Rexy

Let me be the first person to say, in spite of my disregarding of SMRPG as a world-class videogame title whatsoever, "let the complainers sizzle away"!

Really? Is this implying that the next month or two will be a great period of time for Genesis gaming?

I feel so stupid to have completely missed out on the Shining Force series and PSIV as a kid (and for good reason too, with Sonic hogging the spotlight lol), so this must be some kind of sign

Heck yes; Shining Force 2 has a PEGI rating I did kind of get disappointed with the leniant difficulty level for the first game though, but I'm still interested to see the series' development, that's for sure.

Of course, I forgot about Labor Day (which is understandable given my humble origins); I can understand the pressure being on for a holiday release for SMRPG since we got the game during a Bank Holiday weekend and all. I can understand what everyone's coming from with numbers, but given that even titles like Harvest Moon could end up being "milestone titles", I'd rather see it as some kind of coincidence.

You got that right, Cheez. The Crystal Chronicles sub-series has been with Nintendo consoles since its interception, so just because there's a related title on the Wiiware side doesn't mean that main series titles would spawn through there too. I still think it's most likely that FFV and FFVI would follow suit on the DS if you ask me.

Numbers don't mean a thing. Apparently your 200th release was Zelda II (which I still think is good but is most probably "too different" for most others to appreciate lol), so we can't really rely on milestones or anything. The least we can do is find out what happens on Monday, and if it IS SMRPG, then let me be the first to say "finally, the horror of the screaming fanboys can sizzle away to nothing".

@Apocalypse, comment #21: I know what you're saying, but I still think a four-VC-game week (technically five) sounds too good to be true. I wouldn't be too surprised if it turns out to be a repeat what happened when America was promised 3 major titles (Ys, Samurai Shodown 2 and Megaman 1) and got none of them on the day they were "confirmed" to arrive.

I can't remember a definite promise on Street Fighter, but by "promise" they didn't mean "quick release as soon as possible". They'll get there eventually, and I'm with you - I'm similarly anticipating Earthworm Jim.

Wait a minute: Ys is coming out next week? What happened to DoReMi Fantasy and <<shudder>> Spelunker? Whichever, next Friday will be a fine week for gaming, that's for sure

Oh my God; Secret of Mana is confirmed? If that ever comes to the European VC, you know I'd swag it on release day - easily one of the finest action RPGS on the SNES

And similarly, I feel happy to see that N64 support is slowly creeping in. Like I said, I'm not one for playing golf, but Mario Golf is a start to get support on the right track.

Finally, Bio Miracle! I'm so investing on it as soon as I come home from work tonight. I've been waiting for that one since it came out in America, I give you that now.

Yeah, but isn't it still logical to at least use some of that re-investment to put us at ease with future hardware? Quite a few of us didn't own all those GameCube games for nothing, so they did fine with the backwards compatability there (even though the Game Boy Player was incompatible). Similarly, with the poor Internal Memory space in comparison to other consoles, surely something else could have been done for easy storage rather than the tedious SD card solution, right?

Mario is right completely concerning the games - releasing multiple stellar hits in the same short space of time is going to be overkill. I was rather referring to the choice of games you're being spoonfed to play though, but that's still good enough.

Even if that problem has been refined, it all comes back to the whole storage problem that keeps coming up - if you can't satisfy their comfort with the supporting hardware, then how are they going to manage the games in the first place?

See, this is exactly why I left Sony behind - the PS2 became seriously outdated by this time last year, and the PS3 with its hefty pricetag and poor European treatment hardware-wise meant that I couldn't cope with them any longer. I just wanted to play games for fun, so the Wii was really the only logical choice at that moment in time, and it's turning out fine.

Even so, I still wish something could have been done with the storage - if Nintendo wants to sell more games, then they could at least give us more room to store stuff on - downloadable games, save data or otherwise.

Eh? Nothing, and I repeat, NOTHING, tops the release of Mario 3 IMO. The fact that it's still THE best selling VC game as of now still speaks volumes over how that is - a true timeless classic.

I see it as a purchase for those that either feel really bad concerning their figure or don't have any other means to maintain a stable weight otherwise. That's what I've been noticing from my aunt having it - she wants as much of a decent figure she can have when she gets married before year's end.

I'm with you Mickey. I feel that Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is the so-called "higher tier" of the Mario RPGs to date personally, and if anything's missing, it's a true follow-up in that kind of fashion. (It'll make more sense too - I feel the battle system there is a lot deeper than whatever else we've seen in a Mario RPG.) We were kind of there with the character roster in Super Paper Mario, yet that turned out to be more like a spin-off rather than a proper game.

Concerning Tingle, I feel for you right there - popular in Japan, but in most Western nations he gets more rotten tomatoes thrown at him than the total sum of every single game in Nintendo's library. I guess barely anyone can ever adapt to the "strange" or anything like that.

I just wish I could comprehend how big companies would ignore their customers' demands, as it would release in serious profit losses in the months to come. The poor planning of the PS3 was what made me jump from Sony to a more comprehendable model in the seventh console generation, and even so it went off to a very poor start. Wouldn't the better strategy here be to keep feeding your clients so that you don't suffer the same bumpy passage?

Try comparing SMRPG with at least TTYD and you'll see what I mean when some people get frustrated over the mere simplicity of it. We wouldn't "hate" (term used loosely) without comprehension on the subject, right?

"Releasing SMB:LL again is just plain cheek"...
Really, when it was the only game that was retired not long after it came out? There's been some heavy debating regarding whether that decision should have been made or not, and now we feel more assured that it's out for EVERYONE to pick up and play, not just those that happened to be there the first time around.

Lol, I'm officially ranked as an "usual". I feel kinda smug.

@Organized Confusion, comment #129: No, the Internet is not meant to be used as a stress ball 24/7. If that's the case, then you should load up Line Rider and take up your frustration on the skiier rolling uncontrollably on your angry scribbles.

But seriously, regarding SMRPG, it's all a matter of patience. Apparently we Europeans were more patient than you, hence why we were "treated" (term used loosely) to its surprise release last week.

It's all a frustrating circle - if you hate Nintendo, they'd hate you back by releasing more of the crap that you don't want, whether it be VC, Wiiware or retail. Additionally from what I've calculated on VG Chartz, Nintendo's American profit seems to be considerably higher than Europe and Australia combined at this moment in time, so some added focus was needed out here to ensure more sales.

It's a weird synopsis, but I hope it might be a reasoning on the surprise release last Friday of all days to potentially go for.

Locke, my thoughts echo yours - I namely invest on games that I completely failed to invest on in the past and hear so much about at the same time. But if there's anything I've learnt in the past few months, quite a number of those that have been with Nintendo from the beginning rarely even bother with looking towards SEGA, NEC, SNK or even Commodore, no matter how good the games are.

Yeah, it won't do wonders for marketing strategies if people want so many "heavy hitters" all in one do. I feel you on the counts of Earthworm Jim and Contra though - I hope to see them on the VC sometime soon.

From what I've read, Battle Lode Runner was the first title released on the VC to not have an initial release outside Japan; therefore, the import taxes didn't apply firsthand. It should also be mentioned that it was released 4 months BEFORE the first Hanabi Festival, so it was most likely treated like any other game at that time.

Call yourself one of the rare ones, Locke. For the past few weeks we've had these so-called "expansions" for the Neo-Geo, Turbographx, Master System and the like, and most people didn't like it, wanting more Nintendo games to come through. Irony, anyone?

@MaxPlastic: I haven't played Cho Aniki so I have no opinion regarding its appeal to me. But I assure you that I should check it out sooner or later

I bloody well hope not - you guys wanted Ys and Samurai Shodown 2 so badly, and to be frank, so do I. Why did I have to be a British citizen rather than an American one? >.>

Oh, PLEASE! I would do ANYTHING to trade this week's EU releases with this American one. I so want to look into Ys more than ever, and I really want to see it released as soon as the Hanabi Festival is over.

Aaaand there we go - another reason why it currently sucks to live in the UK.

Like I said above, I can't imagine SMRPG following immediately after Megaman 1; maybe within the next few weeks though. I'm prepared to receive a boot to the head if I prophesized incorrectly though.

Well, I think it all comes down to varying degrees of the acceptance of Japanese puzzles from outside the Far East. Puzzles like the Sudokus and Nonograms (the latter of which being what Picross is based on) are actually pretty popular back in my home territory, so the release of Super Picross out here seems justified. I've no idea how the Americans have received any of these Japanese puzzles in the past, so it's probably a blind guess if anything.

GB games on the VC will rock, no doubt about that. However, the hardest thing about it though would be through emulating the multiplayer proportions properly, unless Nintendo would rather intend for the multiplayer functions to happen online or something like that.

It's not bothering me much though - I still have my GBA, and even my camp crimson pink Game Boy Color is still functional. I do however agree that more classic GB titles need to be given some kind of re-exposure to the current masses - Tetris and Pokemon Red/Blue are a start.

Super Paper Mario, while decent, actually wasn't much of a proper RPG but more like some kind of glorified explorative platformer. I would have thought The Thousand Year Door was the cream of the crop concerning Mario RPGs anyway, but what do I know...?

Anyway, next week (fortnight?) Nintendo would attempt to throw in some sour grapes with Spelunker, that's for sure (how that ended up on the shortlist is beyond me, lol). Since most people around here aren't very crazy on arcade ports, Dig Dug would most likely come alongside it. And then there'll be people screaming their heads off for Earthbound, in which we might not get for a long time. .

Still, if you guys are wanting SMRPG to arrive in the states, then so be it. Besides, once it arrives, the weekly bitchfests concerning the releases on either side of the pond will finally get to calm down, or so I think.

Hah, I figured that out just as much by seeing the size of some of my NES and Genesis titles on my hard drive. Still, I kind of wish that Nintendo would do something about the space issue, especially since there's more and more games coming out that refuse to be copied to an SD card.

I do however understand that it is meant to be a very light hearted franchise, so I appreciate it there. However it doesn't mean it can't have its darker moments here and there - the Paper Mario series at least had a few from what I can recall. Thus, l feel a better combination of such moments would do a better job at preventing alienation of certain gaming parties here, taking the setting into account of course.

Points taken with the appeal through Mario, the button presses and the music (even though I still think Yoko's best SNES work was Live-A-Live). I understand the attempt for pulling in RPGs to the masses with ways to get people into the genre. Yet, I find it hilarious that SMRPG succeeded while FFMQ failed.

Concerning Smithy though, villains that do things "for the sake of it" tend to get my goat as it makes it feel as if they were just randomly thrown in, if you know what I mean. All I can see that was going for Smithy and his gang was their resemblance to weapons - sure, they may look intimidating, but I can't remember many scenarios when they fought intimidatingly at the same time. I'd rather see this as one of the many ways that Square started to lose its cool during the 90s. o_O

I'm not saying that I find it "lame" or anything, but I'm just confused over how it ended up with a lot of acclaim for being - as I stated above - a "Beginner's RPG". You stated it right there - those that aren't too much into the genre would have room to appreciate it, and I would agree with you there. But with Square selling a huge number of RPG titles like pineapples on the beach, how is it even possible for the softer-core titles to gain more acclaim?

@Stuffgamer1, comment 215: I have my reasons for comparing it to Mystic Quest, and it's not my way of disregarding it completely. Both games are classified "Beginner's RPGs", with simplistic plots, underdeveloped characters (maybe except for Mallow, but Geno's backstory was almost non-existant and was there for the point of being "cool", and the Smithys? I can't see them as decent villains without any kind of motive to capture Bowser's castle to begin with), short completion times and little level grinding. That's how I saw the resemblance.

@Lynx, comment 219: I hear you, I don't understand why people like FFVII so much - the graphics aren't that great, the battle system is much slower than on the SNES incarnations, and I can't really associate with any of the characters at all. Plus, Kefka is a way better villain than the tool that is Sephiroth

More like, how is it even possible to fill up all your channels without exhausting the internal memory?
The least you can do for the time being is get an SD card and transfer what you don't want over. It's not ideal, but it's the only means of clearing space as of now o.O

An eight-game month would be impossible to see, but yeah, I'm down for Dracula X and Super Mario Kart at least I can see your understanding on the issue loud and clear.

"Habani" is Japanese for "fireworks" (hence the display image), and the Japanese generally do these sort of festivals throughout the Summer months from what I've investigated on. I've no idea how it originated though >.>

I don't know, I can only remember SMRPG getting an OFLC rating out of the six, not to mention that news story in which Nintendo started keeping their game ratings secret. Still, I'm not expecting any more surprises here. Sure, I would love to properly play Earthbound as much as anyone, but I'll be content enough to wait a little bit longer.

@Lynx, comment #185: Nah, I'm not making you feel bad at all. People have opinions, and we aren't meant to shunt each other into the pits of oblivion, aren't we? It happens with pretty much every game in existance - I don't think there's a single one in which everyone loves or everyone loathes (ok, maybe except for Minesweeper, but that's not the point).

The point at hand is that people should appreciate what they want to appreciate, criticise what they want to criticise, and that they have the freedom to do so. Heck, I feel free enough by stating that I prefer Shimomura's works with the Kirby series over Sakurai's, but that surely won't bring down the fans of those that love Adventure, Superstar and the like.

Still, this is what's going to happen. If you love SMRPG, then fine, play it through. If you don't like it, don't play it, and if you feel the need to criticise at least state a decent reason other than bashing everyone that do like it. True gaming means freedom on what you want to play, not what people are forcing you to play.

@Ginta, comment #29: I'm actually drawing it on what happened in the previous Hanabi festival (SEGA and Turbographx games - bear in mind both SEGA and NEC aren't in the hardware business anymore) as well as the all-Nintendo line-up for the first. I can't imagine every single distributor contributing to the same major event at the exact same time

Since it's "Nintendo Systems" for this Hanabi festival apparently, we have no hope in hell of seeing any Turbographx imports. I do hope to see Dracula X in the future though.

Yeah, but let's look at it this way. When was the last time that us Europeans/Australians received something really special in the VC release roster? Nintendo's strategy is usually to do these kind of releases sparodically and usually tend to go for the bigger hitters out of desperation. Since you got Mega Man 1 last week, and with Mega Man 9 looming on the horizon, I wouldn't necessarily predict a this-Monday stateside release though I can predict seeing it coming at least in the next few weeks.

"Pretty good" sounds like an understatement. Three highly anticipated videogame titles makes it more of an explosive week for gaming, unless of course like with Megaman 1's relase on Monday, we're most likely to get a few complainers because Megaman 2 "was already on a collection".

But let me put it this way. If you think SMRPG, MM2 and MM9 together is "pretty good", then what would you think would be "so awesome you'd skive off work for weeks on end"?

Did I even mention it in this thread? No. I just want to look forward to the good stuff of the Hanabi Festival. Seriously, after all the acclaim I've seen for DoReMi and Bio Miracle, I seriously want to check them both out.

Yahoo, DoReMi Fantasy and Bio Miracle will make my day indeed

Each to their own, so I appreciate what you're saying. Mind you, when you mention "slow and frustrating battles" the PS1 FFs keep coming to mind for me more often than not...!

Talking of the latter, I am SO excited over the prospect of Bio Miracle appearing on European shores - it better come in this week's festival! That's the moment I'm personally appreciating the most, as insane as it sounds

If one's overwhelmed by the urge to play an RPG, I think Final Fantasy 6 would be my move personally - possibly one of my favorite games of all time (and the ROM is also equally accesible for that too if one doesn't have it). It's a shame it had to be one of the last great Final Fantasies and all

Actually I did by emulation (as evil as that is, I had no choice). I was expecting something awesome like you guys were, so no surprises there. Yet, after facing quite a few RPG greats beforehand, I was sorely disappointed. To me it felt more like playing Final Fantasy Mystic Quest with Mario slapped onto it >.>