Several people were disappointed Nintendo of Europe didn't start off the latest Hanabi Festival with a certain vampire-slaying game last week, but there's no need to complain any more - It's out now! It brings with it a rather tedious little NES import, which might also mean this is already the final week of the Festival, as there are no other imports on the schedule. Aside from a wacky Nintendo-published game, DSiWare doesn't really get anything truly interesting with its five games, while WiiWare's sole release can be described as nothing more than "unique."
The Hanabi Festival possibly concludes with Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, which was originally released for the Turbo-CD, in Japan only. Aside from a SNES "port," which turned out to be an almost completely different game, it was never released elsewhere until a PSP remake came along in 2007. Japan then also got the original game on Virtual Console the next year, and since then it's been a very long wait, which is now thankfully finally over. The game ditches most of the additions of Super Castlevania IV, such as whipping in 8 directions, to go back to the way the original NES trilogy played - So you can expect another hard journey through Dracula's castle. It's one well worth playing, though, because it's easily among the best of the "Classicvania" games, as our review will tell you.
The game accompanying it is one to stay far away from, however. Milon's Secret Castle been available in other regions since 2007, and there's a reason you don't hear anyone talk about it - It's a famously frustrating game. The castle definitely lives up to its name, because it's filled with secrets, most of which you HAVE to find to beat the game, as well! It'd be fine if there were any hints as to their locations, but there aren't, so the only way you're going to make it to the end is by literally attacking every single block in sight hoping to uncover something. Add to this the game's extreme difficulty, sloppy controls and annoying music and sound effects and the only real thing it's useful for is gifting to people you hate. You can read our almost 3-year old thoughts (!) here.
The only new WiiWare release is an interesting one, to say the least. In Muscle March, you play as one of several muscle-bound men, a woman or a polar bear, as you chase several thieves trying to make off with your precious protein powder. As you chase them through the game's locales, they'll bust through several walls while posing. The gameplay consists of nothing more than matching these poses in order to make it through the walls unharmed. The game's looks are certainly unique, but the gameplay is really quite shallow, and it ultimately offers nothing special. Previously thought to be 800 points rather than 500, thankfully, Namco Bandai has decided to have mercy on us and has stuck with the cheap North American price.
DSiWare gets the lion's share of releases again, with another five. Leading the bunch is Photo Dojo, a Nintendo-published fighting game, in which you can take pictures of yourself, friends, pets and other things and then have them fight each other in your living room, backyard, or anything else you can snap a photo of. With such a ridiculous concept and the fact it's only 200 DSi Points, we don't think you can do much wrong in downloading it. We'll review it soon, but in the meantime, you can read Sean's first impressions of the Japanese release.
Libera Wing is another tower defense title. Like Starship Patrol before it, it seems a bit more interactive than the usual games in the genre - You can use items, abilities and other things to help out, and as such everything doesn't just come down to your tower placement. It costs 800 DSi Points, and we'll review it soon.
Car Jack Streets is, at first sight, pretty much a downloadable Grand Theft Auto game. You drive around the city, stealing different cars if you wish, doing tasks for various people in order to earn money. These can range from killing certain people to driving someone to where they need to be, but the ultimate goal is quite simply to earn enough cash to pay off your debt. Although noticeably smaller than even the first, 2D GTA game, we thought it was still quite competent and worth a download if you enjoy the aforementioned other series. It costs 800 DSi Points.
The last two releases are oddballs. Flips: The Enchanted Wood is the third story from EA's retail DS story collection to be available, and is very likely to be just like the previous two in terms of "gameplay". But Flashlight is perhaps the weirdest thing on the service so far - It seems to be exactly what it says on the tin, allowing you to use your DSi as one of several types of flashlights. It already has a backlight of its own, surely you can get by with that? We'll review both of these soon. They cost 500 and 200 DSi Points, respectively.
And so it's likely another Hanabi Festival has ended, after only two weeks this time! Which games would you like to see the next time?
Comments 51
Can't wait to see how Libera Wing turns out, and I know Dojo will be great. Too bad about the price hike on MM though! And Flashlight just seems lol-worthy.
Congratulations, Europe with Akumajou Dracula X Chi no Rondo.
Congrats EU on the awesome week. Epic
minus flashlight of course......
Congratulations Europe for getting Trans-Continental Garbage on the VC.
Photo Dojo release = jealousy
Emm guys, Muscle March cost 500 points on the Australian Shop at least.
"Trans-Contenental Garbage" - Best video game insult I've heard in a long time
Muscles is 500. Wooh!
Curious to know how many blocks Flashlight takes up.
Can anybody fill me in?
Wonder what Hanabi will bring next week...
I wonder how many people I can trick into thinking that Flashlight is actually Virtual Console.
Already downloaded Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. I'm still not sure what to think about Muscle March, I don't think it's anything for me.
about time europe got castlevania
enjoy
VC love.
And good love at that. Rondo of Blood is no small portion of awesomeness.
Also, can't wait for the review of Flashlight. I already got the scoop that IGN is writing a 4 pager on that, and it's probably gonna be a 9/10. Man, I'm just sucking up the details for this thing.
Richter Belmont and Maria Renard make a good team (even though I think Richter is better).
They seriously released Flashlight?
Yep
I see the point in putting a flashlight on a cell phone for free, but for 2 dollars on a DS which you probably do not have with you at all times of the day, that is just crazy. "Hey turn on the light so I can get my DS to use it as a flashlight."
Awwwww! Europe is SO lucky to have gotten Photo Dojo! I'm sort of happy though because i was very close to just buying it on my Japanese systme but now that it seems near for the US, i'll wait and save 2 bucks Overall very good week for you guys!
NZ/AUS only got 2 DSiware releases! >
At least we get Photo Dojo.
great week both castlevania and muscle march
Yea why do we keep missing out, not fair!
It's a shame they didn't translate it. What Maria says to Dracula at the end is quite funny.
Awesome week for you guys. Here's hoping for a NA release of Libera Wing on Monday!
@starboy91
@cheapogamer4life
Thank you!!! Rondo is finally here (and bought Ironclad too as it's payday
Ironclad = pretty good so far
Awesome dsiware week!
Aw, Milon isn't that bad. You just have to know what you're going to (that is, trial and error, dying a lot, and figuring out how to do stuff without too high a risk of dying again by even more trial and error).
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood ==> Best Friday in 2010 so far! Virtual Console rules! It would be a perfect release if the other game is better.
PS: Next week Super Mario Kart please!
@Guybrush_Threepwood
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood ==> Best Friday in 2010 so far! Virtual Console rules! It would be a perfect release if the other game is better.
PS: Next week Super Mario Kart please!
Das stimmt!
You just have to know what you're going to (that is, trial and error, dying a lot, and figuring out how to do stuff without too high a risk of dying again by even more trial and error).
That doesn't really sound like fun though. Its just a tedious waste of time. I have better things to do.
Muscle March for me
I love DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure (which I have on VC) [it's my second top favorite video game of all time ], and having finished it five or six times makes me want to give Milon's Secret Castle (I have the cart) another chance.
Photo Dojo is completely bonkers - creating your own fighter using pictures of yourself and your own voice... if you hear someone's DSi XL blasting out "Oww me fingers!", then you'll know I'm playing Photo Dojo
Libera Wing Site and videos here :-
http://www.pixelfederation.sk/liberawing/
I hope this isn't the last week of the hanabi festival, it's normally 4 weeks with 8 games America recently got final fantasy, final fantasy 4 and princess tomato in the salad kingdom yet they weren't in our hanabi festival and ogre battle 64 is OFLC rated so they could released that too.
Massive fan of the Castlevania series but never played Rondo! Just one thing, the game has a built-in save option doesn't it? Could someone just confirm this for me.
Long time no see, Giggsy.
Yep, the game can save automatically, Akumajou Dracula X Chi no Rondo. Just make sure you go back to the Wii Menu before turning the Wii off.
Thanks for that @Starboy91 . Yeah it's been a while haha, I should be around more often from now on. Right, anyway I'm off to play Rondo!
Wow Photo Dojo and only 200 points!! Nice.
omg flashlight was not a joke?
im puzzled.
photo dojo ftw, that means we should get it next monday, and i will be able to use these leftover 200 points that are asking to be used.
YAY! Good releases for Europe again!
I must say Japan has also been VERY lucky...
@Bass X0: "That doesn't really sound like fun though. Its just a tedious waste of time. I have better things to do."
Well, with the first Zelda game, you'll have to spend a lot of time and bomb money walking around discovering secret caves by trial and error, and you don't see people calling that game an abomination. Milon requires far less investment of time spent simply trying random stuff until you find what you need.
One wiiware game only is a bit lame considering how much we have to catch up on. Photo Dojo insta-download
I find Rondo of Blood a tad overrated, but that's mainly because I've played the superior PSP remake, Dracula X Chronicles. Still, I gladly plopped down my 9 bucks to DL it on the VC this wekk. In my mind, supporting import releases like that means we'll get stuff like Ufouria and Gimmick someday - games I believe you European Nintendo fans actually got back in the day.
Hey, you got dozens of games Europeans would've killed for back in the day. No getting jealous.
We are still playing catch up to the USA, we need Super Mario Kart not good enough NoE imo!
I haven't played Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, but I looked up that the first stage of this game takes place in Aljiba (a town said to be in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest).
@Chibi Link: Be glad you guys missed Flashlight because no one's gonna buy it anyway.
Interesting footage of a game called Flashlight, there, Sylver.
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