Nintendo Wii Fanboy

That's what Majesco and Budcat thought, anyway. They were already making a game based on a Kenta Cho freeware shooter, with no legal hoops to jump through. There's basically no reason for them not to throw a bunch more Cho games on there! It works out well for them, because it's bonus content, and it works out nicely for us, because we'll be able to play more great abstract shooters on our television, using our Wiimote!

Siliconera played Blast Works at E3, and realized very quickly that they were just playing the original TUMIKI Fighters. The Budcat rep explained that it was an early build and that Blast Works would indeed be a new game. He also revealed that not only will TUMIKI Fighters be on the disc in its original form, but rRootage and possibly Gunroar and Torus Trooper will be bonus content as well.

This means that you can go preview some Blast Works bonus content right now! It's like being at E3. Just like it. We recommend rRootage especially-- it's a parade of randomly-generated bosses.

We had just about forgotten about the Gamefly-supplied rumor of a Wii port of Tumiki Fighters, and now we have confirmation from Majesco! They'll be releasing an upgraded port of Kenta Cho's freeware shooter, with the new title Blast Works, in the first quarter of next year-- in Europe. No US date has been announced.

Not only will the game feature the same awesome mechanic the original had (grabbing parts from exploded enemies to upgrade your ship) but it'll include weapon, propulsion, armor, ship, enemy, and level editors. Grab the freeware version and give it a try, then join us in hoping for a US release-- it beats online petitions, at least.

A listing for a Majesco-published Wii version of Tumiki Fighters has shown up on Gamefly, and we really, really hope it turns out to be real. Tumiki Fighters is a freeware shmup by Kenta Cho that involves collecting pieces that fall off of destroyed enemy ships to power up your own ship.

We like Kenta Cho's games. They're gorgeously presented abstract shooters that either (like Tumiki Fighters) invent new gameplay mechanics or, like rRootage, artfully (and openly) rip off mechanics from other shmups. We aren't sure we'd want to pay full price for them, since they're free right now, but we would consider paying budget price for sufficiently expanded versions.