Worldwide Virtual Console Center

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: One game released in the Americas today:

• Megaman 2 (NES)

Source: Nintendo of America Media Site
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Only one game released today (that hadn't happened since July), but it doesn't matter, it's one of the best: Megaman 2! One month after the release of the original, and just before the release of Megaman 9, we get the opportunity to play this classic on the VC. So go, download it, get that Metal Blade and kick butt!!!

 

[InfinityDragon]

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

Japan:

• Space Invaders: The Original Game (Super Famicom)
• Sorcerian (Sega Mega Drive)
• Mizubaku Daibouken Adventure (PC Engine)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website

South Korea:

• Adventure Island (Famicom)
• Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (Nintendo 64)

Source: Nintendo of Korea VC website
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One more three-game week in Japan, and the now usual two-game week in South Korea. We start off with Japan and the release of Space Invaders: The Original Game, for the Super Famicom. I honestly expected something with the gameplay of the original, but with better graphics, up to par with what the Super Famicom can deliver. Unfortunately, the game looks the same as the original, with the added bonus of background graphics, but using the same classic flat models.

The second game for Japan is Sorcerian, which I had mentioned last week is part of the Dragon Slayer series. Only some of the games in this Action/RPG series have made it to this side of the pond, including Legacy of the Wizard, Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes and Faxanadu (a spin-off of Xanadu). The last game for Japan this week is Mizubake Daibouken Adventure. Something funny is the fact that Daibouken means Great Adventure in Japanese, so the title is redundant. I'm pretty sure this game never left Japan in its original form, but I can't find the information to corroborate this.

While Japan is getting a couple of not-so-well-known games, South Korea is getting two that we know a lot about: Adventure Island and Kirby 64. It's interesting to see that this is the third N64 game released in South Korea, and they haven't gotten Super Mario 64 yet. You'd think that one would be one of the first VC games to be released.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Three games released in Europe and one game in Australia:

• Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Master System)
• Boulder Dash (Commodore 64)
• Jumpman (Commodore 64)

Source: The Virtual Console Archive: EU VC Releases
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This week is Europe's turn to reach the 250th VC release (and surpass it), and NOE has selected a special game to celebrate this milestone.... actually no, I don't really know which of the games released NOE is considering as the 250th. They picked three third-party games for this week: the first one is Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Master System, which we got last month, and two C64 games, Boulder Dash and Jumpman. Releasing two C64 games out of the three also means that Australia is only getting one game today (its 237th).

We already know what's the deal with Sonic for the Master System, so I'm going to skip it. In Boulder Bash, you have to dig through caves, collecting jewels, and avoiding being crushed by falling rocks. The game looks really familiar; I'm pretty sure I have played another PC game based on the same premise. In Jumpman, you have to defuse a bunch of bombs spread all over the place. The player has to jump from platform to platform to reach the bombs, while avoiding bullets and other enemies.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Three VC games announced for next week in Japan:

• Wagyan Land (NES)
• Forgotten Worlds (Sega Mega Drive)
• The Ninja Warriors (PC Engine)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
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Japan is getting three more games next week, although they are getting them on Wednesday since Tuesday is a national holiday (Shuubun no hi, Autumnal Equinox Day). The first game is for the NES, Wagyan Land, a platformer developed by Namco. The main character is a dinosaur, and it attacks by roaring; the funny thing is that when it roars, an onomatopoeia comes out flying from its mouth, and that's the actually attack. Depending on the power level, the onomatopoeia changes, starting from "wa" and going all the way to "GYA" (those are most likely the Japanese sounds used, although it is weird that they used roman letters instead of katakana to represent them).

The second game is Forgotten Worlds, a shooter for the Mega Drive. This was the first game developed for the CPS, Capcom's arcade system. From what I've read, this version cuts two of the games levels, so I think it would have been better to see the PC Engine CD version instead.

The last game is Ninja Warriors for the PC Engine, a beat'em up developed by Taito. After watching a video, I thought that the SNES version looked so much better, so I wondered why Nintendo had chosen to release this one. It turns out that the SNES version, although named the same as this version in the Americas, is actually a sequel to that game (the SNES game was called Ninja Warriors Again in Japan). So I guess we could see a release for the sequel in the future.

 

[Kyle]

I was glad to hear Super Mario RPG was finally released, so I got a card and bought it last Sunday. I also decided to make it a RPG double download and decided to get Paper Mario as well.

 

[InfinityDragon]

I was glad to hear Super Mario RPG was finally released, so I got a card and bought it last Sunday. I also decided to make it a RPG double download and decided to get Paper Mario as well.

Nice. But you should also give other RPGs a chance, like Ys I & II and Breath of Fire.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two VC games released in the Americas:

• Super Dodgeball (NES)
• Vectorman (Sega Genesis)

Source: Nintendo of America Media Site
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Holy....! Vectorman? Are my eyes deceiving me? Vectorman has been released here? A game that has gone through a lot of controversy, not because of its content, but because of its VC release, has finally been released. Rated by the ESRB about a year and half ago, mentioned to be released shortly after in a Sega press release, which was later taken down from its website, released in Europe and Australia but then ignored here, wow, many people thought this game would never be released here, but it did.

Along with this surprise, we also got Super Dodgeball, the second game in the Kunio-kun series, and first spin-off game. Although the game has Super in the game, it's actually an NES game. The game was released fairly recently in Japan, back in June.

 

[InfinityDragon]

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

• Urban Champion (Famicom)
• Panel de Pon (Super Famicom)

Source: Nintendo of Korea VC website
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South Korea is getting two more games next week, and one of them hasn't even been released here: Panel de Pon. We actually never got to play the original Panel de Pon, but the adaptation, Tetris Attack, back in the SNES days. This is the second game that South Korea has gotten on the VC that we haven't, the other being Antartic Adventure. Accompanying Panel de Pon is Urban Champion.... ugh, let's just leave it at that.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Three VC games released in Japan:

• Wagyan Land (NES)
• Forgotten Worlds (Sega Mega Drive)
• The Ninja Warriors (PC Engine)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
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Three games for Japan today: a platformer (Wagyan Land), a shooter (Forgotten Worlds), and a beat'em up (The Ninja Warriors).

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games announced for next week in Japan:

• Mario Golf 64 (Nintendo 64)
• Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu: PC Bangai-hen (PC Engine)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
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Finally, Mario Golf 64 has been announced for next week in Japan. It's quite surprising that they have only gotten three N64 games so far this year, and the last one was released back in April. We have even received more N64 games this year than Japan; I bet you never thought that would happen. Along with it, Nintendo is releasing Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu: PC Bangai-hen, which is a PC Engine version of Super Dodgeball. It is based on the arcade version, but it has some aspects from the Famicom version, in addition to a quest mode.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: One VC game released in the Americas:

• Super Turrican 2 (SNES)

Source: Nintendo of America Media Site
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Bringing the month to a close in the Americas, NOA releases Super Turrican 2, obviously the sequel to the game released back in March. From what I read, this game is even more action-packed than the original, making extensive use of Mode 7 for visual delight. This is the last 16-bit Turrican game in the series. There are still a few games to be released: Turrican and Turrican 2, which were released on the C64, so we won't see those in a while, at least here. There is also an NES game also called Turrican, which was roughly based on the first two.

 

[Kyle]

I was glad to hear Super Mario RPG was finally released, so I got a card and bought it last Sunday. I also decided to make it a RPG double download and decided to get Paper Mario as well.

Nice. But you should also give other RPGs a chance, like Ys I & II and Breath of Fire.

But I'm a huge Mario RPG fan. Superstar Saga was the first to get me hooked then Paper Mario: TTYD followed. Those are just excellent games.

 

[InfinityDragon]

I was glad to hear Super Mario RPG was finally released, so I got a card and bought it last Sunday. I also decided to make it a RPG double download and decided to get Paper Mario as well.

Nice. But you should also give other RPGs a chance, like Ys I & II and Breath of Fire.

But I'm a huge Mario RPG fan. Superstar Saga was the first to get me hooked then Paper Mario: TTYD followed. Those are just excellent games.

I don't have anything against those games. I also think they are great, but remember that there's more to games, especially RPG games, than Mario games.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games released in Japan and two more in South Korea:

Japan:

• Mario Golf 64 (Nintendo 64)
• Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu: PC Bangai-hen (PC Engine)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website

South Korea:

• Urban Champion (Famicom)
• Panel de Pon (Super Famicom)

Source: Nintendo of Korea VC website
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Last day of September, and with it, the last two set of releases for the month. It's sports week in Japan. NOJ is releasing Mario Golf 64, known here as plain Mario Golf since the very first Mario Golf game (Mario Open Golf, to be exact) was released here as NES Open Tournament Golf. I've never been a fan of the sport, but golf videogames are usually quite entertaining, especially this kind (more arcade than simulation).

The second game is Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu: PC Bangai-hen, the PC Engine version of Super Dodgeball, released two years after the Famicom version. It is based on the arcade version, but it has some features from the Famicom version, plus a quest mode.

South Korea is also getting two games today, the classic puzzle game Panel de Pon, which saw a release here as Tetris Attack (but not yet on the VC), and the classic... bah, who am I kidding, it's just Urban Champion.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Japan's October Schedule has been released, plus Hudson games for the Americas:

US:

• Digital Champ Battle Boxing (TurboGrafx-16)
• Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou (TurboGrafx-CD)

Source: Hudson's US VC website

Japan:

• Kanshakudama nage Kantarou no Toukaidou Gojuusan tsugi (Famicom)
• Dracula II: Noroi no Fuuin [Castlevania II: Simon's Quest] (Famicom)
• Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu Soccer Hen [Nintendo World Cup] (Famicom)
• Super Donkey Kong 3 [Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble] (Super Famicom)
• Enduro Racer (Sega Master System)
• New Zealand Story (PC Engine)
• Super Darius (PC Engine SuperGrafx)
• Dai Makaimura [Ghouls 'n Ghosts] (PC Engine SuperGrafx)
• Metal Slug 2 (Neo Geo)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
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It's that time of the month, when Nintendo and Hudson give us a preview of what to expect next month on the VC. In the Americas, we'll be getting two imports: Digital Champ Battle Boxing, a so-so boxing game released in Japan back in April, and in Europe and Australia, in May, as part of the 3rd Hanabi Festival. The second game is much more interesting, Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou, sequel to the classic shooter but now on the TGCD, released in Japan last year, and Europe and Australia, also in the 3rd Hanabi Festival. With this, the last Gradius game will be available in the Americas next month (only considering the consoles available on the VC), unless Nintendo decides to import the Famicom version of the game.

Japan schedule for next month is quite skinny, only nine games (ten if we count Relics, which has been postponed for several months already), for a four-week month. The biggest surprise is the introduction of the ill-fated PC Engine SuperGrafx, which was originally planned to compete with the Super Famicom and Mega Drive, and ended up being just a barely improved PC Engine. Two games have been announced for the console (out of a total of seven games that the console got, two of them hybrid games that could be played on regular PC Engines): Dai Makaimura (Ghouls 'n Ghosts) and Super Darius.

From the video I saw, Dai Makaimura doesn't look much different from the Mega Drive version. I don't know what is the point to release similar versions of the same games (aside from making more money), instead of focusing on other series that have yet to appear on the VC. Super Darius looks like a nice shooter. Since it was one of the hybrid games, it should have improved graphics on the VC version, since it will be played with a SuperGrafx emulator.

There are also a couple more surprises, like the release of Dracula II (Castlevania II over here), and Super Donkey Kong 3 (Donkey Kong Country 3 here), two games that were released last year in the Americas.

 

[InfinityDragon]

Well, this is it. After a little bit more than a year, I've decided to end the WVCC at TBT, so the next month preview will be the last update.

Thanks to everybody that checked the thread every week; yeah the two of you.
Keep playing, VC gamers! I'll see you around.