Worldwide Virtual Console Center

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games released in Europe and Australia:

• Star Tropics (NES)
• Alien Storm (Sega Mega Drive)

Source: The Virtual Console Archive: EU VC Releases
_________________________________________________
Nothing really new for Europe and Australia this week. They got Star Tropics, which we got this past Monday, and Alien Storm, released here halfway through December.

Something that must be bothering VC gamers in Europe and Australia is that it's the third week in a row that they get less than three games, and honestly, if the US doesn't get three games for next week, it'll start bothering me too. Why? Well, it might mean that Nintendo has decided to slow down with the releases, when it should be the other way around.

The first sign is the small number of releases scheduled for Japan in January. Only 11 games scheduled for a 5-week month (technically, it's a 4-week month, VC-wise, since New Year's week in Japan is pretty much sacred), which means that it's less than three games a week in average. This might not surprise the other regions, but when Japan regularly gets four games a week or more, it's something to be concerned. The second sign is the reduced number of releases in Europe and Australia for three straight weeks. The third sign is the fact that we only got two games on our first week of January. Hopefully, next week we'll go back to the usual three games a week. Let's hope that I'm just being paranoid.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Three games dated for next week in Japan, plus one game for the US, Europe and Australia:

US:

• Riot Zone (TurboGrafx-CD)

Source: Hudson's US VC website

Japan:

• Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima [Adventure Island] (Famicom)
• 1080 Snowboarding (Nintendo 64)
• Monster World IV (Sega Mega Drive)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website

Europe/Australia:

• Riot Zone (TurboGrafx-CD)

Source: Hudson's Europe VC website
_________________________________________________
Hudson has dated the only game it announced this month for the US, Europe and Australia. Riot Zone is a beat 'em up in the same style as Final Fight and Streets of Rage. In fact, one of the main characters, Hawk, seems like a mixture between Cody (from Final Fight) and Axel (from Streets of Rage). I've never played Riot Zone so I don't know if it's at the same level of those two games, but for some reason, I doubt it is.

Three games have been dated for Japan (really, we didn't expect anything more or less than that). Lets start with Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima, the original long and weird name for the game we know here as Adventure Island. Takahashi Meijin (Master Takahashi) is the name of the protagonist in Adventure Island (localized here as Master Higgins). What's interesting is that Master Takahashi is named after a real person, an executive of Hudson who is famous for his finger speed.

The second game dated is the 11th N64 game for the VC: 1080 Snowboarding. An amazing snowboarding game that I would recommend to anyone when it's released here (which could be really soon, even next week). People who liked Wave Race 64 will definitely like 1080 since it was developed by the same team.

The last game date is Monster World IV. The last game in the Monster World series (a subseries of the Wonder Boy series) was never released outside of Japan, and it's the only game in the series which stars a female character. The gameplay used is the traditional Wonder Boy style, not the the Monster Lair style (shooter/platformer).

 

[Snoopdogga]

UPDATE: Three games dated for next week in Japan, plus one game for the US, Europe and Australia:

US:

• Riot Zone (TurboGrafx-CD)

Source: Hudson's US VC website

Japan:

• Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima [Adventure Island] (Famicom)
• 1080 Snowboarding (Nintendo 64)
• Monster World IV (Sega Mega Drive)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website

Europe/Australia:

• Riot Zone (TurboGrafx-CD)

Source: Hudson's Europe VC website
_________________________________________________
Hudson has dated the only game it announced this month for the US, Europe and Australia. Riot Zone is a beat 'em up in the same style as Final Fight and Streets of Rage. In fact, one of the main characters, Hawk, seems like a mixture between Cody (from Final Fight) and Axel (from Streets of Rage). I've never played Riot Zone so I don't know if it's at the same level of those two games, but for some reason, I doubt it is.

Three games have been dated for Japan (really, we didn't expect anything more or less than that). Lets start with Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima, the original long and weird name for the game we know here as Adventure Island. Takahashi Meijin (Master Takahashi) is the name of the protagonist in Adventure Island (localized here as Master Higgins). What's interesting is that Master Takahashi is named after a real person, an executive of Hudson who is famous for his finger speed.

The second game dated is the 11th N64 game for the VC: 1080 Snowboarding. An amazing snowboarding game that I would recommend to anyone when it's released here (which could be really soon, even next week). People who liked Wave Race 64 will definitely like 1080 since it was developed by the same team.

The last game date is Monster World IV. The last game in the Monster World series (a subseries of the Wonder Boy series) was never released outside of Japan, and it's the only game in the series which stars a female character. The gameplay used is the traditional Wonder Boy style, not the the Monster Lair style (shooter/platformer).

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1080 Snowboarding is dated for Japan! That means we'll probably get it on the 21st of January but if we are lucky, we'll get it on Monday!

 

[InfinityDragon]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1080 Snowboarding is dated for Japan! That means we'll probably get it on the 21st of January but if we are lucky, we'll get it on Monday!

No such luck this week, but hopefully, it will be here the next.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games to be released in the US:

• Pac-Attack (SNES)
• Riot Zone (TurboGrafx-CD)

Source: Nintendo of America Media Site
_________________________________________________
Another two-game week *sigh*. Pac-Attack is a puzzle game in the same style as Tetris and the like, and Riot Zone is a beat'em up which is excessively similar to Final Fight and Streets of Rage (to the point where we could call it a ripoff).

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Three games released in Japan:

• Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima [Adventure Island] (Famicom)
• 1080 Snowboarding (Nintendo 64)
• Monster World IV (Sega Mega Drive)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
_________________________________________________
Three games were released in Japan this Tuesday: One we got a long time ago (Adventure Island), one we'll be getting soon (1080 Snowboarding), and one we might not be getting ever (Japan-only, Monster World IV).

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games released in Europe and Australia:

• 1080 Snowboarding (Nintendo 64)
• Riot Zone (TurboGrafx-CD)

Source: The Virtual Console Archive: EU VC Releases
_________________________________________________
Well, they got it! 1080 was released today in Europe and Australia, along with Riot Zone. It was another two-game week though, which is not good, but at least they got one good game, like every week this month.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: One game dated for next week in Japan:

• Devil World (Famicom)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
_________________________________________________
Wait, what? One game? Just one game? They have six games left for the month and they only announce one game for next week? What's Nintendo thinking, honestly? Ok, the sole game announced was Devil World, which was never released in the Americas. What is interesting about this game is that it was designed by gaming god Shigeru Miyamoto, making it one of only two games where he was involved that never saw a release here (the other being Doki Doki Panic in its original form). The reason was the inclusion of religious icons in the game.

 

[Snoopdogga]

UPDATE: One game dated for next week in Japan:

• Devil World (Famicom)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
_________________________________________________
Wait, what? One game? Just one game? They have six games left for the month and they only announce one game for next week? What's Nintendo thinking, honestly? Ok, the sole game announced was Devil World, which was never released in the Americas. What is interesting about this game is that it was designed by gaming god Shigeru Miyamoto, making it one of only two games where he was involved that never saw a release here (the other being Doki Doki Panic in its original form). The reason was the inclusion of religious icons in the game.

Does this mean they'll get the remainder of the games on January 29th?

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: One game dated for next week in Japan:

• Devil World (Famicom)
  

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
_________________________________________________
Wait, what? One game? Just one game? They have six games left for the month and they only announce one game for next week? What's Nintendo thinking, honestly? Ok, the sole game announced was Devil World, which was never released in the Americas. What is interesting about this game is that it was designed by gaming god Shigeru Miyamoto, making it one of only two games where he was involved that never saw a release here (the other being Doki Doki Panic in its original form). The reason was the inclusion of religious icons in the game.

Does this mean they'll get the remainder of the games on January 29th?

That would be my guess, but it doesn't have to be that way. They could release some of them as irregular releases, or some of them may even be postponed until next month.

 

[Snoopdogga]

UPDATE: One game dated for next week in Japan:

• Devil World (Famicom)
  
  

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
_________________________________________________
Wait, what? One game? Just one game? They have six games left for the month and they only announce one game for next week? What's Nintendo thinking, honestly? Ok, the sole game announced was Devil World, which was never released in the Americas. What is interesting about this game is that it was designed by gaming god Shigeru Miyamoto, making it one of only two games where he was involved that never saw a release here (the other being Doki Doki Panic in its original form). The reason was the inclusion of religious icons in the game.

Does this mean they'll get the remainder of the games on January 29th?

That would be my guess, but it doesn't have to be that way. They could release some of them as irregular releases, or some of them may even be postponed until next month.

I doubt they'll release all of them in the week.
By the way, what are your opinions on Mondays releases? <_<

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games to be released in the US:

• Adventures of Lolo 2 (NES)
• Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (SNES)

Source: Nintendo of America Media Site
_________________________________________________
Sequel week! I feel like there hasn't been any theme in Nintendo's releases since the anniversary (and I'm probably right). This week we get two games that in plain sight seem like complete opposites: brains vs. brawl (in reality both games require a lot of thinking).

On the brains side, we get Adventures of Lolo 2, sequel to the highly-regarded puzzle game Adventures of Lolo. The original Lolo game was based on multiple games from the Eggerland series (it was even considered a compilation in Japan and was never released there), while Lolo 2 was a true original game. Since there was no Adventures of Lolo game in Japan, our Lolo 2 became their Lolo 1 (I'm not making a mistake in the order, Lolo 2 was actually released here before Japan).

On the brawl side, we get Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, sequel to Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting, which is considered by many as the best SFII game (I like Super Turbo more, but that's me). This game had new characters, revamped graphics, new special moves (we can finally see some obvious differences between Ryu and Ken, with Ryu's Red Hadoken and Ken's Flaming Shoryuken, for example), improved music (QSound), among other things. The speed was reduced though, which wasn't welcomed by the fans.

A great week, in my opinion, especially when compared to the subpar week that was the last one.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: One game released in Japan:

• Devil World (Famicom)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
_________________________________________________
No surprises for Japan today. Only Devil World was released, as scheduled. Given that there are still five games left for the month, we might see an irregular release later this week.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: One game released in Europe and Australia:

• Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (SNES)

Source: The Virtual Console Archive: EU VC Releases
_________________________________________________
Another one-game week for Europe and Australia. Although it is Super Street Fighter II, you just can't help but feel sorry for them. The 200th game theory doesn't apply to them, since they only have 185 games (including this one), so it would take a few months to get there by releasing one or two games a week.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Four games dated for next week in Japan:

• Mappy (Famicom)
• Super R-Type (Super Famicom)
• Phantasy Star II: Kaerazaru Toki no Owari ni [Phantasy Star II] (Sega Mega Drive)
• CD Denjin: Rockabilly Tengoku [Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly Paradise] (PC Engine CD)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
_________________________________________________
First of all, be aware that Neo Nectaris, which was scheduled to be released this month, has been postponed until February. Japan is getting four games next week (back to the old times... just for this week). First up is Mappy, a Japan-only Famicom game featuring a police mouse that has to retrieve stolen goods from a gang of cats. I played this game quite a bit as a kid; it was a pretty simple game but very fun. I think this game is import material, given its simplicity and the lack of Japanese text.

Next, we have Super R-Type, the only non-canon R-Type game in the series. The game is known for its massive slowdown when many enemies appear on the screen. The third game is Phantasy Star II (wow, it took them more than a year to put a Phantasy Star game on the VC), one of the most popular RPGs series on the Genesis, if not the most popular. The last game dated for next week is just CD Denjin, known here as Super Air Zonk, released in November on this side of the pond.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: One game released in the US:

• 1080 Snowboarding (Nintendo 64)

Source: Nintendo of America Media Site
_________________________________________________
Nintendo brings January to a close with one game: 1080 Snowboarding, the best snowboarding game released on the Nintendo 64. This concludes one of the worst months in the life of the VC, quantity-wise (only 7 games released), only bested by Europe/Australia's own January 2007 releases (6 games released), and Australia's January 2006 releases (5 games released; the TurboGrafx-16 wasn't available there yet).

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Four games released in Japan:

• Mappy (Famicom)
• Super R-Type (Super Famicom)
• Phantasy Star II: Kaerazaru Toki no Owari ni [Phantasy Star II] (Sega Mega Drive)
• CD Denjin: Rockabilly Tengoku [Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly Paradise] (PC Engine CD)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
_________________________________________________
Last set of releases for January in Japan.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Japan's February schedule announced, plus two Hudson games for the Americas, Europe and Australia:

US:

• Psychosis (TurboGrafx-16)
• Lords of Thunder (TurboGrafx-CD)

Source: Hudson's US VC website

Japan:

• Super Contra [Super C] (Famicom)
• Tantei Jinguuji Saburou: Shinjuku Chuuou Kouen Satsujin Jiken (Famicom)
• Wrecking Crew (Famicom)
• Cosmo Gang The Puzzle (Super Famicom)
• Do Re Mi Fantasy: Milon no Doki Doki Daibouken (Super Famicom)
• Custom Robo V2 (Nintendo 64)
• Hokuto no Ken (Sega Master System)
• Gleylancer (Sega Mega Drive)
• Wrestleball (Sega Mega Drive)
• Power Eleven (PC Engine)
• Atlas (PC Engine CD)
• Dungeon Explorer II (PC Engine CD)
• Neo Nectaris (PC Engine CD)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website

Europe/Australia:

• Psychosis (TurboGrafx-16)
• Lords of Thunder (TurboGrafx-CD)

Source: Hudson's Europe VC website
_________________________________________________
The biggest VC news today are the addition of the Sega Master System to the VC lineup. It took you long enough, Sega! Also, no Neo Geo games (again) and no Super Smash Bros. In total, only 13 games were announced for February in Japan (one of them being originally announced for January); more proof that there will be fewer VC releases this year.

In addition, two games were announced by Hudson for the Americas, Europe and Australia, and none of them are named Y's... *sigh*

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: One game released in Europe and Australia:

• Adventures of Lolo 2 (NES)

Source: The Virtual Console Archive: EU VC Releases
_________________________________________________
And the trend continues... only one game released this week in Europe and Australia: Adventures of Lolo 2. A great one, but still only one.

 

[InfinityDragon]

UPDATE: Two games dated for next week in Japan:

• Wrecking Crew (Famicom)
• Dungeon Explorer II (PC Engine CD)

Source: Nintendo of Japan VC website
_________________________________________________
Only two games have been announced for next week in Japan: Wrecking Crew, which we got on the Wii's first anniversary, and Dungeon Explorer II, the sequel to Dungeon Explorer. Even though Japan has enough games to release at least three games a week in February, they decided to release only two next week. It seems like they want to have at least one four-game week each month, like they used to.