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Gunstar, Mean Bean, and 2 more invade VC Mondays
Nintendo has announced the four new titles coming to the Virtual Console today. As predicted, TurboGrafx-16's Alien Crush makes the list, although the also-mentioned Dungeon Explorer is currently MIA. The other three titles are Gunstar Heroes, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (both Genesis) and Ice Hockey (NES), which were all featured on the launch list for the US Virtual Console.Also on the launch list, but still absent, are Baseball, Tennis, Urban Champion (all NES), Space Harrier II and Toe Jam & Earl (both Genesis). As noted by Joystiq tipster Eric B., Sega lists Space Harrier II landing next Monday (December 18) and Toe Jam & Earl arriving Christmas Day. Assuming Dungeon Explorer makes the list by 2006 -- it, too, was on the list -- that's at least six more titles we can expect before the New Year. With any luck, we'll also see a few better titles purported by Nintendo -- that is, unless it interferes with Reggie's strategies.The four new VC titles today will be added at 12:00pm EST. Ice Hockey is 500 points, Alien Crush 600, and both Genesis titles are 800 points apiece.Keep up on: Virtual Console Mondays[Thanks, ElChibo and Shadow Hog]
Super Star Soldier limps onto Wii Virtual Console
It's time for fun with Virtual Console math. OK, so a few weeks ago Nintendo promised 30 games would be available for the classic gaming download service by the end of the year. Fourteen of those games premiered on the service at launch (or just after), leaving 16 more to be released in the remainder of 2006. With Nintendo set to premiere new VC content on Mondays and only five more Mondays in 2006 (including today) we could reasonably expect three or four virtual console games each week, right?Apparently not. With less than two hours remaining in Monday on the East coast, the Wii Shop Channel is only showing one new game today: TurboGrafx-16 vertical shooter Super Star Soldier.We suppose its Nintendo's prerogative to slow-play its 2006 Virtual Console hand like this, but we're a little frustrated that we still have to wait for promised classics like ToeJam and Earl and Ecco the Dolphin. It shouldn't take much work on Nintendo's part to upload these decades-old ROMs to their servers -- perhaps the slow release is a way to offer a respite to Nintendo download servers that reportedly slowed to a crawl shortly after launch.Anyway, the game is up and available for 600 points, so go and buy if you're into the whole classic shmup thin.[Update: Fixed some math errors in paragraph 1]
Wii impressions: Virtual Console
The classic controller is a good fit, albeit unfamiliar, for a gamepad that supports NES, SNES, N64, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx 16. Part of the sacrifice though, is that the classic controller can't offer an authentic retro experience and, of course, leaves us wondering, why bother? It's no secret that all of these platforms and their games are readily available in emulated formats for computers and other devices. And it's easy enough to invest in a gamepad that's as generic as Nintendo's classic controller. For Virtual Console to succeed, it's got to be clean, easy, and cheap. That said, the E3 Virtual Console demo featured an elegant interface (the downloading process was not shown) and superb emulation software. The demo featured a sampling of beloved launch titles, including Super Mario Bros. (NES), Super Mario World (SNES), Super Mario 64 (N64), Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis), and Bonk's Adventure (TurboGrafx 16).
