Rensch

I hope it's a new game. We've had a new Pokémon game every year for a couple years straight. 2015 seems to be the first year since 2008 where we've not seen a western release of a Pokémon game.

I prefer the GBA remake. But it's great to finally see some new GB games again on VC.

I actually played this before MK Super Circuit. It lacks the huge amount of content that the latter has, but this is your go to title if you want more of the same on thr GBA. One of my favourite Mario Kart clones.

Much of Sonic's quality games the past 10-15 years have been on handhelds. The Sonic Advance series was great as were the DS outings. Sure, they might not have been the most revolutionary titles in the series or add much to the classic formula, but they clearly demonstrated that's exactly how Sonic works best. Platforming based around speed, momentum and diverging paths. When they add too much stuff that distracts from this level progression, it doesn't work.

I remember these games but I don't recall ever playing them.

This was the best generation. Gold, Silver and Crystal enhanced virtually every main aspect of the series and the awesome DS remake made it even more memorable. The gameplay mechanics, the items, the world; it was all bigger better, deeper and altogether more polished. The biggest attraction, however, were the 100 new Pokémon. Some of the most memorable creatures were introduced here, including several personal favourites like Typhlosion and Togepi (the latter of which didn't become overly useful until Diamond and Pearl when it could evolve twice).

Not that much of a Sonic enthousiast, but I must admit the 3DS version of Sonic 1 was quite the impressive port for a couple bucks. This will probably turn out to be one of my upcoming gaming purchases.

There's still a couple games I want to play for this system. I am waiting for a price cut for exactly that reason, but it never comes.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a game I am still looking to play on my 3DS, but so far it looks a little too similar to the earlier games. If I come across a cheap secondhand copy I might pick it up.

This game was quite remarkable. It could so easily have gone wrong, trying to blend in the 2D sidesrolling Marios with the 3D ones. Instead, it was perfectly balanced. It is like Super Mario Bros. 3, but with a sort of paper diorama perspective that allowed for more movement than just left and right. This is the only 3DS game where I thought the 3D effect was actually an enhancement to the game and not a purely cosmetic thing. The 3D is also very visible, it looks much better than in other games. It's kind of like how every movie after Avatar is dissapointing in 3D. And even without the 3D slider on, 3D Land is just a gorgeous game with its Super Mario Galaxy style visuals. My only gripe was that it was fairly easy. After a week and a half I had beaten even the meatiest of the game's huge set of hidden worlds with both Mario and Luigi. For the average player there's probably still plenty of challenge, but platformer veterans have known tougher Mario games.

This was the first game I bought for the DS a decade ago. I remember the controls being a little difficult to adjust to, but I managed to collect all stars. On the 3DS it plays much better, but it's not quite like the console edition. The graphics hold up much better, though. And the additional content is quite substantial. The fact that you need to switch characters to use all power-ups adds some depth to the game.

I just couldn't enjoy it. I try it again once in a while but it never fails to put me off with its clunky controls. It still feels this game was made half a decade too early. If it had had motion controls, I would probably have greatly enjoyed the water spouting mechanic. This should have been part of the New Play Control series but somehow never was. If it had been, I might have liked it after all. Now it feels like a distraction from the platforming and the exploration of the wonderfully detailed levels.

Grass-types? Confirmation that we of team Bulbasaur were right all along? I don't know.

Could be a hint to the setting of the next game. A region based on another European country comes to mind. The Netherlands is the one probably most associated with flowers. Or maybe France, hinting at another Kalos game.

For some reason this one just didn't stick with me as much as Galaxy. It probably would have if I had played it when it first came out and 3D platformers were still new, but I didn't own an N64 back then.

Still much more fun than Sunshine, though.

Looks cool, but why aren't all games in there, especially with Anniversary Collection being a thing. I really hope they make another one including the final four Mega Man games, or at least make them DLC for this.

This would probably have been much cooler than those Rabbids games. Until they announced Origins I feared Rayman had been left to die.

It wasn't until the summer of 2008 that I actually bought the Wii system. I vividly remember playing Super Mario Galaxy for the first time. The way you could hop from planetoid to planetoid, the music, the way the game played with multiple gravity fields, the gorgeous graphics and excellent art direction, Mario being launched into space while you brushed star bits from the heavens; it was all perfectly balanced and immensely diverse. At one moment you were balancing a ball across an obstacle course, at another you were collecting purple coins while the floor collapsed under you, then you were buzzing along as a bee or fighting a gaint rock monster. Some levels, like the beehive stage, were much like in 64 or Sunshine in that you could go out and explore in a kind of open-ended fashion, while others had a more fast-paced and linear progression like in the side-scrolling Marios. The same diversity was present in the level themes. There were the deserts from Super Mario Bros. 2 and 3, the airships also seen SMB 3, the tropical environments from Sunshine, the grassy mountain levels from 64, the haunted mansions from Super Mario World. It was like a celebration of every Mario game that had come before it, but wrapped together in a galactic backdrop that made it still fresh and new at the same time. All that somehow culminated into something that was more than the sum of its many gloriously entertaining parts. I've never quite played a 3D platformer as impressive as this, with the exception perhaps of its sequel.

Looks like some kind of fish or tadpole. I'm guessing Water type.

I thought the first one was great. The typical nerd humour and episode themes really translated well into the game's levels.

There's a lot of trash in there, but sometimes there's a real gem to be found. I hear the Shantae sequel is really good. I also thought the Rayman port was well done despite what NintendoLife said.

What about a sidescrolling Metroid. The last one was in 2004 and that was sort of a remake.

I've got MM 1 and 2 on 3DS, I'm glad I didn't go through and buy them all.

I remember Fast Racing League for the Wii being really fun. The lack of an online mode was a dissapointment, so it's good to have that here.

No Master System support, though? A problem with RetroN 5 is that it needs an adapter for the Genesis/MD slot to play those. It would have been nice if they added Master System support to this.

If you already have a GBA system, it's probably a cheaper idea to just get a flash card for it. Still, considering you get this system and the card for such a price, that's a seriously good deal.

A dungeon with Zelda puzzles would be rad.

Why do I have to buy the same games over and over again? Sure, you can send your old games over from Wii to Wii U, but why do I have to pay twice to get Super Mario Bros. on my 3DS as well as on my Wii U? It makes no sense other than milking money. The advantage of the Nintendo accounts should be that you can keep your purchases across different platforms or even generations. Instead of using the rich back catalogue of the Wii's Virtual Console and continue to expand it, they started all over again. WHY? The weirdest part is that they didn't do it like that with DSiWare. You can still get pretty much all of the old DSi Shop's games in the new eShop on 3DS. Why not do the same with the Wii VC and the Wii U VC? Or even the 3DS VC?

The DLC is a great way of clearing up shortcomings. This could allow Mario Kart 8 to be just that little bit better than previous Mario Kart games.

This is one of the best Mario Kart games in my opinion. Some might look at it and think it a lackluster derivative of the console versions, but once you play it you will know this is just as great a Mario Kart game as any. It's absolutely brimming with content and one of the most fully realized games on the GBA system.

What I like in particular is the presentation. The GBA wasn't powerful enough to display fully rendered 3D worlds like the N64 could and instead had to rely on the classic Mode 7 technology of the original Super Mario Kart on the SNES. What they do very cleverly is taking the rendered art style of Mario Kart 64, but apply it to Super Mario Kart's flat sprite graphics. The result is a fantastic visual blend of both the game's predecessors.

Another neat feature were the retro tracks. You can unlock all of the old SNES tracks in this game, doubling the already huge amount of playable tracks. Nowadays we've come to expect a selection of old favourites in our Mario Kart games, but back in 2001 this was quite a surprise.

Flygon is one of my Hoenn favourites. I was really surprised to find out it never got a Mega Evolution in the OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire games. They really shoud make a Mega Flygon in the next Pokémon game.

Ribbon Road and Cheese Land are two of the coolest tracks in MK SC.

It better have some other stuff as well, because I ain't paying 15 euros for a box.

It does look like a lot of fun, but the ripping-off seems a little too blatant.

Metroid: Zero Mission is fantastic. Its organic, natural environments contrast very nicely with Fusion's technological-looking space station. Both have a very different feeling to them, yet are distinctly Metroid.

Mega Man & Bass is a game I am really curious about.

I don't it ever got released in Europe if I recall correctly. It's hard to find so it's good Capcom keeps up its solid VC support.

I do own Sonic Advance, which holds up remarkably well.

As a person from The Netherlands, one of the original 'calvinist capitalist' countries, you can still see it in the work ethic of some people, despite most of them not being protestant or otherwise religious.

Some might even say this is where the problems Europe currently faces stem from. The north is traditionally protestant and considers certain luxuries to be something you must earn. The south remained catholic and therefor doesn't have this ethic as strongly, leading to differences in how people approach labour, money and how all these things relate.

I am pretty sure anime is a a vastly more suitable medium for this. It could work out with proper writing and a good understanding of the source material.

I don't know if second-hand copies are still easy to find here in Europe. I bought mine second-hand as the first title for my 3DS back in 2012, when it was still very easy to find new copies.

If you can't get your hands on a retail copy, do yourself a favour and download it. It's that good. While very little has changed, the visuals and interface are redone to great effect. It makes the classic even better, without really making it feel like a remake. Instead, it feels like it always looked like this, which is quite amazing. It's not unless you actually boot up the old version that you see how much prettier it truly is. This is because the style and colour of the original is very much intact. The unlockable Master Quest is also a wonderful and generous extra from Nintendo.

Normally I am not too excited about remakes, but in the case of Ocarina of Time, I don't care. It's a game I can enjoy over and over again. Let's hope the Majora's Mask remake is just as good.

I am completely and utterly dumbfounded.

Beating up those tube critters underwater was the really annoying part for me.

Winning all archery minigames was HARD on the N64.

Ocarina 3D made it a lot less frustrating to win the horse archery minigame. I hope it helps in Majora as well.

This looks fantastic. The art direction looks even better than in the first game.

Great game, if a little short.

Does that mean you don't have to use those annoying cards anymore? If so, please carry on!

HeartGold & SoulSilver, easily. It's pretty much everything that Gold, Silver and even Crystal had to offer. Those were never really topped until they were remade with all the new features brought in by two additional generations of Pokémon plus a whole host of new features not yet seen before. The PokéWalker was a nice little freebie, too. Put a Pokémon on it and level your Pokémon while walking the dog or going out to town for lunch. It was genius.

Simply put, the best Pokémon games, but made even better. Fantastic game!

Getting to Platinum Rank is a major pain in the behind. Been playing around with secret bases for a week and a half, while StreetPassing a lot, and I am still not even at 200.

Why is Darmanitan shown. I always kinda digged its look. It's unusual but still pretty cool.

If these are remakes of the same quality as the Johto versions on DS, this should be quite the essential purchase.

I suspect BuzzNav is where you check to see if there are any swarms of a particular Pokémon.

It's a bigger issue than before, though. In earlier games you had a few Pokémon that had new forms later on in a generation, but now literally dozens of Pokémon might have new Mega Evolutions.