Nintendo Wii Fanboy

In a few months, Street Fighter IV will be released on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. It combines new characters, bright new 3D graphics, and new gameplay systems with a celebration of classic Street Fighter history. Home ports of new Street Fighter arcade games have been a very big deal since Capcom first revealed that they were porting Street Fighter II to the Super NES -- a port that, even at an MSRP of $70, sold over six million copies, more than anything Capcom has released before or since.

But as huge as it was, Street Fighter II was not the first home console port of a Street Fighter game. The first, mostly forgotten Street Fighter was ported to the Turbografx-16 CD-ROM in 1988, and renamed Fighting Street.

After last week's fairly abominable update, Space Harrier is back to save us all. The last time we played Sega's classic rail shooter was in the arcades of Shenmue, and we seem to recall it feeling a bit ancient, but still being a bit of a hoot.

Also appearing is Street Fighter II: Special Championship Edition (which, rather ludicrously, is the third variation of Street Fighter II to appear on the PAL Virtual Console) and Mayhem in Monsterland, one of the very last of the Commodore 64's 20,000 or so titles, and a graphical stunner for the time. Footage of all three is past the break.

• Street Fighter II: Special Championship Edition -- Mega Drive -- 800 Nintendo Points
• Mayhem in Monsterland -- Commodore 64 -- 500 Nintendo Points*
• Space Harrier -- Master System -- 500 Nintendo Points

Even before Dead Rising: Chop 'Til You Drop hits shelves, Capcom has informed of its intent to go the way of multiplatform, doing away with console exclusives in an attempt to get more money, stating that as "a measure to counter the soaring costs of software development for the next-generation consoles, which has been a cause for concern, we have shifted our focus to the multiplatform strategy." That's what it's all about, after all, and in the end this move will likely benefit the industry as a whole.

Although we haven't gotten a chance to play the Dead Rising port yet, we'd like to see the Wii get some Capcom love on other upcoming titles, namely Street Fighter IV. Until that is announced, we'll just have to wait and see what they give us. Don't start holding your breath for that Resident Evil 5 port yet, though.

[Via Joystiq]

Recurring rumors have been flying about for some time now concerning the possible release of Street Fighter IV on the Wii. It was never a long shot to hope the port would be made, but producer Yoshinori Ono pretty much summed it up speaking at Capcom's Captivate 08: "The fact of the matter is we haven't planned for a Wii version yet."

Plans? Since when is this planning thing important for game development? Well, Ryu's totally badass Shoryuken is always unplanned, and comes out of nowhere when you least expect it. Maybe when the time is right, we'll get a face full of hard-hitting SFIV Wii news. For now ... no plans.

We just fell in love -- with Sagat. Somehow Pansonworks managed not only to make the tragic Muay Thai boxer really, really cute (even his Dragon Punch scar is cute), but to make him and three of his fellow World Warriors even chibi-er than they were in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo!

We don't know where (or if) we'll be able to get these in the U.S. anytime near their Japanese release in August, but figure retailer Blister is selling them in Japan for -- oh, no, 2,500 yen ($24.50) each. You could buy all three Street Fighter II variants on the Virtual Console for that much.

[Via That Girl's Site]

In speaking with Eurogamer, Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono commented that having a port of Street Fighter IV on the Wii is entirely possible. He wants everyone to know that graphics don't make the game, gameplay does. And, we're hoping that should this game come to the Wii, it doesn't incorporate waggle shortcuts for maneuvers.

Ono explains "Street Fighter IV, as it stands now, would be well-suited for the higher-level platforms. But the game doesn't have to have these visuals in order to be fun, We could go, potentially, to the Wii. We could make it on Game Boy, for all we know right now." He goes on further to explain that as "long as the rules are the same, that can be independent of the visuals. So we're not going to be limited by any hardware specs; we're going to aim as wide as possible."

Take it as you will, but it's hardly a confirmation the game is coming to the Wii. However, that bit about aiming as widely as possible could very much mean a Wii port is in the works. It is the console with the largest install base right now, after all.

Because it's now the law that all cartoony sports games must contain company mascots, Capcom recently asked fans who they'd most like to see make a cameo in the western release of Camelot's We Love Golf. A week and a half on, and the people have spoken, voting for Ken (from, duh, Street Fighter) and Morrigan (from the Darkstalker series).

Neither character exactly springs to mind when golf is mentioned, though we suppose that's precisely the point. Mind you, we fear Morrigan especially will struggle to fit in. Will that choice of hair color really fly with the stuffy golf establishment? And what of those demonic wings sprouting from the side of her head? She'll be a pariah within minutes of flapping into the clubhouse.

As the picture above demonstrates, Camelot's We Love Golf will allow us to play a round as Apollo Justice, while other characters confirmed for the title include Chun Li (Street Fighter), Jill Valentine (Resident Evil 3), and Arthur (Ghouls 'n Ghosts). We can't comprehend how anybody would not want to play golf as Apollo Justice, but if you're not a fan of the bequiffed lawyer (weirdo), then Capcom has set up a poll on its official blog to ask readers which characters they'd most like to see in the U.S and European versions of the game.

You can vote for one female and one male character, with Cammy (Street Fighter), Morrigan (Darkstalkers), Rouge (Power Stone), Roll Caskett (Mega Man Legends), and Ashley Graham (Resident Evil) making up the female category.

Meanwhile, the male list consists of Frank West (Dead Rising), Balrog (Street Fighter), Guy (Final Fight), Ken (Street Fighter), Dhalsim (Street Fighter), and Captain Commando (from, uh, Captain Commando). And yes, we know of at least one person who will be sorely disappointed with the lack of Zangief in that selection.

Every (other) Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.

So you've tuned in to Revolutionary expecting to see the dramatic conclusion of the Controller Showdown. Well, as I was evaluating games to use in the matchup, I found myself revisiting old scripts I'd put aside, and building new scripts for games which wouldn't be fit to judge the motion sensing capabilities of the Wii Remote and SIXAXIS. I realized that because of the recently updated build of GlovePIE, my passion for scripting has been re-ignited!

You see, the latest version of GlovePIE supports the SIXAXIS, Xbox 360 control pad, and standard PC control pads, on top the already robust support for Wii Remotes and attachments. There's also a new function which allows you to easily write scripts for any and all of these controllers universally. So, before we commence with Round 2, let's take a look at the GlovePIE update that will figure heavily in the big battle.

Tecmo's Swing Golf Pangya! 2nd Shot isn't the only game in town when it comes to playing cartoony golf with an avatar dressed as a video game character-- as long as that town is in Japan, and also one week in the future. For their Camelot-developed golf game We Love Golf, Capcom has made some classic Capcom attire available to the player. No, not Mega Man (as far as we know.)

Players will be able to hit the links (that's a golf term, right? "Hit the links"?) as Resident Evil 3's Jill Valentine, Ghouls 'n Ghosts's Arthur (in armor), Chun-Li, and the red-suited protagonist of the DS's Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Now there's absolutely no reason to play as yourself! Want to see conclusive evidence of these characters? Check the court records after the break.