Manicfatty

@Atlantis - OK...It's official. You're coming off as a complete idiot, and apparently have reading comprehension problems. I have repeatedly said that it has nothing to do with swapping games. That little jem is YOUR singular weak, simple minded, and irrelevent argument. You just can't get past it, nor do you appear to have the ability to articulate a valid argument for your position....whatever the hell it's supposed to be. You lash out at all of these people who have very good arguments, and who actually get what it's about. Let me take this slow for you...its - not - about - swapping - games. Now write it ten times on the board for us. Got it yet?

It now comes as no surprise that ANYTHING...and I'm pretty sure most EVERYTHING...boggles that nugget in your skull. I've tried to be patient, and stick to making valid and responsible observations. Observations about a company that gives the impression that they view the internet and storage devices as some sort of witchcraft that only the evil warlocks of Microsoft and SONY would dare to meddle with. Instead of any sort of coherent arguments, we all get the same stale and childish rhetoric from you.

I think we are all aware that Nintendo, despite outward appearances, knows that they have a storage issue and need to buff up their positioning on the internet. If you actually read what I wrote and looked into it a little, you would know that this is history repeating itself. Only the N knows how it's all going to go down, and they've had Reggie hedging for them while the rest of the mucky-mucks stick to the hard line. But somethings coming. What form it will take is unknown, and whether or not it will come from Nintendo or a 2nd/3rd party they partner with is just as much of a mystery. But we live in a gaming age where dowloadable content is not just the norm, it's now the standard. Even the PSP has that ability. VC games are a fantastic start, but it has to be deeper. That's only one small part the pie. Nintendo and the Wii are behind the curve.

1) I write these ramblings as just that...wanderings of my mind. I'm thinking on-screen. I don't write these out. It's not an essay.

2) You talk in circles. Circles are closed. So is your mind.

3) Read something other than things that reinforce your already narrow views. You'll be able to put together a real argument if you understand all sides of an issue.

4) Shhhh...you're giving the internet a headache. Have a cookie and take a nap before that vein throbbing on the side of your head pops.

Yea! Oh wait. No joy for me in the states. I miss my C64...and my VIC20. Omega Race anyone? Murder on the Zinderneuf ?

@PoisonedV - Werd.

And wouldn't everyone like to...I don't know...download new characters and content for Smash Bros. And how about new weapons, karts, tracks or characters for Mario Kart? That could no question happen on any system...any system BUT the Wii. Doesn't that make the gamer in anyone disappointed?

@Herendar - Thank you. I was going to blindly get sucked it a war of links, but I thought the better of it because you can find links enough to counter any argument on either side.

Reggie Fils-Aime has walked the line on this subject for sometime. But the sum of it all is that not only has he not closed the door on a storage solution, he has already acknowledged that there will be a market for it. He of course never gives up the corporate line. That's his job.

Nintendo is an old school Japanese behemoth, and as such doesn't corner on public opinion's dime. They take a long time to turn corners. Case in point; the SNES 'Playstation'. A knee-jerk response once they discovered that they were going to be behind the curve. And they blew it because they took too long and then couldn't commit. The original Playstation is the bastard result of their inflexible nature. And that doesn' t even begin to explain the whole CD-i partnership.

Case #2: The N64 and it's cartridge format. Time and time again, the Nintendo corporate line was that cartridges were the superior format for gaming. They stuck to the story that cartridges had more that enough space to offer the better gaming experience. Optical and magnetic storage weren't ready for prime-time, according to N. Once the haze cleared and they realized their miscalculation, the 64DD (or plan b as I call it) was thrown into the spotlight before it was even fully developed. Nintendo had sworn up and down that there was no problem. And let's not forget the stop-gap jump pack. This is classic Nintendo.

I never once said that I don't enjoy my Wii. I never once said that I wasn't going to continue playing the games I've already downloaded or discs I've bought. I just feel that Nintendo is once again resting on their laurels, getting arrogant and pandering to the least common denominator. As long as that continues, the system will never see its full potential, and we will have missed out on much unique gaming content, and fallen behind the curve for online gaming and downloadable content. Even the Dreamcast and it's online offerings outstrip almost everything being done on the Wii. I'm not talking about cutesy voting channels, and weather channel reports that are usually at least 5-7 hours behind. I'm talking about game-play. Content. Things that in the very near future will require additional storage.

If you find that you don't need these things, then you are probably the sort of gamer that the XBOX 360 Arcade bundle is targeted at. But the difference is, MS offers it's fans and gamers options. Nintendo needs to follow suit, and quit telling us to 'pay no attention to the man behind the curtain'. Misdirection won't stop the waggle experience from getting tired without fresh content, ideas and options.

This is my opinion, and everyone is welcome to theirs. I just wish we could do that, AND play nice. Sorry to ramble. Again.

@Tides of Chaos - Yup. Yup. And with 'Everybody's Nintendo Channel', you'll be short more space and one more channel slot. And the inevitable 'Wiiware Community' channel will eventually spring up. All good things taken by themselves, but held up against the glaring exclusion of storage options I think the whole thing begins to unravel. Give 'em hell!.

@Sharecrow - YES! Transfer times be damned.

Options! Downloaded content! Real demos!

@Tim - Good lord, I would love it if an update surprised me with that kind of SD support. That would be - well let's call it a peace offering, and a show of support for those filling N's coffers.

@Atlantis - Oh, and those demos that companies have the choice to make available to us...don't suppose they take up any space either...or new channels either. Yup.

@Atlantis - Since you chose a disrespectful tone instead of making your point intelligently as a personal opinion, I'm forced to point out the misguided nature of your rather short-sighted PERSONAL comments. It has nothing to do with laziness. It has to do with choice, system limitations, and the inability to freely access at any time games you have paid money for without jumping through hoops. It's about a system that has been knee-capped in terms of downloadable content for existing and future games. Wii owners don't get new content for Guitar Hero because, first and foremost, of this limitation. Gee...somehow my abhorent lazy nature has prevented tens of thousands of fans of the game from playing new songs. I'm so very sorry. I'll try harder. No new weapons, levels or modes of play for the numerous 1st person shooters on the Wii? Obviously my laziness. I'll get right on that.

Or...you can actually think before you lash out at someone about a topic you've obviously given little or no thought to. I, and I think others, would probably appreciate that. It is Nintendo who has been lazy. This from a company that lost the 32/64 bit console war and much of it's 3rd party support (including Square, who is still not contributing any 'A' titles...even with sales through the roof) because they chose to stick with the cartrige format. One of their reasons given? CD load times took away from the enjoyment of playing games.

Hmmmm.

Please. Think about your responses, because calling me lazy when I wasn't even refering to load/transfer times was just unnecessary. Thank you.

@Sharecrow - Thing is, I have most of the games that I'd be tempted to download. It's a matter of space and clutter; the VC is practical for me. But I'd gladly take a stand against N and hook up my old school systems in the bedroom.

As long as N sees people feeding at the trough, they won't build us a table. If you think N64 and SNK games are huge, can you image what a download like 'Crystal Chronicals' would do to your available space? A handful of games with visually appealing graphics and orchestral sound tracks (and any downloadable content for said games) could wipe out the vast majority of your available flash memory (remember- Wii has no hard drive). Of course everything is speculation until it happens, but given the size of a game like Wave Race, it looks pretty dismal on the memory front. And if they wait until long after the Wiiware launch to fix the problem...and it is a problem...SONY and MS will have my money for the forseable future.

Once again, the 'casual' backlash reveals another ugly side. Nintendo is under no pressure from the majority of the 'casual' gamers to deal with the storage issue. This is who they see as their new focal point, with a bit of fan service for the 'core' gamer. That irritates me. Because it wasn't the casual gamer that was there at launch, that made the Wii a media darling and an ebay goldmine. It was the 'core' gamer, and the old school Nintendo fan. Once it hit mainstream, we became like the small-time manager that got the band their first big break. No need woo us anymore...at least in their eyes. My opinion, of course.

Honestly, Nintendo and Sega could announce that they are releasing a ground up build of every Hundred Swords 'Episode', once a month on WiiWare. I wouldn't care. Every episode of Shining Force 3? Don't care. And I won't until Nintendo quits BSing us about storage. While it might be a great tool for them in the fight against piracy, it is complete crap for gamers. I'm personally not spending a penny more on downloads for the Wii. And I won't be buying any discs either. Game saves take up space too. I have other systems to spend my money on. One's with hard drives.

Nintendo is getting arrogant again. As long as they screw us over on the storage front, they can kiss the fleshy part where I sit...and my money good bye. Yeah. I'm sick of it. No excuse.

Damo - I still believe the Wii has the horses to do the work. Yes, the unusual design of the Saturn (actually 4 processors all together if you count vdp 1 and 2 and their workload) made it hard to program for (not to mention the decision to use quadrilaterals) and I would imagine emulating that mess would be difficult. But once again, I contend that this is one of the reasons that a Saturn emulator produced by SEGA and/or Nintendo would be much more viable. Those who have written the existing Saturn emulators are, no doubt, incredibly gifted. But they also have day jobs and finite resources. Given a team that has worked on the Saturn hardware and whos one purpose is to create a Saturn emulator for the Wii, I think it would be verydoable. As I said before, I'm not a fan boy. In fact, there was a period of loathing Nintendo in the early days because of their arrogance and business practices. But I think people underestimate the Wii. Not that anyone cares anymore, since the whole casual game thing has moved systems like a prune juice and cod-liver oil smoothy moves cheese.

Also, I'm sorry that I read your statement incorrectly. I would love to see SEGA release Saturn games re-built for the Wii. But I still contend that a tight, less bloated 1st party Saturn emulator could work on the Wii. I think that SEGA and Nintendo have to think long and hard as to whether or not it would turn a profit. Nintendo also has to crap or get off the pot and be honest about their plans for storage. But I believe it can be done. Call me an optimist, but I've seen plenty of encouraging things said about the Wii as a system, and it's untapped potential. I actually believe that, for the first time ever, a system may never know it's true potential. The focus on casual gaming, and gamers lowering the bar and buying into the hype that visuals don't matter as much now that Nintendo has opened the market is damaging. There is no motivation to push the hardware when gamers will buy anything that makes you waggle and wiggle. I can't wait to see what Factor 5 is doing. Someone needs to light a fire under other developers. I'm not a graphics whore, but there is no reason we can't have both gameplay and visuals.

But i digress...and that's a whole other topic. Sort of. I guess the point is that everything related to the Wii's power and most examples of what the Wii can do are very distorted and overshadowed by this push towards less is more and casual gaming. Don't get me wrong; I'm glad that the core experience has returned to center stage. I just feel that most developers who could push the machine, won't. Why spend the dollars when you can have greater return on yet another waggle experience with 'stylized' graphics...oh how I've come to hate that word.

I have to say that I've really enjoyed this give and take of ideas and opinions on this site. I'd given up on boards on other sites. Too much bashing and disrespect. Nice to see we can agree to disagree, and be civil. That's refreshing.

I have waited a VERY long time for this game. I downloaded it the second I got home on the day it was released. I played it all night and ever day that week. What an amazing game. This was the promise the VC held for me; a cheap way to distribute here-to-fore unreleased games in the US. I never thought it would happen so soon. This saved me a great deal of money!

I really wanted to like this all over again. It was fun for about 15 min. Sad. Maybe the sequels will do it for me.

Like eating saltines without a beverage. Tastes ok at first, but you've quickly had enough and it becomes difficult to choke down. Generic. OK everything, but no standout features. Pack a bag Shockman, you're headed to my SD Card.

YOU HAVE TO LOVE STRATEGY GAMES TO ENJOY THIS! This is NOT a pick up and play, entry level game in the genre. That having been said, if strat games are 'your bag', this is a chance to play a classic and while is can be a bit rough on you at times, it's worth the work. PASSWORDS SUCK. Period. That's a little piece of retro I can't be nostalgic about.

This is an incredible game. Hard as hell, but damn fun. Now let's have the Thunderforce games...and M.U.S.H.A., and Gaiares!

Although I've played this SO many times before in many forms, I still love the core gameplay of Galaga. I gave it an extra star for doing what I would have thought nearly impossible. Expanding on the gameplay of a classic arcade game without bloating the experience, and actually making it better i many ways.

Play it alone, and it's an exercise in repetition, and frustration. Play it with friends and it makes you want to bust out Gauntlet

I love Gauntlet as a multiplayer game. This is no Gauntlet. Sorry. Not abyssmal by any means, but not worth the space on my Wii. SD Card time.

I just can't get behind this one. Inspiration for other games or not, the gameplay is tedious after a while. What fun that is there to be had, is often times immediately countered by tedious back tracking and always annoying/glad it's over respawning enemies.

Um...druids and smackin' a skanky lizard 'yatch in the face with my silvery balls of justice? HELL'S YEAH!!!! Great variety for it's genre and era, good use of the sound chip, and on top of the pure simple fun of it, you get a genuine old school sense of accomplishment. Buy it. NOW!

I downloaded this based on the bizarre translations and whacked out character design. I love bizarre games...and this delivers in the style and design dept. Unfortunately, that's all it held for me. It's painfully average, and not worth space on my Wii. Bravoman now has a condo in downtown SD Card.

A very fitting end to the series on the TG16, and an excellent co-op platformer. Technically polished, with tweaked gameplay. the changes they made make it feel like someone was actually listening to gamers complaints from the first 2 games. Kudos for that effort, regardless of the inspiration.

What I said about the first Bonk remains true, and with tighter controls, and more variety...well...yea!!!! Into the game cave I go, to shun the light of day for a few hours!

I should have given this 3 stars, because it's an average platformer at the heart of it all. I couldn't. I have to give it a 4, because it just oozes style and personality. That's something that translates into extra mileage when you hit those portions of the game that feel 'been there, done that'. That's what makes it feel fresh, when it's core is derivative. The series definately gets much much better, but here's to the begining of a beautiful friendship. Bonk is the (proto) man!

While Saturn Bomberman is still the penultimate game in the series (imho), this is where my love of all things Bomberman started. This game sucked up many hours of my life, and multi-player was amazingly fun. While I've been seduced away by more recent versions, in particular the Saturn and SNES games, this one will always get play.

An excellent game, but yet another that reminds me just how bad I've become as a gamer! I need to get back to basics I guess! This game is one of the reasons I bought the system. It was always on display at a local video game store, and blew my mind at the time. Still impressive today.

The game is fun, it just never reaches the heights of Devil's Crush - a far superior game. Given that both are available, definately go for Devil's Crush. I downloaded this because I thought it would take a lot longer for DC to arrive. Ooops. Still, it's fun, and a distant second place.

Hella fun! Good to see a quirky shooter on the VC. I love the 'parody' shooters that see good success in Japan, but never caught on in the states. This will tide me over until we get one on the Wii!

Another masterful Ninty game, full of tight game-play, incredible water physics, and tons of replay value. It all depends on what sort of gamer you are. If you are the sort that only needs to 'beat' the game, or in particular only the 'main' mode of the game, then you may tire of Wave Race. If you are the sort that must 'master' all modes of the game, pulling off every trick effortlessly, then there are more than enough hours of game-play in here to keep you happy. If this is you and you ALSO happen to have friends, then you must not pass this game up. This game was made with you in mind... with love... by Miyamoto san and Co. Me likey!

In terms of balance and game-play, this is imo second only to MK DS. So much freakin' fun. Now if everyone could just get along, and play nice long enough to release Beetle Adventure Racing. Come on VW, everyone wins if you loosen up!

Thank the randomness of the video game gods! I remember seeing this being played in my favorite import store on Elizabeth St in China Town (NY). It was beyond expensive, but I nearly purchased it. I left instead with a stack of import saturn games, some anime, and a couple of jpop cds & game sound-tracks. I went back the following week after payday, but they were sold out. They never got any more in. Treasure and Sin & Punishment are perfect examples of why I play games to begin with. HELLS YEAH!!!!!!

I had a soft spot in my heart for the game. I must have had a soft spot in my head for downloading it. Not terrible, just not worth the usage of space on my Wii. Now on my SD card.

Not a bad game. Cool if you must have them all, but I'd wait for the later entries. I only downloaded it because a friend had never played a KOF game (and he paid for it).

This is one of those games that I remembered fondly and looked forward to, only to realize that I was seeing it through a cloud of nostalgia. It's not a bad game, it's just nowhere as good as I remember. It was fun for a while, and it was certainly cool having friends play that had never experienced (or heard of) it before. In fact, they seemed to get more out of playing it than I did. I guess it's the mysterious 'cool factor' of playing a game released so long ago on a system most couldn't afford.

I loved this game on the NG CDZ, and it was in my regular play rotation when friends would come over. I was so stoked to see it on the VC so early. And then I tried to play it. I was wondering if anyone else had any trouble playing it on an HD LCD TV. The game is squashed, flickers and is broken. It's unplayable. I haven't hooked my Wii up to my ED TV yet, buit this sucks. Any clues? It's the only VC game that does this, including other Neo Geo games.

What an amazing game. I wouldn't care if the main character was a sea-cucumber, as long as the play mechanics were the same! So many kids and adults alike passed on this the first time because of the kiddy appearance. Now's your chance to play a classic. One of those games that takes a concept to a new level. Pure platforming goodness!

Geebus. Now I feel old. This game is kicking my anus. I know my cousin and I either beat this or were close. Now I suck. Grrr. Still an interesting and fun game...when I'm not chasing after the controller I just tossed!

I downloaded this for a friend who loves it but didn't have a Wii at the time. I'd play it when he came over, and it was moderately fun. Jumping blows. He has his own Wii now, and we play it at his place. Mine is on my SD card.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now gimme Life Force...GIMMMEEEEEEE!

Go go track editor!!!! Replay value GET! Why don't more games involve you in the creation of your gaming experience?

Too much, too little, and really...I got burned on this on the NES. Fool me once. This is a Nintendo game - hell THE Nintendo game! Why, when there is Super Mario Bros., are we missing a level? Loved and dropped many quarters on this in the arcade. I even had the Coleco version (as it came with my console). It had the missing level, albeit with some changes. But it was there! Oh well. If it was a dollar, I'd buy it for the convenience. But I have it in Animal Crossing, and on the NES. No sale.

An interesting take on the Joust play mechanic. Balloon Trip is a great little diversion, Multi-player is a lot of fun...and if you're of age...a fun game while tipping a few back. The single player gets a little repetitive after a while, but that's the way it should be. This game isn't meant to be deep. It's a quick shot of fun that you can always come back to. I miss those games. With my schedule, it's nice to know I can come home and get a quick gaming fix, without having to navigate menus, or wade through cut scenes. Nothing wrong with those; I just don't have time most days. I leave that gaming for the weekend. During the week, my VC gets a workout...mainly due to games like this.

@Starwolf_UK. ps. heh. Always think of something else just as I post. Your points about the benefits of building the games from ground up with Wii functionality are very well taken. I agree that enhanced versions of classic would be more cost effective, well received and for my part, I see them as the perfect way to promote the wonderful differences between systems. Motion controls, nunchuck (the most underrated part of the Wii experience - Have you played Metal Slug and lobbed your bombs with the 'chuck? FUN!) integration, modest visual enhancments. After all, I have to admit to be seduced by the glorious HD XBLA versions of games. Why not promote the Wii's strenghths in the same fashion? So, yeah...good points all.

@Starwolf_UK. Oh I agree completely that there won't be a Sony emulator of ANY kind EVER. I was just speaking to the system's ability to do that level of emulation, and giving the Bleemcast series of individual ps1 emulators as an example of what has been done before.

'Think of how long its taken Saturn, Dreamcast and beyond to have emulators of acceptable standard. Many of them are far from perfect to this day.'

I agree with this in spirit, as I waited for these babys to hit their stride myself. The biggest diffence of course is that these were done as home-brew and enthusiast projects, and certainly didn't have the funding and resources that a SEGA/Nintendo joint emulation project would have. If we were talking about a small, underfunded developer getting the rights to handle the emulation and publish the games under the Wiiware label, I think we'd see something akin to the Genesis emulator on the SEGA Smash Pack on the DC (I know SEGA Farmed the project out...I just can't remember to whom). But handled by the companies themselves, I'm sure they would be very solid and quality control, while it might not be perfect, would certainly be much, much tighter.

ps. my friend has a modest (read old) pc gaming rig (and by gaming rig, I mean reserved for emulation...not a 3D monster) and he hasn't had a troubles emulating Dreamcast or Saturn games. It's not a dual core powerhouse. Just an observation. I gues it just depends on how you're set up, memory and the emulator you're using. He does just fine.

I've enjoyed reading your reviewers takes on VC games, and in particular some of the TG16/CD games that I may have missed. For that I say job well done. But your assertion that the Wii isn't capable of emulating systems more powerful than the N64 is, well, laughable. To further solidify the inaccuracy of your statement, you use the Saturn and a Playstation game as your examples of that which cannot be done. Newer systems? Those were peer systems, out at the same time and roughly the same in terms of overall power. In fact, the only important (in terms of emulation) difference in the systems' handling of 3D is the Saturn's use of rectangles instead of triangles. The major stumbling point is the same one that I feel will hamper most Wiiware games - storage space. There is no way you could download a game like Panzer Dragoon Saga, with it's multiple discs. This is something for Nintendo to address, and soon. Castlevania: SotN? It's a Playstation game. Completely doable...but once again, it's a space thing, not a power issue. You can throw together a cheap PC that's no where near as powerful as the Wii and emulate roms of these games, or even play from the discs themselves (If your naughty). I just hate to see such inaccurate statements show up on, of all things, a Nintendo fan site. It's hard enough seeing this sort of thing on other sites' boards, and the misinformation on the Wii systems capabilities. That extends to the assertion that the Wii is 'about' as powerful as an XBOX. It is, (as has been intimated by various developers) in fact, capable of much more. C:SotN as a direct port of the XBLA version? Not fully intact. But other than a drop in resolution and the storage issue there is no reason why it can't technically be pulled off. And the PS1 version would be a cake walk...if we got a damn hard drive. It's also a little confusing that you later claim that it COULD be done...outside of emulation...with effort by the developer. Saturn, Playstation, N64...even Dreamcast emulation...is not beyond the system's power. For god's sake, the DREAMCAST COULD EMULATE A PLAYSTATION...HELLO...and modestly enhance the games. Accuracy and focus in an article like this is important. So many 'hardcore gamers' are ready to write the system off. Let's not give them fuel for false and unfounded rumors. Thanks for listening. Not trying to be an ass. Just concerned. Oh...own all the systems, btw...not a Nintendo fanboy