Crispy Gamer News

One more week, one more round of downloadable games available on the Wii Shop Channel. This time around, Wii owners can tee off with their favorite plumber and his friends, go ten frames at the after-hours bowling alley, reunite the heroes of the Shining Force, or leave no stone unturned with this week’s Shop Channel releases.

Every Monday, Nintendo adds more new and classic games to the Wii Shop Channel library. In case you missed them when they went live on Monday, here’s the official list of new games and descriptions, straight from Nintendo.
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Finally a Wii Virtual Console release I can get behind. Last week we were given the wonderfully delicious Mega Man and this week we get one of my all time favorite action role-playing games, Y’s Book I and II. I never owned a TurboGrafX 16, but I certainly spent a fare amount of coin renting the system to play one game: Y’s. Later I’d find it on the Sega Master System and fall in love all over again. Y’s is an oddball action RPG where you literally “run into” enemies to hurt them. The game takes a bit of perseverance and the willingness to die a lot, but once it gets rolling it’s a totally absorbing experience.

Oh, and they have released Samurai Shodown 2 (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points) this week too Y’s Book I & II costs 800 Wii Points and is probably worth more than all of the WiiWare titles released to date (with the exception of two). Yeah I said it.

Capcom has released Mega Man on the Wii Shop Channel today, to celebrate the September release of Mega Man 9 in September. Capcom also promised that Mega Man 2 will soon be released on the Virtual Console as well. I look forward to that. For me Mega Man brings back a lot of great memories and serves as a reminder why the NES was so great and personally a very expensive system. See, games like Mega Man were responsible for me killing at least four NES systems.

Games like Mega Man and Super Mario Bros. did not have a save function and did not have any kind of password system, so in order to play through them you had to leave the system on. This of course kills the system eventually. So while renting and playing through Mega Man 9,000 times I killed many Nintendo systems.

The beauty of having the game on the Virtual Console is that you can basically leave the “system on” by exiting to the Wii Menu, then return to it later in the state you left it. For me this process seems normal enough considering that I rented a lot of games that didn’t have any way to save. My point is that Nintendo needs to say thank you to Capcom and companies like it because they inevitably made the NES system a top seller by developing games like Mega Man.

Anyway, enough nostalgia - you can find Mega Man on the Wii Shop Channel for 500 points. There are some other releases this week but nothing worth talking about to be honest with you.

SNK Playmore USA announced today plans to release Samurai Showdown II on the Wii Virtual Console August 4th. The fighting system in this classic game introduced players to several new offensive and defensive maneuvers including the ability to roll, ducking, and the implementation of a ‘parry’ system that would allow players to deflect incoming attacks at the last second if performed successfully. The Virtual Console release offers this fighting system, along with 16 playable characters, hidden bosses, and two-player versus mode. The game will cost 900 Wii Points.

SNK Playmore USA also plans to release Samurai Showdown Anthology for Wii in Q4 of 2008 for $29.99. The collection features Samurai Showdown, Samurai Showdown II, Samurai Showdown III, Samurai Showdown IV, Samurai Showdown V, and Samurai Showdown VI.

For the latest releases, check out Virtual Player, our column dedicated to all things on the Wii Virtual Console.

Who says gamers don”t want old games? Certainly not the folks digging into their wallets to purchase games for the Wii’’s Virtual Console. According to Nintendo, nearly 10 million VC titles have been sold to date. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said in a recent interview with Gamespot that while the success of the VC is great, it won”t cut out traditional retail sales any time soon — or at least not for three more years. His comments are very telling, because it sure seems like Nintendo thinks the digital model could lead to a more online-focused channel for game sales.

Iwata also noted that WiiWare, the company’’s system for delivering fresh original content to the Wii (as opposed to the classic games offered through the Virtual Console) is also not a plan to cut out traditional boxed retail, though he makes some disparaging remarks about the ineffectiveness of traditional retail because of the obvious extra costs like packaging.

Another week, another round of classic games … at least as far as Nintendo’s Wii Shop Channel is concerned. This week, the Virtual Console lets gamers put in some hard work on the farm and then save the world from a dark god to a heavy metal beat. These two latest VC releases are the classic SNES farming sim, Harvest Moon, and the hard rockin’ TurboGrafix fantasy shooter, Lords of Thunder.

Harvest Moon (Super NES, single-player, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points):

You bought the farm, so now it’’s time to roll up your sleeves and try living off the fat of the land. Fresh air and the beauty of the outdoors will be fulfilling, but a successful farm needs a lot of working capital as well. There are buildings on your property, but they are in need of livestock. You have a modest house, but if things get lonely in the field, it’’s going to take a remodel to woo a female farming companion. Your challenge is to dig in and build your life as a farmer from the ground up. How you manage will determine the outcome, but remember: You always reap what you sow.

Lords of Thunder (TurboGrafx-16, single-player, Rated E for Everyone - Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points):Lords of Thunder is a side-scrolling shooter that has you take on the role of a legendary warrior, blasting enemies to heavy metal tunes. Your enemies are plotting to revive Zaggart, The Dark One, who was sealed beneath the six continents of Mistral. It’’s up to Landis, descendant of the heroic Dyu, to stop them. Choose the order in which to attack the six stages. Before each stage, select one of four magic armors and use crystals you”ve collected during your battles to buy items. Selecting the right armor for each stage is the key to your ultimate victory. Then get ready to face awesome enemies like a fire-spewing sea serpent or a giant insect. Whether it’’s the fast-paced shooting or breaking into the fortress of a stage boss, you”ll be blown away by the intensity of Lords of Thunder.

It’s slim pickings this week on the Wii virtual console in North America, with only one game being released: 1080? Snowboarding. The classic Nintendo 64 title will cost 1,000 Wii Points and is available now. Details below from Nintendo:

1080 SNOWBOARDING (N64, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points): Hit the slopes for some serious shredding in one of the first truly realistic snowboarding games ever created! Start in the lodge and select from five characters, each with his/her own particular attributes and special tricks. Then take a look at the wide assortment of available boards and choose one that best suits your rider and style. Once you”ve got the gear, six different modes of play, including Match Race, Trick Attack, and 2-Player Versus, await. Pick a course and get ready to experience a sensation of speed that”ll make you forget all about the cold — but it might just send a shiver down your spine. Throw in hidden characters and boards, varying weather and snow conditions, multiple paths through each course, and a variety of tricks to master — topped off with rock-solid play control?and you”ve got a recipe for winter fun that you can enjoy any time of the year. It’’s all the fun and excitement of the sport, without the bruises and frostbite!

My soul cries for WiiWare.