This current Hanabi Festival is proving a treat for shmup fans. Of the ten games released so far under the Hanabi banner, half have been shooters, including the two released today, Japan-only pair Star Parodier (in which you can use Bomberman or a giant PC Engine as a ship!) and Gley Lancer. They're joined this VC Friday by Digital Champ Battle Boxing.
Oh, and fun fact: the name Gley Lancer was (allegedly) supposed to be "Grey Lancer," but ended up as Gley Lancer due to a pronunciation error (the Japanese language can't tell the difference between the English "r" and "l" sounds). Either that, or we've just been duped into believing a rather racist joke.
Gley Lancer -- Mega Drive -- 900 Wii Points
Star Parodier -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 900 Wii Points
Digital Champ Battle Boxing -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 700 Wii Points
The appeal of the Virtual Console is obvious: nostalgia. The VC is jam-packed with memories from yesteryear, spilling over with wonderful software that defined our childhoods. But it isn't all lollipops and puppy dogs. Nostalgia can also be very misleading, and some of those packets of data you download from Nintendo's service can end up souring childhood memories.
Personally speaking -- and this will probably sound like heresy in some quarters, so brace yourselves -- I was left disappointed by Mega Man 2, a game I adored as an eleven-year-old, but one that now seems slightly dated, with its repeated leaps of faith and enemies that like to spawn directly beneath you. On the other hand, a game such as Super Mario Bros. 3still feels like a breath of fresh air, almost two decades after it was released.
Thinking about this some more, we have three questions for you. One: which Virtual Console games don't hold the same magic for you as they once did? Two: have any titles aged better than you suspected they would? And three: have you ever held off from downloading a certain game, concerned that it may ruin one of those precious childhood memories?
We were already totally pumped about getting Cho Aniki on the European and Aussie Virtual Consoles, but our faces lit up when we saw what else was lying in store for us this morning. Metal Slug is the first Neo Geo game to appear on the download service since December 14th, but what a comeback!
From a value-for-money perspective, we'd still recommend picking up Metal Slug Anthology (especially now that it's so cheap), but it's great to see SNK's classic series represented on the VC (and this version even has Classic Controller support). Puyo Puyo 2 and TurboGrafx billiards title Break In complete this week's line-up.
Cho Aniki -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 900 Wii Points
Metal Slug -- Neo Geo -- 900 Wii Points
Break In -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 700 Wii Points
Puyo Puyo 2 -- Mega Drive -- 900 Wii Points
Hop in your Slug and blast your way past the break to see all four in action!
An immensely pleasing sight greeted our bleary eyes when we inspected the PAL Virtual Console this morning -- the revival of last September's Hanabi Festival! What does that mean? Simple: for the next few weeks, the VC will feature games that were previously unreleased in Europe or Australia, which we suppose justifies the slightly higher price tags.
Best of all, we're promised that this will continue for the next few weeks. Wonder what else we'll get? Here are this week's trio:
Columns III: Revenge of Columns -- Mega Drive -- 900 Wii Points
Final Soldier -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 700 Wii Points
Gradius II Gofer no Yabou -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 900 Wii Points
As usual, make the jump for footage of all three.
[Update: There's much excitement here, as further inspection of Nintendo's press release reveals that Speedos-clad TurboGrafx-16 shooter Cho Aniki will be one of the future Hanabi Festival releases!]
Groovy! One of the most-requested Virtual Console games is now officially on the way, thanks to Interplay. And it's bringing friends! Earthworm Jim, Shiny's platform/shooting adventure about a worm in a space suit, will be released on the Virtual Console "later this year," joined by its sequel, as well as the Claymation SF2-alike Clayfighter(developed by Visual Concepts) and Boogerman (full title: Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure).
According to Gamasutra, these will be the Genesis versions of the games, which means that Earthworm Jim will include the extra "Intestinal Distress" level that was exclusive to that version.
Hey, Interplay had the rights to Out of this World at some point. Maybe they still do!
Up on the chopping block this Friday is the red-headed step-child of early Phantasy Star games, Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom. Considered the weak link by fans, we suppose that directly following Phantasy Star II didn't help its case.
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom -- Mega Drive -- 800 Wii Points
Don't forget to hop in the patented Wii Fanboy time machine and hurtle past the break for footage from the game.
You might have noticed a bit of a change to our video coverage of this week's Virtual Console games. You see, no more are we confined to off-screen recording of the Virtual Console releases. That's right, we've upgraded to technology widely available since 2004. We're so modern!
Hit up the new video format above and then head past the break for the rest of our usual goodness.
People who bought Phantasy Star II upon its original Genesis release knew what they were getting into immediately upon opening the box. This Phantasy Star II Hint Book was the first warning that the game was brutally hard (well, that and the Phantasy Star name, which was equally foreboding for Master System gamers). The 110-page Hint Book, clad in ALARM YELLOW (actually kind of a subdued yellow) was players' official notice that Phantasy Star II was the kind of game that you needed a hint book for.
We didn't have GameFAQs back then -- if a dungeon was complicated, we usually got lost; if a boss was challenging, we usually died. Sega's thoughtful inclusion of a hint book provided a nice alternative to assured failure: possible success -- with a side of failure.
We've excerpted the hint book for your perusal. Check it out if you just downloaded the Virtual Console version of Phantasy Star II and want help getting started, or if you'd just like to see the state-of-the-art in strategy guides circa 1990. If that's not enough (and it isn't), check Phantasy-Star.net for more transcribed information from the book!
The latest Virtual Console game to show up on the ESRB's ratings search page is an obvious one: Sonic & Knuckles. With Sonics 1 through 3 already available, it was only a matter of time before The Rest of Sonic 3 showed up. The ESRB rating should mean that the game will pop up on the VC soon, though it's no guarantee.
How will Sonic & Knuckles' unique "lock-on" feature work on the Wii? The original cartridge featured a pass-through that allowed other Sonic games to be connected, unlocking the ability to play through those games as Knuckles. Previous ports of Sonic & Knuckles have been packaged with the other games, with the "lock-on" extras selectable from a menu. Will Sonic & Knuckles on the Virtual Console check for Sonic 2 and 3? Will you be able to play Blue Sphere? Or will it just be the main Sonic & Knuckles game? We're curious, but we aren't getting our hopes up. Just like every other time a Sonic game comes out!
Obviously we don't advocate the use of emulators to play copyrighted games (unless you're Howard Sega and you own the copyrights), but this news is too cool to pass up. Coder ekeeke has released a new version of the Genesis Plus GX emulator that can be run on the Wii using the Twilight Hack exploit.
In addition to its awesome "running on the Wii" feature, this version runs Virtua Racing, which is quite the achievement because of the extra hardware on the Virtua Racing cartridge.
We're mostly pleased with this development as evidence of the rapid progression of Wii homebrew, although we do appreciate the ability to play McDonalds' Treasure Land Adventure on the Wii. We don't see that particular Treasure (yes, Treasure) masterpiece being released on the Virtual Console any time soon.
[Thanks, craig!]
[Update: I totally meant "Welcome to the Next Level." How embarrassing.]
We love it when import-onlygames find their way to our Virtual Console! We also love Sega classics. So we're thoroughly pleased to see Super Fantasy Zone and Pengo, Genesis entries in two iconic Sega series, rated on the ESRB.
Super Fantasy Zone is the last in a series of brightly-colored, Defender-like free-scrolling shooter starring the Opa-Opa. Pengo is a remake of a 1982 arcade puzzle game of the same name, about a penguin who pushes ice blocks around to destroy enemies, much like Kickle Cubicle or Adventures of Lolo.
What's most surprising about the appearance of these two games on the ESRB is that they haven't been released on the Virtual Console in any other region! Sega said they were planning to release more imports; we just assumed they'd be things that were already on the Japanese VC.
My dad bought Phantasy Star II when it came out, and played it relentlessly. It wasn't until later that I picked up RPGs myself, but I loved watching and listening as he played along, consulting hintbooks and helping to draw maps. I especially loved listening to Phantasy Star II, whose MIDI music fit the brightly-colored sci-fi look of the game. When I saw this particular trick in a magazine, I was pretty excited about being able to help my dad do the impossible in the game. He had already passed the relevant section, as it turned out, so I never got to see it work. This little trick doesn't seem like such a big deal now, but it was a major glitch in 1990.
Even though Phantasy Star II is totally old, and thus seemingly fair game for spoilers, be warned that this VC Advantage is entirely concerned with the major spoiler of Phantasy Star II. If you don't want the story to be ruined, don't read this. If you're all about gameplay only, or if this is the second time through for you, then come on in!
After a run ofthreeweeks with only one title, this Friday sees two Sega properties up for the taking on the PAL Virtual Console. The first, 2D fighter Eternal Champions, should only concern the most ardent supporters of the company.
Indeed, if our bastardization of "VC Friday" tells you anything, it's that this is the week of Phantasy Star II. Sega's RPG is rightfully a huge favorite amongst the Fanboy staff, and it should be high on your list as well. For 800 Wii points, on a machine with no notable RPGs to call its own, it's a pretty damn essential addition to your Virtual Console library.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
This game isn't particularly obscure, being a first-party Sega release in one of its major (at the time) franchises. But it doesn't matter, because this game is also the most awesome release in that franchise. Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi answers the question of what could possibly be cooler than a ninja stalking around a gritty urban landscape: that ninja's dog. Seriously, you'd have to be a pretty cool dog to keep up with Joe Musashi (or his son, depending on the region).
This game violates an implicit Virtually Overlooked rule by having been released on the Virtual Console in Japan. This happened way back in December of 2006, so we actually feel more than justified in whining about its current unavailability outside of Japan on the Virtual Console. It would be incredibly easy to release it, since it's already been released on the Virtual Console, and Sega just refuses to get around to it.
The Internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.
There is one major reason that the Sonic the Hedgehog series peaked on the Genesis. It's not Sonic's redesign or the voice actor controversy found later. It's not the move from 2D to 3D. It's not the overloading of "friends" that weighed the series down with superfluous anthropomorphoid mascots. That stuff is all vaguely annoying, but it's not as big a loss as the debug mode.
Sonics 1-3 and CD all featured a mode accessible via controller combination that allowed you to turn Sonic into a scrolling cursor who could be moved around the screen unimpeded by objects, enemies, or game rules. In addition, Sonic could be turned into any sprite, which could then be dropped into the level at the press of a button.
This current Hanabi Festival is proving a treat for shmup fans. Of the ten games released so far under the Hanabi banner, half have been shooters, including the two released today, Japan-only pair Star Parodier (in which you can use Bomberman or a giant PC Engine as a ship!) and Gley Lancer. They're joined this VC Friday by Digital Champ Battle Boxing. 
The appeal of the 
An immensely pleasing sight greeted our bleary eyes when we inspected the PAL Virtual Console this morning -- the revival of last September's 
Welcome to our weekly feature, 
