Console Classix re-launches

File this one under “sounds questionably legal,” but Console Classix, a site dedicated to providing classic gaming to the masses, has re-launched with an improved user interface, additional video game platforms supported and a library of more than 3,000 classic console games. This library includes games for the Sega Genesis, NES, Super Nintendo, ColecoVision, Atari 2600, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance. A free version of Console Classix is now available, which includes access to hundreds of Nintendo (NES), Atari 2600, and ColecoVision games.

To access the additional classic console video games you’ll have to pay a subscription fees of $5.99 per month or $59.99 annually.

Star Wars game classics coming to Virtual Console this month

Star Wars fans will want to give the Wii Shop Channel for the next month because Nintendo will be releasing multiple LucasArts classics on the Virtual Console. Starting today gamers can pick up the decidedly arcade action game classic Super Star Wars. In the coming weeks, both Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi will be added to the Virtual Console lineup. All three Super Star Wars games were originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and will be available at 800 Wii Points each.

The arrival of the first three games will be accompanied by additional Star Wars-themed content on other Wii channels throughout the week. The Check Mii Out Channel will invite people to submit their best Mii character renditions of classic Star Wars characters. On the Everybody Votes Channel, users can cast their votes to help settle old debates, such as the proper order to watch the six Star Wars films, and who fired first – Han Solo or Greedo?

Additional classic LucasArts games for Virtual Console will be announced in the future.

Chrono Trigger DS Dated

The classic Super NES action role-playing game, , is coming to the Nintendo DS - this we already knew. But today Square Enix announced the planned release date for the game. Chrono Trigger will ship to North American retailers on November 25.

Remastered for Nintendo’s hand-held, Chrono Trigger will supposedly maintains all of the game’s original elements and spirit while introducing portability, dual-screen presentation and Touch Screen functionality. Naturally, Square Enix hopes that the new game will do as well as the original, which sold 2.5 million copies worldwide.

Key features you can expect from this new DS version include a musical score created by Yasunori Mitsuda, character design from Akira Toriyama, dual-screen presentation, touch screen functionality, brand-new dungeons and an Arena mode. Look for it at the beginning at the holiday shopping season.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Masterpieces

The latest update to the Super Smash Bros. Brawl Dojo, the official site for all things related to the upcoming all-star Wii beat-”em-up, reveals yet another feature that is hard to stay neutral: Virtual Console trial versions of some of the best classic NES and Super NES and N64 games. The titles are being included as a way to illustrate the greatest battles of some of the characters making an appearance in the game like Star Fox, Kirby, Link and Zelda, Mario and Luigi, Samus and many others.

This trial version collection has been dubbed Masterpieces and offers a taste of such classics as Ice Climber (1985, NES), Super Mario Bros. (1985, NES), The Legend of Zelda (1987, NES), Kid Icarus (1987, NES), Kirby’s Adventure (1993, NES), Super Metroid (1994,Super NES) and Star Fox 64 (1997, Nintendo 64). According to the Dojo, some of the aforementioned titles will come with save data included, and more titles await those who purchase the game when it ships in March. Finally, if you enjoy these trials you can purchase them from the Wii Shop Channel.

More importantly, this sounds like it could be the beginning of the Shop Channel finally making an effort to create playable demos of classic game releases. Many Wii owners would welcome that option, especially since many of the previously released VC titles have…well…sucked.