Worldwide Virtual Console Center

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two VC games released in Europe and Australia:

• Art of Fighting 2 (Neo Geo)
• Ninja Commando (Neo Geo)

Source: The Virtual Console Archive: EU VC Releases
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Europe and Australia are only getting two games this week, even though they are getting VC games every other week. Both games are for the Neo Geo, Art of Fighting 2 and Ninja Commando, and they happen to be the last two Neo Geo games that Japan got.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Three games announced for next week in Japan:

• Fire Emblem: Torakia 776 (Super Famicom)
• Shining Force II: Koe no Fuuin [Shining Force II: Ancient Sealing] (Sega Mega Drive)
• Darius Plus (TurboGrafx-16)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
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Man, I wish we could get weeks like this. Japan is getting not one but two SRPGs. The first one is Fire Emblem: Toraika 776, the third and last FE game for the Super Famicom (fifth overall), released in 1999. The second one is Shining Force II: Koe no Fuuin, released back in 1993. In addition, Japan is also getting a space shooter, Darius Plus, the first in the series to be made available on the VC.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two VC games released today for the US:

• Donkey Kong 3 (NES)
• Ninja Commando (Neo Geo)

Source: Nintendo of America Media Site
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Woah, an NES game? The last one we got was more than a month ago. I think this was the longest drought of NES games ever since the start of the service. Anyway, we got Donkey Kong 3, the last Donkey Kong game for the NES, just before Japan (NOJ announced it to be released this month over there). We also got Ninja Commando, which everybody else got recently.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Three games released in Japan and two games released in South Korea:

Japan:

• Fire Emblem: Torakia 776 (Super Famicom)
• Shining Force II: Koe no Fuuin [Shining Force II: Ancient Sealing] (Sega Mega Drive)
• Darius Plus (TurboGrafx-16)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website

South Korea:

• Super Mario USA [Super Mario Bros. 2] (Famicom)
• Galaga (Famicom)

Source: Nintendo of Korea VC website
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SRPG madness this week in Japan with the release of Fire Emblem: Torakia 776 for the Super Famicom and Shining Force II for the Mega Drive. On top of that, Japan also got Darius Plus, a space shooter.

In South Korea, two games were released: Super Mario USA, which is the name given, in Japan, to the version of Super Mario Bros. 2 that we got, and classic arcade game Galaga, for the NES.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games announced for the US, three games announced for Japan, and no VC games released in Europe and Australia:

US:

• Break In (TurboGrafx-16)
• Star Parodier (Turbografx-CD)

Source: Hudson's US VC website

Japan:

• Donkey Kong 3 (NES)
• Space Harrier (Sega Master System)
• Shin Samurai Spirits: Haohmaru Jigokuhen [Samurai Shodown 2] (Neo Geo)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
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FINALLY! It took almost five months to see a new TurboGrafx game in the Americas. Why do you make us suffer, NOA? Next week in particular will be an import week, lead by the release of Star Parodier, a parody space shooter that I'm really eager to play, along with the so-so pool game Break In.

Japan also announced the set of VC games they'll be getting next week. The highlight for next week, at least for me, is Shin Samurai Spirits, known here as Samurai Shodown II. Along with it, they're getting the very first Space Harrier, released on the Master System (and not as pretty as the arcade version), and Donkey Kong 3, which we got a couple of days ago.

Europe and Austalia, in what has become usual, didn't get any VC games this week. Expect some next week.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games released in the US:

• Gley Lancer (Sega Genesis)
• Super Fantasy Zone (Sega Genesis)

Source: Nintendo of America Media Site
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In a weird turn of events, NOA decided to release two Genesis games (imports, by the way) instead of the two TurboGrafx game that were announced by Hudson last week. What made Nintendo postpone the comeback of the TurboGrafx to the VC, I don't know, and I'm kind of disappointed by this decision. Fortunately, they decided to give us Gley Lancer and Super Fantasy Zone, two Genesis games of which we hadn't gotten any since April.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Three games released in Japan:

• Donkey Kong 3 (Famicom)
• Space Harrier (Sega Master System)
• Shin Samurai Spirits: Haohmaru Jigokuhen [Samurai Shodown 2] (Neo Geo)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
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No surprises here. As usual, Japan got three VC games this week: Two action games (Donkey Kong 3 and Space Harrier), and an amazing fighter (Samurai Shodown II).

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Three games released in Europe and two games released in Australia:

Europe:

• City Connection (NES)
• Neo Turf Masters (Neo Geo)
• International Karate + (Commodore 64)

Source: The Virtual Console Archive: EU VC Releases

Australia:

• City Connection (NES)
• Neo Turf Masters (Neo Geo)

Source: The Virtual Console Archive: EU VC Releases
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VC week for Europe and Australia. Europe got three games while Australia got only two (thanks to the lack of C64 support). The first game was City Connection for the NES, which was released here back in May. The second game is Neo Turf Masters for the Neo Geo, which we haven't gotten just yet (probably in the next couple of weeks). Finally, we have International Karate + for the Commodore 64, the sequel to the game that introduced the console to the VC.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: One game announced for next week in the Americas, two Hudson games postponed till next month, plus one new Hudson game for next month:

US (Next Week):

• Taito Chase H.Q. (TurboGrafx-16)

Source: Hudson's US VC website

US (Next Month):

• Break In (TurboGrafx-16)
• Star Parodier (TurboGrafx-CD)
• Ys Book I & II (TurboGrafx-CD)

Source: Hudson's US VC website
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The big announcement today for us is that, finally, we're getting Ys Book I & II next month. It took Hudson almost a year to release these RPGs, and we don't know why they made us suffer this much. They knew we wanted the games, but I guess they didn't want our money until now.

The two games that were supposed to be released this past Monday (Break In and Star Parodier) have been postponed until next month. Nevertheless, we still got some TurboGrafx love, with the announcement of Taito Chase H.Q. for next week in the Americas.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Four games announced for next week in Japan:

• Rockman [Megaman] (Famicom)
• Street Fighter II Dash Plus: Champion Edition [Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition] (Sega Mega Drive)
• Blood Gear (PC Engine CD)
• Eggy (MSX)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
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This set of releases brings the month to a close for Japan. Four games have been announced for next month, one of them wasn't even announced until this week. We start off with Rockman for the Famicom, the first adventure of our beloved Blue Bomber. Capcom decided to hype the release of Rockman 9 on Wiiware by releasing the first two games of the series (Rockman 2 is coming out next month in Japan).

Next we have the recent addition to the schedule, and a weird selection by Capcom, Street Fighter II Dash Plus: Champion Edition, known here as Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition, for the Mega Drive. What's weird about it is that this game is extremely similar to Street Fighter II Turbo for the SNES (it just has a couple of additions since the game was released a couple of months after SFIIT), so it seems like an unnecessary thing to release this one on the VC. Of course, now that I think about it, we are talking about Capcom here, so it might not be that weird after all.

The third game is Blood Gear for the PC Engine CD. I've never played this one but it looks like an interesting game. From the video I saw, it looks like an action game similar to Cybernator.

And the last game is Eggy for the MSX. Announced more than a year ago as one of two games to be part of the VC introduction of the MSX, it ended up having to wait a couple more months after Aleste was released.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Japan's August schedule has been released:

• TwinBee (Famicom)
• Nazo no Murasamejou (Famicom)
• Rockman 2: Dr. Wily no Nazo [Megaman 2] (Famicom)
• Gakkou de Atta Kowai Hanashi (Super Famicom)
• Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega Master System)
• Lord Monarch: Tokoton Sentou Densetsu (Sega Mega Drive)
• Taito Chase H.Q. (PC Engine)
• Dragon Saber (PC Engine)
• Parasol Stars (PC Engine)
• Eikan wa Kimi ni: Koukou Yakyuu Zenkoku Taikai (PC Engine CD)
• Relics (MSX)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
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Not that many games announced for August in Japan, only 11, but it's highly likely that it will still be more than what we'll be getting. The highlight of the month is by far Rockman 2, arguably the best Megaman game in the series.

Japan is also getting a few interesting games like the original TwinBee, Nazo no Murasamejou, Sonic The Hedgehog for the Master System (although named the same as the Genesis version, it is a different game), Dragon Saber, Parasol Stars, among others.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games released in the US:

• Taito Chase H.Q. (TurboGrafx-16)
• Art of Fighting 2 (Neo Geo)

Source: The Virtual Console Archive: US VC Releases
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This week, NOA didn't screw up Hudson's announcement and actually released Taito Chase H.Q. for the TG16. In the game, you drive a Porsche and go on high-speed pursuits after criminals.

Accompanying Chase H.Q. is Art of Fighting 2, recently released in Europe and Australia at the beginning of the month.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Four games released in Japan and one in South Korea:

Japan:

• Rockman [Megaman] (Famicom)
• Street Fighter II Dash Plus: Champion Edition [Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition] (Sega Mega Drive)
• Blood Gear (PC Engine CD)
• Eggy (MSX)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website

South Korea:

• Xevious (Famicom)

Source: Nintendo of Korea VC website
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Last week of the month. Japan gets four games: an action/platformer (Rockman), a fighter (SFIIDP:SCE), another action/platformer (Blood Gear) and one more action game (Eggy), while South Korea gets just one: Xevious, a shooter.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games announced for the Americas, and five games announced for Japan:

US:

• Ys Book I & II (TurboGrafx-CD)
• Samurai Shodown II (Neo Geo)

Sources: Hudson's US VC website, The Virtual Console Archive: US VC Releases

Japan:

• TwinBee (Famicom)
• Gakkou de Atta Kowai Hanashi (Super Famicom)
• Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega Master System)
• Dragon Saber (PC Engine)
• Eikan wa Kimi ni: Koukou Yakyuu Zenkoku Taikai (PC Engine CD)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
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We have big announcements today for the VC. In what is arguably one of the best VC weeks in the Americas this year, Hudson is releasing Ys Book I & II (originally for the TurboGrafx-CD), and SNK is bringing Samurai Shodown II (for the Neo Geo). Two absolutely amazing games to start the month of August for us. I hope this is a prelude for things to come on the VC, since the interest has been waning here in the last few months.

Japan didn't want to fall behind, and they'll be getting five games next week. I don't know why they are getting so many games, specially when they only announced 11 games for the month. I guess they'll only be getting two games a week for the rest of August.

The first game is a classic shooter from Konami, TwinBee for the Famicom. The game was never released outside of Japan until it was included on a Konami collection for the Nintendo DS, where it was renamed RainbowBell, for some reason. The second game is another Japan-only game, a survival horror visual novel for the Super Famicom, Gakkou de Atta Kowai Hanashi. The game has the particularity that it uses real-life photos of Japanese actors.

The third game for next week is Sonic The Hedgehog. Wait a minute, that was one of the launch games of the VC. Well, that's true, the Mega Drive version was released on the VC two years ago, but this is the Master System version. At the time Sega introduced the Mega Drive, they tended to make Master System versions of their Mega Drive games, so that the Master System users wouldn't feel left out. But many times, these games weren't just watered-down ports of their Mega Drive versions, but completely different games. This is one of those cases.

The fourth game Japan is getting is Dragon Saber, the sequel to the great shooter Dragon Spirit, which was released last year on the VC. The game follows the same style as its predecessor, with the added feature of two-player co-op mode. The last game is Eikan wa Kimi ni: Koukou Yakyuu Zenkoku Taikai, a baseball game for the PC Engine CD. I can't find any information about this game, so I might be mistaken, but the game seems like a management game, more than a traditional baseball game.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games released in the Americas:

• Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega Master System)
• Splatterhouse 2 (Sega Genesis)

Source: Nintendo of America Media Site
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And a megaton... there was not. For the second time in a month, NOA decided to burn third-party companies participating on the VC service by neglecting to release the games they had announced the previous week. This time it wasn't only Hudson (Ys Book I and II), it was also SNK (Samurai Shodown II), and Capcom (Megaman). What had been considered one of the best VC weeks this year became the biggest disappointment of the year. I wonder what those companies have to say about this situation.

And so, NOA decided to make this week Sega week, releasing Sonic The Hedgehog for the Master System, and Splatterhouse 2 for the Sega Genesis.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Five games released in Japan:

• TwinBee (Famicom)
• Gakkou de Atta Kowai Hanashi (Super Famicom)
• Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega Master System)
• Dragon Saber (PC Engine)
• Eikan wa Kimi ni: Koukou Yakyuu Zenkoku Taikai (PC Engine CD)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
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Five games for Japan. When was the last time that happened here? Or should I say, when was the only time that happened here? Well, all the way back to Christmas '06.

TwinBee is a likely candidate for an import, Sonic we already got yesterday, Dragon Saber will be released over here eventually, and the other two will probably never make it.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games announced for next week in South Korea:

• Yoshi (Famicom)
• Super R-Type (Super Famicom)

Source: Nintendo of Korea VC website
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It seems like the releases in South Korea have stabilized to every other Tuesday, so we'll go with that for now. Next week, they are getting Yoshi, which we got about a year ago, and Super R-Type, which happens to be the last SNES that we got on the VC, back in March (wow, five months already).

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Four games released in Europe and three in Australia:

Europe:

• Ecco Jr. (Sega Mega Drive)
• Splatterhouse 2 (Sega Mega Drive)
• Samurai Shodown II (Neo Geo)
• Pitstop II (Commodore 64)

Source: The Virtual Console Archive: EU VC Releases

Australia:

• Ecco Jr. (Sega Mega Drive)
• Splatterhouse 2 (Sega Mega Drive)
• Samurai Shodown II (Neo Geo)

Source: The Virtual Console Archive: EU VC Releases
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And so, one of the most anticipated fighting games, Samurai Shodown II, which was supposed to be released here at the beginning of the month, has been released in Europe and Australia first. I'm pretty sure a lot of people over here are thinking (and shouting) the least pleasent things toward NOA, and they are very well deserved after the debacle.

Aside from Samurai Shodown II, Europe and Australia are getting some third-party love this week. We have Ecco Jr., the last Ecco game for the Mega Drive, and not really the best way to close this chapter of the series. The game was released here at the end of last year. The second game is Splatterhouse 2, released here a couple of weeks ago. The third game is Pitstop II for the Commodore 64, therefore only released in Europe's VC. A pole position racing game developed by Epyx, which seems to have developed a lot of games for the C64.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games announced for next week in the US, and three games announced for the other week in Japan:

US:

• Break In (TurboGrafx-16)
• Star Parodier (TurboGrafx-CD)

Source: Hudson's US VC website

Japan:

• Nazo no Murasamejou (Famicom)
• Lord Monarch: Tokoton Sentou Densetsu (Sega Mega Drive)
• Parasol Stars (PC Engine)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
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Hudson has announced, once again, Break In and Star Parodier for next week. Hopefully, they will get their games released this time. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, NOJ has announced three games, not for this Monday, but the next one. The first game is Nazo no Murasamejou, an obscure action game developed for the Famicom by Nintendo, which never made it out of Nippon shores. The game takes place in the Edo period, and the style is similar to the original Zelda, but without the puzzles. It looks like a good candidate for an import.

The second game is Lord Monarch, which is the seventh game in the strategy series Dragon Slayer. The game was ported to several consoles, but the version Japan is getting is the Mega Drive one. This game was also never released outside of Japan. The third and last game is Parasol Stars, which is part of the Bubble Bobble series (the third game). The game was never released in the arcades, and the original version was this one, the PC Engine one.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games released today in the Americas:

• Break In (TurboGrafx-16)
• Star Parodier (TurboGrafx-CD)

Source: Nintendo of America Media Site
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Hey, NOA didn't play any weird games this week and actually released the games Hudson announced. I'm really interested in Star Parodier, a weird, very Japanese, parody of the Star Soldier series. In the game you can control the Paro-Ceaser from the Star Soldier series, a giant Bomberman, or a PC Engine itself; yes, you read that right, a PC Engine that shoots CDs! The second game, Break In, well, I was hoping it would never be released here, but you can't win them all.