Nintendo Wii Fanboy

The internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

China Warrior (TG16)

Access the Debug Menu: Hold Run and Select to reset the game. When the title screen appears, let go of Run and hit up. Then let go of Select and press up, up, up, right, right, right, right, right, right, down, down, left, left. (up x 3, rght x 6, down x 2, left x 2). You can now make yourself invulnerable and select your level! You know, if you want to see the end of China Warrior. You can also make the enemies invulnerable for some reason!

Streets of Rage (Genesis)

Level Select Menu: Similar to the Debug menu in China Warrior, you can access secret options in Streets of Rage to change your level and number of lives. At the menu, hold A, B, C, and right on the second controller, then select "Options" with player 1. You'll be able to choose exactly which street will receive your rage.

More Continues: At the title screen, press left, left, B, B, B, C, C, C.

Final Fight (SNES)

Option Menu: At the title screen, hold L and press Start. You'll be taken to a menu that lets you change difficulty settings, number of lives, and point values for extra lives. Most importantly, you can listen to "OH! MY CAR" over and over again. It's #39 on the sound player. Unfortunately, there's no code to give Haggar a shirt. Haggar was programmed to reject all attempts to clothe him!

Virtual Console fans in Japan have a lot of reasons to feel nice about their Wii purchases. This week's release list isn't the best ever, but neither does it include Urban Champion.

Fans of Sega classics or of Yuzo Koshiro will be happy to learn that Bare Knuckle 2 (Streets of Rage 2) will be available for download starting next week. Fans of adorably doughy sumo sprites will be happier about Tecmo's Tsuppari Oozumou. Out Live and Sengoku Mahjong, both for the PC Engine, will also be available.

Seeing games like Streets of Rage and Gunstar Heroes released on the Virtual Console has been a dream come true for Genesis enthusiasts, but there's something inauthentic about playing these titles with controllers forged by Sega's former adversary. It's like getting back together with an old lover, only to find that there's something missing.

You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips.
And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips.
You're trying hard not to show it. But baby, baby I know it...

Daniel Hearn refused to let his relationship with the Mega Drive slip away, hacking an old three-button pad to work with the Nintendo Wii wirelessly. Using similar NES/SNES controller mods as inspiration, he pieced this together with PIC microcontrollers, an iPod mini replacement battery, and other electronic junk.

The detailed guide and wiring instructions that Daniel posted are far beyond our limited abilites, but if you don't mind applying a bit of Weird Science to win your love back, this definitely looks worth trying!

What does Nintendo Europe do to follow up Ocarina of Time? Throw a few more side-scrolling titles onto the Virtual Console, of course! At this point, we're starting to think that the VC's subtitle should be something like: All the side-scrolling fun you'll ever need!

If all the shooty/fighty games aren't quite your style, there's a little variety, too. Four games -- not a bad week!

Available in Europe on this fine Friday:

• Bio-hazard Battle (Sega Mega Drive) - 800 Wii points
• Chew-Man-Fu (TurboGrafx) - 600 Wii points
• Streets of Rage (Sega Mega Drive) - 800 Wii points
• Sword of Vermillion (Sega Mega Drive) - 800 Wii points

Sega has 5 more titles planned for the Wii's Virtual Console service and they're pretty damn good games! Not only are we finally getting the classic beat-em-up Streets of Rage, but we're also getting the greatly underappreciated title Comix Zone. To tell you all the truth, those two games are in our top 5 for favorite Genesis games of all time (our first choice, which is Gunstar Heroes, is already on the VC).

Sadly, the 800 Wii Point standard for Genesis titles could be broken, as Sega is stating that prices for these games are to "start at 800 Wii Points," meaning Sega could pull a fast one on all of us in the way that Hudson did, jacking up the price for their titles. We expect that only Streets of Rage really has any reason to cost more than that, due to its incredible popularity in the gaming community.

All five games to be offered include:

• Streets of Rage
• Comix Zone
• Bio-Hazard Battle
• Gain Ground
• Bonanza Bros.
  

[Thanks 20XX; via Joystiq!]