Nintendo Wii Fanboy

While we lack the skills (and free time) it takes to do anything other than blog, folks are out there, doing crazy DIY projects. This is one of them. Now, we don't condone the use of illegal emulators and ROMs, but cramming an entire NES experience into the NES controller is impressive nonetheless.

[Via Engadget]

We know a lot of you are a little bummed after E3. You didn't get what you want. We know how that can feel. In the tiniest of efforts to make you feel better, we're giving away a couple of classics this week as part of Virtually Free. If you don't have them, you should -- and we're going to give them to one lucky reader:

• Punch-Out!! (NES, 500 Wii points/$5)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 500 Wii points/$5)

To enter, just leave a comment here (with a valid e-mail address!) and tell us one thing you liked about this year's E3. You must be a legal resident of the United States with an American Wii (sorry, Canadians, we have to leave you out of this one; blame the gifting system and not us!) and 18 years of age or older. You may enter once per calendar day between now and Monday, July 28; the contest comes to a close that night at 11:59 PM Eastern time, and we'll select a winner in a random drawing the next day. Questions? Check out the official rules.

Is there a single gaming-related object, we wonder, that has not yet had the innards of a NES squashed into it? As it happens, yes. Of all the stuff-a-NES-in-something mod variants that we've encountered, we can't recall a light gun being used to encase Nintendo's ancient console.

Inspired by Duck Hunt, BenHeck.com forum member GonzoMPM-1 has corrected this oversight, fitting all of the necessary buttons, wiring and an NOAC board containing 76 on-board NES games into the above light gun peripheral (perhaps the NES Zapper lacked the space for this?). Hook this bad boy up to an old-fashioned CRT screen, chuck in three AAA batteries, and you're ready to go. It's rather bizarre (and not a little pointless), but for some reason we really want to try this.

[Via Technabob]

Old Man, the mysterious old man who helps Link in various ways as he quests through Hyrule (except when he's shooting fireballs at Link) rarely has trouble making money. When he feels generous, sure, he'll give you something for free, or for the low, low cost of mastering its use. He often gives cryptic advice for free, as well: "Digdogger hates certain kind of sound."

But Old Man doesn't always work pro bono -- not, for example, if you'd like more bombs. He's not above extorting a door repair charge out of a hapless adventurer, and he makes enough from Money Making Game to pay for an occasional wooden sword. He's even got some kind of hold on the potion industry.

So why, then, is he so inept at robbing Link? He seems to have misinterpreted the usual meaning of the expression "Your money or your life" here, to Link's benefit.

Time to get nostalgic, proud, and teary-eyed all at the same time. On this fifteenth day of July in the year 2008, the legendary Famicom turns 25 years young. Some of us (though not all of us) weren't even born when the Famicom was released in Japan in 1983, and that day marked the beginning of Nintendo's plot of world domination. They didn't get around to the United States until 1985 with the NES, but it's the thought that counts.

A few committed folks at 1up have gone to extreme lengths marking this occasion, reminiscing about the life and times and significant games that made the little white box of fun so legendary. Is the Famicom dead? Hellz to the no -- in fact, you might say the Famicom legacy is just taking shape with new games and new ideas, all with origins dating back a quarter of a century.

As we begin today's E3 proceedings, spare a single thought for the console that changed the world for the better. Happy 25th birthday, Famicom!

This week we got ourselves a pair of Virtual Console games to check out. What do we think? Well, you know the drill. Watch the video above, then be sure to head past the break for the rest.

Another week, another slew of Virtual goodies on offer from Nintendo. This week, the streak of one Virtual Console release is broken, as we get 100% more in that department. Also, Mastiff's WiiWare title is finally up for grabs. If you've got some spare coin laying around, then these might be for you.

This week's WiiWare release:

• Major League Eating: The Game (1-2 players, 1,000 Wii Points)

This week's Virtual Console releases:

• Donkey Kong 3 (NES, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points)
• Ninja Commando (NeoGeo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points)

As always, be sure to stop back later for our video wrap-up of this week's Virtual Console games.



[Via press release]

When a game's intro starts with the text "IT IS THE YEAR 20XX," you just know that something special is going to follow. Something special and robotty. This English trailer for Mega Man 9 starts with the evolution (and now devolution) of the Mega Man sprite and then launches into glorious footage of the new game. We admit to being moved by the beauty of the intro scene. We're not robots. (We just wish we were.)

It really does look just like a really high-quality NES game, with all the parts we love (big pixels, bright colors) and none of the stuff we could do without (flicker, LJN logos). It sounds like one too! We're just going to leave the video playing over and over again in the background.

But what's this? The end of the trailer features Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network logos in addition to WiiWare! Good for them. It would be sad to miss out on Mega Man 9 just because you like Halo or whatever.

Everyone's familiar with this sight: after burning down the right shrub or bombing the right section of a rock face in The Legend of Zelda, Link meets a Moblin hiding in a cave, who makes an offering of Rupees and warning Link that "IT'S A SECRET TO EVERYBODY." For years, we accepted the situation without thinking about it. "Of course he wants to keep it a secret," we thought. "Ganon would be totally steamed if he found out some Moblins were helping Link out."

But that assumption fails to explain all the aspects of this exchange that remain a secret to everybody.

How much would you pay for a brand-new Mega Man game? Chances are, unless you hate Mega Man games, or an adorable blue-suited robo-boy busted your jaw when you were in fifth grade, 1000 Wii Points is a fraction of what you would consider a fair price. According to Famitsu, that's the price point for Capcom's new miracle, Mega Man 9. We were actually expecting more for a sequel to a high-profile series like that.

And we'll end up paying more: like Nintendo Power, Famitsu alluded to downloadable content in its latest writeup. There is no information at all except that it's planned, so all we can do is speculate about the possible DLC: weapons, levels, enemies, costumes -- who knows? It'll drive the price way up, and we'll happily shell out all our Zenny for it.

While we're sure that nobody is going to trash Soda Pop while using the Donkey Konga bongo controller in Punch-Out!!, it's good enough to take down Glass Joe with ease. And, it's a neat way to enjoy one of the best 8-bit games around. Just, uh, skip like the first minute of the video. It's kind of painful to watch.

[Via Joystiq]

When someone leads off an article like that, it's hard not to highlight it. 1up's Jeremy Parish thinks Mega Man 9 is a great idea, but not just because it looks neat, and not because of nostalgia. In his estimation, the return to the style of Mans 1-6 signals an admission on Capcom's part that NES-era technology suits the series best in gameplay terms. Mega Man X and other spinoffs worked well on other systems, but Mega Man is best on NES. "The inescapable truth is that Mega Man, at least the incarnation represented by a plucky little Astro Boy knock-off fighting googly-eyed robo-critters, works best as an 8-bit game."

He admits at one point that the 8-bit design could simply be an appeal to nostalgia or a budget-saving tactic, but it's a lot more fun to believe that Inafune et al. are doing what they're doing for an artistic reason. Even the ugliest Wii games are attempts to represent games in a "modern" way -- generally the best 3D that the budget will allow. While No More Heroes uses 8-bit elements for flair, the idea of intentionally regressing, of making a game look "worse" than the technology will allow in the interest of gameplay, seems bold and clever. Of course, some people happen to think the style of NES Mega Man games is every bit as attractive as any modern game on its own merits.

Here's a little confidence-builder for all those developers out there wanting to go in the opposite direction of technological progress. Huzzah, the entirely new Mega Man 9 for WiiWare is essentially an 8-bit game, with terrible graphics, sound and animation. And it's awesome. Evidence is right there in front of you -- the first "man, we totally want it" footage.

It's an uber-short video, and there's a giant Rockman 9 logo in the way, but we still get the gist of what's going on. Mega Man himself is jumping around, shooting stuff and just being generally mega. Sit back, relax, and let the blips and bloops of the soundtrack put you into a dream-like state until the game's Japanese release in September -- though we have high hopes for a short North American waiting list.
[Via Siliconera]

This might just be the coolest thing we see all weekend.

Darkeru from the Ben Heck forums came up with the idea for this beauty, and after months of "careful planning," finally finished his creation. It's exactly what you think it is; a mod that plays NES games on a NES game cartridge. What an ingeniously simple idea (though if we really think about it, our brains might implode).

The games are built into the portable -- ninety-nine of them, in fact -- which sounds pretty convenient. Other than that, we have nothing to say except that we're still gawking at this thing. Oh, and do want.


[Via Engadget]

We're trying to think of words to describe how we felt when we saw the Mega Man 9 screens at Games Radar, but there's just too much emotion to articulate. As if the scans weren't legendary enough with their retro, 8-bit goodness, the screens just make us downright giddy. There's not much else to say, except that we're so in love with Capcom right now.

Games Radar has some delightful details on the game, too, which just add some extra oomph to an already oomph-tastic game. For one, beloved Mega Man designer Keiji Inafune was especially involved in the making of Mega Man 9, even creating the bosses this time around. As for the story, it still revolves around our favorite villain Dr. Wily, but this time he has the public on his side, convincing them that Dr. Light is the bad guy. Silly public.

That's not all, though -- according to Games Radar, this game is hard. Not this hard, but still difficult. We say, bring it. You know what else it has? A lot of music from Mega Man 2, also known as one of the best video game soundtracks of all time.

Lastly (but not least), Games Radar has the skinny on Mega Man 9's bosses, including one that's a woman robot named Splash Woman. Others include Galaxy Man, Jewel Man, Hornet Man, Tornado Man, Concrete Man, Maga Man, and Plug Man. Man alive, that's a lot of mans.

Now you can stop reading and look at the screens (just click on the "Source" link or post image, as per usual). You might want to have some tissues handy, because they may just bring tears of joy to your eyes.

[Via NeoGAF]