Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Game sequels often suffer from a reputation of being weaker than their predecessors, but that hasn't stopped Nintendo whacking a whole pile of them on the PAL Virtual Console this week. The M-rated Splatterhouse 2 leads the charge, bloodied lead pipe in hand, and is joined by Samurai Shodown II, Pitstop II, and Ecco Jr. (okay, so that's not a sequel in the strictest sense of the term, but a spin-off for the kids). Here's what that little lot will cost you:

• Ecco Jr. -- Mega Drive -- 800 Wii Points
• Splatterhouse 2 -- Mega Drive -- 800 Wii Points
• Samurai Shodown II -- Neo Geo -- 900 Wii Points
• Pitstop II -- Commodore 64 -- 500 Wii Points *
  

* As usual, Australia misses out on the Commodore 64 game.

Footage of all four is past the break -- try listening to six minutes of Pitstop II's engine effects without going insane.

For the second week in a row, American gamers have gotten the red carpet in comparison to Japanese Wii owners. The Virtual Console uploads for this week are tame compared to the wish-fulfilling awesomeness of Super Mario Bros. 3 and the VISUALSHOCK! SPEEDSHOCK! SOUNDSHOCK! of Alien Soldier.

The Japanese releases are by no means bad, and, in fact, there are some games that will genuinely interest people, like the first King of Fighters and the first console Goemon game, which would lead to the beloved Legend of the Mystical Ninja. Then there's ... the "Sega Club" educational Ecco sequel, and the Wonderboy game with yet another character swap. Poor Wonderboy. Why couldn't he ever star in two console versions of the same game? Dynastic Hero is actually another version of Wonderboy in Monster World, which ... is already on the VC. Interesting choice for one of the first CD-based PC Engine games on the VC. And by "interesting" we mean "a terrible waste."

• Ganbare Goemon (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points)
  
• Ecco Jr. (Mega Drive, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)
  
• Cho Eiyuu Densetsu Dynastic Hero (PC Engine CD-ROM, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)
• The King of Fighters '94 (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points)

... and also Milk. November's Virtual Console outlook for Japan looks pretty excellent, with a lot of delightfully niche stuff. That includes King's Knight, the medieval-themed vertical shooter (!) from Square(!) that nobody likes but us ( ....) It will also bring Sega's Eternal Champions, the goofy Mortal Kombat-influenced fighting game that we poured hundreds of hours into. But it also includes stuff that non-us people will enjoy, like Panel de Pon, which, released in the U.S. as Tetris Attack, is the most popular version of the Puzzle League puzzle games. Light Crusader is notable for being an RPG from Treasure, and not much else.

Of course, the big news for a lot of us is that SNK has turned the King of Fighters faucet on, ensuring a constant stream of fighting games with overdone storylines and ridiculous outfits for at least a year.
Here's the full lineup for November, assuming some of them don't get bumped or pushed back into December (they will):

Famicom: Ganbare Goemon, Balloon Fight, Makaimura (Ghosts 'n Goblins), Nuts and Milk, King's Knight
Super Famicom: Panel de Pon
Mega Drive: Ecco Jr., Light Crusader, Eternal Champions
PC Engine: Dynastic Hero (Wonder Boy in Monster World), Dragon Spirit, Take the A-Train 3, Kawa no Nushi Tsuri (Legend of the River King), Gradius II GOFER no Yabou
Neo Geo: The King of Fighters '94, Baseball Stars 2, Top Hunter