speedyb

And with Axelay, the NOA and PAL VC releases get even more out of sync. Lovely.

Is this no longer being offered? I can't seem to find the soundtrack on his page anymore. If it was a limited time only thing, that should've been clarified.

This is a heck of a lot better than Metroid. In fact I'd say this is one of the best titles I've played in the last year.

EDIT: Also, Christina Vee as Shantae is pure win.

Oh PLEASE bring this to North America as well. The SNES cart goes for ~$90-100 on Amazon, and the sequel is even higher.

SpaceCoyote: NOA will go through every release but DKC first. It's their modus operandi.

Not big on RPGs. Still waiting on you-know-what.

Hmm, I may try these games out, but... I get the sinking feeling that we won't see the DKC games until 2015. I'd love to be proven wrong, though.

This is the best pre-Double Dash Mario Kart game.

NOA is just trolling now.

Seeing Super Mario Advance gives me optimism that we'll see Mario Kart Super Circuit one of these days.

I'll be buying Shantae but I'm waiting until it comes out on Wii U.

I did a double take when I saw DKC on the VC list. I thought for sure we wouldn't be seeing those games again for a long long time for whatever reason. Now please, NOA, don't be jerks and withhold the games for months. (and yes, I know it has worked the other way around too. I'm saying the releases between NA and Europe should be concurrent)

@StuntmanNate So did I.

Anyway, nothing for me this week, but I'll be getting Adventure Island and Wild Guns in the next couple weeks. Now PLEASE, release AI 2 for Wii U!

The only part of the game that sucks is the disappearing platform jumping in level 6, which requires extremely precise timing and distance judging to get right. It was nice to finally be able to pass that part due to save states.

The arcade game is virtually unplayable. The NES game is leaps and bounds better.

This is perhaps the most underrated Mega Man title ever. It actually added more to the series than 5 did, and all the stages had unique presentations.

Dang. I was hoping for Mega Man 6. Oh well, if nothing else, we got Double Dragon II.

Nice to be pleasantly surprised for once. Already downloaded SMK and Mega Man V, will play both tonight.

So.... no Mega Man? I suppose it's -possible- that NOA releases two games, but I'm not holding my breath.

And, it'll take six months to get it on the North American eShop.

Ugh, I hate when North America and Europe's Wii U VC releases are out of sync. Now there are FIVE titles I'm waiting for: Super Mario Kart, Mega Man V and VI, Pop'n Twinbee, and Adventure Island. And we won't be getting any of those next week either, since Mega Man Battle Network took the only spot. Just, ugh.

I reaaaaaally hope North America gets the Mega Man titles this week as well.

@unrandomsam Right, but there's no guarantee that just because a game got released in Japan, that other countries will get it.

Disappointing. So what remains to be released after Nintendo inevitably goes through the NES and SNES titles they already released on Wii?
-Genesis: Nope.
-SMS: Nope.
-C64: Highly doubtful, considering they delisted the games from the Wii Shop.
-VC arcade: Also highly doubtful, since they barely took advantage of that platform when it was on.
-Neo Geo: Possibly, but AFAIK Nintendo's made no public announcement that games for that system are coming. I'm not holding my breath.
-Turbo Grafx 16: See Neo Geo.

So what remains? N64 (if it ever gets going) and some more GBA titles are about it. I really don't see Nintendo releasing GC games on the Wii U, despite Reggie saying he'd like to see them.

The double-dip discount for Castlevania III is up, BTW.

Gah. No discount for Castlevania III for those who bought it on Wii?

Lucas!.........darling.

Looks like Pac-Attack won't be re-released on its own for the Wii U, seeing as how Pac-Man Collection includes that game.

@DakotaM47 The next Mario 3 will be Super Mario Kart.

Not sure if I'll buy SFA2 considering I have it for both PS3 and as part of SF Alpha Anthology, but I'm just glad we're getting SNES games again! The last release was way back in January.

As far as I'm concerned, this was the better version to put on the Wii U VC: More levels, less annoying Baby Mario, and a few optimizations (remember in the SNES version when you ate a watermelon, there'd be a slight pause? Yeah, there's no delay in this version). About the only negatives I can give it is a bit less pleasing music quality (though hardly a train wreck like some are claiming; at least the tracks sound like their SNES counterparts) and a little more cramped feel. But otherwise I'm perfectly fine with the GBA version being chosen.

@unrandomsam On the plus side, Baby Mario's cry is much less irritating in the GBA version!

@unrandomsam Some of the later levels are quite difficult, especially if you don't have power-ups to help.

Comon Wii U.

Since I already own the two MM collections, plus the first five games on Wii VC and the first four on Wii U VC, I'm not all that interested in buying those specific versions of the games again. However, I would love it if Capcom released The Wily Wars on VC, because we never got that in America outside of the Sega Channel and it has remixed graphics/music.

Honest question: Why are many assuming this maintenance will come with a major new feature on the eShop (such as more Virtual Console consoles)? When I read the article, I didn't think "Oh boy, new stuff is coming!", I thought, "Bug fixes."

Oh come on. Adventure Island II was passed over on the original Wii in North America, yet now it's being released only for the 3DS (which I don't own)? Does Nintendo hate me?

@Gold 2015.

@Falco Yeah that last sentence was unnecessary and I apologize (hence why I quickly edited it). I was just getting frustrated that you seemed to be reiterating the same point and I felt the need to clarify WHY people would want to play this on Wii U as opposed to Wii Mode.

In other words, I don't think it's unreasonable that people would want to play this straight from their Wii Us.

@Falco Once again, not everyone wants to boot into Wii Mode to play a game which should've been out months ago. Because then you have to switch gamepads, deal with batteries unless you have a charger stand, and won't get save states or controller config.

While the VC still desperately needs SMB3 (and, to a lesser extent, Lost Levels), I hadn't been too annoyed since the start of 2014 because we had been getting some quality VC titles anyway to tide me over. But Renegade? Baaaaaad choice. Please have next week's VC selection be better.

And for the record, other companies have released soundtracks on digital services. Konami, Namco, and Sega all have video game albums on iTunes. I've bought quite a few of them, and I would buy Nintendo albums if released. But for whatever reason, Nintendo doesn't want to play game. Fine, be that way.

If Nintendo doesn't think there's a profit to be made from printing physical CDs, then put the soundtracks on iTunes! It's not rocket science.

@Jatbat Well, thank you for setting the record straight. I guess all of us Genesis version fans are going to change our votes thanks to your level-headed, enlightening post.

In all seriousness, I disagree on the music. While the music quality was inferior to the SNES version, it was in no way "ear-grinding". There are some catchy tunes in there.

The stage graphics were NOT fugly. Maybe not as pretty as the SNES version's rich color palette, but they get the job done. But of course that's another matter of opinion.

The controls aren't as bad as you're saying. I consider bad controls to be where you have to fight with your character on-screen to get them to do what you want. Didn't experience that here. The hit detection could've been better, I'll give you that.

And come on, it's not like the SNES Aladdin had some amazing level layout. A few levels are just straight runs from left to right. Proof: http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/SuperNES/ I consider the two Genesis Agrabah levels to be superior to what was on the SNES, though zip-lining and bouncing on awnings was pretty fun, I'll admit.

And your last comment makes it sound like Genesis Aladdin single-handedly was responsible for a trend of games with pretty graphics but bad gameplay. That's really debatable, especially since I don't consider it an example of pretty graphics but bad gameplay.

@unrandomsam I checked out the Amiga 1200's music... it has more varied instrument choices but I actually think the Genesis music sounds better than it.

Plus, it has that pet peeve of mine where they randomly shuffle music. What is "Camel Jazz" doing playing on the Cave of Wonders stage?

^ My favorite tracks in the Genesis game are "Camel Jazz" and "Cave of Wonders".

The music based on songs from the movie was decently arranged but I can't help how much better it had sounded on the SNES. Heck, we got two examples where the SNES arrangements were clearly superior: "A Whole New World" and "Friend Like Me".

Not sure why my earlier post was deleted- are external links not allowed in the comments section?

Anyway, I like both versions for different reasons. But I give a slight edge to the Genesis version simply because it's more challenging.

Love the moment at 4:05 when Mario does a bunch of victory jumps for that impossible jump.

Thanks to save states, I actually managed to finally beat this game. Hey, say what you will about the states making some of these old games easier, but at least I'm able to see the end of them!

Friday can't come fast enough.