RetrogamerFan

Mostly good review. Although I totally disagree with the opening comments about the Master System version of FZ2. I really enjoyed the game back in the day. I thought the pacing, difficulty, game mechanics, bright colourful graphics and excellent BGM all played to the console's strengths and made it one of the best games in the system's library.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to playing this new version, have d/l'd but going to finish a couple od games in my backlog before i start.

@Rafie Very dissapointed about the dealy to The Pinball Arcade. I hope Farsight get this out this year.
Haven't played any Star Wars Pinball for a few weeks now, can anyone confirm if the leaderboards are working properly now, and have Zen fixed the sound, which sounded scratchy/overly compressed on my set-up?
If this has been fixed, then great i will definitely get these further tables. I feel the leaderboards are integral to the experience of ZP. The on-line leaderboard issue wouldn't bother me so much if they they had more off-line goals/achievements, like the tournament mode or numerous goals found in each table in Williams/Gottlieb collections on Wii.

I have SMB for NES, SNES (all-stars version), Wii (all-stars version), 3DS (NES version). That's enough for me.
I shall be playing something from my backlog instead.

Quite a good week (imo).
Pleased to see another GB game, and a pretty good one at that, it's been a while...
Will be getting Breath of Fire II on WIi U as I never got round to this on Wii's VC.
Also hopping to get Etrian Odyssey IV. I never played any of this series but i'm really looking forward to this from what i've read about the game; main decision on this is retail or digital.

Good offer to get reward points. Like others have mentioned Game also give reward points on E-shop points cards, which is a good offer as many other retaillers treat them as gift-cards so exclude them from their reward/points schemes.

Good, comprehensive review.
As an owner of a non-XL 3DS this may be best avoided. I know some 8-bit games had limited pallettes so were prone to invisible bullett syndrome, but it sounds here like this is largely caused by the transition to the 3DS.
May check out some of the later Star Soldier titles for Wii's VC instead.

Only game i'm definitely getting this week is Boulder Dash-XL 3D.
Still need to d/l W101 demo, as i'm undecided about that.
Solomon's Key is an excellent game, but i already have it on Wii U VC.
Not a big beat 'em-up fan so will be completely passing on SFII.
I will wait for a review of Great Giana Sisters. I find it odd thinking about playing a GGS game on a Nintendo machine, given the fate of the original game.

Slightly off topic, at the other end of the scale, my local Tesco was selling copies of Skyward Sword for £10... all sold out now

Whats USD85 in £s? Okay, that's still a lot of money. iirc i paid £30 new.
If someone can get that sort of mark-up on line as a private sale, well ok, but for a large multiple outlet retailer... Not fair!

@Peach64 I played all the way through Shining Force again (about 20 years since i last played it) quite recently on Wii VC, loved every minute of it. My plan was to go straight onto Shining Force GG on 3DS, which i still haven't started yet, maybe this weekend...
Definitely more Pikmin 3, a wonderful game.
And if i'm not in a gaming mood, i'll do some more Nikoli Sudoku (3DS); I actually want most of the other Nikoli titles as Sudoku is ten-a-penny stuff. Nikoli Sudoku pretty good, but in terms of content and value, Telegraph Sudoku & Kakuro absolutely kills it.

Great review; it really gets across why the game is still held in high regard by many gamers, despite the seemingly simple and aging gameplay. A game i really enjoy myself.
The NES version is excellent, but, as you mentioned, anyone who also has a 3DS really should consider getting the Pacman & Galaga dimensions cart. Arcade Galaga, Pacman, and then Pacman CE, all with on-line leaderboards (that actually work).

hmmm... looks ok, but i'm really waiting for The Pinball Arcade

@cornishlee Being as though i'm at work i've never been able to test this out, but i believe the E-shop updates at 3pm (if you're in UK).
Bit on the fence about this game, I would snap it up if they put the NES version on VC, but i doubt that will ever be an option, so I might wait for a sale on this version

Great, will definitely buy this from the e-shop.

Good review. i don't mind a short-ish game (given my huge backlog).
Was very interested after viewing the trailer. Will d/l later today.

Does anyone not have this yet? It's a great game but i already got it on NES, Wii VC and Wii U VC. And the All stars version on SNES and Wii.
Having said that I'll probably still get it on 3DS as i missed the GBA version and it will be great to have this on a hand-held.

Excellent review, as always. Will be picking this one up as soon as i put some more e-shop credit on wii-u.

Works for me, i like it.
Although, i already have a Wii U so i know how great the machine is, hope this will get the message accross to others.

Wow, excellent trailer. Going to wait for a review, but If the game turns out good i will definitely be picking this one up.
Music used in trailer definitely has a Ennio Morricone feel, so fits well with the Western theme. That enemy near the end of the trailer reminds of HAL 9000 or the computer from Demon Seed.

i did lol at this when watching the n-direct, the game is looking very nice.

Will be getting Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I'm glad [Tecmo]/Koei is releasing this on the VC in Europe at last, hopefully further titles that missed Europe VC will follow.
I love Galaga, but will skip this version as I'm perfectly happy with the arcade version on the excellent Pacman & Galaga Dimensions (3DS).

Ever since i been into gaming i've always had a computer and a console, and since the gameboy a hand-held to.
Sure the wii u does need more third party support, but i mainly bought it for Nintendo games so i'm fairly happy.
I will stick with Wii U and 3ds, then upgrade my aging pc, I won't be rushing out to get a PS4 or Xbox 1 any time soon.

WayForward also did a Barbie game on GBA; You tube Steve Benway (his most viewed video) to see someone 'playing it badly'

I'll wait for a review on Cloudberry kingdom, e-shop trailer looked fairly good.
Harvest Moon (Snes), maybe.
Discount on Funky Barn seems common sense, always looked like a (fairly decent) budget game to me, so i might pick it up.

Enjoying the real thing, and looking forward to the 3rd test starting Thursday. Hoping for a decent contest and England to wrap-up the series.
At least the game will be in time for the return series, unless they, drop the ashes branding and delay again till next years world cup.

£6.99 is a bargain. Excluding importing a staggeringly expensive cartridge, there's no other [legal] way to play in Europe.
I think having it on the Wii U adds value to, it plays great on the gamepad/off tv, and the miiverse community is good for this game to, found several useful gameplay tips on there.
Just reached Twoson and loving the game so far.

Is it Friday yet? Great review.

@FineLerv Hopefully i'll find it a bit easier this time around, never really acheived much with my Speccy except a lot of frustration when things didn't work.

Petit Computer looks good - I remember playing about with Spectrum basic all those years ago so this should be good, and then Kirby 3, i will get both of them in the next week or two
But it's all about PIKMIN 3, which i'll be getting at retail on Friday.

Interesting and well written piece.
I do find Miiverse pretty annoying when people are saying all NES/SNES games are overpriced just because they are old, without really understanding anyhting about the game and what is good or bad about it. In my book, and this applies just as well to modern games, if you have a good time and get a reasonable amount of game-time then it's worth it.
i don't think it matters whether you had the system back in the day, if anything you can't be accused of bias, bought about nostalgia, you can sit down and play it as a new experience, which many others will be doing.
Your point about console gaming being expensive is a valid one, i also started with a Speccy, and then a Master System, then MD and A600, but i could only afford a new cartridge every couple of months, so even if you had the machine the chances of you playing a lot of the console games were pretty low.

Will wait for a review of P-e3. After playing all the way through Super Picross (SNES) on VC, this series really feels like Picross-lite. Will need to see bigger puzzles, and other changes, otherwise i will pass.

Great to see some more GB games.

Looking forward to these, impressed by the quick previews shown in the Nintendo Direct

Wow, looking forward to getting this. I think £6.99 for a 30-40 hour game is more than fair, whether it happens to be a new/old game. But £6.99 for this is incredible value for money, it's never been available in Europe, and by all accounts is a fantastic game, I can't wait to play it.

Would welcome more tables from Zen as i really like some of the tables on ZP2. I just wish Zen (or Zen & Nintendo) could resolve the leaderboard issues. Chasing down high scores is one of the things that makes Pinball so addictive. I've put off buying the Star Wars tables, for now, because of this issue, which really spoilt my enjoyment of ZP2.

DK was included in last weeks schedule, even though it's not out till today(?!) So technically i will be downloading DK first this week.
Quite tempted by discount on Puddle, looks quite a decent game.
Will get Shantae, but skip Spelunker as i already have it on Wii U VC. Spelunker was discounted to £2.49 on initial release on Wii U VC, which helped my decision to get it - not a great game, but i still got some enjoyment out of it.

Sadly, miiverse has several posts already saying the leaderboards are not working properly. Hope they can remedy this soon, otherwise i'll wait for a sale, or The Pinball Arcade. Really wanted the ESB table as well.

@fluggy I wasn't really comparing the two, although they share the Pilotwings branding and same basic concept, they are hugely different in execution. Resort has a kind of casual feel to it and only really starts to provide any sort of challenge in the last couple of events. I liked the free flight mode and thought that was a nice alternative to doing the lessons. Piltowings can get very tough once you start on the expert lessons so it is more rewarding for finishing lessons. I happen to like both games and the series as a whole.

Donkey Kong for 30p, been looking forward to that ever since it was announced, although it's sad that the 30p games are over.
On the fence with ZP: Star wars, just because i'm looking forward to The Pinball Arcade more. Maybe if Zen have sorted the leaderboard connectivity issues and the tables are good.
Wii U VC: Like the discount, hope they apply this to more future releases; i won't be getting either, I have both on 3DS, (3d classics KI, and ambassador Metroid).
M&L dream team, i'm sure this will be great but my backlog is getting ridiculous.

@Dpishere PW Resort is quite short, but will last a while if you want to get all top ratings in the game, there's also some cool little 3d models and extra vehicles as unlockables. i had a great time with it and got (i think) around 15 - 20 hours out of the game.

Check the scoring policy, 6/10 still indicates a good game, but there are flaws which may put some people off.
Pilotwings is one of the most memorable experiences in the whole of the SNES library and was visually stunning at the time of release, and as the review points out there are many good points to the game, superb controls, great music, etc. However, It's also true that the amount of content in the game is very limited. There's not that much to do outside of the lessons, except finding the bonus rounds and the helicopter missions, which i didn't particulalry enjoy.
@fluggy Tranquil and soothing - early on yes, but not the expert lessons!

Fire Emblem: Awakening, bought it a while ago but only played a little so far, up to chapter 4. Loving it so far.
Some more New Super Mario brothers U.
Might put the N64 on, been wanting to play Pilotwings 64 and Wave Race 64 after reading other NL articles this week.

I'm still thinking PS4 and X-box one will face similar problems to Wii U in their early days.
The PS3 and X-box 360 still have a lot of life in them and i'd expect them to have a fairly steady stream of games for at least another year. I think it will take a while for exisitng users to upgrade to them, accepting that there will be a core audience of early adopters, but how will it go after that?
When considering upgrading from Wii to Wii U it was a much easier choice.
I think the Wii-U will pick up when the first party games start arriving, unfortunately, Nintendo have got off to a slow start, which is hurting the machine right now. However, Nintendo have some huge, system selling games, that will be hitting during the launch window of the other two machines, so i think there's still plenty.of unknowns and it's too early for gloom and doom.
@KnightRider666 Yeah love the good old SMS/NES, MD/SNES days, so many timeless classics.

I'm not too sure why Michael Ancel thinks his creative vision is beyond what can be created on an Xbox 360 and PS3, these are incredibly powerful machines, compared to the machines the original game was released on.
What is true is that the original game wasn't a huge commercial success so i think it's more likely Ubisoft backed off of the idea of a sequel.
But if you accept his comments, about needing more powerful machines, in good faith i don't see how that automatically exculdes Wii U.
It would seem reasonable to wait for PS4 and Xbox One to be established to give the game it's best chance of becoming a commercial hit, rather than just a critical hit, otherwise it could be history repeating itself.
The main thing i'd take from his comments is the game is still a long way off, whatever system it gets on to.

I still play RB3 occasionally but only ever on guitar/keyboard; i cannot sing a note so am not very interested in the game/app.
However, the idea of time limited dlc actually sounds really good in this case, that way you get access to your choice of song from (hopefully) a large on-line store. I don't know if they'd also have a pricing model for individual songs/packs alongside this if you want to practice them off-line or are particulalry keen on a certain song.

Good review.
Shame about the technical difficulties, looks like this could've been good fun. Since Nintendo don't seem to be in a hurry to make another Wave Race game, i was interested in how this game would turn out. Makes me want to play a bit of WR64 or WR:Blue Storm again.

Day 1 purchase for me, whenever that may be. Gottlieb & Williams collections on Wii are awesome. I'm used to waiting for these after the many delays to Williams collection in EU, it was worth the wait though.

Pilotwings was amazing back in the day and still pretty fun today, but it hasn't aged so well. I just find it dificult to go back to after the sheer awsomeness of Pilotwings 64, i really enjoyed Pilotwings Resort too.
According to the list of GG games i saw in Retrogamer, that's it for the game gear games for a little while. I'm sure the article listed both Sonic Drift 1 & 2, but i think Sega were wise to skip the first, i played it on one of the gamecube Sonic collections/Sonic Adventure DX (can't remember where exactly) and it was rubbish.
Never been that interested in G-loc and already have Master of Darkness as an SMS cartridge, it's a pretty decent Castlevania type game.

@thomasbw84 Just been looking at E-shop, 3D MahJongg is £4.49, don't know if that's a introductory discount or the price shown above is wrong?

Excellent review. I'm a big fan of the first four Phantasy Star games, so thats a strong recommendation to me. Getting quite a backlog of these GG games to play now.