The Wii is the best system in history for scrolling shooters, thanks to the Virtual Console. While companies like Treasure and Cave have developed new subgenres of the shmup, the basics of classic shooting gameplay haven't changed much, and a good shooter is still as enjoyable now as it was when games like Gradiusand Blazing Lazers were new. Chances are nobody but the most devoted shmuppers has mastered every available shooter on the system -- or even all of the really good ones. For most gamers, there are at least five excellent shooters available on the VC that are completely unfamiliar.
The preponderance of excellent shooters means that there's really no reason for anyone to buy a mediocre one -- especially not when it costs more than every other shmup on the system. There is even less reason to buy Protöthea. If you're thinking about putting ten bucks into this, stop and go buy Blazing Lazers or Lords of Thunder instead.
Earlier this week, we shared with you videos from Ubisoft newly announced WiiWare title, Protöthea, and the game looked, at best, boring, at worst, awful. Seeing this trailer for the original 2005 PC game which the WiiWare release will be a remake of, however, has given us a new hope. This looks about a hojillion times more exciting than the clips IGN trotted out for us to preview!
Further improving our opinion of Protöthea, the original PC game was Cartoon Network's Project Goldmaster winner at the 2005 Independent Games Festival, rewarding developer Digital Builders an opportunity to create a game based on a Cartoon Network license. Knowing all this, maybe the screenshots in the gallery we've included below will seem more interesting to you.
Protöthea was supposed to launch with WiiWare, according to IGN, but we didn't see the title on the list posted earlier today, so who knows when the shmup will be thrown onto Nintendo's download service. While we wait around for someone to announce a release date, spend a moment to leave us a comment on whether or not this trailer has changed your opinion on the game.