Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it aretro-speculative.
It's nice to get a little break from the insane howling taking place on all sides. Let's think of today's VO as an oasis from E3; a little sanctuary where we aren't beset by new game announcements and screaming judgments of Nintendo's doom or domination.
After all, what could be so diametrically opposed from E3 than talking about a very old game that's already out, and that we already know we don't have to be excited about?
You won't find any hype here or anywhere else for Capcom's Trojan. That is a promise.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Talking about the execrable Renegade last week put us in a Technos kind of mood. It's not really fair to Technos or to you to focus only on their one terrible NES game. Let's cleanse our palates together with a good Kunio game.
River City Ransom EX is a Game Boy Advance remake of the NES River City Ransom, which is significantly improved in almost every respect-- except boxart, unfortunately.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
We often feature bad games on Virtually Overlooked. A lot of bad games are historically notable or weird enough to enjoy. Sometimes they're just funny.
Today's bad game, Renegade, is one of the historically important ones. It's also kind of funny, if you don't have to play it for long. It's the first beat-em-up from Technos, who we'd say we'd follow to the grave if they weren't already there. And, yeah, it's got some tuff boxart.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Workin' hard to get my fill Everybody wants a thrill Payin' anything to roll the dice Just one more time Some will win Some will lose Some were born to sing the blues Oh, the Atari 2600 game never ends It goes on and on and on and on
Virtually Overlooked has taken over Wii Fanboy! All this week, members of the staff will be outlining their personal picks for future Virtual Console releases. Everyone can guess how my childhood was spent, since I talk about old games constantly. So, instead of relating a nostalgic anecdote for you, I'm going to use this intro space to tell you about the last week or so.
When I'm not personally advancing the cause of random old games on next-generation consoles, I'm a full-time grad student at the University of North Texas, working on a master's degree in library science. From last Thursday until yesterday, I was in the midst of my capstone-- a seven-day marathon paper-writing session meant to be the final test of my suitability as a librarian. My wife and I were also preparing to move from Texas to Washington, which happened this Saturday. Add my regular coursework and job responsibilities to that, and, as you can imagine, I've been a complete wreck. My Fanboy colleagues are probably rolling their eyes right now as I complain again about my workload, but I feel like it was a pretty significant experience, one I hope never to repeat.
I am now safely ensconced in a Washingtonian apartment, and I turned in my last essay in the early hours of Thursday morning. Getting a chance to write about a bunch of old games is like a vacation. I've been looking forward to this all week.
Since this is a VO special week, I'm taking the opportunity to talk about more mainstream games than I usually cover. So there's a better chance that you guys have played this stuff, and we can all share in some retro-euphoria.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Some of our favorite NES games are the ones that were completely unlike their boxarts. Companies didn't think American kids would go for Japanese-looking art, so they Frank Frazetta'd up their characters for the covers of their cartridges. Games that, from the covers, appeared to be heavy sci-fi or fantasy, with square-jawed, beefy characters in dramatic poses would usually turn out to be the cutesiest, chibi-est platformers on the system.
Vic Tokai mastered the art of deceptively Western cover art, with painted covers that always stuck out on the shelves for being so undefinably weird. Clash at Demonhead has one of the best Vic Tokai boxarts ever. Also it's fun.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Last week, I asked for reader suggestions for this week's Virtually Overlooked. One reader suggested The Guardian Legend, and I thought that was a perfectly reasonable suggestion. The Guardian Legend was one of the biggest sleeper hits of the NES era, and something that is definitely worth checking out, especially for fans of Ys and Faxanadu.
It was only later that I realized that I was thinking of Legacy of the Wizard. I get those two mixed up a lot. They both fall into that "sleeper" category, they were both published by Brøderbund, and they both have "Leg" in the title. They're practically the same game, except that one's a hybrid vertical shooter/Zelda-style adventure developed by Compile, and the other is a side-scrolling action RPG from Nihon Falcom. But other than that, the same game.
Inspired by my inability to keep two similar things separate, I thought this week we could look at some more NES games I get confused about, either because they're so similar or because I'm so dumb.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Virtually Overlooked readers know that we love Konami, a lot-- Castlevania in particular.We've talked about three Konami games already in our feature's short history, one of which was a Castlevania. Surely you won't mind if we go back to the well? It'll be worth it. Don't worry, it's not another Castlevania 1 remake. Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun for the Famicom is a Mega Man clone-- starring the monster such as whom mankind ill needs a savior.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Saying that Spiritual Warfare is the best game Wisdom Tree ever made doesn't really encourage anyone to give it a look. Wisdom Tree doesn't exactly have a reputation for excellence, and most unlicensed NES games in general were spectacularly bad. So, to put a finer point on our meaning, here's a controversial statement: Spiritual Warfare is mostly not terrible.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Fans of Castlevania already have the option to play the first game on Virtual Console in either of two forms: the NES version or the Super NES remake. Both are excellent games and should be in your collection. But our lust for Castlevania cannot be satiated. The best-- and hardest-- version of Castlevania has yet to appear on the Virtual Console.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Rare has been responsible for many of the most beloved games on Nintendo systems throughout the years. RC Pro-Am, Goldeneye 007, andDonkey Kong Countrycome immediately to mind when thinking about the company and its history of great games.
Taboo: The Sixth Sense is not great, or beloved, or even a game. If it were a game, it would be one of the worst ones on the NES. But if something like Taboo can even have a time, then that time has come.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Some of the games we cover in this feature are worth talking about just because of their concepts. Zombie Nation, about a giant flying head, for example. Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus might be the ultimate conceptually-interesting game, at least to us, since it is one of the most bizarre and incongruous things ever to appear on a console. Bronkie is an educational side-scrolling platformer for the SNES about an anthropomorphic dinosaur with asthma.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode isn't exactly a great game. In fact, it's more like an awkward agglomeration of a lot of not-that-great games into one game that is mostly mediocre. But somehow, out of its many imperfect elements, it manages to deliver an impressively James-Bond cool story that motivates players to continue the experience.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Zombie Nation is easily the best game ever created about a flying, disembodied samurai head. Don't try to argue with us on this one. We feel pretty confident that we're right about this. Oh, and it's a shmup, as well. Boring spaceships have nothing on a giant head.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Hudson's J.J. & Jeff isn't particularly obscure. But it happens to be one of our favorite Turbografx-16 games, and we really like talking about it. If Hudson really plans to release every US Turbografx-16 game, then we have to hurry up and get our longform rambles out while we can! Plus, apparently some people don't like this game, and, while they're entitled to their crazy, wrong opinions, we feel like it deserves defending.
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Welcome to our weekly feature, 
Welcome to our weekly feature, 
Welcome to our weekly feature, 
Welcome to our weekly feature, 
Welcome to our weekly feature, 
