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Producer Peter Dassenko, who's handling the upcoming Alien Crush Returns for Wiiware, spoke with theBBPS.com about the title and Hudson as a whole. As pumped as we are for Alien Crush Returns, it's not the only interesting thing about the interview. Dassenko pretty much confirms that we will see updates to other Hudson titles hit WiiWare, much like Star Soldier R and, of course, Alien Crush Returns.

"The special thing about Hudson is that we really do listen to what our fans want," Dassenko said. "We know there are a ton of fans out there demanding remakes or completely new versions of our more popular brands like Military Madness, Adventure Island, Bonk, and more," continuing on to say that he's "sure we'll see other series making the leap to current-gen soon enough." Sounds good to us!

Star Soldier R's short-session, competitive gameplay is perfect for a tournament. Luckily for expert SSR players, Hudson agrees. They've just announced the Star Soldier R "Shoot Now, Win Prizes Later" Tournament & Sweepstakes.

All you have to do is sign up on the website, and then be as awesome as you can between today and June 24th in the game's five-minute mode. The top scorer will get Hudson's "Top 5 Wii Games" and a massive 16,000 Wii Point bonus. Wii Points will also be awarded to the 10th and 16th places -- in honor of "16shot" Takahashi Meijin.

A random drawing will also award prizes to ten players. That means that as long as you have Star Soldier R or don't mind entering tournaments for games you don't have, you could win! But if you do enter, why not go for the big prize? We're going to start practicing not being awful at shooters.


[Via press release]

Wow, we've been happy with WiiWare. You all have been happy with the titles, correct? Well, regardless of how you would rate the service so far, we have a tough question to ask.

Do you think the steady flow of new titles will remain constant going forward? Would you expect at least one new WiiWare game each week, or do you think that the well is getting close to dried up? Sure, there's Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People to look forward to, but what else? Will the flow continue?

The R stands for Revolution, and it's doubly appropriate in this case. We're using it both to refer to Star Soldier R and to allude to our temporary branching-out into WiiWare for this week's column. We figure that it's a classic-style game even if it's not a real classic. Plus, it's a downloadable Wii game, just like all the VC games we've talked about. Plus, uh, we found this thing we wanted to link to.

Star Soldier R is unique among Wii shooters in that it's completely score-focused. While most shmups are, at least for normal players, completion-focused, SSR's time limits and leaderboards make it clear that getting more points than other players is the only true goal. The short play sessions mean that you can not only memorize the stage layouts, but you can plan your route for maximum score achievement. This brings a level of play normally reserved for the best shmuppers to the rest of us. The fact that you can share scores online means that you may have motivation to take part in that level of play as well.

With the WiiWare update yesterday (not to be confused with the European and Aussie update), we decided that we needed to get our review on with Hudson's Star Soldier R. Of course, you all know that we fell in love with the title upon first seeing it and anxiously awaited its release. Now that it's here, is it worth your hard-earned money? Read on and find out!

Right on time, Nintendo has pulled the appropriate levers, flicked the necessary switches, and sent a whole world of WiiWare goodness down the pipes and into Europe and Australia. Here's what greeted this blogger on his local servers just now:

• Dr. Mario & Germ Buster -- 1,000 Wii Points
  
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King -- 1,500 Wii Points
• LostWinds -- 1,000 Wii Points
  
• Star Soldier R -- 800 Wii Points
  
• TV Show King -- 1,000 Wii Points
  
• Toki Tori -- 900 Wii Points
  

Expect reviews of Dr. Mario and Toki Tori in the very near future; in the meantime, let's hear what you've downloaded so far, PAL people!

Did you think that WiiWare was done after one week? No such luck, nephew, the WiiWare is getting weekly updates, just like its older brother, the Virtual Console. Here's what's arriving this week:

Star Soldier R (Hudson Entertainment, 1 player, 800 Wii Points): Think of it as Star Soldier: Championship Edition. With its two- and five-minute time attack modes, this top-down shooter is all about trying to get the highest score in the shortest time. Just be aware that that's the whole enchilada. So if time attacks don't appeal to you, don't go in expecting story mode.

Critter Round-Up (Konami, 1-4 players, 1,000 points): We know how awesome the name of new WiiWare release Critter Round-Up is, but before you rush out and download it, we thought a quick look at the description might be wise. "The critters have escaped, and the barnyard is in chaos! It's up to you to quickly corral the animals in this puzzle-action challenge. You'll have to mend fences in a hurry to keep all the critters safe and satisfied. ... So roll up those sleeves and grab a friend-those critters won't catch themselves." ... We know. Doubly awesome.

Well, it looks like we were wrong. Here we were, expecting Nintendo to just dish out some WiiWare games and call it a day. Instead, the Big N has gone and surprised us by offering not only the WiiWare downloads we were expecting, but also one Virtual Console game. No point in wasting time, so let's just get to the downloads.

This week's Virtual Console download:

• SKYKID (NES, 1 - 2 players, 500 Wii Points)

This week's WiiWare downloads:

• Star Soldier R (Hudson, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)
• Critter Round-Up (Konami, 1 - 4 players, 1,000 Wii Points)

So who's downloading what? Also, be sure to stop back later today for our video wrap-up.

Konami and Hudson both spilled the beans on two major WiiWare titles, Critter Round-Up and Star Soldier R, informing us that they will be available for download on Monday. As you all know, we're dying to get our hands on Hudson's shmup and were disappointed to not see it at the WiiWare launch.

So, what about the Virtual Console? It's possible that VC fans could get the shaft again this Monday, however in Japan Nintendo has been known to release Virtual Console games alongside WiiWare games on the same day. We'll just have to wait and see, we suppose.

Who's anxious to try out Critter Round-Up and/or Star Soldier R?

Nintendo has released a list of eight games described as "launch window" titles ahead of WiiWare's debut in Europe on May 20th. Included are four games that the U.S. is still waiting on -- Dr. Mario & Germ Buster, Star Soldier R, Toki Tori, and Pirates: The Key of Dreams -- though it looks like Europe will be waiting a little longer for Defend Your Castle and V.I.P Casino: Blackjack. Frankly, we'll live without a blackjack game.

Once again, note that these are "launch window" games. How long is a launch window? No idea. "Launch window" is one of those infuriatingly flexible terms beloved by PR types. Anyway, the list of WiiWare games that Europe will be getting kinda near the launch is as follows:

• Dr. Mario & Germ Buster
  
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
• LostWinds
  
• Pop
  
• Star Soldier R
• TV Show King
• Pirates: The Key of Dreams
• Toki Tori

There's currently no news on pricing, but we'd fully expect European WiiWare prices to match those of other regions, assuming Nintendo hasn't found a totally new and unique way to rip European gamers off.

Hudson must have been reading our diary, because Star Soldier R is coming to the WiiWare service in the United States. The news arrives via a press release that has just made its way into the inbox of our overlords at Joystiq and we couldn't be happier. We love to shoot stuff (in video games) and we can't wait to shoot stuff in Star Soldier R!

Star Soldier R will be releasing alongside the launch of the WiiWare service next month.

Hudson certainly hasn't been shy about showing its affections for WiiWare, with the company doing all but making a mix tape for the Wii's upcoming digital download service. Now, after confirming plans to bring Tetris and Bomberman to WiiWare, Hudson has announced plans to release yet another downloadable classic property in Star Soldier R. The game, which launched in Japan alongside WiiWare in March, will be making its North American debut once the service launches later this year.

The game is the latest in Hudson's long-running Star Soldier franchise of overhead shooters that began in the mid-1980s for the NES, of which there are four titles available over the Wii's Virtual Console: Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, Blazing Lazers and Star Soldier. Describing the game as a "tournament-style outer space shooter," Hudson notes that this latest shooter will focus on achieving high scores in a Quick Shot mode, as well as in both 2-minute and 5-minute modes, giving players "just enough time" to fight through a couple levels and wrestle with the bosses waiting patiently at the other end. Try not to disappoint.


[Via press release]

If you're anything like us, then the upcoming release of WiiWare is going to mean a smaller bank account total and less time on your hands. After all, there are several quality titles that will be available through the service, one of which is Hudson's Star Soldier R.

We don't know if it's the shmup fan in us or the interesting take on level structure (time-based challenges compared to the usual progression of advancing through a set stage), but we're completely smitten with the game. Thankfully, IGN uploaded some new videos to watch, which should help us deal with the waiting.

The news that Star Soldier R would abandon a traditional progressive level structure in favor of time attack-style gameplay (available in two- and five-minute pockets) wasn't warmly greeted by everyone. Game|Life's Chris Kohler criticized the title for representing poor value, while some of you sounded pretty miffed.

In his latest WiiWare video tour, WiiFolder's Josh Thomas attempts to win some of the naysayers over, playing through the game's five-minute mode, and also the (Takahashi Meijin-inspired?) Fast Shot mode. It sure looks hawt, and there's plenty going on to keep your eyes glued to the screen, but is this amount of content worth eight bucks?

Thanks to the good folks at NintendoWorldReport, we've got some videos for you from some of the launch titles for Wii Ware in Japan. With it hitting Japanese Wii consoles earlier today, we imagine Japanese gamers are doing what they usual do: enjoy being alive and laughing at the rest of the world. You can't blame them. We would be jerks, too, if we had it that good.

Anywho, hit up the video above for your first taste of Wii Ware goodness. Then head past the break for the rest.