RetrogamerFan

Hmm.. The releases this week are good, but i have quite a few of them already.
Will be updating the ambassador scheme games, glad these have finally arrived.
Maybe Super C.
I've recently been playing Mega Man (and MM2) on 3DS. Had to use save states in MM(1) to get over those damn platforms right at the start of the Gutsman stage, and those dissapearing blocks in the Ice satge drove me nuts. Completely failing at Wily's castle too. MM2, much more enjoyable, managed to reach Wily's castle without save states. Not doubling up on Mega Man for Wii U.
As much as i love Pacman, I already have the GB, NES and Arcade (Pacman/Galaga dimensions cart) versions on 3DS. Would still consider the arcade version on WIi U, or the superb Pacman Championship edition arcade game, but not getting the NES version again.
Zen Pinball (Wii U) those are good discounts - i'm not really into Marvel comics but will pick up one of the Marvel packs. i'm sure the tables will be good, regardless of my (lack of) interest in the licenced IP itself.
Still got my fingers crossed for the Pinball Arcade coming to Wii U sometime soon.

Nope, can't resist the urge to play Super Mario World on the gamepad so i've changed my mind and will be downloading after all.
Mario's Picross is awesome and has nearly 300 puzzles, up to 25*20, but i recently finished it on Wii's vc, (including all the bonus and extra levels) so won't be doubling up on this as well.
I wasn't very excited for panorama view, but maybe the demo will change my mind...

I loved Okami on Wii, so would be very interested in a future console release in this series.

Well i suppose a company needs to dviersify, unless we are going to get...
We Sing: Darksiders

A bit of double counting going on here, 4 of the titles were already confirmed as Famicom Anniversary releases.
Of the other 4 two were on the 3DS ambassador scheme, then i have Mario World on Wii's VC and Excitebike as a 3D Classic.
Slightly annoyed that Ice Climbers is on Wii-U e-shop before the 3DS e-shop as 3DS ambassaors are still waiting for the updated version...

Looking forward to more Rayman
Really enjoyed Mega Man 2; up to Wily's castle stage (no save states used...yet). Yet to play #3, so may hold off a while on #4.
Also looking foward to seeing what's happening on Wii U VC. Hoping update hits Wednesday, then some VC games from Thursday.

Will check after work to see if i can get the update.
i was expecting the update to be available from Wednesday, so it would be immediately before the regular e-shop update, but the sooner the better i guess.
Wasn't that bothered about the load times anyway, but will be very nice to have.
With regard to what's coming first to the VC; of the initial 8 titles they specifically mentioned in the (EU) 3DS direct last week 4 of them were on the Famicom 30th Anniversary promotion anyway, 2 were in the 3DS ambassador scheme, and then i have the other 2 on Wii's VC. I don't think Excitebike was one of the 8 in last week's 3DS direct, but i have the 3D Classics version of that.
Personally i'm mostly interested in what GBA games are coming (unless these were already in the Ambassador scheme) because i have most of the NES/SNES games i want already on Wii VC, unless they add titles which have not been on either Wii/3DS e-shop before, e.g. Earthbound.

Really excited about this, loved Mario Golf 64, and then Toadstool Tour. Hoping this turns out good too.
Toadstool Tour is a bit of a slow burner; when you first start with it, it doesn't seem much different to Mario Golf 64, but once you've put in some time, you really start to notice to all the little improvements and refinements to the game, it really adds up to a brilliant entry in the series.

Will watch it later after work.
My guess is they will probably be confirming release dates for already announced titles and some new trailers for games still a little while away - Zelda oracle games (VC), Etrian Odyssey IV, Mario Golf, Luigi RPG, DK Country returns, Mario Vs DK [arcade-puzzle game], and Flipnote/animation utility (which, given my complete lack of artistic ability, i'm not personallyt interested in).

@BlackSpy did you miss Spy vs Spy from your list? i not played NES Version, but did have it on Sega Master System and ZX Spectrum, a really fun 2 player game.
1. Super mario bros 3
2. Super mario bros 2 [not lost levels]
3. Solar Jetman
4. Legend of Zelda
5. Pinbot
6. Donkey Kong
7. Super Mario Bros
8. Mega Man 2
9. Golf
10. Donkey Kong Jr

Good week.
Dig Dug
Kirby's Adventure - because it's 30p i don't mind getting this again, i recently completed the 3DClassics edition and thought it was a really good, fun game.
Already have Crimson Shroud and Virtue's Last Reward (retail not d/l) but haven't started either yet. Good to have sales, although the number of discounts lately makes me think i should be more picky about d/l items day one.
Fire Emblem looks fantastic, but i will go retaill not d/l.
Will wait for reviews (and perhaps even a sale) on Kung-fu Rabbit and Super Little Acorns.

@Five-seveN thanks for your response on that.
Partner system sounds like a fairly useful addition. Shame about the spend limit though, i found it a bit frustrating to have saved money you can't spend, i really felt like i needed to use it.
Might still get this if it arrives in Europe e-shop.

I really enjoyed what i played of the first one and thought the controls were excellent. Yes it took some practice, but once i got it, the stylus control allowed a great degree of accuracy and speed; I'm left handed btw.
The great difficulty i had with the first game was the overwhelming amount of stuff the game throws at you, the towers were so expensive and didn't always feel very effective, it always felt like Dillon had to do nearly everything on his own and he often needed to be in at least two places at once.
I never finished the first one, but was wondering if the partner system feels more effective at helping Dillon? Also do you still have the really tight cash limit on your first play through of a village, i found the spending cap made it really tough going.

Will play through 2nd world in Runner 2, and (try to) get all treasure chests in 1st - loving the game so far.
From my (huge) backlog, Zelda OoT on 3ds, saved game just after clearing forest temple, might be water temple next (might have to check a FAQ). Completed N64 version but that was about 15 years ago!

So glad to see Hellfire made your list
I've seen the coin-op on MAME, years later, and can see how close the Megadrive version was to the original.
The weapon system, and fantastic soundtrack really made it stand out from other shooters of the day.

Wasn't very excited about this week's e-shop update, this certainly changes things
Will get this and Art of Balance on 3DS.
Looking forward to playing the Wonderboy themed level; I liked the Pitfall! references in the first one.

Thanks for the review, sounds like it was a real chore to play.
I wasn't very impressed by the trailer and was expecting this to get a bad review. My thoughts on seeing the trailer were that someone had copied the combat style from Y's I & II, which is very simple, and then built a whole action game around that one gameplay mechanic.

This was a wonderful game back in the day with great graphics and sound, although it was a rather short lived experience. i would gladly d/l a copy if it came out on one of the VC services.
However, Sega have have gone very quiet in their support of the 3DS VC (outside of Japan) so i'm not getting my hopes up.
I wasn't very keen on the 3DS update, I played the demo and thought the platfroming was quite good, but the drawing mechanic and lengthy cut-scenes really killed the pacing of the game.

Got most of the discounted games (that i want) already.
I was impressed by the Art of Balance demo and still haven't got that, so i will probably get that.

I'm still planning to get this, regardless of the delay. Will be pleased to have it late, rather than not at all.

I remember seeing this in Mean Machines Guide, one of the 1st Neo-Geo titles. I might get this if it comes to Europe because it's not a beat em up, and it wasn't on the SNK classics Wii disc.

I really enjoyed my time with it and thought it was well worthy of a download. I finished the story off in one afternoon, but quite a few combos still to work out.
It's hard to reccomend though and must have been difficult to review. It's such a unique experience, if you take away the charming and quirky characters, humour, and the critique of mass consumerism, the nearest thing to gameplay is completing a series of cryptic crossword clues.

Pikmin 3, been interested in that since it was announced as a possible title on Wii.

I've not played any HM games, but put a massive amount of time into Rune Factory Frontier (Wii). I thought it was a fantastic game - up to a point; I really enjoyed the farming aspects of that, much more than i thought i would, and it was a nice balance to the dungeon crawling sections. Having said that i eventually got a little overwhelmed by all of the tasks, i literally didn't have enough time in a day to cope with everything. The game just throws more and more at you especially once you start having to manage the Runeys, this takes up takes up so much time and needs constant tinkering to keep your crops prosperous.
The simple nature of Harvest Moon sounds like it will be a nice antidote to that and i'm looking forward to trying it out.

Excellent review.
Some of the feeling expressed in the review coincides with my experience with the first Toki Tori game, which i d/l from the 3DS e-shop when it was released last year. I found myself getting stuck quite a bit and hitting dead ends; I just didn't find the solutions to puzzles very intuitive, i ended up giving up after a couple of hours play and probably missing out on a big part of the game.
Also, which is nothing to do with this game, I've got a huge list of games to play at the moment so will pass on this.

I want both, will see if there are retail copies available at weekend.
Also looking forward to getting
Fire Emblem: Awakening, Etrian Odyssey IV, Need For Speed (haven't seen this at retail at all yet, so might have to get from e-shop), and then there was this week's 3DS e-shop update.
After all that i'll definitely be voting 'I'm totally broke!'

Great, i only d/l'd this last week following it going on sale, still haven't started playing it yet.

I quite enjoyed the demo, more than i thought i would, up to the Bee boss battle. I couldn't beat it - i jtook hits every time the really rapid attacks come at you, i couldn't hit the buttons fast enough; certainly not in a controlled rhythym. Had no problem with the turning/d-pad functions they throw in. I'll probably try to beat the demo again but will not even consider picking up the game till i do.

Don't think this is a Ouya (and I thought Wii was a bad name!) specific issue, any laptop/PC/tablet has same access to these sorts of things.

Wow, where do you start. Fantastic week.
Great choice of 3DS games, tempted by both RE games.
I already have Escape Vektor and was a little underwhelmed. I thought it had a few really obvious problems which need patching i.e. having to permanently hold (why not toggle on/off) R because the camera is too close (the zoomed out view is still too close for comfort; this waas a real deal breaker and really spoilt the game for me. Also the leader boards fail about 95% of the time. I have no problems with other games with on-line leaderboards, just this one?

Great review; agrees with others i've seen saying this is the best version.
I'm quite partial to some racing action but never tried any NFS games. A couple of people above have commented that this is a good entry point to the series so i will get this.
As far as Wii racers go, i actually quite enjoyed F1 09, I must have got about 40 hours plus out of that. F1 09 got some middling reviews, i certainly go into it and thought it really rewarded your practice and got better the more you put into it. The only other 'real world' racer i've played lots of was GT4 (PS2).

Excellent review.
I loved the original so have been looking forward to this ever since it was announced. The changes and additions they have made sound good and will add some much needed replay value.
Will deifinitely be buying this one.

Started downloading Zombi U as soon as i saw this news on the E-shop yesterday; good discount btw. Looking forward to bashing some Zombies over the weekend.
D/l took just under 4 hours, then 12 mins for install. Zombi U about 5.5 GB so definitely going to look for a disc version of LC:U game if that's really 22 GB.

I'm fairly sure I played this game on a mate's ST (might have been Purple Saturn Day, which i think was by the same author) back in the day and didn't really understand it.

Game is picking up good reviews on other sites/press. Looking forward to seeing NL's review

I always thoguht DK3 was a really boring game, just seemed like a really simple shooter where they added DK in at the last minute; not a worthy sequel at all.
I really enjoyed playing DK Jr again as part of the 3DS ambassador scheme, and am really pleased the original DK is part of the Famicom 30th promotion, wondering if we'll get the updated DK version with the restored level, hoping it'll at least be 60Hz version in Europe.

Q*Bert and Q*Bert's Cubes are classic games, great fun and very addictive. Quite tempted by this at just £1.79 (200 points).

The Wii U and 3DS demos were my first experience with a Monster Hunter game and i thought, as demos for the game, they were really poorly concieved.
It just quickly pushes you into one of 2 quests with no context or background and the only guidance on how to control the game is in the e-manual. The e-manual is comprehensive, but i was dissapointed that there was no guidance at all in the demos themselves.
It seemed to me the the demos will only be enjoyed by players who have played at least one game in the series before, but could switch off a lot of potential new players.
I did give the demo a couple of tries and after reading the e-manual through i did eventually defeat that giant ice-lobbing rabbit/guniea pig thing, but didn't think it was much fun so will be passing on the game.

Good week
Punch Out!! (again) and will get Zombi U whilst it's on sale.
Hope NFS turns out good, will wait for review.

Great, will be picking up Zombi U, the discounted e-shop price is less than pre-owned discs i've seen in Game; will have to wait till 11pm to d/l though, which is a bit annoying . Played a bit of Zombi U on my step-Cousin's Wii U already and thought it looked great.

@Radencker
Sorry for slow reply - It's a Seagate Expansion Portable Stbx1000201 (1TB). I should stress this does not appear on the list of compatible hard drives listed on Nintendo's website, although their list does include some Seagate drives. Nintendo only list desktop hard drives with external power supply...

EDIT: All going too well, playing last night from a demo (MH3) installed on HDD. On my second play session the WiI U no longer recognised the drive right in the middle of a a game. Will try a Y cable to see if that remedies the problem. Stick to the official reccoemended HD list and consider this model incompatiblle with Wii U, even though it does appear to work most of the time; most of the time is not really good enough as it is risking major problems and i don't want to make the Wii U more unstable...

Great review, definitely got me interested in the game.
I dont think the size of the city is going to be an issue, as the review makes it clear there is loads to do in every area. I'm playing through Darksiders II, it's certainly big, but a lot of it is rather empty (when outside dungeons). Load times, don't sound bad either, especially if its only at certain points in the game this happens and is not too frequent.
I'm probably in the older bracket of gamers but don't see anything wrong in looking forward to this. The trailers have made a lot of effort to appeal to a broad market. i really enjoyed all the movie references and the great humour, some younger gamers may not get all the movie references but then this won't spoil their enjoyment of the game at all.

i got a 1TB Seagate portable hard-drive, which works just fine; cost me £63, so will come in useful for this or any other upcoming games i decide to d/l instead of retail. Drive has a black case and even a blue drive light so matches my U

Excellent review, very detailed. Might be one to get if i want some more super hero action after i finish Batman, and if it's at a reduced price. Haven't played a Spiderman game for many years - last one i played was Spiderman v's Kingpin on Megadrive.

NL is my go-to website for reviews so keep up the good work.
I don't get too worried about a game's score, i'm more interested in the text explaining what's good/bad about a game. I think some people probably miss out on some good games if they only ever buy a game which gets a high score.

Have this through the ambassador scheme. This and Ice Climbers were the only two of the Ambassador games i didn't really like. Wrecking Crew gets too difficult too quickly for my liking, leading to a lot of frustrating trial and error, and then i hate the enemy/foreman character who appears a few levels in.

Good review. Will d/l this, it will make up for the lack of other titles that interest me on this week's update.
At the price I'm not worried if the game is a bit short-lived, sounds like it should be good fun and hopefully a good chill-out game; i've got Ghosts 'n' Goblins and MegaMan (1) d/l'd but not started, this will be ideal to fit in between playing those two games.

Still have mine set-up, all in good working order. Bought it in the first month it was released in the UK. So many great games, Strider, Castle of Illusion, Hellfire, Thunderforce III, Landstalker, Shining Force (I & II), Revenge of Shinobi, Dragon's Fury and many others.

@Romeo so it's not a great week, calm down...
Already have Chasing Aurora from a previous sale; CA not that great unless you will be playing the multiplayer modes as well.

A couple of the screenshots really remind me of Excitebike 64 (i mean that in a good way), except with 4 wheels not 2. Excitebike 64 is/was great (except the high-res mode being a big fail) so all the added features in this game make it sound like this should be excellent. However some of the glitches Philip talks about sound really bad, and for me would be a deal breaker. Will wait to see if this comes over to Europe and/or gets patched.