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Hudson confirms WiiWare shooter Star Soldier R for North America
Hudson certainly hasn't been shy about showing its affections for WiiWare, with the company doing all but making a mix tape for the Wii's upcoming digital download service. Now, after confirming plans to bring Tetris and Bomberman to WiiWare, Hudson has announced plans to release yet another downloadable classic property in Star Soldier R. The game, which launched in Japan alongside WiiWare in March, will be making its North American debut once the service launches later this year.The game is the latest in Hudson's long-running Star Soldier franchise of overhead shooters that began in the mid-1980s for the NES, of which there are four titles available over the Wii's Virtual Console: Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, Blazing Lazers and Star Soldier. Describing the game as a "tournament-style outer space shooter," Hudson notes that this latest shooter will focus on achieving high scores in a Quick Shot mode, as well as in both 2-minute and 5-minute modes, giving players "just enough time" to fight through a couple levels and wrestle with the bosses waiting patiently at the other end. Try not to disappoint.%Gallery-20658%[Via press release]
Use your eye lasers to shoot up these Star Soldier R screens
If there's one genre we'll never tire of, it's the shoot-em-up. Or, shmup for those of you who prefer your labels to contain less syllables. It's a very accessible genre of games and one chock full of the kind of action that never bores us: shooting everything in sight.And that's why we're psyched for Hudson's upcoming Wii Ware title, Star Soldier R. It promises lots of shooting, without the steep entrance fee of going out to buy it in the real world. Sure, we could purchase online, but you need a credit card for that. Nobody trusts us that much.Regardless of our credit woes, be sure to head past the break for more shoot-em-up goodness from Star Soldier R. It looks like it promises lots of shooting everything on the screen.
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]
Hudson preps sequel to Star Soldier A - Q
Hudson, in the midst of its Caravan Tour through Japan's major cities, has been hosting a high-score tournament for its two-minute demo of Star Soldier R. Shoot-em-up fans should recognize the name, as the Virtual Console has played host to the series several times over. Japan Gaming Guide attended the event and grabbed some shaky-cam footage of the title in action, which you can view above.Much to our relief, Hudson hasn't implemented any motion-sensing mechanics, offering gamers the chance to play with either a Wii remote or a classic controller, many choosing the latter. Also, Star Soldier R eschews any arbitrary gimmicks, favoring a straightforward, blast-em-all-and-let-God-sort-em-out approach. We're just happy to hear about another release that could be compatible with Hori's arcade stick!
Star Soldier, Dynamite Headdy, and Drop Off dropped onto Virtual Console
Today's Virtual Console games should be hitting the service right about now, offering an option of shmup, action, or Breakout clone. We aren't going to tell you what to buy (if anything), but we would like to note that Dynamite Headdy: a) has a longer Wikipedia entry; b): was developed by Treasure; and c) has evil puppets. That said, here's your options this week: Star Soldier (NES, 1 player, 500 Wii Points): What's a "Star" soldier? Frankly, we're offended you'd even ask. But you should know that classic shmup Star Soldier takes its rightful place on the Virtual Console next to other series entrants like Super Star Soldier, Blazing Lazers, and Soldier Blade. There, now you know. Dynamite Headdy (Sega Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points): Do battle as Headdy in Treasure's Genesis classic, fighting your way through scenes set against a theatrical backdrop. Power up your head (we like the Super Head best) and destroy evil puppets (what else?). Drop Off (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, 600 Wii Points): Think Breakout, except the lawyers sternly requested that the words "break" and "out" appear nowhere in the name. Publisher Hudson Soft's no dummy though, so they did Breakout one better ... introducing Drop Off! Why break things out when you can drop things off? Seriously, why?
VC Tuesday: The Super Splatter Soldier
This week, Japan got three games that we don't have yet in the US-- no surprise there. But we already had Splatterhouse on our Virtual Console, so we totally win in that one specific competition that isn't really a competition.The non-Splatterhouse games include another shooter, a Paleolithic puzzle game that we'd never heard of, and a completely awesome ninja game that we'd love to see over here ASAP. And, since it did come out over here (as Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master), we are not crazy to expect it! Star Soldier (Famicom, 1 player, 500 Wii points) Flappy (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii points) The Super Shinobi II (Mega Drive, 1 player, 600 Wii points) Splatterhouse (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii points)
Wii Warm Up: Shooting the core
The Virtual Console has, surprisingly, become one of the best venues around for classic scrolling shooters, or "shmups" if you prefer. Suddenly, there's a single console on the market where you can play games like Soldier Blade, Super Star Soldier, R-Types I-III, and Gradius, and you can download them all at impulse-buy prices. Soon, Gradius II, Final Soldier and Air Zonk will show up (in Japan, at least).Has anyone been brought into shooter fandom from a VC release? Or rediscovered the genre, which was lost to all but the craziest, die-hard fans since the onset of 3D gaming? Any new gamers out there surprised by how freaking hard old shooter games can be? Let's hear about your shmupping experience before and since the Wii.
