Nintendo Wii Fanboy

We thought that when the Wii Zapper bundle was released, Nintendo fans would hang on to Link's Crossbow Training and dump the included plastic handle, but it appears that the opposite is true. GameStop has just dropped the price of used copies of Link's Crossbow Training from five bucks to a ridiculous $2.99. The retailer is not currently offering used Zappers on their online store.

At the amazingly low (seriously, like last year's Madden low) $2.99, Link's Crossbow Training is officially Worth It for pretty much everybody, provided they have even a passing interest in the Zelda series or in shooting at stuff. And with no Zapper, it's so much more compact! If you're planning to grab this from the online store, use coupon code CAG16 (for Cheap Ass Gamers) to get an additional 16% off the price.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Well, except for the PSP, that is. Sony's handheld is still as mighty as ever. Even so, the Wii toppled all the other home consoles once again last week, reclaiming its second-place spot:

The top Wii game last week wasn't Mario Kart, or even Wii Fit. Rather, beloved roguelike Shiren got the coveted title, as Shiren the Wanderer 3 debuted in second behind the PS3's new Dragon Ball Z. The previously mentioned Nintendo games did show up in the top ten, though, along with Family Trainer.

We're happy to see both Smash Bros. Brawl and Battalion Wars 2 hanging tough in the top thirty; the previous week had us a bit worried. In hardware, though, the Wii remains sandwiched between the PSP and the DS:

Just click on past the break if you'd like to see how Wii software fared.

Wii Fit gained some competition last week, as Family Trainer finally made its debut in Japan. Even so, Namco Bandai's game couldn't overtake Nintendo's six-month-old fitness title. Many Wii games were also pushed to the bottom of the top thirty in this week's chart, with Smash Bros. Brawl in danger of falling off completely.

Despite less than stellar software sales, Wii hardware performed well. Yet, once again, the Wii fell behind the currently dominating PSP:

The software figures are located after the break, so click on.

No new Wii games debuted last week; at least, none that ended up in the top thirty. There was one teensy weensy title that was introduced into the Japanese market, though. You may have heard of it: Guitar Hero III.

To put it bluntly, sales for the game were low. In fact, it didn't even make the top fifty in Media Create's charts, and Famitsu reports that the title only sold 1,300 copies. Compared to sales in other regions (like North America and Europe, for example), where Guitar Hero III performed fiercely, you can see that tastes often differ between western and eastern gamers.

Other than that, there's not to much to report about the software charts. Battalion Wars 2 managed to hang in the top ten, while Mario Kart Wii slipped into third place. Meanwhile, Smash Bros. Brawl might be in danger of falling out of the top thirty soon.

In hardware, the gap between the Wii and the PSP lessened as sales for Nintendo's console rose, while sales for Sony's handheld fell. Still, the PSP had a lead of about 15,000 units last week, keeping the Wii locked in its second place spot:

The software numbers are located after the break, so go on and take a look.

The new kid on the Japanese Wii software block last week was Battalion Wars 2, which faired well enough in its debut to hit the top ten. Will it stay there? Our guess is no, sadly. Still, it's nice to see the game get some recognition in Japan.

Once again, the only non-Nintendo title for the Wii that made the top thirty was Deca Sports, which dropped thirteen spots from the week before. Ouch. We're not sure what made Japan fall so out of love with Deca Sports in one week, but the game seems to have lost some of its legs. Smash Bros. Brawl also took a spill, falling from tenth place to nineteenth.

The other noticeable drop was Mario Kart Wii, which only fell one spot, but an important spot -- from first to second -- and finally succumbed to the frightening power of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G. Hardware was also a PSP victory, as the handheld beat all other systems by a convincing margin.

Now that you've seen the hardware numbers, check past the break for the software sales.

The gap between Wii and PSP sales is slowly but surely decreasing, making us wonder if the Wii might be able to overtake Sony's handheld once the Monster Hunter hype dies down:

• PSP: 89,884
• Wii: 67,308
• Nintendo DS: 51,228
  
• PlayStation 3: 8,054
• PlayStation 2: 7,464
• Xbox 360: 1,298

Yet, the true triumph for the Wii last week was in software. Nintendo scored big all-around, but the Wii claimed six of the top ten spots in the chart. Keep in mind, though, that all the Wii games that made it to the top thirty are first-party titles, with the exception of Deca Sports.

In other news, Smash Bros. Brawl managed to hop up five spots, showing us that it won't be disappearing any time soon. Meanwhile, Mario Kart is inching nearer to Brawl's total sales, making it a close race between the two games. To see how they're currently fairing against each other, just click past the break.

Ah, remember Link's Crossbow Training? The game that was bundled with the Wii Zapper last November (December, for PALs)? It was only released in Japan last week. If sales are any indication, though, Japanese gamers were clamoring for the goron-junk shooter rail shooter, as it claimed the third place spot.

Even so, Link had to hail to the king (baby), as Mario Kart Wii still dominated the charts. The other big news for Mario Kart Wii? It passed one million sales in the Far East, denoting its success. Meanwhile, Deca Sports clamored back into the top ten, but Brawl only slipped further downward, thus answering our question from last week. Also proving that the Japanese love their sports games for the Wii, Bandai Namco's Pro Baseball Family Stadium debuted at spot twenty.

The Wii triumphed in hardware last week as well. While the console continues to trail behind Sony's handheld, Wii sales went up almost 30,000 units from last week -- perhaps from the Link's Crossbow boost. Go on and check things out for yourself after the break, if you feel so inclined.

Even without any discount, the Link's Crossbow Training and Zapper bundle is already cheap at $20, but if you're looking for a way to pick up the pack-in game without being taxed for the extra plastic, Game Deal Daily has just what you need! The Woot-styled online shop is offering used, standalone copies of Link's Crossbow Training for only $4.95 (plus shipping and handling.)

Really, for a minigame collection with only an hour or two worth of content, that price sounds on target. Buy it now before the sale ends! You can finally find out what we were talking about when we said the game reminds us of your mother!

[Via CAG]

What's the key word in the title Link's Crossbow Training? Many Zelda fans might say that it's "Link," but we're going to say "Crossbow," so let's go with that. At least we can all agree that it's not "Training."

Tangent aside, it's possible that you were disappointed by the Wii Zapper bundle. After all, the Zapper is a gun. What kind of crossbow training is that?

It was only a matter of time, then, before we saw an actual crossbow peripheral on the market. If you were considering buying this, though, we're sure the plastic ball replacing the arrowhead immediately turned you off. Unless the gun actually lets you shoot arrows (which we doubt), there's really no excuse for that.

It's also one of the more expensive Wii "guns" that we've seen, costing a ridiculous $28 dollars. We'll just stick to our Cooking Mama frying pans while playing Link's Crossbow, thank you very much.

Wait, um, did we saying frying pan? What we meant to say was Wii Zapper ... oh, damn.

[Via Technabob]

I have fond memories of your mother -- yes, all of your mothers. Up until now, I've kept those memories separate from Wii Fanboy, mostly out of professional courtesy. After seeing how most of you ignored Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, however, I have thrown civility out the window. The gloves are off now, and good riddance, as it'd be difficult to type about the games that remind me of your mom while wearing those restrictive mittens.

Many of you are probably rocking your Wii Zapper (hopefully gunning down some zombies), but there are also other releases to be considered this week. There's just so much to play right now! So, you can imagine our weekend is going to be chock full of game time.

What about you? What game (or games) will you be rocking? Did you get a Zapper?

Four quick explanations for why we're using this lounging lizard for the metareview's post image:

1. Uh, he's green. Just like Link.
2. As you can tell from his pose, he's not too impressed with Link's Crossbow Training.
3. Look at the damn guy. Do we really need to explain ourselves? We wish we could do a metareview on the lizard instead.
4. Consider the lizard a bonus that we're throwing in with this metareview bundle.

Priced ridiculously low at $20, Nintendo's Zapper bundle seems like an easy buy for most gamers, but for those of you who're waiting for impressions on its pack-in game, Link's Crossbow Training, we've got you covered.

GameDaily -- 80%: While GameDaily feels there's enough in there to keep you playing longer than just an hour or two, the reviewer still wishes there was more to the game: "Although it doesn't have as many options (Practice, four person multiplayer) as Nintendo's famous pack-in, Wii Sports, Crossbow Training will keep you entertained for hours, especially if you love Zelda. And yet, it could have been so much better. Had the developers programmed online leader boards, millions of trigger happy gamers could compete with each other for the best scores."

IGN -- 70%: IGN disagrees and says there's less than an hour's worth of content, but is willing to forgive the game due to its cheap price: "Lasting Appeal: Over in less than an hour. A two-player mode cannot be played simultaneously. Even getting all platinums in levels is not overly difficult. But again, it's only $19.99."

NintendoWorldReport -- 60%: NWR also has some complaints with Link's Crossbow Training's "multiplayer" support: "The game also features a multiplayer mode that misses on almost every level. Up to four players can be chosen, and then any one level can be chosen. Players then pass the Zapper around as they each play the stage alone. This passive multiplayer would make sense if they were doing it to maintain the integrity of high scores, but high scores aren't even recorded when playing in this mode. Overall, just don't expect the game to be a huge party hit, as most of the people will be sitting and watching, awaiting their turns."

For those of you who've been dying to get your hands on the real new Wii Zapper, feast you eyes on these lovely unboxing pictures. Uploaded by flickr user Marvie_3, we get some nice shots of the Wii Zapper itself, as well as the bundled Link's Crossbow Training. So, put your bib on, grab a tasty beverage and get comfortable, because you've got some drooling to do.

Who plans on picking this thing up next week?

[Via Go Nintendo]

Those of you salivating for a quick dose of Link's Crossbow Training, fret no more! New screens have arrived, for your viewing pleasure. The quality of these shots aren't as nice as the ones we previously showed you, but you can get the gist of the game.

For the most part, you're put in Twilight Princess environments (like the Snowpeak Ruins, shown above). This makes sense, considering the game is only a pack-in using the Twilight Princess engine, but it might not be enough to inspire Europeans to shell out the extra cash for a zapper. We suppose only time will tell.