We're back again, with a fresh video that's piping hot with gaming goodness. Oh, and there's some dude talking over the whole thing. We're sorry about that. He will be taken care of.
After checking out the video above, head past the break for the rest.
There's plenty of content releasing on the Wii this week. Whether you're a fan of retail games or looking to download some content on the Virtual Console or WiiWare, your gaming needs should be taken care of this week. Head on past the break for the details and let us know what you'll be playing!
Oh, you're going to like what you see past the break. A certain big title we've all been waiting on (ohmaigawd have you guessed it yet?) has finally hit the Virtual Console. We'll give you a hint: it stars a robotic boy with a penchant for stealing the powers of his enemies.
Shoot past the break to start your day off on a happy note.
Game sequels often suffer from a reputation of being weaker than their predecessors, but that hasn't stopped Nintendo whacking a whole pile of them on the PAL Virtual Console this week. The M-rated Splatterhouse 2 leads the charge, bloodied lead pipe in hand, and is joined by Samurai Shodown II, Pitstop II, and Ecco Jr. (okay, so that's not a sequel in the strictest sense of the term, but a spin-off for the kids). Here's what that little lot will cost you:
Ecco Jr. -- Mega Drive -- 800 Wii Points
Splatterhouse 2 -- Mega Drive -- 800 Wii Points
Samurai Shodown II -- Neo Geo -- 900 Wii Points
Pitstop II -- Commodore 64 -- 500 Wii Points *
* As usual, Australia misses out on the Commodore 64 game.
Footage of all four is past the break -- try listening to six minutes of Pitstop II's engine effects without going insane.
Thanks to advance notice from two companies, we can now look forward to the Virtual Console releases for once. If Hudson and SNK's plans go through (as in, if a game isn't mysteriously bumped) we can expect both Samurai Shodown II and -- this is totally awesome -- Ys Book I & II.
We've been waiting for Ys since its first appearance on the ESRB ratings database last year, and now we're going to have the opportunity to buy two great action RPGs for eight bucks! There hasn't been a better deal since they packed Ys I & II with TurboDuo systems, and the Wii actually costs less than a Duo!
Even more than the world depicted in the bizarre Street Fighter movie, or the outrageous horror-and-Zubaz presentation of the Mortal Kombat movie, we imagine this Art of Fighting 2 commercial is what a fighting game would look like in live action. Huge guys with terrible hair delivering awkward dialogue in semi-yelled monotone, standing totally still until launching into an unnatural-looking punch.
Even though they're awesome to play, fighting game-style combat in the real world would look less like an expert martial arts tournament and more like pro wrestling with less Spandex.
The VC Advantage is a weekly look at the secrets inside games -- not just cheat codes, but assorted trivia and oddities. We aim to bring back the feeling of the hint columns from game magazines, except when we do something else.
When The King of Fighters '94 introduced the concept of the three-person team to side-scrolling fighting games, it simultaneously introduced the idea of the joke team. While the other teams consisted of martial arts champions, mercenaries, and wielders of ancient powers, the American Sports Team was a group of three American professional athletes:
Brian Battler, the football player in a single, giant shoulder pad, obsessed with tackling
Lucky Glauber, a pro basketball player who spends his spare time street fighting
Remember how we told you to stay away from all of those NEO-GEO games that released on the Virtual Console these past weeks? Well, this is why: SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1. Within this disc, you'll find plenty of old-school SNK titles, which, when compared with their Virtual Console counterparts, fetch a much cheaper price of admission.
This week's muscle-bound PAL Virtual Console update comes exclusively from SNK's sleek, black beast of a console.
Art of Fighting 2 makes its worldwide Virtual Console debut, though if you own a PlayStation 2, Art of Fighting Anthology is available cheaply, and should be coming to the Wii ... at some point. Also worth noting: it has some of the most brilliantly awful voice-acting ever (go past the break to see some footage). Sidescrolling duff-'em-up Ninja Combat completes this week's offerings.
Earlier this week, we profiled the latest Virtual Console release -- King of the Monsters (Neo Geo, 900 Wii points/9$) and declared it good, but not enough to spend money on. That makes it just perfect for this week's edition of Virtually Free, since the whole idea here is you don't have to spend money. All you have to do is leave a comment and you've got a chance to win!
To enter, just leave a comment here (with a valid e-mail address!) and tell us about any other currently-available Neo Geo games you'd like to see us give away. 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 14; 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.
This week sees the Virtual Console receiving only one game, but, thankfully, it's a good game. Never played King of the Monsters before? Well, hit up the video above for some gameplay footage, then head past the break for more.
There's two items for download on the Wii this week, as we receive one WiiWare and one Virtual Console title in North America. This week's Virtual Console download is an old favorite, so without further delay, let's get to the goods.
This week's WiiWare release is:
SPOGS Racing (1-2 players, 1,000 Wii Points)
This week's Virtual Console release is:
King of the Monsters (NeoGeo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points)
With only one title available for download this week, we were quick to dive in and check it out. You can see some gameplay clips above and head past the break for the text and image show that we usually tuck past there.
This week sees the Virtual Console receiving not one, but two games. Well, we've had enough time to play them and have produced the video you see above. Check it out then head on past the break for the rest.
Consider this a sort of anti-VC Advantage, because it covers cheats that don't exist. If you're reading The VC Advantage and you own (or plan to own) the new VC release of Samurai Shodown, it's probably occurred to you to head over to GameFAQs and look for additional content that can be unlocked. If you've done so, you'd be pleased to find codes to unlock three additional characters.
You'd then be disappointed after trying them, because they're in error. The Shiki and Zankuro unlock codes originate from Samurai Spirits! on the Neo Geo Pocket Color, and the code to unlock the Kuroko judge character is from the Neo Geo Samurai Shodown II. It's easy to understand how the NGPC codes got mixed in: search engines and other automated systems wouldn't be able to tell between Samurai Spirits! and Samurai Spirits (the Japanese title for Shodown), making mixups easy.
You're free to use those saved five minutes however you please!
The VC Advantage is a weekly look at the secrets inside games -- not just cheat codes, but assorted trivia and oddities. We aim to bring back the feeling of the hint columns from game magazines, except when we do something else.
The VC Advantage is a weekly look at the secrets inside games -- not just cheat codes, but assorted trivia and oddities. We aim to bring back the feeling of the hint columns from game magazines, except when we do something else.
Remember how we told you to stay away from all of those NEO-GEO games that released on the Virtual Console these past weeks? Well, this is why: SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1. Within this disc, you'll find plenty of old-school SNK titles, which, when compared with their Virtual Console counterparts, fetch a much cheaper price of admission.
This week's muscle-bound PAL Virtual Console update comes exclusively from SNK's sleek, black beast of a console.
Consider this a sort of anti-VC Advantage, because it covers cheats that don't exist. If you're reading The VC Advantage and you own (or plan to own) the new VC release of Samurai Shodown, it's probably occurred to you to head over to GameFAQs and look for additional content that can be unlocked. If you've done so, you'd be pleased to find codes to unlock three additional characters.
The VC Advantage is a weekly look at the secrets inside games -- not just cheat codes, but assorted trivia and oddities. We aim to bring back the feeling of the hint columns from game magazines, except when we do something else.
