Konami and Hudson both spilled the beans on two major WiiWare titles, Critter Round-Up and Star Soldier R, informing us that they will be available for download on Monday. As you all know, we're dying to get our hands on Hudson's shmup and were disappointed to not see it at the WiiWare launch.
So, what about the Virtual Console? It's possible that VC fans could get the shaft again this Monday, however in Japan Nintendo has been known to release Virtual Console games alongside WiiWare games on the same day. We'll just have to wait and see, we suppose.
Who's anxious to try out Critter Round-Up and/or Star Soldier R?
Looking over this week's releases, we're pretty dead set on wanting to get some quality time in with Deca Sports (previewing it got us intrigued). Sure, there's We Ski, but until the Balance Board releases (well, until Wii Fitreleases, we should say), we're not down with it. Almost all of the appeal for us is the Balance Board support, but, hey, maybe we're alone in that.
So what will you all be playing this weekend? Checking out WiiWare titles? Got another game you've been working on? Picking up one of this week's releases? Interested in Deca Sports, like us?
This current Hanabi Festival is proving a treat for shmup fans. Of the ten games released so far under the Hanabi banner, half have been shooters, including the two released today, Japan-only pair Star Parodier (in which you can use Bomberman or a giant PC Engine as a ship!) and Gley Lancer. They're joined this VC Friday by Digital Champ Battle Boxing.
Oh, and fun fact: the name Gley Lancer was (allegedly) supposed to be "Grey Lancer," but ended up as Gley Lancer due to a pronunciation error (the Japanese language can't tell the difference between the English "r" and "l" sounds). Either that, or we've just been duped into believing a rather racist joke.
Gley Lancer -- Mega Drive -- 900 Wii Points
Star Parodier -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 900 Wii Points
Digital Champ Battle Boxing -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 700 Wii Points
Nintendo has released a list of eight games described as "launch window" titles ahead of WiiWare's debut in Europe on May 20th. Included are four games that the U.S. is still waiting on -- Dr. Mario & Germ Buster, Star Soldier R, Toki Tori, and Pirates: The Key of Dreams -- though it looks like Europe will be waiting a little longer for Defend Your Castle and V.I.P Casino: Blackjack. Frankly, we'll live without a blackjack game.
Once again, note that these are "launch window" games. How long is a launch window? No idea. "Launch window" is one of those infuriatingly flexible terms beloved by PR types. Anyway, the list of WiiWare games that Europe will be getting kinda near the launch is as follows:
There's currently no news on pricing, but we'd fully expect European WiiWare prices to match those of other regions, assuming Nintendo hasn't found a totally new and unique way to rip European gamers off.
Hudson's attempt at an accessible game full of sports is finally hitting shelves this week. We're anxious to see how it does, considering we found our preview build that Hudson sent over pretty fun. On top of that, the title looks like it might be a great match for playing with some friends. Of course, the $29.99 price point doesn't hurt Hudson's chances for success, either!
We've missed out on a lot of gaming culture in the U.S. due to the fact that Japanese computer systems never caught on here. We didn't see the sequel to Metal Gear until 2006, because there was no MSX. We didn't see the superior X68000 Castlevania remake until it appeared on the PlayStation. Falcom's Ys made its first appearance on the NEC PC-8801, as did countless RPGs and arcade ports that we'll never see.
Perhaps most notably, the lack of support for the PC-8801 outside Japan means that we missed the sequel to Super Mario Bros. No, not The Lost Levels. Even lost-er.
In an interview about digital distribution (Bomberman for all!), Siliconera asked Hudson's Vice President of Product Development, Sabine Duvall, about the prospects for an U.S. release of the Turbografx-16 CD-Rom version of Ys Book I & II. Her response: "We'd love to make our fans happy, so we're still evaluating if it's right to bring Ys over."
We fully expect the game to show up on Virtual Console here at some point. There's no reason for it not to. It's not even as if Ys is an import title like Battle Lode Runner or DoReMi Fantasy. It was released in the U.S. For that matter, it was bundled with TG16 CD-Rom drives.
But for whatever reason, they've been evaluating this for a long time. Ys was actually given an ESRB rating back in November. We wonder if they're trying to decide between releasing Ys I & II as an $8 VC download and publishing the DS games that recently bombed in Japan.
Hudson's latest trailer for Deca Sports provides extended looks at the archery and soccer events, along with the badminton game that was part of our preview. By now you know the format for Wii minigame-collection trailers: shots of gameplay punctuated by shots of people standing in front of a couch in a well-appointed apartment, waggling with giant smiles affixed to their faces.
Most importantly (to us), the trailer features that ridiculously catchy Deca Sports theme. Hearing it makes us want to go get into some workout clothes and run around or something. Everybody move your body into our gallery for new screens!
Just a few short days ago, we "predicted" (by reading Hudson's web site) that a sequel to Fishing Master would be on the way soon. It turns out we're totally psychic (that's what it is when you can predict the present, right?), as the first screens of Fishing Master: World Challenge have been revealed.
World Challenge takes players on a boat tour around the world. You'll get to see some of the most beautiful and distinctive landmarks of the world -- in the distance, as you sit by a nearby body of water and fish! There will be over 200 varieties of fish, although most of them will fit into the category of "fish you almost caught."
An immensely pleasing sight greeted our bleary eyes when we inspected the PAL Virtual Console this morning -- the revival of last September's Hanabi Festival! What does that mean? Simple: for the next few weeks, the VC will feature games that were previously unreleased in Europe or Australia, which we suppose justifies the slightly higher price tags.
Best of all, we're promised that this will continue for the next few weeks. Wonder what else we'll get? Here are this week's trio:
Columns III: Revenge of Columns -- Mega Drive -- 900 Wii Points
Final Soldier -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 700 Wii Points
Gradius II Gofer no Yabou -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 900 Wii Points
As usual, make the jump for footage of all three.
[Update: There's much excitement here, as further inspection of Nintendo's press release reveals that Speedos-clad TurboGrafx-16 shooter Cho Aniki will be one of the future Hanabi Festival releases!]
A new listing on Hudson's website reveals a planned Japanese release of Mezase!! Tsuri Master Sekai ni Challenge!, which translates to Fishing Master World Challenge. This could mean that the sequel to Fishing Master challenges the player to hook the entire globe with his fishing line, reeling it in impossibly (and dunking himself in the process), or it could mean that you fish in a bunch of different locations.
According to the page, Fishing Master 2 will be released in Japan in July. No U.S. release has been announced yet. The first Fishing Master game got middling reviews, but did come out at $30 in the U.S., to its credit.
We don't have to tell you that we're excited for Deca Sports from Hudson. After giving 4 of the game's 10 final sports a test drive, we're anxious to see if the other 6 sports are the fun we think they're going to be. Until the game releases next month, we're just going to have to settle for this new trailer above.
Be sure to give our gallery a look, as well. We just put in a bunch of new screens for you all to check out.
Update: This actually is the WiiWare Bomberman game.
Famitsu recently got a taste of what Hudson's Bomberman that isn't is on WiiWare will be bringing to the table (uh, lots of bombs?) and it should come as no surprise to any of you that we are pumped. We're not only excited for the online battles (Game Night, anyone?), but also the plain old regular Bomberman action (with Mii support and items, natch). Since when has playing Bomberman not been fun? Okay, maybe that one time it was kind of crappy.
Imagine our delight when we had a brown envelope from Hudson sitting on our doorstep Friday afternoon. As we opened the parcel up, we found the above items: a preview copy of Deca Sports and this sweet little wristband. Huzzah!
But, woe was us for we would not be able to just play and selfishly enjoy the four available sports on the demo disc by our lonesome (or with some friends). Oh no, we have a job and have to let our readers know what we think. So that's what we did. But, we didn't just settle for playing the included sports and writing up a preview. No, instead we decided that we'd do a nice little video for you. And for all of you who enjoy reading things, we wrote up our opinions as well.
So head on past the break for our hands-on look at Deca Sports for the Wii!
Hudson must have been reading our diary, because Star Soldier R is coming to the WiiWare service in the United States. The news arrives via a press release that has just made its way into the inbox of our overlords at Joystiq and we couldn't be happier. We love to shoot stuff (in video games) and we can't wait to shoot stuff in Star Soldier R!
Star Soldier R will be releasing alongside the launch of the WiiWare service next month.
This current Hanabi Festival is proving a treat for shmup fans. Of the ten games released so far under the Hanabi banner, half have been shooters, including the two released today, Japan-only pair Star Parodier (in which you can use Bomberman or a giant PC Engine as a ship!) and Gley Lancer. They're joined this VC Friday by Digital Champ Battle Boxing. 
In an interview about digital distribution (Bomberman for all!), Siliconera asked Hudson's Vice President of Product Development, Sabine Duvall, about the prospects for an U.S. release of the Turbografx-16 CD-Rom version of Ys Book I & II. Her response: "We'd love to make our fans happy, so we're still evaluating if it's right to bring Ys over."
An immensely pleasing sight greeted our bleary eyes when we inspected the PAL Virtual Console this morning -- the revival of last September's Hanabi Festival! What does that mean? Simple: for the next few weeks, the VC will feature games that were previously unreleased in Europe or Australia, which we suppose justifies the slightly higher price tags.
A new listing on Hudson's website reveals a planned Japanese release of Mezase!! Tsuri Master Sekai ni Challenge!, which translates to Fishing Master World Challenge. This could mean that the sequel to Fishing Master challenges the player to hook the entire globe with his fishing line, reeling it in impossibly (and dunking himself in the process), or it could mean that you fish in a bunch of different locations. 
Update: This actually is the WiiWare Bomberman game.
