Nintendo Wii Fanboy

This is a pretty juicy rumor. Apparently (as evidenced by the image to the right), Konami digs what Capcom's doing with reviving the retro. You know, Mega Man 9 and Bionic Commando: REarmed? Konami is all about it.

So, the rumor goes (from the rumor section of the September 2008 issue of EGM) that they're thinking about doing a little bit of reviving to one of their older 2D franchises. Talk around Wii Fanboy HQ has us leaning toward three different franchises that could get the treatment: Rocket Knight Adventures, Zombies Ate my Neighbors and Legend of the Mystical Ninja (Ganbare Goemon). Of these three, we're pretty much leaning toward Rocket Knight Adventures, although some of us would like to see Ganbare Goemon get some love.

What's your guess?

If ever there were a game worthy of a Hanabi Festival (or its American equivalent, "oh, hey, I guess there are some Japanese games on the Virtual Console now") it would be Ganbare Goemon 2. The first Ganbare Goemon, under the name Legend of the Mystical Ninja, is a beloved SNES classic, and the sequel ... pretty much ditches its signature gameplay in favor of side-scrolling platforming, but maintains much of the same wacky feel.

Goemon is joined by fellow ninjas in the Neo Geo side-scroller Ninja Combat, and, uh, a bunch of wrestlers who we can't tie into the ninja theme. Oh, some of them wear masks!

• Ganbare Goemon 2: Kitteretsu Shogun Magginesu (Super Famicom, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
• Fire Pro Wrestling 2nd BOUT (PC Engine, 1-4 players, 600 Wii Points)
• Ninja Combat (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points)

In addition to these three VC games, two WiiWare games are now available: Oekaki Logic and Saikyou Ginhoshi Shogi, a Japanese board game published by ... EA?

... 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