Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.

Talking about the execrable Renegade last week put us in a Technos kind of mood. It's not really fair to Technos or to you to focus only on their one terrible NES game. Let's cleanse our palates together with a good Kunio game.

River City Ransom EX is a Game Boy Advance remake of the NES River City Ransom, which is significantly improved in almost every respect-- except boxart, unfortunately.

Perhaps some of you are reading this article via your smartphone, waiting in bitter cold weather because you're sick and tired of not having a precious Nintendo Wii. We understand. Tomorrow's deluge of Wii's, which should be occurring at many nation-wide outlets (Best Buy, Target, and Circuit City all seem to be proper candidates), may make many people quite happy. It may make many people really, really pissed off.

While you might be willing to spend whatever it takes, we have a bit of thrifty advice. First off, EB Games is taking your soon-to-be-completely-worthless Gamecube as fifty dollars of trade-in credit for a Wii. Normally, they only give twenty-five. While EBG and Gamestop have not been officially confirmed as having units available for tomorrow, it's worth a phone call (why would they advertise such a deal if it were impossible to use?). Also, it seems Tower Records is having a massive sale, with 25% off of pretty much everything, including games. Pick 'em up cheap! And good luck, troopers.

[Thanks, Dave and Vincent!]

While some lucky members of our staff are able to enjoy the Wii as we speak, most of us have to wait. We've been waiting for a long, long time. It's felt like agony at points, some ethereal event that would never really happen. We are seven days away, people, one lousy week. Get ready for the tents, the bitter cold, the local DS multiplayer, and the greasy fast food runs. Get ready for the lines, the excitement, the anticipation and the reward.

With that in mind, we'd like to inform you that Nintendo Wii Fanboy will be on location in Times Square, New York for the official global launch party of the Nintendo Wii. We'll be doing live updates from the event (pending hot spot availability) and video coverage as well. If you live within reasonable distance, we encourage you to come ... it's gonna be one hell of a party.

In sitting down with ABC News, Reggie Fils-Aime does the usual PR thing to promote the Wii, talking up the innovative features of the console and the company's goals to bring their product to people in all walks of life, hardcore gamers and those who do not traditionally play games alike, but more interestingly reveals that he will be on-hand at Nintendo's store in New York city to hand out consoles during launch (he says "a store in NYC," but it's safe to assume it'll be at Nintendo's store). Obviously, he makes no mention of needing to kick your ass and/or take your name to get your hands on a Wii, so we assume you'll need your check card, or the good old cash standard.

[Note: Read link will take you directly to ABC News' video interview]