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Xbox Live Arcade and Virtual Console Releases This Week
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Virtual Console, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade
There are six new games to choose from this week on Xbox Live Arcade and Virtual Console, though none of them are original games (which you expect from VC but even XBLA is arcade ports this week). Plus, most of this week’s games are relatively inexpensive with one exception.
Games this week include Bonk 3: Bonk’s Big Adventure, Adventure Island, Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole, Donkey Kong Jr. Math, Cyberball 2072 and Fatal Fury Special. Details for the releases are below.
Read More 
| Nintendo Press Release
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Console Downloads Feature Space Bounty Hunters and Also Giraffes
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Adventure, Nintendo, Platformers, Retro, Third Person Shooters, Virtual Console, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade
People with virtual currency burning pixelated holes in their alternate reality pockets can check out the Xbox Live Arcade and the Wii Virtual Console this week for some new (or perhaps old) titles. The most exciting offerings this week look to be the Jeff Minter shooter Space Giraffe and the wonderful SNES classic, Super Metroid.
Read More | Nintendo Press Release
Virtual Console 7/30: Star Soldier, Dynamite Headdy, And Drop Off
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Action, Adventure, Nintendo, Puzzle, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii
While the Xbox Live Arcade is set to get the classic Marathon, Virtual Console’s additions this week include Star Soldier (vertical shooter; NES, 500 Wii points), Dynamite Headdy (platformer; Genesis, 800 points) and Drop Off (puzzle; TurboGrafx16, 600 points) – all pretty old titles. This is really a hardcore retro week, apparently.
All three are now available. Check after the break for more details.
Virtual Console 7/2: A Different Take On Mario
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Nintendo, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii
You either loved or heated Super Mario 2. With its choice of four characters to play as and plentiful numbers of turnips & co. to be tossed at enemies, it was clearly an acquired taste. If you’ve never had the chance to play it (for shame), you can now do so as it’s available on the Wii’s Virtual Console for 500 Wii Points. Joining Mario 2 are Ecco: The Tides of Time (800 points) and the unfortunately capitalized DRAGON SPIRIT (600 points).
Check out after the break for all the details.
Virtual Console 6/4: Zelda 2, And 1000 Games Per Hour
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Action, Adventure, Nintendo, SEGA, Virtual Console, Wii
Today’s release of Zelda 2 marks the 100th release on the Virtual Console – not too bad of a library, considering it’s only been a little over 6 months in the making. Nintendo announced a few details about the VC, but first, let’s get to what you really want to know: this week’s list of releases.
Four games saw release today: Zelda II - The Adventure of Link (NES, 500 points), Dead Moon (TurboGrafx16, 600 points), Milon’s Secret Castle (NES, 500 points), and Toe Jam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Sega Genesis, 800 points). Not a bad list, and while you may love or hate Zelda, the other three cater to different audiences very nicely.
According to Nintendo, more than 4.7 million games have been downloaded from the VC, which equates to more than 1,000 games purchased an hour since the Wii’s release. Not too shabby considering these games don’t have demos available for them. (Or maybe that’s why they manage to sell so many?) Super Mario Bros. on the NES is the platform’s best selling game, followed by Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Super Mario World, and The Legend of Zelda.
Galaga, Alex Kidd, Bravoman Hit Virtual Console
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii
This week’s Virtual Console releases aren’t stellar, but are still a decent collection of retro games that may entertain, at least for a while. Gamers can pick up Galaga for the NES, a decent but not spectacular port of the arcade game for 500 points. The original arcade version is available on Microsoft’s Xbox Live Marketplace, so that might be the better option for those with both consoles. Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle for the Genesis is also available for 800 points; the sequel to the original Alex Kidd for the Sega Master System is an average platformer with some gameplay quirks that set it slightly apart from others in the genre. Finally, Bravoman is a side-scrolling beat-em-up style game, more known for its unusual humor that for any gameplay excellence. At 600 points, though, it might be worth a look. Overall, a middling week for the Virtual Console and hopefully A-list titles will return soon.
Nintendo’s full press release continues after the jump.
Excitebike, Splatterhouse, Beyond Oasis Hit Virtual Console
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii
Some times with Nintendo’s Virtual Console releases, it feels like you are getting filler. This week, though, highlights three better than average games that should get those nostalgic feelings flowing again. Excitebike, of course, is Nintendo’s side-scrolling motorbike racer for the NES. Like all NES titles before it, the game sells for 500 Wii points. The other two releases this week might have gotten slightly less attention at first release. Fewer people may have seen Splatterhouse because of the platform it appeared on, but it is a generally decent side-scrolling action game that inspired a number of the survival horror games that would follow. Splatterhouse sells for 600 Wii points. Beyond Oasis is a decent, if a little short, action RPG. The prequel to this story was released as Legend of Oasis on the Sega Saturn. Beyond Oasis sells for 800 Wii points, which might be a bit much for this RPG, but those familiar with the Saturn entry in the series would do well to try the Genesis version out.
Nintendo’s full press release continues below.
Tecmo Bowl Hits Virtual Console
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii
The original NES Tecmo Bowl hits the Virtual Console this week, along with Sonic Spinball for the Genesis and Double Dungeons for the TurboGrafx-16. Tecmo Bowl might now be more famous for its gameplay glitches and balance problems than anything else, but despite these, the game still maintains a fun-factor due to nostalgia. Tecmo Bowl has the standard NES pricing, at 500 points. Sonic Spinball is the pinball-based spinoff of the classic platformer; the game isn’t the strongest pinball entry on the Genesis, but as a mix of action from the Sonic franchise and at 800 points, it isn’t all that bad. Finally, Double Dungeons for the TurboGrafx-16 is a dungeon hack-style game; it is interesting in that it supports two player split-screen action through a 3-D first person-style viewpoint, but overall the lack of depth of gameplay makes this title suffer. Still, you only risk 600 Wii points for the game, but you might find better options among the other titles in the Virtual Console back catalog.
Nintendo’s full press release continues below.
This Week’s Virtual Console Titles
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Retro, SEGA, Wii
Nintendo continues to drop additional Virtual Console titles for the Wii; this week three new titles are available, one each for the NES, SNES, and Genesis. The biggest title this week would probably be Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts for the SNES at 800 Points. The game is one of the classic platformers for the SNES and was known for its graphical excellence on the console as well as its strong difficulty.
Sword of Vermillion at 800 Points for the Genesis is worth more as a novelty than anything else. The game is an early RPG, developed by AM2. AM2 is probably more well known for their arcade efforts, including Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter, but Sword of Vermillion does little but give some insight into the development team’s history. There are some interesting action-RPG type elements in the game, but otherwise, the title isn’t really that interesting.
Elevator Action for the NES at 500 Points steps back in time to early arcade-style gameplay. There’s not a lot of depth here, and it might be worth tracking down the original arcade version rather than playing the NES port, but there are worse games than this for the NES.
Nintendo’s full press release continues below.
Ocarina Of Time Now On Virtual Console
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii
Highlighting this week’s Virtual Console releases is Nintendo’s classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Ocarina, of course, dealt with some controversy during its release due to the number of perfect scores the game received, and the game is still the highest ranked entry on Gamerankings.com. While gamers might dispute the “perfect” score, this entry of the franchise brought Zelda into full 3D for the first time, and is one of the best entries in the series. At 1000 Wii Points, this release is a bargain; the Wii-compatible Gamecube Ocarina releases are selling for above $30 on eBay. Two other titles hit the Virtual Console this week as well, Bio-Hazard Battle for the Genesis at 800 points, a decent side-scrolling shooter, and Chew-Man-Fu the Turbografx-16 a bizarre arcade action game with Pengo style gameplay at 600 points.
Read More | Nintendo
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