AirZonk
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VC Friday: Zonked on paper
It's an odd pairing for the weekend for European gamers -- the punk-influenced Air Zonk and the classically adorable Paper Mario! What do they both have in common? A light-hearted approach to gaming and solid offerings for their respective genres. That's something we can get behind. Air Zonk -- Turbografx -- 600 Wii points Paper Mario -- Nintendo 64 -- 1000 Wii points
VC Monday Madness: Yoshi, Mach Rider and Air Zonk
We knew the little dude was coming to the VC, but it took him a little longer than we initially expected. It's OK though, because we have a feeling we won't be doing much game playing this week and will instead spend the majority of our time glued to our monitors, what with there being a certain gaming show going on this week.Today's Virtual Console update included: Mach Rider (NES, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Yoshi (NES, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) Air "Zonk" (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, 600 Wii points) And, as you've become accustomed to, stop back later for our VC Monday Madness video coverage.
Zonk gets ESRB'd
We knew it was coming, since it's been released in Japan, but the ESRB's ratings page has provided further confirmation that Air Zonk is on the way. Bonk fans and shooter fans alike (that had better include everybody) would do well to check out this adorable horizontal shmup starring the "punkic cyborg" descendent of the original Turbografx-16 mascot. Appropriately, Zonk was the mascot for the Turbo Duo, which was a later TG16 variation that included built-in CD hardware.[Via Siliconera]
Kid Chameleon, Zonk for Japanese Virtual Console this week
Warning sign of things to come: This week's Virtual Console update in Japan has got us buying up Wii Points and deleting the Everybody Votes Channel in anticipation. This Wednesday, Wii owners lucky enough to have access to the awesome Japanese Virtual Console will be able to download Hudson's Air Zonk, the future-Bonk cute 'em up for the Turbografx-16. Also from Hudson, Challenger for the Famicom, which we hadn't really heard of! And in a shocking turn of events, Japan is just now getting Bravoman. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! The last item on the list is Sega's Kid Chameleon for the Genesis, which, in addition to being a fun platformer with a lot of mask-based personas and abilities, is a great argument for the Virtual Console's save system.
Wii Warm Up: Shooting the core
The Virtual Console has, surprisingly, become one of the best venues around for classic scrolling shooters, or "shmups" if you prefer. Suddenly, there's a single console on the market where you can play games like Soldier Blade, Super Star Soldier, R-Types I-III, and Gradius, and you can download them all at impulse-buy prices. Soon, Gradius II, Final Soldier and Air Zonk will show up (in Japan, at least).Has anyone been brought into shooter fandom from a VC release? Or rediscovered the genre, which was lost to all but the craziest, die-hard fans since the onset of 3D gaming? Any new gamers out there surprised by how freaking hard old shooter games can be? Let's hear about your shmupping experience before and since the Wii.
