This week's PAL Virtual Console line-up isn't short on quality, but it represents fairly awful value. As dreamy as we find any Metal Slug title, there are cheaper ways to play all three of this week's offerings.
Want Metal Slug 2? We'd recommend picking up this. Fancy having your delicate gamer's ego rudely kicked in by Forgotten Worlds? There's an excellent compilation out there for a bunch of platforms that costs peanuts and comes with another 20 or so games. If you can't find Space Invaders for less than £6/€8, you're probably reading the wrong website. Better still: lavish those points on Space Invaders Get Even!.
This Monday, those of us that weren't lucky enough to already receive Space Invaders Get Even will finally be able to download this very awesome game. Square Enix dished out a press release stating as much, assuring those of us who've been biting our fingernails down to the bone whilst waiting for the game that our time is near. For 500 Wii Points, you can bet that we'll be picking this one up.
So, who's going to download this come December 1st? Have you read our review yet?
Oh, what, you thought you were off the hook this week? No way, as we're here with our latest VC Monday Madness video. Late, but here nonetheless. This week, we've got two different games to download on the Virtual Console, so hit up the video above and then cruise past the break for the rest.
In an industry obsessed with spin-offs, it's amazing that this took so long: a Space Invaders game in which puny humans get to control the Invaders themselves. In the same year that the franchise celebrates its thirtieth anniversary, Space Invaders Get Even! lets you indulge in a spot of role reversal, giving us the chance to cruise above the cities of Earth and raze everything in sight.
EX-TERM-IN-ATE! EX-TERM-IN-ATE! Wait, no, those are the other ones. But whatever. The point is: after hearing nothing about Space Invaders Get Even! for months, the game has randomly appeared on the European and Australian Wii Shops. We are unashamedly jigging with joy as we type this. And the extra-terrestial goodness doesn't stop there, for Alien Crush Returns has also joined the line-up. Needless to say, we wholeheartedly welcome our new rulers (of all our spare time).
The other game is Brain Challenge. Sorry, Brain Challenge.
How can the Wii have been in stores for two years without a Tetris game? At least Hudson is compensating for the lack of the staple video game with one that is both awesome-looking and cheap. It's being joined on WiiWare by a cheapo darts game and Brain Challenge -- which was actually pretty good on the DS.
On the Virtual Console, a super old sidescroller from Sunsoft that looks like a slowed-down, more awkward Legend of Kage, and a totally cute Taito classic!
We're still finding new information to come out of Nintendo's fall conferences, both in the US and Japan. Those things were rich with info. We basically completely missed the WiiWare announcements, which are every bit as epic and exciting -- and numerous -- as the retail games.
At the top of the list (actually the middle of the list in terms of organization but right up at the top in terms of interest): Bubble Bobble Wii and Rainbow Island Tower! If these are actually developed by Taito instead of the third parties responsible for the DS games, it is time for celebration!
The rest, we either don't know anything about, or don't know enough to talk about in detail. Or, is Major League Eating. We'll look into it all as information becomes available. There's ... kind of a long list of games after the break.
The cybernetic sauropod seen at the end of this stirring Space Invaders Get Even! trailer may not be the genuine Grimlock, but it may as well be. Or is it more of a Mechagodzilla riff? In either case, it's just one of the overblown, yet futile, weapons the puny hu-mans wheel out in an effort to stop the inevitable Space Invasion.
We love pretty much everything about the concept of this game, from the division into bite-sized chunks to the way it changes the usual neatly-stacked Invader lines to swarming masses, adding even more to the inversion of the normal Space Invaders experience.
Hear the one about the WiiWare game that cost 500 Wii Points and came with 1,500 Points worth of downloadable content? We refer, of course, to Space Invaders Get Even!, a title that we have gushed about for some time, only to discover it comes with some very pricey DLC. Once we've forked out 500 Points for the barebones game, we've still got to pay three times that again for the full package, essentially making it more expensive than (almost) all other WiiWare!
We understand why DLC appeals to publishers such as Square Enix, and we also know that we don't have to download it (so please, no need to enlighten us in the comments), but do you think Space Invaders Get Even!'s DLC is excessive? Where do you personally draw the line on what you'll spend on downloadable extras? And in your opinion, what percentage of a game's total cost should consist of DLC?
Our worst suspicions are confirmed. Space Invaders Get Even! will cost us weak, pathetic earthlings more than we initially expected. While the game always sounded like a bargain at 500 Wii Points, the hidden threat of extra downloadable content loomed at the back of our minds. Three stage packs released today in Japan (along with the game), each priced at 500 Wii Points, and bringing the total cost of Space Invaders Get Even! to -- gnaaargh! -- 2,000 Wii Points. Siliconera notes that the main title is "a short game."
We should have known all along, really. After all, this is Square Enix we're talking about here, renowned admirers of DLC. Needless to say, we'll yield and buy it all. Our defences have already succumbed to a hail of missiles the game's relentlesscharmoffensive.
Square Enix just announced that Space Invaders Get Even, the novel take on Taito's evergreen Space Invaders series in which players control a UFO who sends Invaders to destroy Earth, will be released "across Europe" this October. Or, at least they believe Nintendo will allow it to come out in October. They released a few new screens along with the announcement, as well as the totally amazing promotional artwork seen above, which is available in a higher resolution in our gallery.
We expect that an announcement from Square Enix for the US can't be far off, but this week is Europe's time to shine.
We thought we had already hit optimum levels of yaaaayness over Space Invaders Get Even with the announcement that the game would be heading to WiiWare, but it just gets better. Fresh scans from the innards of Famitsu have revealed that the title will be as cheap as a WiiWare game can possibly be: a measly 500 Wii Points. To put that in perspective, that's the same as half of Cruis'n USA or SPOGS Racing.
That cost could escalate slightly, for Famitsu confirms that there will be downloadable stages (Square Enix is no stranger to DLC on WiiWare), but 500 Wii Points for the barebones package is still outstanding value. Oh, and there's even the odd Taito tribute thrown in for good measure, such as the ability to play as ships from company classics Darius and RayStorm. Want, want, want.
Because the game Space Invaders has been a part of our lives for as long as we can remember, we've grown quite fond of the iconic alienoids. That's why we're completely ready to blow up the world with them in Space Invaders Get Even, which is headed to WiiWare this year (in Japan).
Now the game has its own official website, and it's definitely worth a visit. Aside from the teaser trailer posted above, there are also four videos of gameplay foootage to examine under your watchful eyes. So long, Eiffel Tower.
To see the other videos, just go to the site and click on "Get Even," then "Game System"
The Legend of Kage seems to be almost universally reviled by gamers for its difficulty and for the fact that about 75% of your time in the game is spent sailing uncontrollably through the air into a fireball or shuriken -- some, like us, like it okay, but it's a hard sell. It's a mystery, then, why Taito thought that it would be a good basis for an unrelated game. Apparently they had enough faith in the high-jumping gameplay that they figured people might like it if they didn't realize it was like The Legend of Kage.
This year, is the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders' original Japanese release, and Taito has marked it with the release of Space Invaders Extreme on the DS and PSP, a significant upgrade to the original game with new powerups, music, and a beautiful new techno-rave sheen.
It's not the first time Taito has departed from the base Invaders formula. In 1995 (the less auspicious 17th anniversary of Space Invaders), Taito put out an arcade sequel to the primordial shmup that is every bit as visually divergent as Extreme, but in a totally different direction. Whereas the new handheld game goes for (and achieves) cool, Space Invaders '95 (known in Japan as Akkanvader) went in the wacky direction.
This year, is the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders' original Japanese release, and Taito has marked it with the release of 
