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VC Tuesday: Things of Thunder
Two games this week involve things being thundery, at least in terms of title. Of course, neither Gate of Thunder nor Rolling Thunder 2 has much to do with actual thunder -- Rolling Thunder 2 is about dudes shooting guns at each other, and Gate of Thunder is about spaceships shooting space guns at each other. Pokémon Snap we've already discussed. It's really easy, but surprisingly fun for a Nintendo 64 game Pokémon spinoff game, and with added functionality that will let you bug the hell out of your Wii friends with annoying spam.What should have been the biggest news on the list -- a Kunio game -- is instead not. When Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari came out, we feared we were mistaken and that it was actually Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku Daiundokai, a street-Olympics game that predated the game known as Crash 'n the Boys Street Challenge. Well, this week, it actually is Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku Daiundokai. So, uh, yeah. Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku Daiundokai (Famicom, 1-4 players, 500 Wii Points) Pokemon Snap (Nintendo 64, 1 player, 1000 Wii Points) Rolling Thunder 2 (Mega Drive, 1-2 players, 600 Wii Points) Gate of Thunder (PC Engine Super CD-ROM, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)
VC Friday: Time for a quest
We're going to have to take a break for this week's European Virtual Console update for a little media bias. Look, it's Castlevania. Some things are just sacred, or near enough to it to require a call to action. Go forth, gamers, and take up Simon's Quest. Vanquish evil. It'll make you feel good about yourself.Oh, there are other games as well, if you're that sort of person, including the first TurboDuo title released. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest -- NES -- 500 Wii points Gate of Thunder -- TurboDuo -- 800 Wii points World Heroes -- NeoGeo -- 900 Wii points
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]
VC Monday Madness: Gate of Thunder heralds a new system
Not only do we get our first originally-CD-based game on the Virtual Console, but Hudson skipped ahead and went straight to the more powerful version of their Turbografx-16 CD platform, the TurboDuo (for which Gate of Thunder was a pack-in). And by all accounts, Gate of Thunder is among the best of the Turbo's many shooters. In fact, reviewer Malc said "Gate of Thunder is living proof that there's such a thing as a perfect shmup." So it's got historical significance and, apparently, awesomeness going for it.If you're not up for another shmup, there's also Ninja Gaiden II, which is a whole lot like the first one (which is not at all a bad thing) except you can get two shadow-clone Ryus to run around behind you like in Ninja Spirit. Or Metal Marines, which is a rarity-- a turn-based strategy game for the SNES. Overall, this is a very nice VC week-- at least all of the games should display correctly. Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (NES, 1player, 500 Wii Points) Metal Marines (Super NES, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Gate of Thunder (TurboDuo, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)
