Nintendo Wii Fanboy

We don't normally see any reason to post rumors from the GameFAQs forum, but this time there's a magazine scan involved, so that's ... marginally more plausible. GameFAQs poster Saikobooru found a blurb in the Swedish magazine Gamereactor (or at least a convincing-ish fake of a scan from Gamereactor) stating that, like other Sega classics NiGHTS, The House of the Dead, and Sega Bass Fishing, Shenmue will make a return appearance on the Wii.

According to this rumor, the new Shenmue will be more like the House of the Dead on Wii than NiGHTS: in other words, ported versions of the two games rather than a new game, with some new minigames added. And now you can commence the inevitable debate about whether Shenmue is boring or the best game ever.

[Via NeoGAF]

Reef Entertainment recently announced that a Rogue Trooper game will be headed to the Wii, subtitled The Quartz Massacre. If you haven't heard of Rogue Trooper before, it features a bad-ass, blue-skinned soldier who likes to take revenge on people that mess with him and his comrades. He can also assign himself the skills and "personalities" of fallen friends, thanks to a spiffy futuristic biochip.

The plot for The Quartz Massacre is the same for that of the 2006 Rogue Trooper releases (available for the original Xbox, the PS2, and PCs), leading many to reasonably speculate that this Wii version will be a port. Reef promises that the Wii's controller will add more immersion to the third-person shooter, though (à la Resident Evil 4, we assume), and Rebellion is also reported to have added tweaks and polish its last-gen endeavors.

We have mixed feelings about this game: on the one hand, the console could use more shooters of this nature, but on the other hand, it already has a full plate of ports. Since we didn't play the well-reviewed, last-gen iteration of Rogue Trooper, however, we're willing to be open-minded. If Rebellion can pull off a fun and polished game, we'll have no qualms.

[Via Destructoid]

Already having Okami for the PS2 is the most valid excuse for not buying the game on the Wii. If you fall into this group, you're probably still tempted to make the purchase because of the added motion controls. Should that not be enough to get your wallets in action, though, you might want to check out this side-by-side comparison video. We already knew that the Wii version looked better, but seeing the two compared with each other shows just how much.

The colors are much more vibrant on the Wii, and for a game that's main draw is its beautiful artistic style, that's kind of big deal. The 16:9 support doesn't hurt matters, either. Have any of you played both Okamis and noticed the difference for yourselves?

I'll be frank -- when I first started Baroque, I hated it. Being thrown into such a strange and ugly world with the barest of backstories was completely disorienting. I had no idea where to go or what to do, and didn't have the luxury of taking my time to explore because my vitality meter was plummeting from the get-go. One character (known as the Coffin Man) kept yelling "goddamnit!" at me, and when I finally got to the place where I was supposed to be, it wasn't long before I died.

If I hadn't been reviewing this game, I probably would have quit right there. But, since it's (clearly) considered bad form to write a review after only twenty minutes of playtime, I trekked on -- and I'm extremely glad that I did. Once I delved deeper into the world of Baroque, I realized that first impressions aren't always the best impressions.

Now that you've kindly read through my personal aside, let's move on to the actual review, shall we?

The beautiful, imaginative Okami was perhaps one of the most-requested ports among Wii fans, and at last we're going to get a chance to get our hands on it. From the early reviews, it looks like it has been worth the wait ... though, surprisingly, the title's lowest score (by far) to date has come from Nintendo Power. As far as everyone else is concerned, Okami seems to be a smashing success.

Electronic Gaming Monthly: 94% -- EGM found the Okami port flawed, but worth every moment of the imperfect journey. "Okami's paintbrush-on-canvas mechanics that drive combat and interaction with the world seem perfectly suited to the Wii Remote but simply aren't reliably precise ... Still, it's one of the few games that can overcome shaky fundamentals in light of an astonishingly engaging adventure. Easily my (Nick Suttner) favorite Wii game."

Nintendo Power: 75% -- When Nintendo Power recommends the PS2 version of your port, there may be a problem. "Quite simply, the controls just didn't make the jump to Wii as well as they shold have ... Okami is a work of genius, but you should play the original game instead of the Wii version if you can."

IGN: 90% -- Matt Casamassina enjoyed the controls, and the port itself, even more* than the original -- which was 2006's Game of the Year at IGN. "Now, you can play the game in 480p and 16:9 widescreen, and you can do so using the Wii remote, which controls Amaterasu's celestial brush with a level of speed and accuracy never before possible. It's implemented so triumphantly that it actually changes the pace of the game, effectively speeding everything up ... Okami's strengths on Wii far outweigh any of its weaknesses. Wii owners can pick the game up for only $39.99 and those who do will be walking away with an outstanding title full of great adventure of a caliber typically reserved for titles starring Link and Zelda. I still think Twilight Princess is Wii's best adventure, but Okami is more than a worthy alternative. Support this game -- it deserves nothing less than your full attention."

*Note that despite liking the Wii version more, Casamassina scored this Okami lower due to the time that has lapsed since the original, and due to unchanged and unfixed issues.

Usually our irrational love for hybrid games is sated on the DS, but not the Wii. In the instance of Dokapon Kingdom, though, gamers (with Japanese or modded Wiis, at least) can experience a quirky mix on Nintendo's non-portable system, too.

So, what particular combination does Dokapon consist of, you ask? Simply enough, this title is a board-game meets RPG. From what we can tell, the Wii version is actually a port of the PS2 game that was released last November, but it's probably safe for us to assume that most of you never played it the first time around.

Should you be interested, the game releases in Japan this June. If you don't have a Wii capable of playing Japanese games and are worried that Datel's Freeloader might not work, though, you can look into the non-port DS version of Dokapon instead.

In any case, we've made a gallery of Dokapon Kingdom for your viewing pleasure (aren't we just the greatest?), and also posted some Famitsu screens that can be seen beyond the break.

Complaining about ports has become increasingly common amongst Wii owners, but few would have anything bad to say about Okami, which will complete its transition from PlayStation 2 to Wii next week when it launches in the U.S.

If anything, Okami is the perfect example of how porting games can be a force for good. One of the most notable critical darlings of the last few years, sales of the title were sluggish on Sony's platform, yet its appearance on Nintendo's console will give it another opportunity to attain commercial success. We can't think of many other games that are so deserving of a second chance.

Recently, Wii Fanboy got a chance to chat with Didier Malenfant, President and co-founder of developer Ready at Dawn, who filled us in on why those who played the PS2 version should return to the Wii edition, on how his company ended up working on the project, and on the future of lengthy adventure games.

It's been a while since we discussed one of the proverbial elephant-in-the-room issues for some Wii owners: graphics. It's hard to deny the beauty of some of the console's recent releases, but that doesn't mean that all the games hanging out in the Wii section of your favorite retailers escape being cringeworthy.

One of the biggest problems remains the number of remakes and ports on the system. Most of these just don't look that great. It's hard to get a handle on just what the system can do, since we're consistently seeing last generation -- or older -- graphics!

What's managed to impress you? Anything besides Super Smash Bros Brawl? And have you tried anything lately that was just so horrifically bad it made you want to smack some of these third part devs around? We're in favor of the violence if it gets results.

Capcom's press site just yielded 64 dazzling screens of Okami, showing off the PS2-to-Wii port in its full, 480p glory. Admittedly, it's not looking wildly different from the PlayStation 2 version -- this is, after all, a Capcom port -- but the Clover Studio original was such a striking game that we care not a jot. You owe it to yourselves to browse the gallery below, and for heaven's sake, if you haven't already, check out the game in motion and prepare to gasp.


[Via press release]

Do you miss spending your evenings watching the undead and snarling zombie hounds gnaw at your ankles in opulent mansions? If so, the Japanese store leaflet to the right will be of special interest to you, because it reveals a release date of May 29th for Capcom's Resident Evil Zero. That's quite a bit closer than we expected, especially as the port was only revealed at the end of February.

Obviously, this is just a Japanese date for now, and it might be the only date, what with all the uncertainty surrounding a U.S. release.

[Via Go Nintendo]

On numerous gaming forums, we've been reading about people having problems with the Xbox 360 port of Bully: Scholarship Edition. According to many owners of the game, the 360 version constantly freezes and suffers from poor framerates. There have also been some complaints about glitches and audio drops, which have led many to conclude that it's a shoddily made port.

Fortunately, it seems like these issue aren't present in the Wii game, but we figured we'd check with our readers to be sure. Have any of you picked up a copy of Bully yet? If so, have you encountered any problems, or is the game running smoothly for you?

The latest issue of Famitsu reveals that Capcom's Gamecube-exclusive Resident Evil prequel, Resident Evil Zero, is being prepared for a Wii release this summer. The port (and that's exactly what this looks like; sorry to disappoint the optimists holding out for a Resident Evil 4-engine remake) will, according to NeoGAFfer king zell's translation, be playable with just the Wii Remote.

This rumor seems entirely plausible to us. Porting Resident Evil games to multiple systems: Capcom's generally in favor. They're not crazy, either: Capcom made some pretty good money from the last RE port on Wii!

Check after the break for the full scan -- just don't be too surprised if the screens look familiar.

These thumbnail-size screens are the first we've seen of the actual Wii version of Okami. It looks, for better or worse, just like Okami! There are no obvious graphical improvements, and in fact nothing seems to have changed at all except for the button icons. Oh, and the aspect ratio.

These screens don't show the widescreen display option available in Wii Okami. In fact, not only are they 4:3, they're 4:3 with vertical bars. In terms of actual stuff, then, these particular screens come out to like 1.2:1. Capcom confirmed to Kotaku that the game would have 16:9 widescreen capabilities, so these screens may not represent the final product. Enjoy your eyestrain! We did.

The annoyingly punctuated Death, Jr. 2: Root of Evil will be making the leap from PSP to Wii this spring, complete with a bunch of stuff that should come as standard in the Wii version of a PSP-to-Wii port more polygons, higher-resolution textures, more voice acting, better pacing, splitscreen play for co-op, and an improved user interface. The game's score on Metacritic doesn't exactly leave us bursting with hope, but hey, we wrapped up Super Mario Galaxy a while ago, and could do with another platformer to sink our teeth into.

Speaking of Galaxy, here's Death, Jr. 2 producer James Stanley talking up the game to 1UP: "It's definitely one of the better looking Wii titles. I'd say 'best' but we might get in a battle with some Mario fans." Check out more screens past the break and tell us if you agree with him.