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New Nintendo eShop releases: Shovel Knight, Castlevania 3
The gardening tool-wielding Shovel Knight makes his debut on Nintendo platforms this week, joining Konami's NES classic Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Virtual Console. Who would win in a fight, you think -- Shovel Knight or Trevor Belmont? I'm guessing that a shovel would do a lot more damage to a leather-clad vampire hunter than a bullwhip would do to a suit of armor, so we'll give this round to Shovel Knight. Other Wii U highlights this week include the 3D Arkanoid-like Brick Breaker 3D and the intriguingly-named Monkey Pirates. 3DS owners get a broader selection of choices with games like Skypeace, Toy Stunt Bike, and Mysterious Stars: The Samurai. This week's update also gives eShop users the chance to save some cash with price drops for Code of Princess, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked, Urban Trial Freestyle, Darksiders 2, and a collection of Ubisoft-published games. You can read more about this week's eShop releases here.
VC/WiiWare Tuesday: Phantasy World of Goo
Today would be an incredible day on the Japanese Wii Shop even if World of Goo weren't debuting. In addition to one of the best games on Wii, the Virtual Console is updated with four high-quality titles. In fact, Phantasy Star alone would ensure that today was a winner. It's hard to imagine a better deal than Phantasy Star for just 600 Wii Points. Other VC games available in Japan today include Castlevania 3 (awesome), the PC Engine version of the NES Ninja Gaiden (quite the curiosity!) and an arcade rail shooter from Namco Bandai. The other WiiWare game, and basically the only unknown property, is Hajitte! Block Rush, which looks like a radial Breakout in which the paddle is in the middle of the screen. We'd try that!Virtual Console: Akumajou Densetsu (Castlevania 3) (Famicom, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Phantasy Star (Master System, 1 player, 600 Wii Points) Ninja Ryukenden (Ninja Gaiden) (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points) Starblade (Arcade, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) WiiWare: Hajitte! Block Rush (1 player, 500 Wii Points) World of Goo (1-4 players, 1,500 Wii Points)
Wii Warm Up: Dracula's Choice
We got release dates for various Sega games (and a Japanese release date for Muramasa), WiiWare announcements, news of available Rock Band DLC, and more this week, and yet, for us, the best news all week was about something old: the release of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. And now that all three NES Castlevanias (not counting stuff like Konami Wai Wai World or Boku Dracula-kun) are out and you guys bought them all (you bought them all, right?), we can ask you to pick a favorite. Yeah, we're asking you the same thing in the contest post, but that's of all time, and we'd like to exclude the Metroidvanias from consideration. Is it the straightforward, brutally punishing action of Castlevania? The light platforming and completely obtuse puzzle-solving of Simon's Quest? The varying locations and playable characters of Dracula's Curse? Or do you just like whipping Medusa heads in general?
VC Monday Madness: Castlevania III
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)Wii Fanboy says: download it! We love Castlevania. And the release of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse is a welcome trip down memory lane. For the small sum of 500 Wii Points, we'd suggest you take the trip yourself and enjoy some classic Castlevania for the NES. There isn't any other way to enjoy it unless you actually have a working NES and the cartridge (or you want to play it on your PC). Each week, we here at Wii Fanboy like to check out the latest Virtual Console releases in our VC Monday Madness feature, in the hopes that you can make the most sound decision possible regarding purchasing retro titles from the Wii Shop Channel.
Retail and download releases for the week of January 12th
This week, we've got fresh content for the Wii, on WiiWare, through the Virtual Console, and even with a couple of new retail releases. There's plenty to choose from, so stop wasting time here and jump past the break to check out the full list of gaming content available to Wii owners this week.
Castlevania Judgment lineup suffers from Dracula's Curse
Konami's questionable tandem of arm flailing and vampire hunting will be afflicted by Dracula's Curse when Castlevania Judgment ships for the Wii later this month. The company revealed the final three characters set to duke it out in the upcoming fighter, including Castlevania III's diminutive thief, Grant Danasty, and Trevor Belmont's main squeeze, Sypha. The pair will be joined by Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness' Cornell, who in addition to having to deal with the inevitable ups and downs of being a Nintendo 64-era werewolf, also shoulders the dubious distinction of being perhaps the only fighter to see his in-game appearance actually improve.%Gallery-36104%
VC Friday: A huddle of Halloween horrors
With a fresh Halloween upon us, Nintendo has settled on a horror theme for its latest update to the PAL Virtual Console. Nintendo restricting itself in this way could have gone tragically wrong -- they could have given us something terrible like Friday the 13th, for example -- but instead the results are ... really, really good. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse -- NES -- 500 Nintendo Points Devil World -- NES -- 500 Nintendo Points Ghosts 'N Goblins -- NES -- 500 Nintendo Points Normally we'd whoop unashamedly for Ghosts 'N Goblins alone, but Castlevania III, which is yet to be released on the U.S. or Japanese Virtual Consoles? And Devil World, which North America has also been waiting on (for almost a quarter of a century)? Yeah, we'll take those. Watch bone-chilling footage of all three past the break.%Gallery-21879%
Top 5: Castlevania Games
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Top_5_Castlevania_Games'; This week marks the release of the highly anticipated Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Poised to be more than the usual Metroidvania-romp, Ecclesia's glyph system coupled with great diversity in environments and level layout (we're apparently not stuck inside the castle anymore) has all of us whip-enthusiasts drooling with anticipation. To be honest, Konami could slap the word "Castlevania" on a box of assorted animal feces and we'd still pre-order. Here's the part where I'm supposed take a cheap shot at Castlevania Judgment, but admit it: no matter how many times we all spit on the brawler, we never seem to stop checking out movies or screenshots. Castlevania has us whipped; pardon the hideous pun. Assuming I haven't lost all credibility after the Mega Man list, here's another stab at ranking the best of a legendary franchise. Unlike most other Top 5's, this list is not necessarily Nintendo-specific. Take a gander, and try to pretend that you don't know what number one is. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
Castlevania III rated by Aussie OFLC
The Australian OFLC ratings board has given Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse a G rating, which means the title should be on its way to a Virtual Console near you relatively soonish. The circle will finally be complete, as Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, and Super Castlevania IV from the SNES era, are already on the download service.So, those old enough to remember, who was your favorite playable character in the game: Trevor, Sypha Belnades, Grant DaNasty or Alucard?[Via Wii Fanboy, GoNintendo] Gallery: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Castlevania III: Dracula's OFLC rating
Evidently, Konami ill needs logic or sequential order when releasing Castlevania games on the Virtual Console -- which is probably why Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse has only just been rated by Australian regulators at the OFLC.The game, a former star of Virtually Overlooked no less (if you can hear celebratory gunshots being fired into the air, that'll be Alisha), now looks like a certainty to join Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, and Super Castlevania IV on the download service. If you read this, you'll be reminded of why that's very special, fist pump-worthy news indeed.But enough talk. Have at you![Via Go Nintendo]
Virtually Overlooked: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
So far on the Virtual Console in North America, we've got Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, and Super Castlevania IV. Now, these fancy-schmancy Roman numerals may confuse the issue a bit, but it looks like something just might be missing from that list. Upon checking and re-checking, only one conclusion can be reached: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse is, in fact, missing. Okay, it's understood that every classic game can't appear immediately, as that would disrupt Nintendo's releases-every-week mojo, and we're only just now getting excellent titles like River City Ransom. But it almost seems as though someone at Nintendo had all the early NA Castlevania titles pasted to a dartboard, and a few drunken tosses determined which would be released and when. Where's Castlevania III? It's a mystery! You might as well tell us the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, or answer the question of just what a man is.%Gallery-21879%
Virtually Overlooked Week: Alisha's picks
Virtually Overlooked has taken over Wii Fanboy! All this week, members of the staff will be outlining their personal picks for future Virtual Console releases.My path through gaming history is very haphazard and filled with missed turns. Somehow, I managed to skip several really amazing titles that I probably would have played for hours and hours, until they were imprinted in the deeper layers of my brain. I guess I just got really attached to the games that I played and loved, and as a kid with limited resources, I couldn't or wouldn't go hunting for new games. Even so, looking back at the avalanche of titles that shaped my early gaming "career," I can't help but think -- could anyone have played everything? Who were those people, and why wasn't I borrowing all their games?But I didn't miss everything, and the games I played were games I loved. I swear, after I finally put it aside, I could have probably played the original Legend of Zelda using only my toes and a half-working controller. Well, through the Octoroks and Tektites near the beginning screens, at least. Even now, the sight of those guys makes me smile. And did anyone else have one of those awesome Zelda watches? During school hours, those things were a lifesaver. But we've already got the inaugural Zelda on the VC -- so let's look at a few of my loves that are as-yet unavailable.
