Ask Joystiq Nintendo: StarBlade edition
This week, we take a brief look at a Japanese Virtual Console Arcade game that is quite a bit cooler than expected. At the current rate of one game per week, who knows when this game will reach us (or if), but at least in this case the implications it carries outweigh the game itself.
If you want us to use old games as evidence for new trends (or ask us anything else), send an email over to asknintendo AT joystiq DOT com!
[Image via The Arcade Flyer Archive]
Lord Bowser asks:
What happened to Nintendo's mission statement to make gaming affordable? £17.99 for a single Motion Plus thingamajig. That's £72 if you're lucky enough to have four Wiimotes! Then there's the nunchucks, balance board, memory cards, GC controllers and all sorts. Of course, I don't own all of those accessories, but it does make you reassess the story we were sold. Like buying a Dostoevsky novel and later discovering you need to pay an additional pound for each page past 50.
This is kind of an opinion thing and not really a definitively answerable question, but if you buy four (or two, with the Balance Board) of every available accessory, of course gaming's going to be really expensive. You don't have to do that. You don't necessarily have to buy the maximum number of controllers for your console just in case people come over, nor do you have to buy duplicates of all the optional accessories.
Erik asks:
Do you think we will ever see light gun games on the Wii arcade?
For me the best thing in arcades are the light gun games. I know they have been around a while, and there are a few classic ones. Just couldn't name them.
For once I get to offer some good news! Yes, I do think we'll see light gun games on the Virtual Console Arcade. For one thing, publishers have shown rather a lot of interest in releasing light gun games as disc-based releases -- including old arcade games. More promisingly, the Japanese release of StarBlade (an arcade first-person rail shooter with voice work by a very close Ben Stein imitation) reportedly features pointer controls! Essentially, it is a light gun game now.
Every week, we'll answer reader questions about the Wii, the DS, or any other Nintendo-related topic in Ask Joystiq Nintendo. If you have a question, e-mail it to asknintendo AT joystiq DOT com! You need your questions answered, and we need content for this column. It's a symbiotic relationship!
