Japan's Virtual Console releases today are, literally, infinitely more awesome than our domestic lineup, because they exist. This week was Nintendo of America's turn to take a break from VC games to promote WiiWare, so any Virtual Console game that came out in Japan this week looks that much better in comparison to nothing.
Even without the easy advantage, the lineup is not bad at all. Bubble Bobble is a total classic, as is Alex Kidd in Miracle World. And Martial Champion, Konami's Street Fighter II-era fighter, is the kind of previously unknown oddity we love to see on the VC.
The VC is a great system for that genre, Renegade notwithstanding.
The Virtual Console is home to a lot of scrolling shooters. It seems like every week, at least one of the releases in every region is a shmup. This week, three of the four games coming out in Japan are shooters. But after years of seeing the once-prominent genre fall into obscurity, we really don't mind having a download service full of the things.
For that matter, the same goes for side-scrolling brawlers, one of which is the other Japanese release this week. The VC is a great system for that genre, Renegade notwithstanding.
It's a rather small week on the Japanese Virtual Console, and one that means virtually nothing to gamers outside of Japan. Usually, Japan's releases allow us a look ahead at what's coming for us. This week's two releases just aren't useful for that purpose.
There's extremely little chance of any of Nintendo's Famicom Tantei Club (Famicom Detective Club) games being released outside Japan, which is unfortunate, because we'd love to play these Nintendo-developed text adventures. The one released today is a Super Famicom remake of the second Famicom Disk System game, whose subtitle translates to "The Girl Standing in the Back."
Phantasy Star III is already out in the U.S. and Europe. The most interesting thing there is why Sega chose to release it elsewhere before Japan. That's pretty rare!
Nintendo has released the planned May lineup of Virtual Console games for Japan, and while it doesn't include any megatons (like last month most certainly did), there are at least a lot of games on the list. The first two MSX games, Eggy and Aleste, are supposed to make their fashionably late appearance, but we find it a lot easier to believe that they'll be bumped for some Wonder Boy ports.
Other interesting games, which may actually be released, include: Front Mission Series: Gun Hazard, a shooter similar to Cybernator (in fact director Toshiro Tsuchida worked on both games) and based on the Front Mission series of strategy games; Star Parodier, the "silly" Star Soldier game; and Martial Champion, a CD-based Street Fighter clone from Konami. Hit the break for the full list!
No joke titles, no casual Cho Aniki references, no making fun of the slow release schedule, or any of the usual stuff we do in these -- today is too important, too auspicious an occasion for us to ruin by being jackasses. As of today, Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo, the PC Engine Super CD-Rom Castlevania game, which is the narrative predecessor to Symphony of the Night and also the last traditional Castlevania game, is now available on the Virtual Console in Japan.
Of all the gamers and non-gamers that the Wii is designed for, we think we've identified the audience that would be happiest with the system: people who love Wonder Boy. Specifically, people who love Wonder Boy and don't already have the games, either in their original form or the Monster World Complete Collection. If you're over-the-top crazy over Wonder Boy, the Wii is easily the best system that has ever existed. Monster Lair is just the latest Wonder Boy game to arrive in Japan.
Also up for download: Kirby 64, which everyone decided they didn't like anymore when it came out in the U.S., and Digital Champ Battle Boxing, the game about a brave pair of free-floating boxing gloves facing off against familiar-looking boxers.
That's not a commentary on this week's new Japanese Virtual Console downloads, although if it had been it would have been a total burn. It's actually the famous game-over screen text from ASCII's remarkably ancient-looking Bokosuka Wars, seen above. Bokosuka Wars has been called the "worst console RPG in existence," which, combined with the enthusiastic text, makes it a must-buy for us if it's ever released here.
Volguard IIis equally old and old-looking, though it's apparently a bit higher in quality. And Super Wonder Boy is just regular Wonder Boy, which is fine!
WiiWarelaunched today in Japan, as you've no doubt heard. Great for WiiWare ... not so great for the Virtual Console. Nintendo decided that the launch of the new service for original games would be a good time for the VC to take the week off.
We're hoping that today's total lack of VC content was intended only to draw attention to the inaugural WiiWare offerings. In other words, there had better be some VC games every week from now on. We won't be pleased if the Virtual Console and WiiWare have to compete for the same release schedules. We're afraid that in the future, on any week a couple of WiiWare games come out, no VC games will.
The cynical retrogamer in us is already thinking of WiiWare as just another excuse to skimp on VC games. We'd love to be wrong.
This week's Japanese Virtual Console update features three games that aren't what they seem. Super Gussun Oyoyo totally looks like a platformer in screens, but it's actually a Lemmings/Pac-Man 2 style game in which you direct an uncontrollable character with falling blocks. Similarly, you might make assumptions about the genre of a game called Bomberman: Panic Bomber (possibly that it is in the Bomberman games genre) but it's also a puzzler!
Most deceptive of all is Nekketsu Kunio-kun. It's a Kunio game from Technos, which leads one to assume that it's going to be great. It is not great. It is profoundly not-great.
Only Mr. HELI no Daibouken is what it seems: an adorable cute-em-up starring a lil' helicopter.
Four games hit the Virtual Console this week in Japan, none of which cost more than 600 Wii Points. Some of them may even be worth those small prices! The Famicom's original 2D fighting game, Joy Mech Fight stands out; though we have no idea if the game's any good, we suddenly have an interest in Nintendo-developed fighting games.Fantasy Zoneis, of course, one of the Sega Master System's best: a free-scrolling (Defender-style) shooter in a super-colorful, cute environment.
For us, however, the most notable title on the Virtual Console this week is City Connection, and not because it's a good game. City Connection was in my personal NES collection for just a short time before it got "temporarily" loaned out; however, even after having played it only for a week or two, and after 20 years, that incessant music is still completely fresh in my mind. It won't go away, ever.
The Japanese version of Metroid differs from the American version in four major ways:
It comes on a disk instead of a cartridge
Thanks to the Famicom Disk System hardware, that music has instruments that don't show up in the cartridge version
It uses a Zelda-style save screen instead of passwords
The boxart is amazingly awesome
The Virtual Console version doesn't come on any media, has no box, and, of course, uses the decent Wii savestate system, so that just leaves us with the music. Is better music a fair trade for getting the game seven months after we did?
As for Star Luster, the Japanese version differs from its U.S. counterpart in just one way:
It exists
Metroid (Famicom Disk System, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)
Star Luster (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points)
Sure, Hokuto no Ken (aka Fist of the North Star, aka Black Belt on American Master Systems) isn't exactly a red-carpet debut for Sega's 8-bit system (that would be Phantasy Star or maybe one of the Alex Kidd games), but there are certainly worseways for the Sega Master System to make its first appearance the Virtual Console lineup. Hokuto no Ken is joined in Sega solidarity by a Mega Drive shooter called Gleylancer, made by Cho Aniki creators and frequent VC supporters Masaya.
Much like Hokuto no Ken is the big Sega news today, overshadowing Gleylancer, the PC Engine CD version of Military Madness, Neo Nectaris, is going to drown out any attention the Power Eleven soccer game was going to get. Which, to be fair, wasn't much. But even though one of them is a soccer game, it's worth noting that four games came out this week in Japan, without any contributions from stingy old Nintendo.
Hokuto no Ken (Master System, 1-2 players, 600 Wii Points)
We love it when a bunch of previously Japan-only games come out on the VC, because that improves the chances, however slightly, of a release outside of Japan, like Sin & Punishment got. It's even a decent number of games! Well done. Three of the four games this week fall into that import-only category; unfortunately, they're also pretty text-heavy and would require serious localization. Tantei Jinguuji Saburo is the first in a series that is finally coming to the U.S. as Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles. Aksys may be tempted to localize the Famicom game to promote the DS game, but with the amount of text required, it's not likely.
Atlas is a simulation game like Colonization or Civilization, about Portuguese sailors in the 1500s. So, again, text. The sepia-only graphical style is neat, though. Custom Robo you may be familiar with from the Gamecube or DS. This N64 version has four-player robot fighting -- not bad for 10 bucks!
The only U.S.-released game in the bunch is Wrestleball, which we absolutely would have bought had it been released under that name instead of the non-awesome Powerball.
Wow, two whole games? Nintendo certainly knows how to spoil their Japanese audience. It's not as if these are the worst games ever, but we would certainly love to see some more games as usual. We'll try not to dwell on it too much, and instead focus on this week's releases. Both of them.
Both newly-available games are currently available in the U.S., though they might not be instantly recognizable. Super Contra is pretty obviously Super C, the NES Contra sequel and all-around 500-point-worthy run-and-gun. Cosmo Gang: The Puzzle is actually Pac-Attack. It turns out that before it was a Pac-puzzler, the game was a video puzzle spinoff of a popular redemption game.
Speaking of Cosmo Gang: it's Irrelevant Anecdote Time! When I worked at a Namco arcade during college, I got a couple of sheets of Pac-Man temporary tattoos. In addition to Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, some ghosts, etc., there was this one pinkish, antennae-bearing character that I didn't know. It was a Cosmo Gang character! I learned something today.
Super Contra (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points)
After last week, we thought Nintendo might be returning to form with Virtual Console releases, at least in Japan. We didn't get our hopes up, which is good, because we would be disappointed right now otherwise. Nintendo is continuing to do their best to make people forget about the Virtual Console, with another week light on releases. Not that many games for Japan means even fewer games making it out West. We don't even really care that the games aren't Goldeneye or Earthbound or whatever. We'd all be able to find something right for us if only Nintendo would give us a selection. At least nobody's going to have to clean out their refrigerators this week. To be fair, Dungeon Explorer II does look really great, and we wouldn't mind the opportunity to play it ourselves. And Wrecking Crew is pretty good, even if it is ancient. We're sure we'll hear about it if we are, but we don't think we're being unreasonable by saying that regardless of the quality, Nintendo should be able to offer more every week. The games are already made.
Japan's Virtual Console releases today are, literally, infinitely more awesome than our domestic lineup, because they exist. This week was Nintendo of America's turn to take a break from VC games to promote WiiWare, so any Virtual Console game that came out in Japan this week looks that much better in comparison to nothing.
