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Game Gear emulation outclasses the other 3DS Virtual Console games
With the arrival of a new system on the 3DS Virtual Console -- the Sega Game Gear -- comes a new hardware emulator. And the one Sega and developer M2 put together is really, really nice! Nicer than I'm used to for Virtual Console games, honestly, and including a full suite of tweaks and features.Do you want to play your game inside a tiny 3D Game Gear? You can do that. Would you like said Game Gear to be a rare limited-edition color variant? You can totally do that too. Excited by the application of more than minimal effort toward the presentation of retro games, I recorded this quick video.Though I didn't bring it up here, there's also a "performance" option that, I believe, allows for system-accurate slowdown (or lack thereof). I didn't see any difference with Sonic, so it wasn't going to make for great video. Sonic arrives tomorrow on the 3DS eShop, along with Shinobi and Dragon Crystal.
NintendoWare Weekly: Punch-Out!!, King of Fighters '97
We have a coveted double Virtual Console event today, in which emulated retro games appear on both 3DS and Wii. On 3DS, you can experience the thrill of being beaten severely by enormous people in Punch-Out!! And on Wii ... pretty much the same thing (beatings, enormous humans) from a different perspective in King of Fighters '97.DSiWare now features Zuma's Revenge, just the latest in PopCap's widespread assault on every platform ever.
3DS eShop releases: Punch-Out!! on March 8, Game Gear games on March 15, more
Nintendo decided to let us all in on what's happening on the eShop in the next couple of months, and we couldn't be happier with the advance notice. This Thursday, 3DS owners (even non-Ambassadors) can buy the NES Punch-Out!! -- the Mr. Dream version, of course. It'll be followed a week later by a trio of Sega Game Gear games, including Shinobi, Sonic Triple Trouble, and Dragon Crystal.There's also new new stuff coming to eShop. Ketzal's Corridors, coming "soon," seems to be the game known in Japan as Speedthru, a 3D puzzle game like the Wii's ThruSpace -- in which players rotate Tetris-like shapes to go through oncoming walls. In April, the DS homebrew drawing app Colors! becomes a for-real, official thing on 3DS as Colors! 3D. Other releases include Fun! Fun! Minigolf Touch! and a demo for Rhythm Thief. Find the full schedule after the break.
Trade Club Nintendo Coins for Cubello or Game Boy Virtual Console games this month
With the beginning of a new month comes a new selection of downloadable Club Nintendo rewards. This month, you can trade your hard-earned Club Nintendo Coins (earned by registering purchased games) for Art Style: Cubello on WiiWare, or the Game Boy games Mario's Picross and Radar Mission on 3DS eShop. They cost 100 Coins each.As with previous monthly selections, these are all games that you can buy through the Wii Shop or 3DS eShop with real money. You simply have the additional temporary option of using your Club Nintendo stash.
NintendoWare Weekly: Crush3D demo, Metroid
Nintendo's actually doing a pretty good job with these 3DS demos! Today on the eShop, you'll be able to get a sample of the upcoming puzzle adventure Crush3D. You know, in case our preview wasn't quite vividly descriptive enough to paint an accurate picture in your brain.If you missed the Ambassador Program, you can now buy the NES classic Metroid on 3DS as well.
Metroid coming to Japan's 3DS eShop on Feb. 29
Japan's 3DS eShop is getting the NES classic, Metroid, next week on February 29. Metroid is one of many free NES titles available to qualifying 3DS Ambassador Program participants (i.e. early 3DS adopters). Everyone else will have to hand over ¥500 ($6) to navigate the deadly wilds of the planet Zebes once again.
Game Gear titles head to 3DS on March 14 for ¥300 apiece
March 14 is the big day for Game Gear on Virtual Console, with a trio of titles headed to Japanese 3DS owners, Nintendo announced this morning. Unsurprisingly, Sega leads the lineup with three classics: Sonic (Sonic and Tails 2), Shinobi (GG Shinobi), and Dragon Crystal. The titles will cost ¥300 ($3.75) apiece, and no word was given as to when they'd head Stateside.Of course, Sonic Triple Trouble and Shinobi were rated by the ESRB for 3DS back in February, and we were last told that Game Gear (as well as TurboGrafx-16) games would arrive on the handheld's Virtual Console store in "late May." So, uh, they're coming to North America, just not quite yet. We'll also venture a wild guess that Dragon Crystal will end up in the US as well. Sure, why not?
NintendoWare Weekly: Metal Gear Solid 3D demo, Strider
The Metal Gear Solid 3D demo arrives today, accompanied by relatively big news on the Virtual Console! The first NES Ambassador game for 3DS is now available for purchase by non-Ambassadors! Super Mario Bros. is on the eShop now for five bucks. And if you already have it through the Ambassador Program, you can get a free update to add multiplayer and save states!There's also news for the Wii's Virtual Console: the Genesis version of Strider can be purchased today. We hadn't heard about a Genesis VC game in a while, so we looked into it. As far as we can tell, this is the first Genesis game on Wii in North America since Sonic & Knuckles, on February 15, 2010. It's been two years and a day since the last Genesis VC release.In fact, this appears to be the first Wii Virtual Console release of any kind since The Ignition Factor six months ago. Enjoy it! This doesn't happen very often.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES) pulled from Virtual Console
You waited too long. It was only a couple bucks, but you thought, "I have time. It'll always be there. I'll get to it eventually." But now you can't download Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the Virtual Console and your world is destroyed.Honestly, it was a weird goal to have, but we didn't want to say anything. In each and every region, it seems the turtles have retreated from the Virtual Console. Nintendo World Report reports Konami cited an "expired license," the same issue that claimed TMNT Turtles in Time Re-Shelled.There's no word on whether the turtles will return to the surface any time soon, so we've contacted Konami for more.
NintendoWare Weekly: BurgerTime World Tour, Maru's Mission
The XBLA/PSN reimagining of BurgerTime needed a little more time on the grill before hitting WiiWare, but now MonkeyPaw Games is ready to serve BurgerTime World Tour to a hungry audience on a plastic tray all right these food metaphors are falling apart. We'll have to warn you about this week's 3DS eShop game, lest you get unreasonably excited. Maru's Mission is not about Maru the cat. It is a cute-looking ninja action game, though. But not about Maru. Sorry!%Gallery-146918%
ESRB rates Game Gear games for 3DS
Despite using more electricity than a Lady Gaga performance and being the size of a small cathedral, the Game Gear was a pioneering handheld system than did many things better than its contemporaries. Twenty-two years later, the heart and soul of Sega's plucky little handheld lives on in the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.Shinobi and Sonic Triple Trouble have both been rated by the ESRB for the 3DS, which indicates that the ports are close to, if not entirely ready for release. If you had told us 22 years ago that someday we'd be playing Sega games on a Nintendo handheld, we'd have pushed you off the monkey bars.
Club Nintendo swaps downloadable games, adds Mario Party 2, Art Academy
With a new month comes a new selection of downloadable games for which you can exchange your Club Nintendo Coins. The new lineup is half as varied as those of previous months, offering only one DSiWare download and one Wii Virtual Console game.For 150 Coins each, you can choose Art Academy: First Semester for DSiWare (but only available on 3DS through this offer) or Mario Party 2 for Wii. If you get that one, use the money you saved by buying it with Club Nintendo money to buy some extra controllers, either for friends or to replace the ones ruined by Mario Party.For fans of physical, tangible goods, there's also this new 3DS card case. It holds 18 games and includes four "double-sided card covers." And it looks really nice.
Rad: Bionic Commando swings to 3DS eShop this week
Surprise! The 3DS eShop is getting not-terrible! The original downloadable games are starting to stack up (Pushmo, Mighty Switch Force), and the Virtual Console is home to a lot of interesting games -- like, for example, the Game Boy version of Bionic Commando, coming out December 29 in both North America and Europe. We aren't sure how it's able to make it to the shop when the NES Bionic Commando never could. That's the same day North America gets VVVVVV. See what we mean about the eShop no longer being a terrible destination for games?
Legend of Zelda is Japan's first NES release for 3DS Virtual Console, Ambassadors get free update
Quietly, and very much in Japanese, Nintendo released the original NES game, The Legend of Zelda, on its eShop Virtual Console section. Zelda marks the first of the 10 NES "Ambassador Program" games to arrive on the eShop for sale, replete with save states and a price tag: ¥500 (approximately $6). Those of you who already have the game downloaded via Nintendo's early adopter Ambassador Program are able to snag the updated VC version of the game for free as well. And for those of you who really wanted a virtual copy of the game's instruction manual, Nintendo's got that covered as well! Hot dog!
'Prince of Persia' for Wii and 3DS, 'Rayman' for 3DS rated
Ratings have popped up in Australia for 3DS games called simply "Rayman" and "Prince of Persia," along with a Wii "Prince of Persia." Ubisoft has done plenty with both of these franchises, ensuring that we can't know for sure exactly what's been revealed here. The simplest explanation is that these listings are all for Virtual Console downloads. Prince of Persia was released on both the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, making it eligible for the 3DS Virtual Console -- and it was made for almost all of the platforms supported by the Wii Virtual Console. In addition, a game called "Rayman" was released on Game Boy Color, which was a combination of elements from Rayman 1 and 2 -- and thus providing an example of why we'd have a hard time knowing what the plain "Rayman" title referred to. [Image: GameFAQs]
Now you can exchange Club Nintendo Coins for games
If your home is already full to bursting with Mario paraphernalia, you'll be delighted to learn that you can exchange your Club Nintendo Coins for downloadable games. Nintendo is featuring a rotating selection of WiiWare, Virtual Console, DSiWare, and eShop downloads offered on the North American Club Nintendo site. Through January 10, your choices include Super Mario Kart (100 Coins), 3D Classics: Xevious (100 Coins), Fluidity (150 Coins), and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again (150 Coins). In a way, this is really cheap as it trades illusory fun money for games -- but in another way, it's outrageously expensive as said fun money is only acquired through the for-real purchase of multiple games. Those of you with more space for swag have new reward options as well: three different, adorable Mario notebooks, and a Zelda poster set.
Virtual Console's classic JRPGs: What holds up?
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. Last week, we dug into the PlayStation Network's library of old-school JRPGs, suffering through blocky graphics and annoying voice acting in a valiant effort to figure out what games are still worth playing in 2011. This week, we attack the Wii's Virtual Console. Granted, Nintendo hates American JRPG fans, as evidenced by the publisher's refusal to localize critically acclaimed games like Xenoblade, but its Wii Shop Channel has a surprisingly robust selection of classics, mostly thanks to the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. We had it good during the 16-bit era. Real good. Like last time, I'll be spending 30-60 minutes with each JRPG -- certainly not enough time to properly review a game, but enough to get a feel for whether it holds up today, and how it compares to my memories of it. (I've played each game to completion at various points over the past two decades. Some of them multiple times.) Let's roll.
NintendoWare Weekly: Kirby's Adventure
Nintendo delivers another kind of remastered classic, with 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure. It's much less "remastered" looking than earlier 3D Classics -- it's windowed, and has all the UI on the top screen with the gameplay. On the other hand: Kirby's Adventure! This week, WiiWare offers Pinocchio-themed jigsaw puzzles, and DSiWare offers a Chinese language learning game and a thrilling, chilling game about being stuck in a convenience store. Do you dare enter the convenience store of mystery?%Gallery-139731%
Super Street Fighter II coming to Virtual Console with online multiplayer
Details are slim at this point, but Capcom Unity announced yesterday that the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive version of Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers will be coming to Nintendo's Virtual Console ecosystem sometime in the future. No word on pricing or availability, but we do know that the port will feature online play, which, believe it or not, actually existed in the original release in the form of XBAND compatibility. If you're not old enough to remember XBAND, you're probably not old enough to be excited about one of the many variants of Street Fighter 2 being re-released. If you are old enough to remember XBAND, we hope you can find time between refinancing your mortgage and picking the kids up from band practice to go a few rounds.
NintendoWare Weekly: Catrap, 101-in-1
Deceptively big numbers abound (as big numbers tend to do) on Nintendo's download services this week. 101-in-1 Explosive Megamix collects entirely too many games in a single pack on WiiWare, and 1001 Blockbusters provides a similarly excessive number of block-breaking levels on DSiWare. On 3DS, there's an obscure, but interesting Game Boy puzzle called Catrap, which is actually about puzzles that you can accidentally trap yourself in -- and not rapping cats. If you're looking for something more passive to do with your 3DS, there's a new "Night of the Living Carrots" short starring characters from Monsters vs. Aliens on the Nintendo Video service.%Gallery-136465%