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The VC Advantage: Totally sweet
The Internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.Everyone loves ninja, except for 1980's Europe. It's hard not to be taken with their style of dress, their pre-Bond gadgetry and, most of all, their silent ruthlessness. But gamers have grown up with a different kind of ninja: the kind who walks around a (usually futuristic) city in broad daylight wearing a dark mask and uniform, displaying blatant disregard for stealth in his battle against giant robots or ghosts or freaking birds. Much like real-life ninja used anonymity and darkness to flout bushido, we enjoy using codes to violate the established laws of our favorite ninja games. This week's VCA features a selection of codes from the Virtual Console's already ninja-rich library. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES):Share Boomerangs between turtles: It takes some serious Turtles devotion or NES nostalgia to convince yourself to play this game for more than five minutes, so we think it's a good idea to give you a little help. Short of a Make the Game Stop code that involves turning off your system, there's not too much that can be done, but there is at least a glitch that allows you to use the same set of boomerangs with multiple turtles. It's easy, too: just throw the boomerangs, switch turtles, and catch them.Ninja Spirit (TG16): Level Select: This is only appropriate for appreciating each level of the sumptuous Ninja Spirit as an individual work of art. We'll know if you use the level select code to fast-track through the game. We'll know and we'll tell IREM. And they'll cry. Press II, I, II, II, I, II, hold Select and press Run to access the level select menu.Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (GEN): Unlimited Shurikens: This code, also seen in Revenge of Shinobi, is one of the most iconic and satisfying cheats in any game, because it's so simple to input and remember, and it is immediately visually recognizable. In the options menu, if you set the number of shuriken to 00 and leave the cursor there, after a few seconds the "00" will morph into the symbol for infinity. Neat! [Codes via GameFAQs]
Virtual Console sales up in the period post-Ninja Spirit
Big Virtual Console sales numbers make us happy. Nintendo reported today that they've sold 4.7 million Virtual Console downloads worldwide. Game|Life's Chris Kohler did the math (as he did for the last release of VC sales data) and found that the 1.4 million games sold in May is more than twice the average sales for any month in the previous quarter. What got you guys buying last month? It was Dave's videos, wasn't it? Or was it the bounty of ninja games? Either way, we're delighted.
Two ninjas and a Pac-Man walk into a Virtual Console
The first ninja turns to his partner in decapitation and says, "You know, I could sneak in and out of this place like a ghost." The second ninja rolls his eyes and replies, "I could sneak in and out of this place like the ghost of a ghost." Pac-Man looks up, shakes his head and says, "WAKKA WAKKA WAKKA!" Guess you had to be there. With the ice now thoroughly broken, we're free to tell you about this week's American Virtual Console releases: Ninja Gaiden (NES, 500 Wii Points) -- Accompany one Ryu Hayabusa in the quest to avenge his father's death. A deadly blade and a handful of shurikens await those that oppose the Tecmo ninja's will. Ninja Spirit (TG-16, 600 Wii Points) -- Accompany one Moonlight in the quest to, well, avenge his father's death. His adventure imparts significant advice to those hoping to father a ninja of their own. Pac-Man (NES, 500 Wii Points) -- Not having a father to be avenged, Pac-Man fills the emotional void with delicious pellets.
VC Monday Madness: More Ninja than you can shake a shuriken at
There's lots of ninja action going on in the Virtual Console today and unless you're swift and silent, you might miss these games as they go live in little over an hour. One of today's offerings is even a game we feel a bit responsible for, as we told of our desire to see the game on Nintendo's digital download service. Today's available games are: Ninja Gaiden (1 player, NES, 500 Wii Points) Ninja Spirit (1-2 players, Turbografx16, 600 Wii Points) Pac-Man (1-2 players, NES, 500 Wii Points) Are you going to get any of these? If you're on the fence, why not come back later for our video wrap-up and decide then!
VC Friday: Ninja Golf
This week, European gamers get a little variety with their Virtual Console releases. Whether you prefer a nice game of golf, or kicking ass in a dark forest, the VC has you covered. And all with only two games! The best part? Neither of them is particularly expensive.Today on the Virtual Console: NES Open Tournament Golf - NES - 500 points Ninja Spirit - TurboGrafx - 600 points
Virtual Console sales down in the period pre-Ninja Spirit
We talked about the Nintendo of Japan press conference yesterday, and the 45 Wii games Nintendo is teasing us with. During that same press conference, Satoru Iwata revealed that 3.3 million Virtual Console games have been downloaded since the launch of the system.3.3 million sounds like a lot, right? It sure does to us. But Game|Life's Chris Kohler did the math based on their January statement of 1.5 million and realized that the sales were actually slowing down since January. Whoops.Our own take on the situation: we're afraid it's going to get worse before it gets better. The new audience that Nintendo's attracting has no attachment to retrogaming, by definition. And Nintendo isn't doing any kind of promotion or advertising to create such an attachment.. Meanwhile, the hardcore crowd that enjoys VC games faces a selection that is still too limited.Our alternate take on the situation: Ninja Spirit will make everything better. It'll make us feel better, anyway.
Ninja Spirit headed to VC, we take full credit
Have we mentioned recently how much we love Hudson? Not only did they make tons and tons of incredible games for the Turbografx-16 (and lots of other systems!), but they're better than anyone else about actually releasing their games on the Virtual Console. And now we have news that some of the best Turbografx-16 games are coming to the US in May! Also some stuff for Nintendo consoles in Japan, but we'll get to that. It finally happened. A game we profiled in Virtually Overlooked has been officially announced for the Virtual Console. Even though IREM's Ninja Spirit was one of the best and most popular TG16 games, we're going to go ahead and declare this as a victory. As if that weren't exciting enough, Hudson announced plans to release a personal favorite, Blazing Lazers, as well as Ordyne (excellent, adorable shmup) and World Sports Competition (we haven't played it, but we'll assume it's great because we're in a good mood). Nintendo of Japan also has some fantastic stuff planned, including Super Mario Bros. 2 and F-Zero X, either of which would no doubt be the headline if anyone else were writing this. That's Super Mario Bros. 2, the Japanese version, released here as Lost Levels. The really, really hard one, as opposed to the silly one about throwing vegetables.
Virtually Overlooked: Ninja Spirit
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.This is the second time we've ended up following a theme from week to week in these features-- in this case, we wanted to talk about Ninja Spirit for the Turbografx-16, and didn't remember until we started researching that, like last week's Photograph Boy, Ninja Spirit was developed by IREM.The best way to describe Ninja Spirit for people familiar with Virtual Console games is "The Legend of Kage, but good." And we say that as fans of Kage.
