VC Tuesday: Balloon Fight wasn't already out?

The biggest surprise for us this week is right there in the title. Balloon Fight is one of the canonical first-generation NES games. It's already out in the U.S. and Europe, and it was even remade for the DS in Japan in a Club Nintendo-exclusive Tingle version. So why has it taken so long to show up on the Virtual Console in Japan? In the time that Japanese Wii owners have been waiting for Balloon Fight, they've gotten two versions of Wonder Boy in Monster World. Similarly, today brings the second version of Gradius II.

Speaking of repeat performances, we'd like to point out how awesomely Treasure is represented on the VC. Light Crusader is the fourth Treasure game to appear on the VC so far, and we appreciate every one. Even Light Crusader.

• Balloon Fight (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points)
  

• Light Crusader (Mega Drive, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)
  

• Dragon Spirit (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

• Gradius II GOFER no Yabou (PC Engine, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)

• Baseball Stars 2 (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points)