VC-ism: September 2007 Archives

They say that if you can see a Ninja, you're already dead.  But this week's Virtual Console releases in Europe and the UK seem to prove that wrong as Nintendo host the second week of the Japanese Hanabi Festival - Ninja Week!

The Hanabi Festival is a three-week celebration on Virtual Console where European Wii gamers will be introduced to games not originally released outside America and Japan.  As it was a Mario theme last time, this week's offering has enough shurikens and grapplehooks to keep you in the ninja game for a while!

First up this week is Ninja Gaiden (NES - 1989). Players take on the role of Ryu Hayabusa on a quest, looking for his missing father. This game is famed for its cinematic-style presentation and action. This is the original US release and is 600 Wii Points.

I love fireworks!  Apparently, so do the Japanese.  They've even named a festival after them - it's Hanabi festival time on the Wii Virtual Console in Europe and the UK!  What does this mean, you might ask?

It means in short, three themed weeks on VC with releases that have never before been seen in the UK and Europe on PAL format.  The first week features that intrepid plumber Mario in two titles not seen in the UK before, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (Famicom - 600 Wii points) and Mario's Super Picross (SNES - 900 Wii points).  They're celebrating the 1985 launch of the first Super Mario Bros. game in Japan, and they're doing it crazy style!

Be warned; Lost Levels is exclusive and will only remain on sale until September 30th 2007.  All other Hanabi festival VC releases will remain available permanently, though.  After this week, we'll see two more festival weeks of Jap and US releases, which we'll detail in a later post.

In addition to all the Ninty excitement, this week features a Turbografx/PC Engine title, Neutopia II (Turbografx - 600 Wii points). If you liked the first one (also on the VC) then it's pretty much a sequel; more of the same.

Those lovely lads at Gamespot reported today that SNK Playmore have confirmed they are bringing a trio of early fighting games from the NeoGeo range to the Wii Virtual Console.  So far, this is only happening in North America, but with Wii hardware being practically universal in code and ability, we see no reason at all that SNK won't release the products in Europe & the UK too!

SNK compilation packs seem to have done well in the UK and Europe on PS2 and other formats. Tokyo's D4Enterprise will be releasing the games on the Wii's Virtual Console. SNK Playmore have stated that more titles will definitely follow "in the coming months", so expect a swab of titles early 2008.

This also bodes well for possible future releases from other great machines of the past; the unsung brilliance of the Sega Dreamcast, for example.  One word - Shenmue. If it's possible, we'd dearly love to see it!

Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and World Heroes will be first out of the gates to appear in America on the Virtual Console by the end of the year, with an expected Wii point cost of 900 (around $9 or £4.50p).  Beat 'em up fans should be licking their lips, and this furthers the Wii's case as a gaming machine for the established gamer, which is never a bad thing.