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ESRB rates Bubble Bobble Plus!
We'll get to discussing the details of this news in just a second, but there's something that we must get out of the way first:Yaaaaaaaaay!The ESRB has posted a rating for Bubble Bobble Plus!, the WiiWare version of Taito's wonderful arcade platformer. We don't know when it will come out here -- Nintendo is seemingly very careful to make sure nobody knows when downloadable games are coming out -- but at least we know that Square Enix is planning it. And we are so happy.In other ESRB WiiWare news, it appears that Silver Star Chess is coming to North America, published by Agetec. "Players can browse through a menu screen that displays still images of fictional opponents," the description reads. "One of the still images depicts a female opponent wearing a dress that exposes deep cleavage." So there's that.%Gallery-43668%
VC Tuesday: Bubble Bobble Wii rises to the top
There's a lovely selection of retro gaming available on the Japanese Virtual Console today, including Ogre Battle and one of Falcom's myriad Dragon Slayer games, but the real retro hotness is found on WiiWare. Lucky Japanese Wii owners will get to play Bubble Bobble Wii, and we certainly hope it isn't terrible. The last Bubble Bobble on Nintendo hardware wasn't so great, but that was back when Taito was licensing its properties out to whomever. We also hope Okiraku Slot Car Racing isn't terrible, if only because a game about slot car racing sounds kind of hilarious. After Family Glide Hockey, we're not holding out too much hope. Tactics Ogre (Super Famicom, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (Mega Drive, 1 player, 700 Wii Points) Winning Shot (PC Engine, 1-4 players, 600 Wii Points) WiiWare: Okiraku Slot Car Racing (1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) Let's Play with Kappa: Kappa and the Three Kittens (1 player, 600 Wii Points) Board Warriors (1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points) Bubble Bobble Wii (1-4 players, 800 Wii Points)
Rating suggests that Bubble Bobble Wii will journey out of Japan
We knew if we believed hard enough (and probably also if we didn't), Square Enix would bring Bubble Bobble Wii to the world. Now it is the beginning of a fantastic story! The first evidence of SE's plans to release the WiiWare game outside Japan has appeared in the form of a rating on the German USK database.The game, which we had no idea used 3D character models until just now, is listed under the new title Bubble Bobble Plus!, with that very appropriate exclamation point. Of course, this rating is no guarantee that the game will be released in Germany, nor is a German release firm confirmation of a release anywhere else, but it certainly seems likely! Besides, those "world rankings" work a lot better if the "world" isn't limited only to the area within Japan.%Gallery-43668%[Via Siliconera; screens via Inside-Games]
New for WiiWare: Bubble Bobble, Crystal Defenders, Pole's Big Adventure
The latest issue of Famitsu reveals three awesome new WiiWare games from Square Enix, Taito, and Sega. Square Enix's Crystal Defenders R1 is a WiiWare version of their mobile/iPhone game Crystal Defenders. The tower defense game will be released on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network soon too, but Japan's WiiWare gets it first (well, first after cell phones and iPhone) on January 27.Bubble Bobble Wii, due this month in Japan for 800 Wii Points, is a 16-bit-style remake of Taito's arcade classic, featuring play for up to four players in old stages, "arranged" stages, and expert versions of both, for a total of 400 stages. Additional new stages will be available as DLC. We have been waiting to see this game since we first saw the title!Finally, Sega's Chindouchou! Pole no Daibouken (Eventful Journey! Pole's Big Adventure) is the retro-style game at which they've been hinting with a countdown page. The Famicom-esque game, releasing on February 3 for just 500 Points, seems to be riddled with jokes about other games -- the mushroom item seen on the countdown page actually comes out of bricks and increases the character's size just like in Super Mario Bros., but in this game it enlarges the character far beyond the limits of the screen.
