Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Okay, so there are more WiiWare games in Japan this week than Virtual Console games, but the WiiWare games are boring. How boring? The most interesting games on the list are both puzzle games, and one of those is only noteworthy because it's super cute awwwww puppies.

But the Virtual Console games are better. Sure, one of them is a shooter, an imperfect port of an arcade game, but the other is a Kunio game and a one-time NES pack-in!

Virtual Console releases:

• Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball Bu: Soccer Hen (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points)
• Super Darius (PC Engine, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)

WiiWare releases:

• Minna de Asobou: Koinu de Kururin (1-4 players, 500 Wii Points)
• Saikyou Ginsei Mahjong (1 player, 500 Wii Points)
• Kappa-kun to Asobou: Kappa-kun no O-tanoshimikai (1 player, 600 Wii Points)
• Katachi no Game Maruboushi Kaku (1-3 players, 800 Wii Points)

Normally, a bunch of screenshots of something like Yakuman Wii: Ide Yousuke no Kenkou Mahjong wouldn't be terribly interesting. Even if it's a new WiiWare game, mahjong is happening in most of these screens, and that doesn't translate into compelling preview content even for fans of the game.

But we're fascinated by Nintendo's decision to use not-Miis as its AI opponents, in a game that includes Miis. Why do that? Why design characters that look sort of like Miis, have similar proportions, but aren't Miis? We understand why the Ide Yousuke character doesn't necessarily adhere to Mii guidelines (to more accurately depict a person), but even he's more Mii-like than these alternate-universe Miis.

Each of the characters has a different play style, which is described in the profile next to the name. Atsuo, here, is a "defender." The stars, we believe, indicate a difficulty level. There are lots of other screens available at GAME Watch, ranging from mahjong happening to mahjong about to happen (Wi-Fi setup, lessons from Ide Yousuke) to mahjong just happened (multiplayer results).

[Update: fixed the title. Thanks, Patrick!]

Out of nowhere, a new WiiWare game showed up on Nintendo of Japan's WiiWare page. Yakuman Wii: Ide Yousuke no Kenjou Mahjongg (Ide Yousuke's Healthy Mahjongg) is a Nintendo-developed, multiplayer mahjongg game with Mii integration and online play. It also features hints from a Mii of Ide Yousuke (who is apparently a famous mahjongg player, and whose name appears in countless mahjongg game titles).

Even though we just found out about it, Nintendo plans to launch it in Japan next week, at a cost of 1,000 Wii Points. However, because it's a mahjongg game, we would be even more surprised to see it released elsewhere.

[Via Gamespot Japan]