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VC Friday: 250

by Chris Greenhough { Sep 5th 2008 at 8:59AM }

People, say hello to the 250th title on the combined PAL Virtual Consoles: it's ... one of the below. Woohoo! Let's say Ys Book I and II, as that's the one this blogger is most looking forward to trying out. On a sadder note, this is the last week of the current Hanabi Festival; we shall remember it fondly! Mainly because of, you know.

Ys Book I & II -- Turbografx-16 -- 800 Wii Points
Spelunker -- NES -- 600 Wii Points
Chase H.Q. -- Turbografx-16 -- 600 Wii Points
DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure -- SNES -- 900 Wii Points

Make the jump for videos of all four.

Continued →

VC Friday: Convergence

by Chris Greenhough { Aug 29th 2008 at 12:41PM }

Up until now, Virtual Console and WiiWare games in PAL regions have played nicely, each politely waiting their turn to appear on alternate Fridays. This week, they've both appeared on the same day, scrapping it out for your love. This is what we wanted to happen from the start, but since WiiWare appeared, Nintendo has had an excuse to offer less on the VC.

Anyhow, that's another rant for another post. Critter Round-Up and the totally obscure MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade are the latest WiiWare additions, while the Hanabi Festival continues with Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (parts of which look like some of our dreams -- eating through miles of cake) and Dig Dug. Is Dig Dug really worthy of a Hanabi Festival release? Hasn't it already appeared on every format known to man?

Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa -- NES -- 600 Wii Points
Dig Dug -- NES -- 600 Wii Points
MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade -- WiiWare -- 800 Wii Points
Critter Round-Up -- WiiWare -- 1000 Wii Points

Munch your way through the break, which isn't made of cake, for footage of all four.

Continued →

Nintendo of Europe rubs it in with Hanabi Festival video

by JC Fletcher { Aug 27th 2008 at 6:21PM }

The strangest thing about this Hanabi Festival video, found on the Dutch Nintendo Channel, is seeing Nintendo promoting the Virtual Console at all. Nintendo of America grudgingly allows the bare minimum of content to be released to the (apparently) hated service, and would never dream of going so far as to have a special event like the Hanabi Festival or talk about it outside of that one press release every Monday morning.

The trailer features video footage of all of the games in the latest Hanabi Festival, from the celebrated (Super Mario RPG) to the ... celebrated for some reason (Spelunker). We may have most of these particular games, but we want our own Hanabi Festival!

[Via GoNintendo]

VC Friday: Super Mario Update

by Chris Greenhough { Aug 22nd 2008 at 12:54PM }

It's only been three months since the previous Hanabi Festival ended, but a third has already kicked off, bringing us PAL gamers a slew of (usually) fantastic U.S. and Japan-only games that never saw the light of day in Europe or Australia. In the coming weeks, we'll be buying Wii Points for Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (NES), Dig Dug (NES), Spelunker (NES), and DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure (SNES).

This week is Mario week, meaning you're probably going to need to stock up on Wii Points. While Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels did appear for a limited period during the first Hanabi Festival, it's now here to stay forever. That's pretty exciting, but even more thrilling is the appearance of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, a full twelve years after its original Japanese release.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars -- SNES -- 900 Wii Points
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels -- NES -- 600 Wii Points

Jump in a green boot and hop past the break for footage of each game!

Continued →

VC Friday: More Hanabi Festival shooting goodness

by Chris Greenhough { May 16th 2008 at 10:15AM }

This current Hanabi Festival is proving a treat for shmup fans. Of the ten games released so far under the Hanabi banner, half have been shooters, including the two released today, Japan-only pair Star Parodier (in which you can use Bomberman or a giant PC Engine as a ship!) and Gley Lancer. They're joined this VC Friday by Digital Champ Battle Boxing.

Oh, and fun fact: the name Gley Lancer was (allegedly) supposed to be "Grey Lancer," but ended up as Gley Lancer due to a pronunciation error (the Japanese language can't tell the difference between the English "r" and "l" sounds). Either that, or we've just been duped into believing a rather racist joke.

Gley Lancer -- Mega Drive -- 900 Wii Points
Star Parodier -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 900 Wii Points
Digital Champ Battle Boxing -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 700 Wii Points

As usual, footage of all games follows the break!

Continued →

VC Friday: The Hanabi Festival returns! [Update]

by Chris Greenhough { May 2nd 2008 at 10:30AM }

An immensely pleasing sight greeted our bleary eyes when we inspected the PAL Virtual Console this morning -- the revival of last September's Hanabi Festival! What does that mean? Simple: for the next few weeks, the VC will feature games that were previously unreleased in Europe or Australia, which we suppose justifies the slightly higher price tags.

Best of all, we're promised that this will continue for the next few weeks. Wonder what else we'll get? Here are this week's trio:

Columns III: Revenge of Columns -- Mega Drive -- 900 Wii Points
Final Soldier -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 700 Wii Points
Gradius II Gofer no Yabou -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 900 Wii Points

As usual, make the jump for footage of all three.

[Update: There's much excitement here, as further inspection of Nintendo's press release reveals that Speedos-clad TurboGrafx-16 shooter Cho Aniki will be one of the future Hanabi Festival releases!]

Continued →

VC Friday: Hanabi Festival goes sci-fi

by Alisha Karabinus { Sep 28th 2007 at 1:00PM }

European Wii owners get a crack at two games never-before released locally this weekend, thanks to the Hanabi Festival! If only Nintendo decided to celebrate with us all the time, eh? Perhaps the best part of this week's new VC releases is the debut of the long-awaited, much-lauded Sin & Punishment. We expect quite a few people are going to be downloading Treasure's shooter and giving it a shot this weekend. It's pricy, but seems so very worth it.

Gradius III -- SNES -- 900 Wii points
Legend of Hero Tonma -- Turbografx -- 600 Wii points
Sin & Punishment -- N64 -- 1200 Wii points

VC Friday: Nintendo chooses their horse

by Alisha Karabinus { Sep 21st 2007 at 12:44PM }

Hmm. In the age-old debate regarding pirates v. ninja, it seems Nintendo clearly prefers the latter. What possible other reason could they have for following up International Talk Like a Pirate Day with ninja games? The two must be linked!

Now that we've had our daily conspiracy theory moment, let's get to the subject of what European gamers have a shot at this week, as the Hanabi Festival continues.

Ninja Gaiden -- NES -- 600 Wii points
Ninja JaJaMaru-kun -- NES -- 600 Wii points
World Class Baseball -- Turbografx -- 600 Wii points

Wii Warm Up: Hanabi Festival

by JC Fletcher { Sep 15th 2007 at 10:30AM }

Nintendo's releasing rare games like the Japan-exclusive Super Mario Bros. 2 and Mario's Super Picross in PAL regions, as part of a special "Hanabi Festival." Each week in September, awesome Japanese games will be released in themed groupings.

This week's Mario games comprise Mario Week. Next week is Ninja Week, featuring the U.S. version of Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Jajamaru-kun. The following week, starting September 28, is Sci-Fi Week, with Gradius III and Sin and Punishment. This is currently PAL-only, but now that these previously unreleased games are on their way to Europe and Australia, the U.S. could be close behind.

Pretty simple discussion topic this morning: how freaking awesome is this? Bonus discussion: how freaking awesome is the PC Engine CD/Super CDRom announcement? (Simple answer: DUDE CHO ANIKI)

VC Friday: Tons of mega - also, games

by Alisha Karabinus { Sep 14th 2007 at 2:10PM }

Here it is, folks -- the very best thing about the Virtual Console -- games that have never been released in a particular territory debuting after years of neglect. Nintendo has named this explosion of new games the Hanabi Festival, after summer fireworks celebrations in Japan. This first week is all about Mario, so expect a theme when you check out the latest releases on your Virtual Console. Expect more all new (to you) titles over the next few weeks as well!