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Japanese Nintendo downloads: Heisei Shin Onigashima, Ai Sengoku Spirits
There hasn't been a WiiWare release in Japan since May 11. And today, there are only two new downloadable Nintendo games of any kind in the region. If you live in Japan and like downloading games on Nintendo platforms, now would be a good time to start feeling uneasy about the future. The two aforementioned releases include the second part of an SNES remake of a Famicom Disk System graphical text adventure and a strategy game about Sengoku-era warlord Uesugi Kenshin. And nothing else. Heisei Shin Onigashima: Kouhen (SNES, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Ai Sengoku Spirits Gaiden Kenshin-hen (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Magical Drop 2
WiiWare is on a break this week in Japan, leaving only DSiWare and Virtual Console with new releases. Magical Drop 2 on Neo Geo picks up some of the slack -- Data East's color-matching puzzle game is easily the best thing available this week. On DSiWare, there's a Gameloft soccer game, Othello and hanafuda games, and a diary app meant to help people practice their English. Don't expect to see that one in North America, on account of, you know, the pervasiveness of native-level English competency. The full list of this week's releases includes: Heisei Shin Onigashima Zenpen (Super Famicom, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Magical Drop 2 (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points) at-Enter: Taisen Hanafuda Koi Koi Kassen (DSiWare, 1-2 players, 200 DSi Points) at-Enter: Taisen Reversi (DSiWare, 1-2 players, 200DSi Points) Suku Suku Native English Journal Calendar (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Real Soccer 2010 (DSiWare, players, DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Darius Twin, Max & the Magic Marker
With only one download per service, Japan's Wii and DSi Shops this week resemble the kind of updates we're used to in North America. At least the content is mostly good. Darius Twin, the SNES debut of Taito's horizontal shmup series, provides multiplayer shooting against a variety of giant robotic sea creatures. And Rakugaki Hero is the World Game Parade–localized Max & the Magic Marker. As for, Let's Make a Zoo on DSiWare, it was released elsewhere as Zoo Frenzy. It's all the fun of managing a fake zoo! The full list of weekly releases follows: Darius Twin (Super Famicom, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Rakugaki Hero (WiiWare, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Let's Make a Zoo (DSiWare, 1 player, 800 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Pilotwings, Bonsai Barber
Pilotwings, the game that taught us with huge, blocky pixels just what the SNES's scaling and rotation effects could do, touches down on the Japanese Wii Shop this week, along with the world's most beloved game about giving haircuts to personified plants. DSiWare is a bit less thrilling this week in Japan, with a kanji practice game, some kind of coloring app about color therapy and Gameloft's Legends of Exidia. The complete list of releases follows: Pilotwings (Super Famicom, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Bonsai Barber (WiiWare, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Renjuku Kanji Shougaku 6 Nensei (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) DS Kokoro Nurie (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Legends of Exidia (DSiWare, 1 player, 800 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Mega Man 10, Moon Cresta
Though there's a lot of content on DSiWare in Japan today, it's almost entirely training stuff. So, it would seem that DSiWare stepped aside to let WiiWare's single release shine this week. (That's probably not what really happened -- but it's a nice thought.) In any case, Mega Man 10 is up on WiiWare in Japan today, and it's likely to overshadow anything else available this week, including the ancient Moon Cresta: Mega Man 10 (WiiWare, 1 player, 1,000 Wii Points) Moon Cresta (VC Arcade, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) G.G. Series Throw Out (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Renjuku Kanji: Shougaku 4-nensei (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Renjuku Kanji: Shougaku 5-nensei (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Brain Challenge (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Let's Golf (DSiWare, 1 player, 800 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Sutte Hakkun, Aqualiving, Hidden 3D Shapes
This week's sole Virtual Console release in Japan marks the debut of a beloved DS developer. The Super Famicom puzzle game Sutte Hakkun, originally created for Nintendo's Satellaview satellite service, is the first game by Indies Zero, who would go on to develop Retro Game Challenge for Namco Bandai. The game itself is a cutesy Lode Runner-type puzzler, in which a character creates and destroys blocks to reach rainbow fragments distributed throughout a level. On DSiWare, another interesting puzzle game is available: Rittai Kakushi E Atta Kore Da, the game that uses the camera for that eye-catching 3D effect. Sutte Hakkun (Super Famicom, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Aqualiving (WiiWare, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Shunkan Shibu-shibu Tsubushi (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Karakuchi! Ookago Shiro (DSiWare, 1-2 players, 500 DSi Points) Kittens' House (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Rittai Kakushi E Atta Kore Da (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Crazy Climber, Phoenix Wright
lf you happen to have a Japanese Wii, you may have sort of been able to play the arcade classic Crazy Climber before, but only the not-great Wii remake. Now the original is available ... for 800 Wii Points! Oh, Virtual Console Arcade pricing. And, of course, there's more Phoenix Wright. People who didn't have to wait a year between Ace Attorney games don't know how good they have it. On DSiWare, there's an interesting kanji puzzle game which is absolutely guaranteed never to leave Japan. at Kanji Game (you can see the rest of the title in the list) appears to involve pairs of Japanese characters dropping Tetris-style, with the goal of making new words. Crazy Climber (Arcade, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations (WiiWare, 1 player, 1,200 Wii Points) Fantasic Cube (WiiWare, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) at Kanji Game Jukugo Kanjukuken Kanshuu (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Hachi-Wan Diver DS:Naruzou-kun Hasami Shogi (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Aquarium with Clock (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) 3 Minute Tenkatouitsu: Western Japan Sengoku Quiz/Eastern Japan Sengoku Quiz (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points each) Idol Nights (DSiWare, 1-4 players, 800 DSi Points) Pocket Rurubu: Hakone/Shinshu (DSiWare, 1 player, 800 DSi Points each) What Day is it? Encyclopedia from Mypedia (DSiWare, 1 player, 800 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Super Famicom Wars, Diner Dash
Nintendo of Japan totally skimped on the digital releases this week. It's actually a bit disconcerting to see a list of releases without a huge DSiWare education or sudoku contingent. If you happen to want to play things on DSiWare (and if you read Japanese) there's a new Jake Hunter adventure, as well as another fascinating cheapo GG Series game, this time featuring a big drill. On Wii, an Advance Wars predecessor is up, as well as Diner Dash, which arrives on WiiWare in Japan first. Super Famicom Wars (Famicom, 1-4 players, 800 Wii Points) Diner Dash (WiiWare, 1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points) GG Series: Drilling Attack! (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Detective Saburo Jinguuji: Portrait of the Deceased Child (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Excitebike, Reversal Shooting
Japanese gamers get to experience the joy of Excitebike with a different camera angle and online play today, with the release of Excitebike World Rally (as "Excitebike World Race"). It's a pretty faithful adaptation of the original, something that can't be said for Tecmo's Are? DS ga Sakasa Desu Kedo: Gyaku Shooting, a shooter with elements of its own Star Force, but played from the other side -- and with the DS upside down. Using the DS's touch screen, players control the enemies firing downward at what is usually the player ship. DS ga Sakasa Desu Kedo: Sakasa Drops takes the same approach and applies it to a falling-block puzzle game. Check out a trailer for Shooting after the break. Quarth (MSX, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Contra (MSX, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Excitebike World Race (WiiWare, 1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points) Are? DS ga Sakasa Desu Kedo: Gyaku Shooting (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Are? DS ga Sakasa Desu Kedo: Sakasa Drops (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Artist ni Narou! Minna no Nurikai Museum Hen (DSiWare, 1-2 players, 500 DSi Points) Hobonichi Rosenzu 2010 (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Renjuku Kanji: Shougaku Sannensei (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
Mega Man 4, SNES Advance Wars on Virtual Console in February
February's Japanese Virtual Console lineup is exceptionally small -- four games in all -- but all four games are high-quality. In advance of Mega Man 10, Capcom offers Mega Man 4, which, while one of the weaker games in the series, is still a real Mega Man game and thus pretty good. A never-localized (and probably still not to be localized) SNES Advance Wars game will be available sometime in the month, and MSX versions of the familiar Contra and the delightful scrolling puzzle game Quarth. Of course, we've seen zero of these MSX games outside of Japan. Oh, we just made ourselves sad. Famicom: Rockman 4 Super Famicom: Super Famicom Wars MSX: Quarth (Feb. 2) Contra (Feb. 2)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Ogre Battle 64, BlazBlue Battle x Battle
Ogre Battle 64 is a rare release on the Japanese Wii Shop, in that it's an N64 game. Remember those? It's also a good one! It's the sole new game on the Virtual Console this week, with the lineup bolstered a bit by Phoenix Wright's sequel and a rock-paper-scissors game. The weird (but cute) Blazblue DSiWare fighter is out this week, ready to delight all the, uh, DSi owners looking for a four-player online fighting game. They're out there somewhere! Also on DSiWare: Burning Puzzle Flame Tail, a very odd, but interesting-looking vertically scrolling puzzle game from Mindware. Essentially, you control a structure with (of course) a flaming tail, snaking through rectangular structures and burning them. Ogre Battle 64 (Nintendo 64, 1 player, 1,000 Wii Points) Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All (WiiWare, 1 player, 1,000 Wii Points) Janken Party Paradise (WiiWare, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) ACT Series: English translator (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) ACT Series: Korean translator (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Nari-chara Hitman Begins (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Blazblue Battle x Battle (DSiWare, 1-4 players, 500 DSi Points) Burning Puzzle Flame Tail (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Princess Tomato, Reflect Missile
[TRsROCKIN] The sole new downloadable game on Wii in Japan this week is the appealingly odd Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom, a first-person adventure game set in a world populated by personified fruits and vegetables. You play a heroic cucumber with a young persimmon sidekick. It really must be experienced. On DSiWare this week, there are two different kanji learning games (how does that happen?), a math training game, and -- more importantly, Q-Games's cool Breakout variant Reflect Missile. Even more importantly, because it's really funny, the Naruto photo app lets you put your face into some Naruto art. Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (Famicom,1 player, 500 Wii Points) Atama wo Yoku Suru Ansan Zou no Hana Fuusen (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Nandoku 500 Kanji Word Puzzle (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Renjuku Kanji: Shougaku 2-nensei (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Nari-chara: Naruto Shippuden (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Reflect Missile (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Parodius, Genius Personal dictionaries
Though today is a fairly low-key day for downloads on the Japanese Wii and DSi Shops, there are a few things available that we'd love to see in North America but never will. The Virtual Console has MSX releases of two wonderful shooters, the Gradius/Twinbee/octopus mashup cute-em-up Parodius, and Salamander, which we know as Life Force. The MSX ports are inferior to most other versions, so maybe we can live. The other programs we desperately want but won't have: the Genius Personal series for DSiWare, which allow you to write a word in English or Japanese (depending on which version you download) and get a translation and definition. Perfect for people who have to read and translate Japanese DSiWare titles all the time! Parodius (MSX, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Salamander (MSX, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) atChess Battle Spirits (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) G.G. Series D-Tank (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Artist Ni Narou! MInna ni Nurikai Jukyuu-hen (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Pinball Attack! (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Genius Personal English-Japanese Easy Dictionary (DSiWare, 1 player, 800 DSi Points) Genius Personal Japanese-English Easy Dictionary (DSiWare, 1 player, 800 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Kirby's Star Stacker, I am a Pla-Rail Driver
The Japanese Wii and DSi Shops are taking it easy on the first week back after a holiday, with just one WiiWare, one Virtual Console, and two DSiWare games available, quite a change from the massive pileups of previous weeks. The Virtual Console game is the Super Famicom version of Kirby's Star Stacker, an original Kirby-themed puzzle game we received on the Game Boy. And on WiiWare, a painfully adorable ... train simulator? DSiWare has another G.G. series shmup, and another miniature Paint By DS featuring cats. Pretty mellow week! Boku wa Pla-Rail Untenshi: Shinkansen & Joukikansha Hen (1-2 players, 1,000 Wii Points) Kirby's Star Stacker (Super Famicom, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) G.G. Series Dark Spirits (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Artist ni Narou! Minna no Nurikai Neko Hen (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: LostWinds, Phalanx
Two WiiWare titles make the journey from the West to Japan today, both published by Square Enix. Just as it did for the first LostWinds, the publisher has brought the sequel to Japan for a holiday release. School of Darkness is actually WayForward's Lit, under a different, but equally literal, title. Also of note: the remake/port of the shooter Phalanx arrives! DSiWare is a bit less thrilling, with the standout release being the cleverly tilt-controlled Katamuction. Famicom Detective Club Part 2: The Girl Standing in the Back (Famicom, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Gradius 2 (MSX, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Majou Densetsu (MSX, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Othello (WiiWare, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) School of Darkness ( WiiWare, 1 player, 1,000 Wii Points) LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias (WiiWare, 1-2 players, 1,000 Wii Points) Phalanx (WiiWare, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Simple DS Series Volume 2: THE Misshitsu Kara no Dasshutsu Gakkou Hen (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Katamuku + Action = Katamuction (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Pocket Rurubu: Nagoya/Kobe (DSiWare, 1 player, 800 DSi Points each)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Phoenix Wright, Zaxxon, Photo Fighter X
The release list for the Japanese Wii and DSi Shops are a bit more restrained than the last couple of weeks, offering a much more manageable (read: smaller) selection of downloadable titles. On Virtual Console, for example, Sega's isometric arcade shmup Zaxxon is the only offering. Similarly, there's just one WiiWare game, but it's Phoenix Wright! DSiWare gets the cool Photo FIghter X, which lets you build fighting game characters from DSi camera snaps. More Paint By DS joins it, this time all about dogs; and in the requisite "puzzle game" positions are a new G.G. series entry and a Jupiter-developed game about rotating blocks to match colors. Zaxxon (Arcade, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (WiiWare, 1 player, 900 Wii Points) Shashin de Kakutou! Photo Fighter X! (DSiWare, 1-2 players, 200 DSi Points) G.G. Series Vertex (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Kanji Practice First Grade (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Artist ni Narou! Minna no Nurikai Inu-hen (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Atelier Deco La Doll (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Castle of Magic (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Panewa! (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) %Gallery-78467%
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Kappa Michi, Final Fight 3, more
Another ridiculous overload of content today on the Japanese Wii and DSi Shops. Not so much in WiiWare, whose only release this week is The Incredible (and incredibly avoidable) Maze, but Virtual Console and DSiWare are absolutely stuffed with games! Weirdly, there are two map-based puzzle games on DSiWare. One, Map Map! is a series of puzzle, and the other, Sekai Tanken Kokki World Map, is a quiz game. Also available: a cute puzzle game from the G.G. Series, in which you drop blocks to build a path for a character, a mini version of Paint by DS, more Jake Hunter, and a really cute game from Mother 3 developer Brownie Brown about leading a kappa along paths of coins. Chokkan! Balance Labyrinth (WiiWare, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Final Fight Tough (Super Famicom, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Yie Ar Kung Fu 2 (MSX, 800 Wii Points) Namco Quester (Arcade, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Valkyrie no Densetsu (Arcade, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Metal Gear (MSX, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) G.G. Series: Black x Block (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Sekai Tanken Kokki World Map (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Map Map! By Gotouchi Kentei DS (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Artist ni Narou! Minna no Nurikai (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) UNO (DSiWare, 1-4 players, 500 DSi Points) Kappa Michi (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Tantei Saburo Jinguuji: Chained Curse & Mystery Case (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: King of Fighters '95, Kamenin Merchant
Today, for those Japanese gamers who like King of Fighters games but didn't purchase the Orochi Collection disc -- or the Neo Geo Online Collection Complete Box sets, King of Fighters '95 is available on the Virtual Console. SNK Playmore's business model is so strange -- these Virtual Console releases seem to actively compete with the company's retail collections. Also available: two cute Namco arcade games, including Rompers, an obscure game about pushing walls over on enemies. DSiWare features a Tales of Graces spinoff, a calendar that lets you mark upcoming events, and a Picross variant with surprisingly nice sprite work. The King of Fighters '95 (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points) Ordyne (Arcade, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Rompers (Arcade, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Ponjan Wii (WiiWare, 1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points) Ato Nannichi? Kazoeru Nintendo DSi Calendar (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Kamenin Merchant (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Kaiten Illust Puzzle Guruguru Logic (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
Japanese Nintendo downloads: MSX games, Eco Shooter, and 16 more
There's an incredibly diverse selection of games on the Japanese Wii and DSi Shops today -- 12 different games on Wii, and 6 on DSi. Think of this as Nintendo's online version of the holiday rush. Most interesting among the multifarious offerings: a few forgotten Konami MSX games on VC, and 530 Eco Shooter on WiiWare. That's ... an Intelligent Systems-developed shooting game about shooting cans. The cans are alive and move around. It's weird. Also weird: Nintendo's Neratte Spot! for DSiWare, which is about throwing bombs into the mouths of fish. The whole list is after the break, because it's crazy long.
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Trial edition
The WiiWare demo program arrives in Japan today, offering many of the same demos found in North America. Bit.Trip Beat and NyxQuest are out, and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is in. Oddly, the Japanese site for the demo program mentions a January 31 end date, which the North American page doesn't. We don't know if that's the end of the whole demo thing or just the expiration date for this set of demos. Also on the Wii today in Japan: two Namco arcade games which are personal favorites: free-scrolling shooter Bosconian (with fantastic "ALART" voice samples), and Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani's weird Libble Rabble. Genterprise continues its budget series on DSiWare, with a top-down racer and a VR-looking action game: Bosconian (Arcade, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Libble Rabble (Arcade, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) G.G. Series Tetsubou (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) G.G. Series Drift Circuit (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Art Academy (First and Second Semester) (DSiWare, 1 player, 800 DSi Points each) Demos: Pokemon Rumble, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord & World of Goo
