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After Burner 2 leads Sega's second set of 3DS classics next year
Sega announced plans to re-release five games from its catalog on 3DS in 2015, the publisher announced today. The next set of "3D Classics" from Sega will reach North America and Europe next year, starting with After Burner 2 in early 2015. Sega plans to issue one game every month from that point on, each priced at $5.99 (£4.49 / €4.99) on Nintendo's 3DS eShop. Though it did not list the order in which the games will appear on the eShop, the other four games getting the 3D relaunch treatment are Fantasy Zone, Fantasy Zone 2, OutRun and Thunder Blade. The first set of 3D Classics launched in late November 2013 and included games like Sonic the Hedgehog, Altered Beast, Ecco the Dolphin and Shinobi 3. Games in the 3D Classic catalog such as Space Harrier feature additional game settings that allow players to optimize the difficulty, number of lives and other bonus functions, improving on the original games. [Image: Sega]
VC in Brief: Fantasy Zone II (Sega Master System)
Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (Sega Master System, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)We say: Shmup and Sega fanboys will gobble this up This week, we've got classic shmup Fantasy Zone II on the Virtual Console. And, just like the first game, it's a whole bunch of colorful fun. Featuring infectious music, pleasant locales, and plenty of coins to collect, it's a solid choice for someone looking for a shmup that isn't Gradius. Every week, we like to check out what's new on the Virtual Console. We offer these videos as a sort of taste to help you decide whether or not you would want the game in question. We also toss in our own two cents because we're pushy jerks.
NintendoWare Weekly: Water Warfare in for a Reel Fishing Challenge
It wouldn't be Monday without new games to download across Nintendo platforms. This week's highlight is definitely Hudson's first-person soaker, Water Warfare. It's a neat concept, but we really think Hudson could've spent some time tightening up the graphics on level three.%Gallery-48416%
VC Friday: Travel from Rainbow Islands to Fantasy Zone
If we really stretch, we can see a bit of a theme in this week's PAL downloadable releases. Both Fantasy Zone II and Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure are classic franchises known for being super-cute and brightly colored, and both titles feature locations (Islands, Zone) described by very cheery, but intangible, visions (rainbows, fantasies). We said it was a stretch. Okay, here's another, less tenuous connection: both series are totally great.There's also one of those Master of Illusion/Magic Made Fun tricks this week. Fantasy Zone II (Sega Master System, 1player, 500 Wii Points) Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! (WiiWare, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) A Little Bit of ... Magic Made Fun: Deep Psyche (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) %Gallery-46292%
VC Tuesday: Fantasy Zone mark 2: Zoids of Opa Opa
We really can't say that this week's Japanese VC lineup is awesome in comparison to North America's, though it does outnumber our single release. Too bad for the Zoids game that we got Castlevania III! Zoids aside, even if the releases aren't Grant Danasty-level cool, they're pretty cool, featuring two side-scrolling shmups in addition to the Zoids strategy game. Fantasy Zone II is the console-only sequel to the original cute-em-up, Fantasy Zone, featuring more of the series' sort of spacey garden take on Defender. If you'd like to try it, Sega produced a System 16-esque remake for the PS2 Fantasy Zone Complete Collection, and distributed a free PC demo!Spriggan mark 2 is a rare side-scrolling shooter from Compile, who made Aleste and MUSHA and Blazing Lazers and lots of other wonderful shooters. Zoids Mokushiroku (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) Fantasy Zone II: Tears of Opa Opa (Master System, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Spriggan mark 2 (PC Engine, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Two fairly unexciting WiiWare releases join the three VC games. Hudson's SameGame Wii is a new version of the ancient, and frequently cloned, puzzle game, which nerds of a certain vintage will recognize as Sega Swirl. Sugusuro Wii is a detailed simulation of two slot machines, with performance graphs. Woo. Samegame Wii (1-4 players, 500 Wii Points) Sugusuro Duo New Pulsar R & V (1 player, 1,000 Wii Points)
Super Smash Bros. leads January VC lineup in Japan
Nintendo of Japan has announced their plans for the next month's Virtual Console games, and, for once, the list includes a Nintendo 64 title. Super Smash Bros. is headed to the Japanese VC in January. Pokémon Snap came out in the US within a week of the Japanese release last year, so maybe this year's big winter N64 game will follow suit. Nintendo has lovingly appended an extra 200 points to the normal cost of a Nintendo 64 game for this release.Super Smash Bros. is likely to be the only thing anyone reading this will care about, given the combined Brawl obsession of the Wii audience and the first-party-franchise domination of VC sales, but we've got the whole (rather small) lineup for January after the break just because.
