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Wii U Virtual Console games added to Club Nintendo Rewards
This month's Club Nintendo Rewards lineup offers up Wii U Virtual Console games for the first time, sunsetting the service's Nintendo Wii offerings in favor of Nintendo's latest console. This month's selection includes the classic NES Joust-alike Balloon Fight and notoriously difficult Japanese import Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels. The Wii U versions of these games offer additional features not found in their previous Wii Virtual Console releases, adding savestate support and configurable controls. Digital copies of all featured games can be purchased with Club Nintendo coins, which members earn by registering 3DS, Wii and Wii U software. The Lost Levels is available for 150 Club Nintendo coins, while Balloon Fight can be redeemed for 200 coins. Also up for grabs this month are the 3DS Virtual Console version of Mario's Picross (100 coins) and the 3DSWare tower defense game Starship Defense (150 coins). [Update: Players report that Club Nintendo is actually offering the Wii version of Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels, despite what the Rewards page claims. Take note before spending your coins.]
Wii U Virtual Console launch: Punch Out, Excitebike, F-Zero, 5 more
The Wii U Virtual Console launch list is slim and trim, largely mirroring the initial list of games we got earlier this month: Balloon Fight, Donkey Kong Jr., Excitebike, Ice Climbers, Kirby's Adventure, Punch Out, F-Zero and Super Mario World. A handful of these games were already available on the Wii U, via the Virtual Console's early preview.If you've forgotten what all of these games look like (it has been a long time, after all), check out some screens on the Wii U Facebook page. Virtual Console is scheduled to launch this week.
Nintendo reveals exact dates for Wii U Virtual Console Trial Campaign games
Nintendo's celebration of the Famicom's 30th birthday – the Wii U Virtual Console Trial Campaign – kicked off last week with the release of Balloon Fight on the Wii U eShop. Each month, Nintendo will release a classic game at a special $.30 price, for 30 days until the next eligible game debuts. Today, Nintendo released the schedule for the discount promotion: February 20: F-Zero (SNES) March 20: Punch-Out!!! Featuring Mr. Dream (NES) April 17: Kirby's Adventure (NES) May 15: Super Metroid (SNES) June 12: Yoshi (NES) July 15: Donkey Kong (NES)The Virtual Console doesn't officially launch on the Wii U until this spring, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed during the latest Nintendo Direct event last week. Despite that, Balloon Fight as well as several other games can be acquired through the Wii U eShop.
Wii U Virtual Console saves incompatible with Wii saves
When you buy the Wii U version of a Virtual Console game – currently, Balloon Fight is the only one available – you get a new version of that game. That means GamePad controls, access to a Miiverse community, and the great customization options afforded to Wii U VC games.It also means your old Wii saves are incompatible. Nintendo told Kotaku that when you transfer your games from Wii to Wii U, then update to the new Wii U version of the game, you won't be able to use your save file on the Wii U version. For Balloon Fight, that's not such a big deal, but it's important you're aware of that before you try to pick back up in a longer game.
Wii U Virtual Console features fully customizable controls
Though the Wii U's Virtual Console is far from perfect, the implementation of the actual games is nicely dense with features. I just downloaded Balloon Fight, and found a surprising amount of control customization available to me.By tapping the touch screen (ZL+ZR also worked), you can access the Virtual Console menu, which allows you to create a restore point, reset the game, or change controls. From there, you can alter the individual button mapping for any controller you have plugged in: I tried a GamePad, Wiimote, Wii U Pro Controller, and Wii Classic Controller, and each let me set the function of every button on the device. The GamePad, Wiimote, and Classic Controller all served as the player 1 controls, and the Pro Controller defaulted to player 2.I hastily snapped photos of all the menus, which you can see in our gallery to find out just what 30 cents gets you.%Gallery-177046%
Nintendo Land features Balloon Fight-inspired game
"Balloon Trip Breeze," one of the "attractions" in the Wii U minigame collection Nintendo Land, is inspired by the side-scrolling "Balloon Trip" adventure found in the NES' Balloon Fight. In Balloon Trip Breeze, players direct a floating balloon rider by swiping with the stylus and tapping to break blocks, to guide him safely through the obstacle-laden airways.Check out a trailer of the crafty-looking minigame on Game Informer's site – and, if the remixed music doesn't quite work for you, enjoy.
Iwata Asks: 25 years with Miyamoto's dev posse
In the most recent edition of Iwata Asks, Nintendo prez Satoru Iwata gathers up Takashi Tezuka and Toshihiko Nakago for a thorough discussion of their time with the company, the many projects they've worked on and their 25-year-long partnership with Shigeru Miyamoto. Let's break it down: Takashi Tezuka and Toshihiko Nakago both started at Nintendo around 1984, helping to shape everything from Balloon Fight to Super Mario Bros. These guys were part of the team that developed Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda -- at the same time. During the 10-page chat, a plethora of interesting tidbits are revealed about some of the game industry's most influential Nintendo titles. Did you know that Zelda was initially designed as a dungeon game without an overworld? Or, how about the revelation that World 1-1 was created last, after the rest of the levels in Super Mario Bros., and designed implicitly to teach the game to non-gamers? The chat even gets into the lurid sleeping arrangements of Miyamota-san and Nakago-san while on business trips for ExciteBike (spoiler: it's not that lurid).
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)
VC Friday: Shooting rubber balloons
At the very least, this is a great week for pricing on the Virtual Console -- all three of the games are near the lower end of the pricing scheme, and for gamers trying to collect 'em all (or at least, as many as they can!), that's usually good news. Don't think that limits the choices, however; this week, you can choose your poison -- puzzle, shooter, or ... uh ... Balloon Fight. It's fighting. With balloons. Which is, of course, awesome. Adventures of Lolo - NES - 500 Wii points Balloon Fight - NES - 500 Wii points Dead Moon - TurboGrafx - 600 Wii points
