Nintendo Wii Fanboy

The cybernetic sauropod seen at the end of this stirring Space Invaders Get Even! trailer may not be the genuine Grimlock, but it may as well be. Or is it more of a Mechagodzilla riff? In either case, it's just one of the overblown, yet futile, weapons the puny hu-mans wheel out in an effort to stop the inevitable Space Invasion.

We love pretty much everything about the concept of this game, from the division into bite-sized chunks to the way it changes the usual neatly-stacked Invader lines to swarming masses, adding even more to the inversion of the normal Space Invaders experience.

Hear the one about the WiiWare game that cost 500 Wii Points and came with 1,500 Points worth of downloadable content? We refer, of course, to Space Invaders Get Even!, a title that we have gushed about for some time, only to discover it comes with some very pricey DLC. Once we've forked out 500 Points for the barebones game, we've still got to pay three times that again for the full package, essentially making it more expensive than (almost) all other WiiWare!

We understand why DLC appeals to publishers such as Square Enix, and we also know that we don't have to download it (so please, no need to enlighten us in the comments), but do you think Space Invaders Get Even!'s DLC is excessive? Where do you personally draw the line on what you'll spend on downloadable extras? And in your opinion, what percentage of a game's total cost should consist of DLC?

We thought we had already hit optimum levels of yaaaayness over Space Invaders Get Even with the announcement that the game would be heading to WiiWare, but it just gets better. Fresh scans from the innards of Famitsu have revealed that the title will be as cheap as a WiiWare game can possibly be: a measly 500 Wii Points. To put that in perspective, that's the same as half of Cruis'n USA or SPOGS Racing.

That cost could escalate slightly, for Famitsu confirms that there will be downloadable stages (Square Enix is no stranger to DLC on WiiWare), but 500 Wii Points for the barebones package is still outstanding value. Oh, and there's even the odd Taito tribute thrown in for good measure, such as the ability to play as ships from company classics Darius and RayStorm. Want, want, want.

The Legend of Kage seems to be almost universally reviled by gamers for its difficulty and for the fact that about 75% of your time in the game is spent sailing uncontrollably through the air into a fireball or shuriken -- some, like us, like it okay, but it's a hard sell. It's a mystery, then, why Taito thought that it would be a good basis for an unrelated game. Apparently they had enough faith in the high-jumping gameplay that they figured people might like it if they didn't realize it was like The Legend of Kage.

This year, is the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders' original Japanese release, and Taito has marked it with the release of Space Invaders Extreme on the DS and PSP, a significant upgrade to the original game with new powerups, music, and a beautiful new techno-rave sheen.

It's not the first time Taito has departed from the base Invaders formula. In 1995 (the less auspicious 17th anniversary of Space Invaders), Taito put out an arcade sequel to the primordial shmup that is every bit as visually divergent as Extreme, but in a totally different direction. Whereas the new handheld game goes for (and achieves) cool, Space Invaders '95 (known in Japan as Akkanvader) went in the wacky direction.

Space Invaders Get Even, Taito's flip on the Invaders concept in which players control an alien mothership firing pixelly Invaders at Earth's cities, is on track for a summer release in Japan. The good news is that there's a fairly low barrier to quick localization, because Taito has just revealed that it's a WiiWare game!

Square Enix (who owns Taito) has been hesitant about Taito properties in the past (Majesco picked up Cooking Mama, for example, and SE has passed on the paddle controller made for Arkanoid DS and Space Invaders Extreme), but their WiiWare Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game has gone well for them. Plus, there's the fact that Space Invaders Get Even will be way cheaper as a download than as a disc.

Our gallery has been attacked by an invading force of screens, showing not only invasion gameplay, but plenty of shots outlining the hu-mans' pitiful defenses.

So asks the front of Super R-Type's box. Of course, you won't get the box when you purchase Super R-Type on the Virtual Console (you are purchasing Super R-Type ... right?), but we couldn't resist revisiting such a deliciously bad pun. You just don't get that kind of cringeworthy wordplay on today's boxart!

The NES version of Operation Wolf also makes an appearance today, and if you ask us it's one of the very few Virtual Console games that would actually benefit from added Wiimote functionality.

• Super R-Type -- SNES -- 800 Wii points
• Operation Wolf -- NES -- 500 Wii points

Don't forget there's footage to get all misty-eyed about after the break!

Just a few days after the first scan, Taito has released a few screens of the new Wii Space Invaders game, Space Invaders Get Even. In this "from the Invaders' perspective" game, swarms of glowing 8-bit Invaders take down 3D cities. The player uses the Nunchuk to control the elusive UFO, and the Wii Remote to direct 300 Invaders. The stages are broken into three areas each, and there are forest, city, military, and other types of stages.

We still don't know how the three types of Invader differ, but we can at least see that they can be directed at separate targets, even outside of their traditional formation. We also don't know if "DOOOOOOM!" is the sound of an explosion, or a description of the humans' fate, or if GIR is in one of the ships.

Taito has chosen the Wii for the followup to the brilliant-looking Space Invaders Extreme. A tiny sidebar in the latest Famitsu has revealed a new Space Invaders game for the Wii. Called Space Invaders Get Even, Taito's latest actually casts the players as the pixelated swarm, whose job is to destroy cities.

Just going on the screenshot, it appears that you'll have a stock of different Invaders who perform different functions, and who arrange themselves in the familiar 2D formation in 3D space. Unfortunately, other than this screenshot and a little blurb (which calls the game an "action game" and entreats you to "get your revenge"), nothing is known. We're sure we'll hear more soon.

Taito's collection of mostly classic-Taito-themed minigames, Furu Furu Park, is out this month courtesy of Majesco. For $19.99, if the versions of arcade classics like Bubble Bobble, Cameltry, and Arkanoid are actually good remakes, the game would be an irresistible value. That was exactly what MTV Multiplayer's Jason Cipriano had in mind when he took the game for a test drive. Maybe this unassuming value minigame collection has improved on the arcade classics!

Basically, it hasn't. As you may expect, the minigame versions of the Taito classics are not better than the arcade games, mostly owing to the fact that you can only play them for a few minutes at a time. No matter how awesome the one level of remade Arkanoid is, it's just one level. On top of that, Bubble Bobble has been simplified severely.

Surprisingly, there were a few cases in which the potential was there for the remake to be an improvement, or at least a worthwhile addition. Both Arkanoid and Cameltry benefit from motion controls, which makes the lack of content hurt that much more. As it stands, just pick up one of the Taito Legends sets for the PS2.

An update to the ESRB's search page has revealed two new upcoming games. Sega's Columns III is hardly a surprise, since it came out in Japan recently on the Virtual Console, and a U.S. version of the game exists. The other choice is somewhat of an oddball: Taito's Operation Wolf.

Operation Wolf is a military-themed arcade light gun game that came out on both the NES and the Japanese PC Engine. We're likely to get the NES version, as Hudson's VC releases page does not mention the game. In either case, it won't have actual light gun functionality.

This is hardly new for Operation Wolf. The NES version originally included the option for either Zapper or D-pad control, but the PC Engine version did not. The arcade game was also ported to the Taito Legends collection with no gun support. We won't go so far as to say it doesn't matter, but the game is still intense and fun when played by sweeping a crosshair around the screen. It's an unusual choice, but we like unusual choices!

[Via Siliconera]

Now it is the beginning of a fantastic story! This week, one of the iconic classic game experiences made it to the Virtual Console in its NES incarnation. Bub and Bob are synonymous with video games and gamer culture, for two unsurprising reasons: 1) they're really damn cute, and 2) Bubble Bobble is awesome. With that in mind, we thought we'd focus a bit on the cheating options available in the NES version of Bubble Bobble.

Now, Bubble Bobble is best experienced with two players, in which case progress isn't really as important as kickin' back and having a good time bubblin' up some baddies with your dino-pal. There's a whole host of level passwords for your single-player excursions, available where fine passwords are sold at GameFAQs.

More interesting than the plain level passwords, however, are the "special" passwords, that give you options beyond starting at a certain level. DDFFI allows you to access a level select mode for the "normal" Bubble Bobble levels, and HEAGD does the same for the advanced Super Bubble Bobble levels. BACCF starts you off with 99 lives. If you complete Super Bubble Bobble mode, you'll get access to a sound test. Of course, by that time you'll be so freaking tired of the music, you won't want to go into a menu and listen to it again. The music's totally great when you haven't been playing the game for five hours, though.

Should you decide not to employ the 99 lives code, then you and a friend can play cooperatively, or be huge jerks to each other, depending on your temperament. In two-player mode, when you die, you can pause the game and hit the Select button to steal a life from your friend.

[Jamie's awesome shoes found here]