
The
Virtual Console has, surprisingly, become one of the best venues around for classic scrolling shooters, or "
shmups" if you prefer. Suddenly, there's a single console on the market where you can play games like
Soldier Blade, Super Star Soldier, R-Types I-III, and
Gradius, and you can download them all at impulse-buy prices. Soon,
Gradius II, Final Soldier and
Air Zonk will
show up (in Japan, at least).
Has anyone been brought into shooter fandom from a VC release? Or rediscovered the genre, which was lost to all but the craziest, die-hard
fans since the onset of 3D gaming? Any new gamers out there surprised by how
freaking hard old shooter games can be? Let's
hear about your shmupping experience before and since the Wii.