Tag: NES - Page 16
News USA VC Update: Castlevania III
Nintendo of America continues their one-VC-game-a-week strategy, releasing just one new VC game once again this week. Thankfully it's yet another good one!
You might remember Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse being released in Europe on Halloween, which was quite obviously a perfect date. Strangely enough it just didn't get released in the US for...
News EU VC Update: Enduro Racer and Donkey Kong 3
Today marks the first time in quite a while that the European VC update doesn't really have anything good - Both new games today are arcade ports, although one of them is actually totally different from the arcade game it's supposed to resemble.
Enduro Racer for the Master System was Sega's attempt at bringing the arcade game with the same name to...
News USA VC Update: StarTropics II
What better way than to close the year with another Nintendo-developed game? Sure, it's just one game yet again, but at least it's another good one.
Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II is, naturally, the sequel to StarTropics. As you might have guessed from the title, the villain from the first game, Zoda, is back - He is trying to steal the Tetrads,...
News EU VC Update: Phantasy Star IV and Mega Man 3
Fear not, European Mega Man fans. You don't have to wait long for Mega Man 3 - It's available now! And while it alone would make for a great update, Sega has decided to give us a special treat as well - One of the best Mega Drive games ever made!
Phantasy Star IV is often considered one of the greatest games ever made for the Mega Drive. It pushes...
News USA VC Update: Mega Man 3
It’s another one game week for the Virtual Console this week, but who can complain when the game is as good as Mega Man 3? Fans of the series often cite the third instalment of the series as being the greatest despite arguments from others who claim the second or even fifth Mega Man game is the best!
Whatever your view you it is hard to deny that...
News EU VC Update: NES Halloween Trio
This week's update falls right on Halloween - Nintendo of Europe would be fools not to take advantage of this! Thankfully they are aware of it - All three games released today have a horror theme.
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse is the final NES installment of the Castlevania series. After the rather mediocre Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Konami...
News USA VC Releases: Super Dodge Ball and Vectorman
Don't just buy Mega Man 9 on WiiWare this week and ignore the Virtual Console - There's two great games up for grabs there as well!
If you've played the excellent River City Ransom, you'll probably think Super Dodge Ball looks strangely familiar. If you do, you're right, because it's another game in the Kunio series, which all share a similar art...
News USA VC Release: Mega Man 2
It's time for another catchup update: Today US Wii owners will be able to download what is almost certainly the most loved Mega Man game ever made: Mega Man 2. European Wii owners already got to rediscover its delights last December, meaning it's been a 9 month wait.
Mega Man 2 expands on the concepts of the first Mega Man - Aside from upping the...
News OFLC Update: Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (NES)
While many of us would probably prefer to see Dracula X: Rondo of Blood appear on the US and European Virtual Console services it’s looking likely that we’ll be treated to one of the game’s prequels first, because the Australian OFLC has recently rated the NES title Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse.
The final installment in the popular NES...
News EU VC Releases: DoReMi Fantasy and Ys Book I & II
Can you believe it? It's already time to say goodbye to the Hanabi Festival, as this is presumably the last week with imports. But it goes out with a bang - Not only are there two more imports available, they're accompanied by two Turbografx games, one of which is spectacular.
First, the new imports: DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure was...
News USA VC Releases: Super Mario RPG and Clu Clu Land
If you're one of those people who, for some reason, didn't care that great games like Ys Book I & II, Samurai Shodown II and Mega Man came out recently, and only care about Nintendo games, maybe you can finally stop complaining this week - There's not one but two Nintendo games available later today.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars...
News EU VC Releases: Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa and Dig Dug
Finally breaking the annoying pattern which has been going on the past few months, Nintendo of Europe has not only released WiiWare games today. They've released both Virtual Console AND WiiWare games!
On the Virtual Console you can now pick up two more imports. Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa is a platformer from the brilliant minds at Konami. It stars the...
News EU VC Releases: Super Mario RPG and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
Exciting times for Europe today, as it seems to be the start of the third Hanabi Festival - That means that you can once again probably expect a bunch of import games the coming weeks!
The Festival starts off with a bang, just like the first one from 2007. Finally making its debut in Europe (After 12 years!) is the fantastic Square/Nintendo...
News USA VC Releases: Mega Man and Neo Turf Masters
The time has finally come! The Blue Bomber arrives on the US Virtual Console today after paying Europe a visit over a year ago! Accompanying everybody's favourite blue robot is the rather good Neo Geo golf game, Neo Turf Masters.
Mega Man really needs no introduction. After Mario and Zelda he was perhaps the biggest NES icon, and the Mega Man series...
News EU VC Update - International Karate +
It seems this week is some sort of "arcade week" in Europe, as there are three new games which all have distinct arcadey gameplay. If you don't like karate, painting roads or golf, then this week is not for you!
International Karate + is the extremely popular sequel to the original International Karate. Aside from allowing up to 3 fighters...
News US VC Releases - 14th July - Donkey Kong 3
Some people seemed to think that Nintendo would release a big-name title this week on the Virtual Console because of E3 (We ask: Why?). While you are getting a "big-name" title, it's probably not one of the ones you were hoping for.
Donkey Kong 3 is the final entry in the Donkey Kong arcade series, and if you ask us, also the weakest. The...
News US VC Releases - 9th June - NES Import Duo
If you've been pining for some more imports in the US, you're in luck today - There's two of them. You might think one of them was in fact released outside Japan, but the contrary is true - It, surprisingly, never was.
That game is Dig Dug, the arcade game from Namco where you control "Dig Dug" (Later officially named Taizo Hori), a digger...
News US VC Releases - 26th May - Metal Slug
A rather crowded day for the US today - There's two well-known titles, accompanied by two lesser-known ones. One of each of these two sets is a Virtual Console game.
The well-known VC game is of course Metal Slug for the Neo Geo. As Marco Rossi or Tarma Roving, you have to take on a whole army full of soldiers, tanks, planes, artillery and other...
News US VC Release - May 19th - Sky Kid
After the amount of VC games in the US gradually started going down (Culminating in no VC games at all last week), it now appears to be slowly going up again, as there's just one new game this week.
Sky Kid is a NES port of a moderately popular arcade game. It's a shoot 'em up starring the world-famous World War I air pilots, the Red Baron and the...
News US VC Releases - 5th May - Pokemon Puzzle League
So what wonderful games can you get your grubby mitts on this Monday? Prepared to be amazed as the Virtual Console is getting a new N64 game in the shape of Pokémon Puzzle League.
For those not in the know Pokémon Puzzle League uses the exact same gameplay found in the old SNES and Game Boy title Tetris Attack. You're given a Tetris-like field...
News Bionic Commando NOT coming to the Virtual Console!
Our pals at IGN, recently interviewed Capcom's Ben Judd on the upcoming PSN/XBLA remake of the original Bionic Commando Rearmed.
This might not be of great interest if you only own a Wii console, but interestingly the interview managed to open a can of worms regarding the possibility of the NES version of Bionic Commando coming to the Virtual...
News US VC Releases - 28th April - Double Dragon
Hot on the tails of River City Ransom from last week the theme of violence continues with the legendary Double Dragon on the NES punching its way to the Virtual Console.
The NES version is a fun adaptation of the original arcade classic however there is no 2 player simultaneous option in the main game which is a crying shame (even the Master System...
News EU VC Releases - 25th April - The Last Ninja
It seems every two weeks we get a Commodore 64 week now - No complaints from us, especially when it means that we get The Last Ninja, an excellent action platformer/puzzler hybrid featuring an agile ninja with a whole assortment of weaponry. The game was incredibly well-received in its day, being the number one selling original creation on the Commodore 64.
Accompanying it is World Games. In a fashion similar to California Games, it features a number of sports, only this time, from around the world instead of California. The game is not too special, but...
News US VC Releases - 21st April - River City Ransom
Fancy a bit of a punch up this week? Maybe embarking on an epic quest spanning several generations is your thing? If so you are in luck!
What better way to herald in the series of weekly NES beat ‘em ups than to begin with the mighty River City Ransom? Our North American readers were green with envy when Europe got this in their Wii Shop (entitled...
News US VC Releases - 7th April - Yoshi's Cookie
If you ask us, this is yet another rather uninteresting week for Americans. Yoshi's Cookie for NES is an OK game to waste some time with, but with so much better puzzlers already available on VC, and the SNES version of the game being better (A situation similar to Wario's Woods), we just can't highly recommend it.
Today's other choice might...
News EU VC Release - 4th April - Yoshi's Cookie
So what’s up for grabs on the European Virtual Console update this week? Well, sadly nothing other than a rather lonely looking Yoshi’s Cookie!
It is hard to get too enthusiastic as the VC already has an abundance of Nintendo puzzlers such as Mario & Yoshi, Wario’s Woods, etc but it is not such a bad thing that this has finally come out...
News OFLC Update - Another Konami Import Title
In an OFLC update today, three more titles have been rated for eventual Australia release (As always, this should most likely mean they will also come to Europe).
The only "new" game of the bunch is Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (Bio Miracle Baby Upa), a Kirby-esque game starring a baby called Upa. This baby would later appear in a few of...
News US VC Releases - March 24th - King's Knight
Normally we lead with our favourite game of the week but as the Sega Genesis choice isn’t going to blow you away we’ll lead with Square’s King’s Knight this week just because, you know, um, it was developed by Square. Think of it as a skeleton in Square’s closet! This is no Final Fantasy it has to be said.
Here at the VC:R we admit we do...
News US VC Releases - March 17th - Super R-Type
This week’s theme for the North American VC releases is frustration. After getting DoReMi Fantasy last week Nintendo must have been concerned that they had been letting gamers have an easy ride. Not so this week as both of the games on offer this week are devilishly fiendish by comparison!
Super R-Type on the SNES isn’t such a bad game and is...
News EU VC Releases - March 14th - Super R-Type
With the US releases of Do Re Mi Fantasy and Puyo Puyo 2 last Monday, and both having an OFLC rating already, you'd think that Nintendo of Europe would release them over here as well - Unfortunately, it's not the case this week.
Prepare for a pretty bad week if you don't like shooters - Then again, it's also not very good even if you do like them...
News EU VC Releases - 22nd February - Street Gangs
Two classic NES games join the European Virtual Console library today! First up we have Street Gangs (River City Ransom in the USA). This is a scrolling beat-em-up in the same vein as Double Dragon, but it is also much more! The characters are all in Japanese super deformed manga style for starters. It’s not as shallow as your average beat-em-up either, there are some basic RPG elements on offer here: you have an inventory, can buy and sell items, and you can learn new abilities and skills. The co-operative play is also really good in this game, so it comes highly recommended from the VC:R team.
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News US VC Releases - 18th February - Ninja Gaiden III
There’s a bit of a surprise this week for North American Virtual Console fans - seemingly out of nowhere comes Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden III.
We’ve already had the first two Ninja Gaiden NES titles and this release completes the trilogy, but sadly it also turns out to be the weakest of the three in terms of gameplay. This game is so frustrating it...
News US VC Releases - 4th February - Operation Wolf
You can practically hear the sound of a funeral march as this week’s North American Virtual Console releases slowly appear from out of the impenetrable mist…
Those of you that moaned about the solo-game weeks will be heartened to learn that you have two games to choose from today, but the bad news is that both aren’t really worth downloading...
News EU VC Releases - 1st February - Adventures of Lolo 2
The drought on new games coming to the Virtual Console continues for yet another week as Europe gets just one game today. We’ll try our best to smile because Adventures of Lolo 2 is a great game for anyone who likes puzzlers but we can’t help feeling a little disappointed at Nintendo’s lack of support for the VC of late.
Lolo and Lala are back...
News US VC Releases - 21st January - Super Street Fighter II
The second update to Capcom's legendary fighter Street Fighter II arrives in the US today - Super Street Fighter II introduces many new things (Including fan favourite fighter Cammy), but also removes some things from the first update - Street Fighter II Turbo. There's only one SNES Street Fighter game left now - Street Fighter Alpha 2!
It was a bit...
News EU VC Releases - 11th January - StarTropics
Once again, Europe does not get 3 or more games this week. And once again, Nintendo seems to try and make up for it by making one of the games they do release a great one (The other is ok). Well, at least it wasn't just one game again! The great game this time is StarTropics, the first of only two games in Nintendo's (unfortunately) dead franchise of the same name. It's a lot like the original The Legend of Zelda, with some improvements, leading some to refer to it as "everything Zelda II should've been". It's still a mystery why Nintendo killed this franchise off. Let's hope for StarTropics 3 someday!
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Movie Review The Wizard (1989)
Forget all you've been told. This film kicks all kinds of ass
In a world where everyone seems to have an opinion and they’re all too happy to force it upon others, it’s worth remembering that when judging something (be it a book, film or videogame) it all depends on your connection with that particular piece of media. For example, watching a...
News US VC Releases - 7th January - StarTropics
Two cult classics for the US today. First is StarTropics, the first in an (unfortunately) dead Nintendo series which spanned only two games. The game borrows heavily from Zelda, but is a lot more light-hearted and, according to quite a few people, more fun. The original game required a letter which came packed with the game in order to progress at one point - If anybody who played the game on NES can download it on VC and see for us how they fixed this, it would be appreciated.
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News US VC Releases - 31st December - Light Crusader
The US plays catchup today, as they get three games Europe's already had a while. All of them are good, though, so hopefully no complaining this time!
Leading the pack is Treasure's Genesis RPG, Light Crusader. This is to this day probably Treasure's only Western game, featuring almost no obvious Japanese influence. It's also usually named as one of...
News US VC Releases - Christmas Eve - Donkey Kong Country 3
Merry Christmas! Nintendo's gift for Americans is the final game in the DKC trilogy, Donkey Kong Country 3! The game was released late in the SNES's life, meaning a lot of people missed out on it. Now is the time to make up for that mistake, as it's a great game, although not as good as DKC2. Here's a secret - Enter your name on the file select screen as "MERRY" for a very Christmas-y experience!
Today's other releases probably won't cater to as much people, unfortunately. Blades of Steel is one of very f...
News EU VC Releases - 21st December - Blades of Steel
Our pals at Nintendo haven't exactly pushed the boat out this week with festive spirit sadly. Still it could be worse! We finally have Blades of Steel on the NES, even before North America! For those not in the know this is one of the best, if not THE best ice hockey game from the 8-bit era. Very often NES games feel tired with age but the gameplay is still as much fun as ever with this one!
Another NES game in the shape of Skate or Die is also up for grabs on the VC today. It's quite a fun skateboarding game but unlike Blades of St...
News EU VC Releases - 14th December - Mega Man 2
After already releasing Pokemon Snap earlier in the week, some people wondered whether Nintendo would release games at the normal time as well. Thankfully they did - And they included one of the greatest NES games in the update as well! Mega Man 2 is usually called the best classic Mega Man series game ever made (With heavy competition from Mega Man 3 - Which I personally find better). It's the only Mega Man game with an easier mode (Making it perfect for series newcomers), it's got an absolutely amazing soundtrack for the time, it's slightly less linear, and it's just plain fun! If you've never played it, do yourself a favour and do so now!
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News US VC Releases - 10th December - Pokemon Snap
The first Pokemon game hits VC in the US today! It's the strange but fun Pokemon Snap for Nintendo 64, where instead of capturing Pokemon in Pokeballs, you capture them on film. The game itself is good fun, but as an overall package it is a bit lacking. Still, if you're a Pokemon fan, better make do with this, because this will most likely be one of extremely few Pokemon titles to come to VC (We think the only other one will be Pokemon Puzzle League). Another thing worth considering is that this version of Pokemon Snap has a VC-exclusive feature!
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News US VC Releases - 3rd December - Eternal Champions
After last week's disaster, this week's releases are a bit more bearable. First up is Sega's answer to Street Fighter - Eternal Champions. Instead of having fighters from around the world, Eternal Champions has fighters from various time periods! This of course leads to wildly different movesets for each character. The formula has obviously been bettered nowadays, but if you like the genre it's still worthwhile to check out the game.
Hot on the heels of Eternal Champions for pick of the week is Zanac. You might be thinking -...
News US VC Releases - 26th November - Vegas Stakes
After last week's "big" releases for the Wii's one year anniversary, calling this week "underwhelming" would be an understatement. While it's a total of three games, we can't really seriously recommend any of them to everybody. The only good game this week is Vegas Stakes, a gambling simulation for the SNES. It's all well and good for gambling fans, but everybody else (Which is very likely a lot of people) would be better off skipping it unless they're really interested in finding out how the casino world works.
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News EU VC Releases - 23rd November - The King of Fighters '94
Only two games for Europe this week, but who cares? Both of them are fantastic games, each with their own cult following! First off, we have The King of Fighters '94, the first in a long, long SNK fighting series, which has yearly installments (It's still going!). The series combines characters and stages from various SNK series into one massive game, which provides tons and tons of entertainment. There's a reason it's loved by so much people!
Second this week, it's Taito's classic arcade game, Bubble Bobb...
News US VC Releases - 19th November - Wrecking Crew
The Wii's out a year today in the US, so to celebrate, have another Mario game! Wrecking Crew is one of the more unknown Mario games, frequently not even being mentioned in lists of his games. Despite this, the game has held up very well, and those who've played it agree that's it really fun. With 100 stages and a level editor it's more than worth the price.
Nintendo also apparently found it a good idea to release another Sonic game today. Great, right? Well, normally we'd say yes, but as it's Sonic 3D Blast we're not so happy. Download at your own risk, as it's probably the worst Gen...
News EU VC Releases - 16th November - Double Dribble
If you were expecting another hugely popular, great game today to coincide with the release of Super Mario Galaxy, you are, sadly, wrong. While the game (Yes, GAME) was indeed quite popular, I wouldn't quite call it good these days.
Today's ONLY new game is Double Dribble for the NES. It's another one of those games like China Warrior - The game...
News US VC Releases - 12th November - Axelay (+ Worldwide Mii Contest Channel)
Only one exciting VC game for the US today, but it doesn't matter too much - Super Mario Galaxy is out in the US today!
This week's great game is Axelay. One of the SNES's finest shmups (And one of the most loved ones of all time!). It has very unique 3D-esque effects which give it a unique style almost no other game has copied. This one's worth...
News EU VC Releases - 9th November - Super Mario Bros 3
Thankfully, Europe didn't have to wait long to get Super Mario Bros. 3 after America got it earlier this week. This game needs no introduction. It's easily one of the best games ever made (And according to many, THE best game ever made). If you haven't ever played it, you honestly have no idea what you're missing. Shame on you!
The other two games...
