Xevious
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Introducing the world's smallest way to play 'Donkey Kong'
Once upon a time, video games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong were the absolute height of entertainment technology, imperfect pixels packed into six-foot-tall cabinets in arcades and pizza shops around the world. Now, those same games run on a machine that fits inside a teacup. Adafruit tinkerer Phillip Burgess created the world's smallest Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator cabinet using a Raspberry Pi Zero computer, 0.96 inch RGB OLED displays and an audio amplifier. It's fully playable and totally adorable.
New Nintendo eShop releases: Mario and Donkey Kong, Xevious, Solomon's Key
Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move highlights the new eShop releases this week. The 3DS puzzler has players guiding poor little mini Marios away from hazards by building a Pipe Dream-esque maze. The Wii U Virtual Console picks up two new games in the classic shooter Xevious and puzzle platformer Solomon's Key. You can also pick up Chasing Aurora for half price on the Wii U until May 16. A demo for the Wii U version of Resident Evil: Revelations arrives May 14.
Namco Arcade is a weirdly stocked virtual game center for iOS
Namco has discovered another avenue for selling you its stable of classic games. The free Namco Arcade app for iOS is the most haphazardly chosen collection of catalog titles yet: Xevious, Phozon, Motos, and The Tower of Druaga.Taking a page from Turbografx-16 Gamebox's ... book ... of how to sell old games ... Namco Arcade offers free play of one selected title per day. You can choose one every day, or -- here taking inspiration from Capcom Arcade -- buy "Play Coins" to unlock additional plays. If you don't want to deal with that nonsense, in-app purchases will let you buy the games permanently for $3.99.%Gallery-145745%
Nintendo of Europe release list reveals 3D Xevious this month, MotoHeroz in Q3
Nintendo of Europe sent out its schedule for the summer and fall on 3DS, Wii, and DS, and most of the news to be found is related to downloadable games. For example: the 3DS's "3D Classics" version of Xevious is due to arrive on the eShop this month, as is a 3DS Virtual Console release of Mario's Picross. There's a DSiWare version of Jagged Alliance due in Q3, and RedLynx's WiiWare stunt racer, MotoHeroz, is given a Q3 release window here. Nintendo also predicts a September release for X-Men Destiny on Wii and DS, which would suggest that the other versions are due for release at that same time. Peruse the list for yourself after the break.
3DS has a Game Boy/ Game Boy Color Virtual Console [update]
One of the 3DS's killer apps may be ... old games. As has been requested for the original DS and DSi since time immemorial (2004), Nintendo will offer downloadable Game Boy and Game Boy Color games on the 3DS, through a VIrtual Console-style store. In addition, as shown at E3, Nintendo will offer 3D-ified versions of classics like Xevious. Update: The transcript from Nintendo's conference last night show that Iwata specified games from the Game Boy and Game Boy Color -- not Advance. At least, not yet. We apologize for the confusion.
Preview: The 3DS lineup
Of all the demos Nintendo showed for the 3DS, most were non-interactive video displays with "Please enjoy the 3D video" on the bottom screen. This group includes Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Dead or Alive, Resident Evil, and more. But a few were games. I played most of the games available at Nintendo's E3 booth -- find brief impressions of each below.%Gallery-95389%
Namco Bandai's new iTunes sounds will eat up your money
Do you like the sound of Pac-Man eating a ghost? Do you like it enough to pay a dollar for it? Namco Bandai announced a new iTunes music label called Namco Sounds, which will add remastered game soundtracks on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month.The inaugural offerings include a Soul Calibur sampler, called SoulCalibur Suite: The Resonance of Souls and Swords, and sound effect collections from Pac-Man and Xevious. A $3 charge for each "album" isn't terrible -- it's equal to the cost of buying each of the Calibur tracks individually, and it's a fairly small price to pay for the full set of in-game sounds for the other games.Due to the nature of iTunes, however, individual tracks from the sound collections are spectacular ripoffs. Each sound effect, purchased separately, is 99 cents. We don't need "Special Flag: Get" or the incredibly irritating Xevious theme that badly. Do we?
Japanese Nintendo downloads: The worm returns
After last week's massive update in Japan, WiiWare is taking some time off. That means that the spotlight falls directly on the okay Virtual Console lineup for this week. Earthworm Jim 2 arrives as an import, which demonstrates two really wonderful things about Japan's Virtual Console -- first, that Mega Drive games only cost 600 Wii Points in Japan, and second, that imports don't cost any extra. Nor should they, as they aren't localized and they cost the same to put on a server as anything else.Also available this week: the arcade version of Xevious, and one of those ridiculous Koei strategy games, this one about Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Taikou Risshiden (Super Famicom, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Earthworm Jim 2 (Mega Drive, 1 player, 600 Wii Points) Xevious (Arcade, players, 800 Wii Points)
Namco Museum Essentials coming to PlayStation Home in July
Japan's Namco Museum Essentials is crossing the pond to America's PlayStation Network this July. The downloadable app will serve as a hub for various Namco arcade games, such as Pac-man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Dragon Spirit, Xevious, and a new 1080p "re-envisioned" Xevious: Resurrection. In addition to the standard gamut of features (trophies, leaderboards), players will be able to unlock PlayStation Home rewards to proudly display in their virtual apartments.Namco Bandai will also be launching a new destination within PlayStation Home simultaneously with the release of Museum Essentials. It will serve as the hub for all of Namco Bandai's upcoming downloadable games and will include a virtual arcade featuring a trial version of Museum Essentials. In addition to the free demo, PlayStation Home items can be unlocked for those who visit the space. All in all, it looks as though Home fans (casual and hardcore) will have a lot to look forward to.%Gallery-66211%
Home virtual arcade now includes Dig Dug, Galaga, Pac-Man, echochrome
If you're one of the few that's already in the Home beta, you may have already experienced the underwhelming virtual arcade, located in the Games Space within Home. The new version being released for Japan will expand the arcade offerings, and the new choices look yummy. Namco Bandai is offering seven games within Home, with four revealed already: Dig Dug, Galaga, Pac-Man and Xevious. Three more "secret" games will be revealed later. More intriguing, a 2D Home-exclusive version of echochrome can also be accessed from within Home. With more and more game offerings being added to the online service, we're confident that everyone will want to access the virtual world at least once -- if only to play these games. [Via Joystiq & Siliconera]
Japanese Home beta opens, adds Namco classics
Sony has begun accepting applications for the next beta phase of Home ... in Japan. PS3 users can put their names in the hat (from which 10,000 will be chosen) directly from a new option in the Japanese PlayStation Store. Successful applicants will be notified via email before the beta officially kicks off at the end of August.In related news, classic arcade games from Namco are showing up as virtual coin-ops in the Japanese Home client. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaga, and Xevious have been rolled out so far, with three "secret" titles still on the way. It's interesting to note that Home users – at least in the beta – can play these games for free, whereas they are paid downloads on Xbox Live Arcade. We'll have to wait and see if this holds true for Home games from Namco and other publishers in the open beta (which is supposed to hit by year's end).Source – EngadgetSource – Siliconera
Huge discounts and prizes at Play Asia's Year of the Rat Lucky Sale
Bringing in the Chinese New Year, import shop Play Asia has slashed the prices on over five thousand of its in-stock games and accessories. What's more, each order you put in between today and February 29th will count towards an entry for you to win a variety of Japanese consoles, games, and store credits. There's just too many items on sale to list, so we've picked out a few from the DS and GBA sections that might pique your interest. DS game sales: Ryuusei no RockMan: Dragon, Leo, and Pegasus - $48.90 $9.90 Nodame Cantabile - $48.90 $14.90 Operation: Vietnam (US) - $24.90 $16.90 Slide Adventure: Mag Kid - $58.90 $19.90 Oshare Majo Love and Berry (DS Collection) - $58.90 $19.90 K-1 World GP - $48.90 $24.90 Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 - $48.90 $29.90 Jump past the break for the accessory and GBA bargains!
T-shirts made us love Xevious
We have suddenly decided to care more about one of the Virtual Console's oldest shooters. Japanese t-shirt company Mars Sixteen, as part of their ongoing (and amazing) Namco shirt collection, has created two cool Xevious shirts. The grey one shown above features the game's logo and Solvalou ship on the front, and an edited screenshot of the Fortress on the back. The other features the Nazca Lines as seen in the game.Mars Sixteen's other video game shirts include a lot of great Falcom and Sega stuff, as well as more Namco classics. They've made some surprising choices regarding which games deserve their own shirts! Would you wear a Samurai Ghost t-shirt?[Via Famitsu]
The VC Advantage: One ship
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 likes shooters, except for people who don't. And even they might, if they played the right one! We like them anyway, and guess who picks the games for the column? That's right, a groundhog looking at his shadow a random number generator us. Besides, shooters are really hard, and it's nice to have some kind of advantage. Here are some codes for a very small sample of the VC's many shooters.Gate of Thunder (TG16 CD)Stage Select: Whenever we see the name Gate of Thunder, all we can think about is the KISS song "God of Thunder." So instead of cleverly trying to work it in to the text here, we're just going to link to it, and then tell you how to select stages in Gate of Thunder. Sometimes the direct approach is the best approach. To access the stage select, press I, II, II, I, select, I, II, I, II, select, select, run.Xevious (NES)Skip the Fortress: We've kind of avoided playing Xevious in the last few years, since our only contact with the game was the annoying Atari 7800 version. Luckily, the NES version is less annoying and totally worth looking into-- if nothing else, as one of the first vertical shooters. It's possible to skip the Andor Genesis fortress by pausing the game right before getting to it, then unpausing it. We miss pause-glitch cheats! R-Type (TG16) More continues: Today, we're going to help you learn two surprising things about R-Type. First: you can give yourself more credits by holding select and jamming on the I button at the title screen. Here's the second thing.[Codes via GameFAQs]
A video reminder of Namco Museum DS
This trailer for Namco Museum DS highlights exactly what Bandai Namco should be highlighting: Pac-Man Vs. After a quick run-through of all the titles on the card, the trailer gets into the business of extolling the new version of Vs.Even gamers who are all Galaga'd out or tired of Druaga can see the interest in a DS version of Toru Iwatani and Shigeru Miyamoto's multiplayer Pac-Man, especially since it makes so much more sense without a home console involved.With only one demo station set up at PAX, we didn't get to play Pac-Man Vs. We hope we get the chance when the game comes out on the 18th.
Namco Museum screens are as new as Namco Museum screens can be
We've seen countless releases of the Namco Museum collections over the years. We remember feeling quite special about the Playstation versions-- they were the real versions of real arcade games! At home! But now the Namco Museum series is, itself, old. How old?Valkyrie no Densetsu (1989) was eight years old when it was released on Namco Museum Vol. 5. The original Namco Museum Playstation game is eleven years old. In other words, Namco Museum is now older, in relative terms, than a game that was old enough for Namco Museum.Speaking of the Playstation editions, the new Namco Museum DS has something not seen since those days: an actual museum mode, in the form of a trophy collection and music player, as well as scanned instructions and flyers. Relatively newer features include bottom-screen maps and hints for Galaga (?), Xevious, and The Tower of Druaga. Of course, the most exciting relatively-new thing is Pac-Man Vs., which, now that it won't require so much of a financial outlay, we may actually try with another person.%Gallery-4650%
Rush n' Attack some Xevious today on XBLA
The Xbox Live Arcade bounty just keeps coming this week as we are served with yet another double helping of downloadable gaming goodness. This week we get two delectable helpings in the form of Xevious and Rush n' Attack. One of them is about destroying alien scum and the other is about the Cold War. We'll let you puzzle out which one is which. Should you enjoy either game enough to plunk down your hard-earned MS Points, you can purchase them for 400 points each.%Gallery-3331%%Gallery-3332%
This Wednesday: Rush n' Attack blitzes XBLA with Xevious
Ahhh, the Cold War. Americans and Soviets locked in a nuclear and good for propaganda arms race. With mutually assured destruction the only outcome, we got games like Russian Attack. Oh, what? Rush 'n Attack? Was that really the name of it? Anyway, enjoy Rush 'n Attack this Wednesday along with Xevious at a 400 MS point ($5 US) cost each. Still the Cold War was kinda fun.This week's XBLA offerings are retro games that influenced future titles. Rush 'n Attack, or Green Beret as it was also known, is an arcade action game that was the precursor to Metal Slug. Save the prisoners of war by yourself or with a friend online or off. Xevious is a shmup that is "100% arcade accurate reproduction ... for the first time anywhere." 1942, Ikaruga and all the other games in the shmup genre, meet one of your granddaddies.%Gallery-3334%
Rush 'n Attack, Xevious invade XBLA this week
Xbox Live Arcade is set for yet another double shot of goodness this week with the release of both Rush n' Attack and Xevious. Both considered genuine arcade classics Xevious and Rush n' Attack will each be available for 400 MS Points. For those unaware of Rush n' Attack, the game is a side-scrolling action game in which players struggle to free prisoners of war while simultaneously stabbing as many foreign militants as possible. As is expected of retro Arcade releases, the game features both original and enhanced graphics. Xevious is a vertical shooter that tasks players with, um, shooting stuff. Head over to Gamerscore Blog for the full scoop.%Gallery-3332%%Gallery-3331%
Pac-Man invades Namco Museum Remix on Wii
You remember Namco Bandai's Galaga, don't you? The very mention of it should conjure images of a lone spacecraft darting through unrelenting waves of giant insects, with bullets whizzing by and an unusually pleased Pac-Man rolling past. Oh, you don't remember him being there? That's because you haven't seen Namco Museum Rehash Remix for the Wii yet -- the "Remix" part referring to the inclusion of gluttonous gaming icon, Pac-Man, into every one of the revamped titles.The image above is from Galaga Remix, a point-and-shooter (yes, really) that forms part of the five Wii-vitalized games included in Namco Museum Remix. Others detailed by IGN are: Pac 'n Roll Remix -- Much like the early DS game, Pac-Man has to roll his obese body to the end of the level while overcoming enemies, obstacles and a self-image problem. Pac-Motos Remix -- Pac-Man knocks his opponents out of dangerous arenas. He'll eat them later. Rally-X Remix -- It's a 3-D version of Rally-X, only with Pac-Man driving the car (miraculously sans arms and legs). Gator Panic Remix -- Whack-a-Mole, but with gators. And Pac-Man. Galaxian, Dig Dug, Mappy, Xevious, Gaplus, Super Pac-Man, Pac & Pal, Pac-Mania and Cute Q will also be included, though they'll all have to make due without a "remix." Namco Museum Remix releases on Wii this Fall.%Gallery-3298%[Via Wii Fanboy]
