very minor issues with menu navigation out of combat, but that's it.

@odd69 it's similar to Final Fantasy XII in that the characters operate on their own and you sort of "program" them to act in certain ways in battle, but the way you program them is quite different and a little less involved. On the other hand, your Xenoblade party won't need quite as much hand-holding as your FFXII party did.

@warioswoods there is a good journal system that should keep you in the loop even if you put the game away for a few weeks before coming back.

@BJQ1972 fair enough! I suppose it is a bit like Game of Thrones in that it features more "common" accents than one might expect; there's no stage-trained Lord of the Rings received pronunciation in this game!

Enjoy it, Americans, it's a great game, one of the best rpgs of recent years and one of the best Wii titles ever.
@BJQ1972 that is a fair point, but the voice-acting in Xenoblade is not your standard quasi-Shakespearean English; it's a bit more like Eastenders — youtube it — than anything. Which is not a bad thing at all, and is part of the game's unique charm for me.

I've said since Mario Kart Wii came out that they should be releasing both new and classic tracks for it as downloads.

@Incognito_D it's a fairly simple and abstract rpg as these things go. There's not a great deal of resource management, and the other characters look after themselves for the most part, so you only have to watch what your main character is doing. I'm only a few hours in so it may get more complicated later, but I'd imagine by that time you'd be used to how the game works.

The game arrived yesterday, and I was up until the wee hours playing it. It's great fun, up there with the better entries in the Final Fantasy series, and the open world is wonderful.

mariofanatic128 it's because it's part of the Anima series, that's all. It's no different from Call of Duty: Black Ops, for example.

I don't know why anyone is surprised by the score; this is from the man who gave us Laser Squad and X-COM so it has an illustrious heritage.

I suspect that the Wii will have a surge in the latter stages of its lifespan, much like the PS2 did, with a number of groundbreaking and interesting titles making their debuts. Remember, Katamari Damacy came out four years into the life of the PS2, and Shadow of the Colossus after five.

There's still life in the little white box yet, mark my words.

I already bought Super Mario Kart, but I would buy it again if it had online play. I'll believe it when I see it though.

Lost Vikings isn't that unique. Head Over Heels did the same idea earlier, as, arguably, did Maniac Mansion. Still a good game though.

Aside from Yoshi's Island, the games I want to see most are for the Commodore 64 -- Turrican, Creatures and Creatures 2, the aforementioned Head Over Heels and Maniac Mansion -- but I suspect that ship has sailed.

And there must be a way to get some version of Sensible Soccer out, as it was released on at least three of the VC's systems.

I'm not sure it's that innovative an idea. After all, football management games have been out for decades, and they share a lot of mechanics with RPGs.

Of course, Championship Manager doesn't have all the Shaolin Soccer style special effects.

@Waveboy, SCAT was not released on the C64, but you may be thinking of the Capcom game Forgotten Worlds, which was available. The Mega Drive version of Forgotten Worlds has also been released on Virtual Console.

Boo! I had thought that the industry would have grown out of this by now. Sigh.

Brilliant.

I waited and waited and waited for Cave Story, then they announced the DS version and now I don't think I want the Wii version now it's finally out.

Heh. I've been waiting ages for this, but now I wonder if I don't want the DS version!

WII'S HEATING UP!

(sorry)

I loved NBA Jam and owned it on both SNES and Mega Drive, so it's very likely I will be buying this... from downtown!

(sorry again)

Can you imagine the coolness of Tetris blocks that fall both vertically downwards on screen and descend from your face? It's not a likely choice, but I think it would be amazing!

I remember Welltris, and it wasn't very good.

Oh dear.

Right, that's me buying a PS3 then. Goodbye Nintendo!

The co-operative system looks interesting, a bit like how Chaos Engine did it back in the day. Now there was a great game.

But my gosh the visuals are rough. The PS2 is capable of better.

Those football players are huge! Either that, or the perspective is way, way off. It would be nice to see the ISS series one day, or even better, Sensible Soccer!

The word "piranha" isn't showing up when I view the article for some reason; instead I'm getting a string of hash marks, as if it's been censored. Odd.

Anyway, this is a great game. Back in university, we spent hours playing Perfect Dark and this in multiplayer. As good as PD is, this game has the edge for me. We didn't have the Gameboy linkup back then, and I have to say we didn't miss it.

Good review, but I do have one question; how does this play on the controller choices available on Wii? I recall it controlled very well on the N64, but I can foresee the different button layout causing issues.

For those who like this title, I'd also suggest Anna Kournikova's Smash Court Tennis on the PlayStation. The questionable licence aside, it's essentially a Namco version of this game, and seems to have the same, or very similar, engine underneath, so it's a very complementary experience.

Huh? Humans and dinsosaurs co-existed thousands of years ago.

Indeed! I saw it on The Flintstones!

Okay, as far as I can tell, there's no way of telling if this is a new version of the original, or if it's something like Rogue Agent. I would hope it's the former, and I'm sure Activision want us to think it's the former, but I'm not sure.

This is one of my favourite games, so I hope we do see it this Friday!

I thought Twilight Princess and Wind Waker were two games with beautiful graphical styles, so I have no problem at all with their synthesis here.

I can't think of an 8-bit system which could produce graphics like that. PC Engine maybe, but that doesn't really count. 16-bit if anything, please.

The first game almost took away the sting of there not being a Katamari Wii, so I'm keen to see the sequel!

lz2010, I was merely spoofing the usual complaints of the Wii-bashers. No matter how good the game, we usually see the same complaints about the machine's technical weakness. I expect we'll see a similar backlash as more scores for SMG2 come in. It was a joke.

But it's not HD! It doesn't play DVDs! It's not online! Etc, etc.

What a surprise, none of that matters when the game is good enough. Nicely done, Nintendo.

Stuffgamer1, PAL has better picture quality, in terms of resolution. In these HD days, the distinction is largely irrelevant, but back in the day, it made a difference. Also, PAL was designed specifically to eliminate many of the colour problems suffered by NTSC broadcast; there is a reason why one definition of the standard is "Never Twice the Same Colour".

In other words, it's not a simple case of one format being objectively better than the other. NTSC was perhaps better for video games, but not for other televisual uses.

It's a good article, and I can definitely understand and sympathise with the frustration if you happen to care about the 50hz/60hz difference, but the thing is, I just don't, and never have. Sorry. I can't get angry about it, as it's just not important to my enjoyment of these games, and wasn't important back when they first came out. All that said, I do support the campaign, as it seems fair to allow everyone the same experience if they choose.

Wow, I didn't expect this. Descent was quite good, but it seems to have been filed away under "failed experiment" in the minds of many, so I never imagined it making a return. The controls will make or break this one, I think.

Well, in all fairness, we did have our own version of The Price is Right over here, but that was back in the 1970's and 80's, so it is a bit bizarre to see this released in Europe first.

grenworthshero, I'd imagine that the similarity of the name is quite intentional.

I know it's more acceptable to like Mario 64, but I prefer this one. Mario 64 was a great "proof of concept" title, showing that a 3D platformer was a viable proposition, but Sunshine was the better game, I feel.

But then, I think the best Mario title ever is Super Mario World, so what do I know?

Wow. This is much harder than it was when I was a teenager! I must have had better reflexes back then, as I struggled to get a silver trophy on the second cup on 50cc on my first go! Still well worth a 9/10 though.

And there it is! Brilliant, brilliant game.

Huzzah! Although I've grown to love Mario Kart Wii, I'm definitely downloading the original tonight. Quite possibly the best driving game ever.

Atari Lynx titles at launch? Too easy.

FINALLY.
I've been saving for this or Cave Story. What are the chances both will come out on Friday?

Still waiting for this in Europe, Nintendo. Come on!

This is a shame, as it really is a very good game.

I don't buy this "can not be emulated" business either. Unofficial C64 emulators don't seem to have the same problem, and they're programmed by hobbyists! So I hear, anyway.

vakama94, in general, I much prefer 2D platformers, but Super Mario Galaxy is definitely worth it.

Hyperstar96, I know! I have finished SMG, as in I've got to the end and defeated Bowser, but I'm nowhere near 100% completion, and I've had the game since it came out!

Supermarioman I never had trouble with the ball, and in fact I quite liked it; the only thing that annoyed me about the ball was that it showed how well Katamari Damacy would work with Wii controls.

That spring suit though, that can go all the way to heck for all I care!

Have they got rid of the SPRING SUIT OF CERTAIN DOOM?