But we've heard Wii 'Vania rumors before, and this extremely dubious one doesn't make the game any less likely. Maybe it'll get sorted out next week, as Hirano reportedly said.
[Via GoNintendo]
Posts with tag konami
Rumor: Konami VP mentions Castlevania Wii?
But we've heard Wii 'Vania rumors before, and this extremely dubious one doesn't make the game any less likely. Maybe it'll get sorted out next week, as Hirano reportedly said.
[Via GoNintendo]
VC Friday: The Hanabi Festival returns! [Update]
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
[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!]
Continue reading VC Friday: The Hanabi Festival returns! [Update]
Lost in Blue changes consoles
Gamefly hinted a few months back that Lost in Blue was jumping ship to the Wii -- a rumor that has now been confirmed for Japan.Konami announced the game by adding it to the Survival Kids list on the company's Japanese website (Survival Kids is the title of the series in Japan). Spencer Yip from Siliconera informs us that the game will have a multiplayer option and offer some sort of online component, but other than that, little is known.
We're sure this game could be a good fit for the Wii, as long as Konami doesn't go overboard with the waggle. There's a lot of survival activities that the Wiimote could work well for, though, so we're willing to wait and see how this one pans out.
[Via Siliconera]
Virtually Overlooked: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
So far on the Virtual Console in North America, we've got Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, and Super Castlevania IV. Now, these fancy-schmancy Roman numerals may confuse the issue a bit, but it looks like something just might be missing from that list. Upon checking and re-checking, only one conclusion can be reached: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse is, in fact, missing. Okay, it's understood that every classic game can't appear immediately, as that would disrupt Nintendo's releases-every-week mojo, and we're only just now getting excellent titles like River City Ransom. But it almost seems as though someone at Nintendo had all the early NA Castlevania titles pasted to a dartboard, and a few drunken tosses determined which would be released and when. Where's Castlevania III? It's a mystery! You might as well tell us the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, or answer the question of just what a man is.
Gallery: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Continue reading Virtually Overlooked: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
An even Hottester Party this fall?
Konami wrote themselves into a corner with the title of their Wii Dance Dance Revolution game. If DDR Hottest Party is really the hottest party, what will the inevitable sequel be? Will it be a different superlative -- the coolest party, or the freshest party, or the most Chex-Mix-having party? Will it be the Hottest Party For Real This Time -- Last Time Was the Hottest to Date, But This Time's Even Hotter Than That?
Well, if the title of the new game found on Gamefly's site (with a release date of September 30th) is the real title, it'll just be DDR Hottest Party 2. It worked for Final Fantasy.
Well, if the title of the new game found on Gamefly's site (with a release date of September 30th) is the real title, it'll just be DDR Hottest Party 2. It worked for Final Fantasy.
Rumor: Castlevania headed Wii-ward
Where's that latest EGM?! We need to see this one with our own eyes: rumors of new Castlevania for DS and Wii, and since the first has already been confirmed (though we're not sure about this definition of new), we'll go ahead and guess that the second, the Wii title, is likely true, particularly since another trademark has already been discovered.The idea of a game on the system isn't particularly new, but the resurfacing of the rumor certainly has us dancing in the aisles. Could Castlevania Judgment be meant for us? We're crossing our fingers. Retail game, WiiWare, it doesn't matter -- just give us some vampire-killing, whip-cracking action.
Konami rounding up critters for U.S. WiiWare launch
In all our excitement over the likes of My Life as a King, Dr. Mario, and Star Soldier R, we've barely found the time to discuss cutesy animal-based puzzler Saku Saku Animal Panic. That's a shame, because a Konami press release has now confirmed that the title will be released as part of the U.S. WiiWare launch line-up on May 12th (as Critter Round-Up), and it sounds like this could be more than a fun distraction.
Critter Round-Up has players segregating animals into groups by laying down fences, but there are other factors involved, namely avoiding aggressive animals who might attack you, and preventing the animals from chomping each other (for example, you wouldn't want to create a crocodile-and-chicken pen). Successfully sorting the wildlife into like groups (within a time limit) is the key to victory, and there's 50 levels of fencin' and segregatin' to plow through.
Also in the Konami WiiWare pipeline: a sandcastle-building sim currently known as Fresco Beach. That would take this blogger back to his childhood, if much of his childhood wasn't spent in Blackpool, next to the worst beaches in the world.
Rumor: Konami turns over Elebits sequel
Elebits was a highlight of the early Wii lineup, one of the few games of 2006 not to have terrible motion controls. We can't wait to see what kinds of interactions a wiser Konami will be able to simulate. That house is trashed -- and also we'll find some creatures or whatever.
Witness the miracle of new import games for Australia's VC
It was weird enough when Milon's DokiDoki Adventure showed up on the OFLC ratings search site, and weirder still when it came out on the U.S. Virtual Console before Australia's (it has yet to be released there).Now another fairly unknown Japanese game has been rated for release, indicating a worldwide release in the near future: Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (Bio Miracle Baby Upa) a Famicom Disk System platformer from Konami starring a baby who can inflate enemies with his magic rattle. It's best known for being rejected by Nintendo's bowtie-wearing Howard Phillips, who hates babies.
Gleylancer also appears to be traversing the globe; recently seen on Germany's ratings site, the shooter has appeared on the OFLC site as well.
[Via Siliconera]
Contra is awesome even when it's not quite Contra
If playing Contra III on the Virtual Console is too inauthentic an experience for you, then these versions of Contra would no doubt make you backflip to death. Youtube user iniche has compiled videos of Contra variants, from the official (Ocean Software's ports of Gryzor, a.k.a. Contra, for various underpowered European computers, like the Spectrum 128 version seen here) to the spectacularly unofficial (a Famicom remake of Contra III).
Especially notable is a (sort of) original fake Contra game called Super Contra 8. That's, like, four more Contra than the last official Konami Contra game -- and it's super.
[Via SelectButton]
ESRB reveals pair of new Wii games in the works
Other than that, we really don't have much to go on. You can see the described content in each game above, but it's clearly not enough for us. We know we'll be rounding up critters in Protothea, but what about that Critter Round-Up game?
Free online PES magazine is a good way to kill some time
Why else would the company team up with GamerZines to make an online magazine completely dedicated to PES Wii? Oh right, promotional reasons. At its core, this mag is just an attempt to hype up people for PES 2008. Even so, if you're a fan of the game or are thinking about buying it, you might find a few interesting things in this free zine.
Aside from pictures of happy people who are supposedly playing the game, the magazine offers gameplay videos, as well as an interview with PES 2008's Wii producer, Akiyoshi "Greyhound" Chosogabe. There's also an entertaining little game-like quiz/competition where you have to identify five soccer players (which this blogger failed at miserably).
All in all, there's not that much to it, but current and potential PES lovers might find reading it to be a nice distraction.
[Thanks, Dave]
Metareview: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
Thanks to its point-and-pass mechanics and Mii integration, the Wii version of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 can safely be described as the biggest upheaval of the series in years. But have such sweeping changes to one of the most finely balanced franchises in gaming been for the better? Well, the critics certainly seem to think so ...
Official Nintendo Magazine UK -- 90%: First out of the tunnel with its views is the UK edition of Official Nintendo Magazine, which suggests that persevering with the new Wii controls will pay dividends: "Easily the best football game on a Nintendo system. It takes a while to get used to the new controls but once you get your head round them, they become second nature." [March 2008, p.58 -- excerpt found at Metacritic]
IGN -- 86%: IGN's Matt Bozon argues that the Wii controls play a crucial role in creating the "most strategic" soccer experience ever: "The integration of IR into a sports game has been extremely minimal so far, but is absolutely ideal in this situation, allowing players to not only play the ball specifically, but direct traffic and precisely move every player on the field in tandem, making for the most realistic, strategic, and intuitive soccer experiences we've ever seen."
1UP -- 75%: And it's more of the same from 1UP's Andrew Pfister, who expresses surprise that the Wii version is so superior to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions: "It's always refreshing to see a unique application of the Wii's motion controls, and it's even more encouraging to see a new idea that's not only functional, but something that really can't be done any other way. We're not sure what's going on over at Konami's PES team: on one hand, there seem to be some major issues in regards to PS3/360 development, yet the less-technically apt Wii version ends up being the game to move the franchise forward."
Gallery: Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
MLB Power Price: $19.99 [update]
If you consider yourself a connoisseur of baseball video games, there's no reason why you shouldn't have a copy of MLB Power Pros! Never mind the deceptively simple art style with its super-deformed characters -- this is one of the deepest baseball titles currently available. Konami packed over a dozen different modes into MLB Power Pros, including an RPG-esque mode in which you follow a college baseball player's career to help him realize his Major League dreams.
Amazon has MLB Power Pros priced at $19.99 as part of an ongoing sale for sports-themed games today, so now is the time to pick it up if you're interested! Keep in mind that this deal will only last until midnight (or until stocks run out).
Update: It looks like this popular bargain is going in and out of stock. You might have to keep checking back until the $19.99 price shows up.
One 'El of a bargain
If you want to replicate the act of cruelty in the video above on some Elebits of your own, yet somehow don't have the title in your collection, know this: Konami's online store (and other outlets) are now offering Elebits for just under twenty bucks. That's impressively cheap for one of the Wii's most under-rated titles, not to mention a favorite of one David Hinkle, a man whose impeccable taste we dare not question.
We wouldn't recommend Dewy's Adventure quite as strongly, but it's available for the same price elsewhere on Konami's site.
[Via Go Nintendo]
