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[Jiggy]

It's too bad that Nintendo only has representatives talking to the likes of JSnake rather than real people in power, or else I'd tell him to go pester people right about now, demanding that since the PR from last time was late, it's only fair that this time it should be early so that the NA region doesn't have to wait until Friday.

I just want to know already whether on Monday I'll be unlucky enough to get sucky games, unlucky enough to get mediocre games, unlucky enough to get a single game (regardless of quality), or unlucky enough to get awesome games--in plural--whose sales potential will be murdered by Smash Bros.

 

[Cheesemeister]

I just want to know already whether on Monday I'll be unlucky enough to get sucky games, unlucky enough to get mediocre games, unlucky enough to get a single game (regardless of quality), or unlucky enough to get awesome games--in plural--whose sales potential will be murdered by Smash Bros.

Kohler already got the story.

I'd imagine it'll apply to this Monday, as well...

March 17, 2008

Wii-kly Update: Zero New Classic Games Added to Wii Shop Channel

It's St. Patrick's Day, and Virtual Console™ is celebrating with our very own potato famine. This week, we suggest you sit back in front of your Wii, Classic Controller™ in hand, and imagine what it would be like if there was a game to play. Drink a warm, cheap, foul-tasting pisswater beer with a hearty dollop of green food coloring, choke down some corned beef, and sing songs about the old days, when the fields were green with new Virtual Console releases. Remember when we put out four games a week? Well, now you can eff off and die.

Nintendo adds new games to the Wii™ Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new game is:

Nothing (1000 Wii Points): There is no game, however, all Wii owners are still asked to pay 1000 Wii Points just in gratitude for having the privilege of owning this godforsaken thing. You know how many children go to bed at night crying because they don't have a Wii? It's probably a fair few.

 

[Jiggy]

After that "you should look into the back catalog lol" nonsense from last time, it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[JSnake]

Guys, I got my press copy of Brawl yesterday. I didn't see an EB masterpiece. Maybe I have to unlock it? I'll keep digging. FOR SCIENCE.

 

[Iam Canadian]

I can unfortunately see Nintendo saying that to celebrate Brawl, you should just go back and buy the games that the characters are from that are already on the Virtual Console.

We really need some Earthbound, though.

Guys, I got my press copy of Brawl yesterday. I didn't see an EB masterpiece. Maybe I have to unlock it? I'll keep digging. FOR SCIENCE.

Spoiler

It's unlockable in the Japanese version.

 

[JSnake]

oic

Well do you know how to unlock it? Also here's a tidbit Canadian might be interested by. Pokey's name was kept Porky in the US version.

 

[TJ Spyke]

This weeks update. North America got 1 EU-only game and Europe got 1 NA-only game.

Games available in Europe and not North America: Mega Man (NES), Mega Man 2 (NES), Skate or Die! (NES), River City Ransom (NES), Mario's Super Picross (SNES), Vectorman (GEN/MD), Crack Down (GEN/MD), ESWAT: City Under Siege (GEN/MD)

Games available in North America and not Europe: The Legend of Kage (NES), Elevator Action (NES), Tecmo Bowl (NES), Milon's Secret Castle (NES), Lode Runner (NES), Star Soldier (NES), NES Play Action Football (NES), Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (NES, it's no longer available in Europe), Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (NES), Zanac (NES), Ghosts 'n Goblins (NES), Operation Wolf (NES), Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (NES), Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire (SNES), Metal Marines (SNES), Pac-Attack (SNES), Ecco Jr. (GEN), Columns III: Revenge of Columns (GEN), Bravoman (TG16), Ordyne (TG16)

Total: 8 in Europe, 21 in North America

Australia/New Zealand is the same as Europe, except they have Axelay (SNES) instead of Super C

I don't normally comment in my update, but I WANT RIVER CITY RANSOM, NOW!!!

 

[Odrion]

Got my hands on a copy of Super Turrican 2.

Didn't like it as much as the first. :[ But I'll still buy it on the VC.

 

[Man God]

Hmm, delicious RCR.

Earthbound is on Brawl. I'm wondering if FE is on it. That would be more interesting.

Also if would have to be something fantastic for me to even bother turning off Brawl on Monday to download.

RCR might be that fantastic.

 

[Jiggy]

I was only able to play Super Turrican 2 for about five minutes before dropping it. Not sure whether that says more about the quality of the game or simply that it was too different from the first game for me to appreciate.

 

[Iam Canadian]

I'm going to spoiler-tag Brawl stuff, just to be on the safe side.

Spoiler

Well do you know how to unlock it? Also here's a tidbit Canadian might be interested by. Pokey's name was kept Porky in the US version.

Spoiler

Well, from what TreIII tells me, Pokey and Porky are essentially the same word in Japanese, so this doesn't really surprise me. Still, I prefer the name Pokey and I'll call the character that for as long as I live. :/

 

[EphemeralDream]

Is stumpokapow (or however his name is spelled) keeping his left to publish list updated? I'm curious as to how Sega is doing. Nintendo hasn't been uploading much in general these past few months though.

 

[Grug]

Kirby 64 is todays update in Australia... whats the good word on this chaps?

 

[Surfheart]

Kirby 64 is todays update in Australia... whats the good word on this chaps?

Kirby!!!

Impressions are mixed on this one I believe.

 

[JavaMava]

Didn't want to go through the nearly 400 pages, but what are some of the best turbo grafix games on the VC? I got Lords of Thunder, amazing, and the first Bonk, which has it's moments. I never owned this system and want to play the best of the best on it. I'm up for anything thats great, except for generic JRPG's.

Kirby 64 is todays update in Australia... whats the good word on this chaps?

Played through this about a year or two ago. It's fairly easy, like most kirby games. If you like the main mechanic in Kirby games you'll like this one. It also lets you combine abilities instead of just sucking up the one, so thats fun to play around with. It's a 2.5d game.

I personally prefer the NES one, and I know the Kirby fanbase really likes the SNES Kirby. If you've got $10 and like kirby you'll probably enjoy it.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

Didn't want to go through the nearly 400 pages, but what are some of the best turbo grafix games on the VC? I got Lords of Thunder, amazing, and the first Bonk, which has it's moments. I never owned this system and want to play the best of the best on it. I'm up for anything thats great, except for generic JRPG's.

R-type is good, Military Madness is a pretty good Advance Wars/Famicom Wars clone too!

 

[mosaic]

Didn't want to go through the nearly 400 pages, but what are some of the best turbo grafix games on the VC? I got Lords of Thunder, amazing, and the first Bonk, which has it's moments. I never owned this system and want to play the best of the best on it. I'm up for anything thats great, except for generic JRPG's.

Here's what's on my TG-16 channel page:

Alien Crush (pinball)
Devil's Crush (pinball)
Bonk's Revenge (all-around best Bonk)
Ninja Spirit (crazy hard, but crazy awesome 2D ninja action)
Blazing Lazers (vertical shooter)
Soldier Blade (vertical shooter)
Gate of Thunder (horizontal shooter, awesome)
Lords of Thunder (horizontal shooter, awesome)
Bomberman '93 (4 people, in a maze, with bombs)

 

[Capndrake]

Japanese update on Tuesday:

-City Connection (FC)
-Joy Mecha Fight (FC)
-Fantasy Zone (SMS)
-Psycho Chaser (PCE)

That only leaves 4 games for the rest of the month, none of which are terribly interesting.

 

[Grug]

J
-Fantasy Zone (SMS)

<3 Fantasy Zone!

 

[:Motorbass]

Bomberman '93 (4 people, in a maze, with bombs)

5! People!

 

[MoxManiac]

I bet we're going to get hosed even more than usual this monday due to brawl.

 

[leroy hacker]

Alien Crush & Devil's Crush are my two most played TG-16 games. If you like pinball at all you should get at least one of them. After that are Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, and Blazing Lazers, three awesome vertical shooters. I haven't yet tried any of the CD games. Hardcoregaming101 has good articles about the Crush pinball games and Star Soldier games if you want more information.

R-type is good, Military Madness is a pretty good Advance Wars/Famicom Wars clone too!

R-Type is a classic shooter and the TG-16 port is pretty good, but it is a downgrade from the original, even without the blurry VC emulation. For the same price or less you can get R-Types for ps1, which includes an arcade perfect port.

 

[highspeeddub]

I personally prefer the NES one, and I know the Kirby fanbase really likes the SNES Kirby. If you've got $10 and like kirby you'll probably enjoy it.

Except in Australia it actually costs AU$15, which is US$14.

 

[FFantasyFX]

That only leaves 4 games for the rest of the month, none of which are terribly interesting.

Well, WiiWare debuts in Japan this month, right? I guess they want to put the focus there. I just hope it isn't part of a continuing trend . . .

 

[Brandon F]

CAN NINTENDO REALLY RELEASE TWO SMASH GAMES ON ONE DAY???!!!!

 

[TJ Spyke]

CAN NINTENDO REALLY RELEASE TWO SMASH GAMES ON ONE DAY???!!!!

Since Brawl comes out on Sunday and VC games come out on Monday, No.

 

[BooJoh]

Well, WiiWare debuts in Japan this month, right? I guess they want to put the focus there. I just hope it isn't part of a continuing trend . . .

This makes sense, but I had really hoped WiiWare and VC would coexist separately. It would be pretty disappointing if we end up not getting any new VC games whenever a new WiiWare game hits.

CAN NINTENDO REALLY RELEASE TWO SMASH GAMES ON ONE DAY???!!!!

I seriously doubt it... their best bet would be to release a game that would be less likely to overlap Brawl's fanbase.

 

[Jiggy]

Kirby 64 is painfully slow, pathetically easy, and is the series' least representative entry by far. The power combination mechanic sounds good in theory but in practice bunches of them are worthless, and they all only offer one move each--you actually end up having less moves to play around with than in a game like Kirby Super Star, Kirby's Dreamland 3, or Kirby Squeak Squad. It does have great music, though, the three minigames are really good, and the level design is... not bad. Is it worth $10? Well, yeah, probably. (I'd hesitate if it was $15, and if it was $20 I'd avoid it for sure.) The only issue is that there are so many better games you could get for that same price. For example, you could get the HAL Laboratory Special of both Kirby's Adventure and Adventures of Lolo, each of which is better than Kirby 64 by an order of five or so.

Didn't want to go through the nearly 400 pages, but what are some of the best turbo grafix games on the VC? I got Lords of Thunder, amazing, and the first Bonk, which has it's moments. I never owned this system and want to play the best of the best on it. I'm up for anything thats great, except for generic JRPG's.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8722404&postcount=15780

Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, and Neutopia II have my highest recommendations. Gate of Thunder should be enjoyable to you if you loved Lords of Thunder, although LoT is better in various ways (one more weapon type, a health bar, a shop system, selecting the stage order, not getting killed by touching the ground or ceiling, sound effects not overpowering the music).

 

[Brandon F]

Actually, now would probably be a very wise time to release something decently major on VC. People are actually turning ON their Wii's for Brawl...why not entice them to visit the shop between sessions...and not for Rival Turf.

 

[Jiggy]

I'm morbidly curious to see what Nintendo does for VC this week one way or the other. Big games to coincide with Brawl, small games with no fanbase overlap, no games to avoid competition, medium-range games... Seems like every option they have could be a bad one, seeing as anything coming out now might be either sent to die or so irrelevant that nobody wants it, so I really am interested.

Which is precisely why PR will be delayed until Sunday again to spite me.

 

[loosus]

Why doesn't Nintendo release that Sutte Hakkun game for SNES in the US? And honestly, it ought to be a full English release, because there's just a tad to translate. A single guy took it upon himself to do a fan translation, for crying outloud.

 

[Iam Canadian]

Honestly, I'd take Kirby 64 over Dreamland 3. Neither of them are particularly good, but Kirby 64 does more things correctly than Dreamland 3. While Dreamland 3 has more powers when you consider the raw numbers, the problem is that you're stuck with the useless base abilities until you can find some animal partners. One of the animals is completely useless anywhere except underwater (Kine), and most of the rest have mediocre-to-lame abilities. At least in Kirby 64, you can switch between abilities with much more frequency.

Besides, Kirby 64 has exploding shurikens and Dreamland 3 doesn't. Kirby 64 wins that particular battle.

Honestly, if you're really craving some Kirby gameplay, then Kirby 64 isn't the worst way to get your fix. However, the GBA and DS have much better options, not to mention Kirby's Adventure on the VC. If you can deal with the slow speed, the limited flight ability, the minibosses that literally do nothing but just sit there, and the mostly medicore abilities, Kirby 64 isn't really a bad game. (Maybe I, uh, qualified that statement a bit too much...)

 

[A Link to the Past]

I'm predicting EarthBound, Majora's Mask, and Super Smash Bros. triple threat.

 

[Cheesemeister]

I'm morbidly curious to see what Nintendo does for VC this week one way or the other. Big games to coincide with Brawl, small games with no fanbase overlap, no games to avoid competition, medium-range games... Seems like every option they have could be a bad one, seeing as anything coming out now might be either sent to die or so irrelevant that nobody wants it, so I really am interested.

Which is precisely why PR will be delayed until Sunday again to spite me.

When Galaxy came out, it was Volleyball, Axelay, and Blue's Journey.

I'm predicting EarthBound, Majora's Mask, and Super Smash Bros. triple threat.

:lol

 

[Iam Canadian]

I'm predicting EarthBound, Majora's Mask, and Super Smash Bros. triple threat.

Earthbound would be lovely.

However, (Brawl spoiler)

Spoiler

its lack of inclusion as a Masterpiece in Brawl doesn't fill me with confidence. And yes, that still irks me. It irks me greatly.

 

[Jiggy]

I'd call Dreamland 3 a better Kirby adventure just because it's closer to being fast enough to enjoy than 64 is. And it's a whole wad more beautiful with its gorgeous artwork style (which Nintendo sadly never tried in any other game). But I suppose those Kirby 64 minigames are so good that that might make up the difference.

When Galaxy came out, it was Volleyball, Axelay, and Blue's Journey.

So basically since we're on the two-game schedule now, they'll cut out the Axelay-caliber game and give us shovelware and obscurity. Nice, nice.

 

[Iam Canadian]

And it's a whole wad more beautiful with its gorgeous artwork style (which Nintendo sadly never tried in any other game).

No argument here. Kirby's Dream Land 3 was definitely wonderful to look at. It's just too bad that the gameplay failed to hold up its end.

So basically since we're on the two-game schedule now, they'll cut out the Axelay-caliber game and give us shovelware and obscurity. Nice, nice.

I think that's being a bit unfair, Jigs. We'd probably lose the obscure, might-be-good-might-not game (Blue's Journey) over the Axelay-equivalent. You know as well as I do that while the quantity of games has been decreasing, at least we've been getting a surprisingly fair good-games-to-crap-games ratio.

Spoiler

Personally, I was rather disappointed by Axelay, but at least the music was good.

 

[dock]

Europe only gets one game this week again! Noooo~! *shakes fist*
I worry that we're doomed to this scenario forever now. I believe it's been like this since xmas.

 

[sfog]

its gorgeous artwork style (which Nintendo sadly never tried in any other game).

That style was also used for the backgrounds in Kirby's Super Star Stacker, although unfortunately, I doubt Nintendo would bother to translate it for the VC. It's too bad, because the SNES version is much better than the decent GB original.

 

[Capndrake]

Europe only gets one game this week again! Noooo~! *shakes fist*
I worry that we're doomed to this scenario forever now. I believe it's been like this since xmas.

Seems to alternate every few weeks:

Dec 7: 3 games (Last 3-game update)
Dec 11: 1 game (Gift feature launch)
Dec 14: 2 games
Dec 21: 2 games
Dec 25: 1 game (No game on Friday, Dec 28)
Jan 4: 1 game
Jan 11: 2 games
Jan 18: 2 game
Jan 25: 1 game
Feb 1: 1 game
Feb 8: 1 game
Feb 15: 2 games
Feb 22: 2 games
Feb 29: 2 games
Mar 7: 1 game

Granted, almost all 1-game weeks had a good to great game, but I'd really like to have some variety to choose from instead of just one game.

 

[Jiggy]

I think that's being a bit unfair, Jigs. We'd probably lose the obscure, might-be-good-might-not game (Blue's Journey) over the Axelay-equivalent. You know as well as I do that while the quantity of games has been decreasing, at least we've been getting a surprisingly fair good-games-to-crap-games ratio.

Spoiler

Personally, I was rather disappointed by Axelay, but at least the music was good.

Axelay had heavy flaws, nearly all of them in the vertical scrolling sections, but it wasn't bad. Case of overhype, though.

But anyway, I don't know--to some extent I'm hoping it's not a good game this week since anything released on Monday is practically auto-doomed. I wouldn't see it as too bad an outcome if the things that fail are shovelware that deserves to fail and obscurity that would fail regardless of what it was competing with. In other words, I think the smart thing might very well be to release something bad this time around instead of the usual weeks where there are two games but one or both of them can be considered good.

That style was also used for the backgrounds in Kirby's Super Star Stacker, although unfortunately, I doubt Nintendo would bother to translate it for the VC. It's too bad, because the SNES version is much better than the decent GB original.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C5Dl5ezDIk

Hmm... Okay. Too bad they didn't use it in more games where you navigated some environments, though.

 

[Iam Canadian]

Yeah, I'd hate to see a good game sent to die on Monday. I'd suggest that they release something that's a Masterpiece in Brawl, but all of the Masterpieces are already available on VC.

Spoiler

As for Earthbound's exclusion in the North American version of Brawl, I hate you, Nintendo of America. I hate you so very much for this.

Axelay had heavy flaws, nearly all of them in the vertical scrolling sections, but it wasn't bad. Case of overhype, though.

Yeah, Axelay was decent, but it didn't live up to the hype that it got. The horizontal sections were fine, but I can't believe how flawed the vertical ones were. The way the ship was magnetically pulled towards the center of the screen was odd and I wasn't fond of the Mode 7 "3D" effect.

Konami should put one of their really good shooters on the VC. Like Parodius. It's not impossible. The first Parodius was even released for the SNES in Europe.

 

[Odrion]

Earthbound exclusion does help the idea that we're going to be seeing it on the DS instead of the VC.

I was only able to play Super Turrican 2 for about five minutes before dropping it. Not sure whether that says more about the quality of the game or simply that it was too different from the first game for me to appreciate.

It goes downhill after that, they keep trying to throw variety into it with different gimmick/vehicle stages and afterwards they forgot to actually put in the real Turrican levels.

It's also a lot more hard too, they don't like giving you any lives at all and the whole "diamonds for lives" system they implement never gives you any lives because they don't put any fucking diamonds in the map. You can grab them all and not get any lives for it because they only put like twenty in the stupid level.

 

[Soulhouf]

Earthbound exclusion does help the idea that we're going to be seeing it on the DS instead of the VC.

Why not but I reclaim Mother 3 with english localization on DS u_u

 

[Iam Canadian]

Earthbound exclusion does help the idea that we're going to be seeing it on the DS instead of the VC.

You have no idea how much I wish that was true, but it's hard to hope for anything like that from Nintendo.

 

[sw26]

Nintendo needs to give us European's something good next week to compensate for their ineptness at not getting Brawl out here any time soon.

 

[TJ Spyke]

2 Genesis games have just been announced for March: Puyo Puyo 2 (which was already rated on the ESRB) and Powerball.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/857/857782p1.html

 

[Shard]

2 Genesis games have just been announced for March: Puyo Puyo 2 (which was already rated on the ESRB) and Powerball.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/857/857782p1.html

Not the best Sega could have come up with.

 

[sfog]

It'll be interesting to see whether they translate Puyo Puyo 2 or not.

 

[Jiggy]

So there are four weeks of NA VC releases left in March, but none of them will include Shining Force II (unless Sega simply didn't want to announce it at this time) and Hudson's site still says that they don't plan on releasing anything for TG16 this month (unless they've simply stopped showing a release schedule in advance).

Well then. Time to set up (and I do mean "set up") my hopes for the April VC RPG blowout of Earthbound Shining Force II, Dragon Slayer, and Ys Book I & II. A foolproof plan to achieve joy!