Wii Virtual Console News
News Japanese Virtual Console list - August 2010
Survival horror from Sunsoft and more
Just three games for Japan this month, which is pretty much to be expected by now. One of them is a Nintendo 64 game everybody else has already gotten, while the other two games are both great, but Japan-exclusive. The only way we'll be seeing either of them is through import releases! The full, short list for...
Review Aero the Acrobat (Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Will you go aerobatty for Aero?
Everybody into gaming at the time remembers the "cool mascot" craze during the early 90's; Sega was heavily in on it with Sonic and a whole bunch of other companies tried to cash in on it as well. Sunsoft's attempt came in the form of Aero the Acrobat – a bat with attitude who works as an acrobat in the...
Nintendo Download 26th July 2010 (North America)
Diving and Firing for WiiWare; Acrobats for VC; a bumper crop for DSiWare
A big week for DSiWare with five titles arriving, WiiWare receiving two very different titles and Aero the Acrobat tumbles gracefully onto Virtual Console. WiiWare: Dive: The Medes Islands Secret (Cosmonaut Games, 1000pts) – This underwater adventure takes a few leaves from...
Nintendo Download 27th & 28th July 2010 (Japan)
WiiWare and VC releases and four new DSiWare titles next week for Japan.
It's been awhile since we've seen any new WiiWare in Japan, though the drought is only being broken by a single title from Nintendo. The weekly Virtual Console parade is also continuing and the DSi has its usual mix of education and entertainment apps to choose from. WiiWare:...
Nintendo Download 23rd July (Europe)
Acrobats, skaters and more
While North America has now suffered three consecutive weeks without a new retro game available for download, we're about to get another. It's accompanied by a bunch of DSiWare and WiiWare games that might not be to the liking of everybody. WiiWare: Arcade Sports Air Hockey, Bowling, Pool, Snooker (800pts - Icon Games) –...
Nintendo Download 19th July 2010 (North America)
The kittenpocalypse begins!
Let's just not talk about the Virtual Console this week. Instead, let's talk about furry things, like legends and kitties and selling things to unsuspecting animals. WiiWare: AquaSpace (Nintendo, 600 Points) – This fish tank...thing hit Europe recently under the name Zenquaria: Virtual Aquarium. The most notable...
News Capcom Bringing Titles to Japanese Virtual Console Arcade
Come on, we like Ghouls 'N Ghosts too...
Capcom announced on Friday that it plans to begin expanding Japan's catalogue of Virtual Console Arcade titles this summer with some of its own. They'll start with SonSon, a 1984 sidescroller loosely based on the Chinese fable Journey to the West. If you enjoy playing classic games on your Wii, it seems that...
Nintendo Download 20th & 21st July 2010 (Japan)
Street Hoops on the Wii; dolphins, Dasshutsu and dating (or ditching) for DSi next week
Virtual Console: Dunk Dream (900pts Neo Geo - D4 Enterprise) -- Sold in Europe as Street Slam and North America as Street Hoop, it's a tournament game of 3-on-3 street basketball with a choice of teams from various nations around the world. DSiWare: @Simple DS...
Nintendo Download 16th July 2010 (Europe)
Flying and fighting on Wii; French, Darkness, solitaire and 3D tanks on DSi
Another Virtual Console holiday, but WiiWare gets Pearl Harbored and then engages in some funky fighting. Conspicuous by its absence is Furry Legends, previously believed to be released this Friday but Gamelion has confirmed to us there will be an announcement of its new...
Nintendo Download 12th July (North America)
Bashing and balloons for Wii; puzzles, paper and playing French for DSiWare
A pretty varied platter for North America today, with Virtual Console again absent but WiiWare gaining two games and DSiWare letting five more passengers onto the download bus. WiiWare: Toribash (1000pts - Nabi Studios) – A turn-based fighting game that's big on physics,...
Nintendo Download 13th & 14th July 2010 (Japan)
Virtual Console RPG for the Wii; lifestyle apps, edutainment and a couple of games for the DSi next week in Japan
WiiWare is MIA yet again, so Wii owners will have to make do with an old Super Famicom RPG originally published by dear departed Data East. Virtual Console: Metal Max 2 (800pts Super Famicom - Enterbrain) -- The Data East IP parade...
Nintendo Download 9th July (Europe)
Plenty for everyone
As with every week, DSiWare gets the lion's share of releases this week, although most of it is not too stellar, or at least not likely to be. WiiWare gets a long-awaited fighter plus an interesting Nintendo-published title, while VC gets another ninja action game. WiiWare: Toribash (1000pts - Nabi Studios) — A very strange...
Review Ufouria: The Saga (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Easy Mode Metroid
The original Metroid was a ground-breaking game for its time, but it feels incredibly dated to anyone playing it for the first time now. The lack of a map makes navigating the seemingly endless identical corridors way more annoying than it should be for newcomers, whereas those who know the game inside out can beat it within an...
Nintendo Download 5th July 2010 (North America)
Dogfighting, vampire slaying and sheep launching this week
Today, the day after the United States blew itself up and Canada wondered what all that racket was about and some people have jobs in the morning, sheesh, the Nintendo Download brings a peace offering of eight titles across WiiWare and DSiWare. Some anticipated, some not so much, and the...
Nintendo Download 6th & 7th July 2010 (Japan)
Neo Geo puzzling for the Wii; Spartans, handwriting and hockey for DSi next week in Japan
The WiiWare drought continues with only the VC to comfort Wii fans next week and things aren't much more exciting on the DSi with only two games and an educational title to start out July. Virtual Console: Magical Drop III (900pts Neo Geo - D4 Enterprise) –...
Nintendo Download 2nd July (Europe)
DSiWare galore!
DSiWare gets another massive load of new games today, but they're probably not the things you'll mostly be wanting to pay attention to - Both WiiWare and the Virtual Console only get one game each, but they're both great and more than worthy of a look-see. WiiWare: Jett Rocket (1000pts - Shin'en Multimedia) — A 3D platformer with...
News And Here's Your 2010 Club Nintendo Awards, North America
Delectable collectables
So the Club Nintendo North America year came to an end yesterday, and along with the beginning of a new one today the Big N has revealed what super special exclusive awards members who reached Gold or Platinum status are eligible for. The suspense is murderous! In a repeat of last year, Gold status members get a 2011 desk...
Nintendo Download 28th June 2010 (North America)
Jett Rocket and Mario Tennis N64 headline this week's 10 releases
Mario and Camelot breathe some life into the Virtual Console's N64 offerings, Shin'en shows the power of WiiWare and DSiWare keeps up its flood of titles. WiiWare: Jett Rocket (Shin'en, 1000 Points) – This platformer from the creators of the excellent Art of Balance blasts onto...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - July 2010
A fresh breath of life for Japan
The Virtual Console seems to have been winding down in its amount of releases worldwide as of late, but Japan seems to be the first region to stop that nonsense - Next month they'll bet getting six new retro games. A whole four of them are for the Neo Geo, but it's still nice to see the VC is not quite ready to die...
Nintendo Download 29th & 30th June 2010 (Japan)
WiiWare returns, Meta Fighting on the VC; X Returns and other stuff on DSi.
WiiWare: Boku mo Sekai o Sukuitai (1000pts - Poisoft) – If we're understanding Poisoft's website and the description on the Nintendo WiiWare page this is a combination of a sim and an RPG where players get to create multiple elves, dwarves, etc. with stats and skill trees...
News North American Club Nintendo Year Coming to an End Next Week
Might want to hurry up with that Gold or Platinum status
How's your Club Nintendo account looking, North Americans? Did you register enough Nintendo Product™ since last July to qualify for a neat-o Gold or Platinum badge? If not, you might want to scrape your game collection for stray Coins as the second Club Nintendo year winds down on June 30 to...
News Sonic Turns 19 Today but Brings No Presents for Nintendo Fans
Virtual Console the only format not to receive price drops today
Yes fans of blue spiky things, it was 19 years ago today that the original Sonic the Hedgehog did its first loop-de-loop in our hearts. In honour of this world-changing event, Sega is cutting prices of many of the hedgehog's downloadable outings on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network...
Nintendo Download 22nd & 23rd June 2010 (Japan)
The WiiWare drought continues; VC and DSiWare releases only this week
The Japanese WiiWare scene has been pretty quiet over the last month or so with only a couple of titles from Squaresoft. Given the past schedule with one release minimum per week, it does seem to imply a slowdown in development; whether or not that will be the case in other...
Nintendo Download 21st June 2010 (North America)
Spin some tentacles, strategize against dinsoaurs, and puzzle puzzle puzzle
Nintendo hopes you like puzzle games, because that's five of the eight games released this week across WiiWare and DSiWare. To nobody's surprise, the Virtual Console has yet again been left out on a hill to die or something. But look, puzzlers! WiiWare: Art Style: Rotozoa...
Review Shadow of the Ninja (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Ninja master or a shadow of glory?
Ninjas suddenly gained popularity during the 1980s, what with their cool moves, cool clothes and unashamed ability to kick ass. It's murky as to why exactly this happened but the legacy left within the fields of media was huge, ranging from the American Ninja films, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Last Ninja...
Nintendo Download 18th June (Europe)
Nintendo serves up a certain ace
It's the week of E3, and what better way to celebrate than by finally releasing another N64 Virtual Console game? And an extremely well-liked one, at that? WiiWare gets one great and one good game as well, but DSiWare seems fairly uninteresting this time. WiiWare: Ant Nation (700pts - Konami) -- A simulation title...
Nintendo Download 15th and 16th June 2010 (Japan)
Not much during the week of E3
We got so mixed up in the goings-on at E3, that we almost forgot to update you with what was released on the Japanese download services earlier this week. Relax, there's no need to get too jealous this time - Most of the stuff is extremely unlikely to see a release elsewhere. And with what Nintendo of Europe has in...
Nintendo Download 14th June 2010 (North America)
Bejeweled, sports and yard sales on WiiWare; Kappas, crosswords, keyboards and watches on DSiWare; ninjas on Virtual Console
WiiWare: Bejeweled 2 (1,000 Points - PopCap) The notorious gem-swapping gameplay hits WiiWare, complete with Mii support and online leaderboards. Check out our interview with producer Ty Roberts and our First Impressions of...
Nintendo Download 11th June 2010 (Europe)
Plenty of puzzling, some strategy and racing, and an import
Despite the release of Super Mario Galaxy 2 today, Nintendo of Europe isn't neglecting their download services. The Virtual Console gets a new one-off import game while WiiWare and DSiWare get a whole bunch of catchup titles, plus one completely new game. WiiWare: NEVES Plus: Pantheon of...
Review Wild Guns (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Wild West or limp at best?
Whether the game had any influence over the film Wild Wild West is debatable, but what can't be denied is that the two have a similar, inextricable link between cowboys and steampunk. While the traditional steampunk time period might still be Victorian England in the late 19th Century, the setting for both is somewhat...
Nintendo Download 8th & 9th June 2010 (Japan)
WiiWare returns, yet another Neo Geo fighting game, DSi baseball and Ferraris next week in Japan
WiiWare: Kuma Nage ・Puzzle Hen: Piina no Suki na Akai Candy & Kuma Nage ・Puzzle Hen: Kiina no Kirai na Aoi Hōseki (1000pts - Square-Enix) -- Two related games which seem to be set in some kind of storybook world. From the description it's hard...
Nintendo Download 31st May 2010 (North America)
Tanks, blocks, sudoku and SPARTA! on DSi whilst Ben-10, Dice, Beavers and Wild Guns grace the Wii
It's a pretty good mix of new and catch-up titles this week in North America, so hopefully everyone will find something that takes their fancy. DSiWare: X-Scape (800pts - Nintendo) — A sequel to game that was released on the Gameboy a million years...
Nintendo Download 1st & 2nd June 2010 (Japan)
Download drought for Japan next week
It's hard to remember a week like this in the Japanese download scene, much less a second consecutive week without a WiiWare release, but here we are. To top it off there's only one DSiWare game and it's the third in a series we had two of last week. On the bright side there's a Virtual Console release for the...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - June 2010
More Neo Geo support
There's not much of note for Japan next month on the Virtual Console. Nintendo's only title is a Super Famicom game we'll likely never get. Aside from that, there's just two NES and Neo Geo games to pick from. The full list for June is as follows: Famicom: Meta Fight (The original Japanese version of Blaster Master. The...
Nintendo Download 28th May 2010 (Europe)
The Virtual Console returns in style, WiiWare gets arty and DSiWare gets a bunch of random stuff
There's plenty to pick from this time. You can either go with one of Kirby's best outings or a new Art Style game on the Wii, or Picross and God of War knock-offs on DSiWare. The choice is yours! WiiWare: Art Style: Penta Tentacles (600pts - Nintendo)...
Nintendo Download 25th & 26th May 2010 (Japan)
Virtual Console for Wii; board games, soccer and language practice for DSi, next week in Japan
The lack of any updates for the Wii last Tuesday in the absence of any public holiday was a bit ominous and this week's WiiWare-less update makes us wonder if this means that developers are turning away from Nintendo's service in its home country – or it...
Nintendo Download 21st May 2010 (Europe)
The Virtual Console takes a break, while WiiWare and DSiWare get a total of six games.
It's that dreaded time again - The Virtual Console is skipping another week in Europe. WiiWare and DSiWare don't exactly make up for the lack of retro goodness either, because there seems to be nothing truly special available this time. WiiWare: Phoenix Wright:...
Review Kirby Super Star (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Suck on this!
Kirby Super Star made its debut on the Super Nintendo console in 1996, and although the game came late in the system's lifecycle, it's gone on to become one of the most sought-after games in the series. Now with the release of the game on the Virtual Console, Wii fans can enjoy the classic in all of its original glory. The gameplay of...
Nintendo Download 17th May 2010 (North America)
Running, blood and Kirby for the Wii; frogs, rabbits, upside-down blocks and more blood on DSi
Microgame creator WarioWare D.I.Y. and the hosts of the Nintendo Channel show "Nintendo Week" collide in the Big Name Game for this week, as Allison and Gary each unleash whatever crazy microgame their host brains have done thunk up. WiiWare:...
Nintendo Download 19th May 2010 (Japan)
Earth Saving, Sengoku strategy and Kanji training on DSi next week in Japan
Although we're unaware of any holidays in Japan this week, it appears the Wii is taking a download break. The DSi is still getting a few titles on Wednesday, so importers still have something new to look forward to. DSiWare: Earth Saver Plus: Inseki Bakuha Daisakusen (500...
News Nintendo "Happy with Virtual Console Pricing"
No plans to cut costs just yet
There's been countless discussions on the pricing structure for Nintendo's Virtual Console service, but the company itself has confirmed to Eurogamer it's satisfied with the way things are. We're currently pleased with the uptake of WiiWare and DSiWare in the UK (including the Virtual Console service) and believe the...
Nintendo Download 14th May 2010 (Europe)
Bit.Trip, Phoenix and Ghouls on the Wii, fire-fighting, platforming action and brain busting on the DSi this week in Europa
WiiWare: Bit.Trip RUNNER (800pts - Aksys Games) -- Europe gets the first try at the latest entry in the minimalist, retro-rhythm game series from Gaijin Games. We loved the time we spent playing the final release version, so if...
News OFLC Rating for Shadow of the Ninja Sneaks In
Classic Natsume title recently rated
Europeans may know it better as the Taito-published Blue Shadow, but North American readers will recognise Shadow of the Ninja from its 1990 NES debut. OFLC, the ratings board for Australia, recently granted the game a PG certificate listing Nintendo as the publisher, all-but guaranteeing the game is on its way...
Nintendo Download 11th and 12th May (Japan)
Catch-up week for Japan
After the Golden Week break it looks like Nintendo is mostly offering up titles that we've already seen elsewhere around the world. WiiWare: Sekai no Omoshiro Party Game 2 (500pts - Sims Co., ltd.) – The sequel to last month's Fun World Party Game offering five new games in five new countries: bullfighting in Spain,...
Nintendo Download 7th May 2010 (Europe)
Darts and Fantasy on the Wii; stories, shooting, bricks and music for DSi this week
Virtual Console: Final Fantasy (600pts NES - Square Enix) --The one that started it all and was never released in Europe has finally arrived on our shores. Of course as a Hanabi Festival release it's 100 Points dearer than what our North American and Japanese cousins...
Podcast Episode 15 - This Nintendo Life
Brand new segment debuts!
It's been a longer gap than usual between podcasts but May's episode is now available, fresh from the oven and made with only the freshest ingredients. Chop up a delicious arrangement of news and reviews, add a dash of Kim Wild's Wii Fit Plus and mix in Zach Kaplan's new retro feature This Nintendo Life. Bake for thirty...
Nintendo Download 3rd May 2010 (North America)
Zombies, funk, but sadly no funk zombies for WiiWare; and five more for DSiWare. Virtual Console, where art thou?
WiiWare brings the funk and sees some long-awaited zombie killing action, and DSiWare has a bumper week with five titles full of crazy, balloons, mazes and other stuff we're not entirely sure of. Virtual Console fans can resume the...
Review The King of Fighters '95 (Virtual Console / Neo Geo)
For those who like having their asses handed to them
After having some solid success in arcades with the inaugural game in the series The King of Fighters '94, SNK wanted to try to address some of the complaints players had with the game in the sequel. Two of the biggest complaints were the inability to customise your own team lineups and the...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - May 2010
A mere three games for Japan next month
Things can be quite odd sometimes. A while back, when North America and Europe were getting several weeks without any Virtual Console games at all, Japan was still getting one or more per week. Now it seems like the roles have been reversed, because while North America and Europe are now getting one each week...
Nintendo Download 30th April 2010 (Europe)
Catching up with North America
It seems pretty much all the releases featured this week have already been seen in North America, though there is something new in the form of some additional DLC for Mega Man 10 and Simply Solitaire for the DSi. Since some of these releases only came out Monday in North America we don't have reviews up for them all...
