Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Not only is the fate of the SNK Arcade Classics collection no longer up in the air (yes! It is coming to Wii!), SNK went ahead and announced two more Wii compilations in an email sent out yesterday. Both Samurai Shodown Anthology and King of Fighters: The Orochi Saga will also see Wii releases, as well as versions for the PS2 and PSP.

We don't know exactly which titles will be included, but the Japanese version of the Samurai Shodown Anthology contained Shodowns I through VI, and the KOF collection included KOF's '95, '96, and '97. That means that there's overlap between the collections, since Samurai Shodown will be on both the SNK Arcade and Samurai Shodown Anthology collections.

SNK will have all three collections on display at GDC. Hopefully they'll have some Neo Geo Stick 2's with which to test the games!

Well now, if it isn't the first video wrap-up of the new year! Rock! And, we're glad to be kicking off another year of gaming with two quality titles in StarTropics and King of Fighters '94. So, without further delay, hit up the video above and head past the break for some more.

Oh, and sorry for sounding kind of prepubescent. I have no idea why my voice was so high there ...

We cherish these European VC updates for the chance to create silly titles from a mash-up of the games, but this time, we really would be interested in Bobble Fighters. Imagine ... two bobbleheads enter, one bobblehead leaves! It could be awesome.

Or maybe we're still just in a calorie stupor from yesterday. Let's get to this week's releases.

• Bubble Bobble -- NES -- 500 Wii points
• King of Fighters '94 -- Neo Geo -- 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

The Namco Museum Remix collection includes, in addition to wacky, waggly remakes of arcade classics like Galaga, authentic emulated classic games. Just a few days after the first Neo Geo game became available on the Virtual Console, SNK announced their intention to release King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown collections on disc.

We don't mind buying collections on disc, since they're inevitably cheaper than buying even a few of the games separately on the Virtual Console. How do you feel, though? Do these collections make the Virtual Console redundant? Is there room for both? What are the advantages of one approach over another?

It would appear that the Wii won't be getting the 16-title Neo Geo collection as reported, but rather two other Neo Geo compilations that should be plenty satisfying for people who love fighting games (which, we believe, is all Neo Geo fans).

SNK Playmore USA announced The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga and Samurai Shodown Anthology for the Wii. The Orochi saga in King of Fighters spans King of Fighters games (Kings of Fighters?) '95, '96, and '97, and the Samurai Shodown Anthology hopefully contains all of 'em, including the Samurai Shodown RPG for Neo Geo CD and Samurai Shodown 64 for the Hyper Neo Geo 64 arcade system. It probably won't, but then, things rarely live up to our desired level of awesome. Speaking of our desired level of awesome, these had better support the Classic Controller, and, therefore, the Hori stick.

The press release also reveals that, rather than Art of Fighting, the third Neo Geo game announced for the American Virtual Console is Magician Lord, which is in keeping with the Japanese lineup.