The Wii VC Thread - 12/31/07: Bubble Bobble, Light Crusader, Top Hunter

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Sonic 3!!!
Neutopia II
NES Play Action Football

Sept. 10, 2007

Football season is here, and whether you're into high school teams, college or the pros, everyone can use a little gridiron refresher. This week Nintendo's Wii Shop Channel helps you tackle the challenge with NES Play Action Football™, a classic sure to revive feelings of gaming greatness. If football isn't your thing, you can always join forces with a speedy hedgehog or explore labyrinths as you try to defeat evil demons.

Three new classic games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel every Monday. Wii™ owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week's new games are:

NES Play Action Football (NES®, 1-4 players, rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): "Ready! Hut hut hut..." Nintendo takes to the gridiron with the classic football powerhouse NES Play Action Football. Featuring a distinct overhead viewpoint that creates an almost 3-D field, the action is more simulation-based than many of the more arcade-based games of the time. Play through four 15-minute quarters (in accelerated time) and even substitute players when your first-stringers get tired. Want more options? Each of the eight available teams has multiple running/passing plays to choose from while on offense, as well as a wide selection of defensive schemes that can be run when you're on the other side of the ball. And in addition to viewing two full teams on the screen at once without any slowdown, you'll hear voice snippets at key points of the game. Line up, and see if you have what it takes to win the Power Bowl.

Sonic the Hedgehog™ 3 (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, rated E for Everyone – Comic Mischief, 800 Wii Points): Sonic and Tails are back for another adventure as they again battle the evil Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik), who is desperately trying to collect all the Chaos Emeralds to rebuild his Death Egg. Our heroes must again find the Chaos Emeralds before Dr. Eggman does, but winning the race won't be easy this time – a new adversary, Knuckles the Echidna, has arrived on the scene and will do whatever he can to keep Sonic and Tails from reaching their goal. Grab all the golden rings, find various bonus zones and overcome Knuckles and Dr. Eggman as you rocket through the third chapter in Sonic's adventures.

Neutopia II (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, rated E for Everyone – Mild Fantasy Violence, 600 Wii Points): Experience improved graphics and controls in this exciting sequel to the action role-playing game Neutopia. Take on the role of the main hero's son and watch as the story begins with the apparent revival of Dirth, the evil demon. Once again you'll need to rely on your magic compass and the information you've gathered to find entrances to labyrinths and defeat the bosses in them. Make your way through the field, which can be tricky at times, to search for and find hidden information and items, or move blocks and destroy walls to uncover secret rooms. Like the original, this game has a save function, a finely tuned difficulty level and a fast-paced story, making it truly an RPG that everyone can enjoy.
Click to expand...
 
Sonic 3 is instant win. Still want to try out either Neutopia but currently don't have the time. Hopefully in a about a month or so I'll get around to snatching up a few VC games I've missed.
 
[quote name='Legolas813']I've compiled a list of Wii Virtual Console games that are also on GameTap, for all of you who are members: http://www.gametap.com/home/profile/playlist?plid=6260541[/QUOTE]

I support this.

There should be one that catalogs which games are available in which compilations as well, and thus should be avoided since they are expensive on the VC.

I guess there should be another that catalogs which are on XBLA/PSNM, since those most likely are cheaper, have additions (achievements), and can do multiplayer.
 
[quote name='CouRageouS']Yea thats crap. Nintendo would probably see a signifcant rise in sales if they just sent out a blue light every Monday morning as a friendly reminder new games are out. With all those casual gamers, they need all the reminders and notices they can get since they don't follow gaming news.[/QUOTE]

I could get behind this. Start customizing what blue light info you recieve. VC updates/console updates/friend code requests/etc.
 
I imagine Nintendo doesn't do that for several reasons:

1) They don't know how/too lazy.

2) Whatever controls the server isn't powerful enough to send all those messages out, OR it just hasn't been coded to do so for these types of updates. We know it has the capability, I'm just doubting that it's being worked on.

3) Space issues. Nintendo really needs to give users a way to manipulate information on systems. We need to be able to have more Friend Codes registered, need SD cards to be used as a way to save various kinds of information, need support for external hard drives, etc. I really wish I knew if such things were being discussed.

I agree it should be done, I'm just guessing no one working internally at Nintendo gives a shit, and thus assumes users don't want it.
 
[quote name='Strell']3) Space issues. Nintendo really needs to give users a way to manipulate information on systems. We need to be able to have more Friend Codes registered, need SD cards to be used as a way to save various kinds of information, need support for external hard drives, etc. I really wish I knew if such things were being discussed[/QUOTE]

Yes! What do they expect people to do when say.. 2 years from now when the VC catalog has nearly doubled/tripled?! Are we just supposed to NOT buy anything?! Clearly they don't want that to happen. I am sure most of us have 40 spots open for VC games. That's counting if you also downloaded the Internet Channel & Everybody Votes Channel. (I got rid of the Metroid Prime preview channel, since I have the game now)

I still have 22 slots open, and I understand I'm not going to fill them up in the next week..but still. It's not even JUST games! I'm SURE in 2 years from now we'll (HOPEFULLY) have a few more channels..whether they are stupid or not.

We DO need more room. Jeeze, they couldn't of made the memory at least 1-2gb?! I'm sure making it 2gb would have increased this A LOT, imo!
 
[quote name='lilboo']
We DO need more room. Jeeze, they couldn't of made the memory at least 1-2gb?! I'm sure making it 2gb would have increased this A LOT, imo![/QUOTE]

Miyamoto said in an interview that he felt the flash memory was one of the most expensive components of the Wii, so I'm guessing they didn't want to put 1-2 gigs on there to try and keep costs down (alternatively: to keep their profits up).

Giving us access to cheap, removable space is actually a great solution, it's just that it's being grossly underutilized right now. Running VC games from an SD card would solve the problem, but Nintendo is worried about piracy. But there's most likely a way to copy a game to an SD card and lock it to the system still (iTunes has that authorization service, I know someone around here has mentioned that in the past), so it seems viable. If the hackerz steel yur ROMz, well, it's not going to impact your sales on a huge level, so you might as well bite the bullet.

The problem is that Nintendo is first and foremost a profit-driven company, and they base all their decisions on this. We as gamers tend to hate these decisions because they look half-assed to us. But really it's cost-saving/profit-maximizing procedures in place. Why pay a programmer to write drivers for hard drives when Nintendo is convinced there's enough space? (Side Note: I bet they are really wary after the whole 64DD deal also.)

Really if there was a way to throw in SD cards and freely move information around, none of these issues would exist. You could even package 2 gig cards with games designed for DLC. I imagine if you did a huge batch order of SD cards, you could get them literally for pennies, and could compensate your profit vs. cost by charging another 5-10 bucks per game. I.e., with Guitar Hero 3, ship it with an SD card with it. Then let gamers either use it for downloaded songs or whatever the hell they want.

I wish I knew what was going on internally so I'd know if such things are being discussed at Nintendo. But I don't have as much access as I'd like.
 
[quote name='Strell']Miyamoto said in an interview that he felt the flash memory was one of the most expensive components of the Wii, so I'm guessing they didn't want to put 1-2 gigs on there to try and keep costs down (alternatively: to keep their profits up).

Giving us access to cheap, removable space is actually a great solution, it's just that it's being grossly underutilized right now. Running VC games from an SD card would solve the problem, but Nintendo is worried about piracy. But there's most likely a way to copy a game to an SD card and lock it to the system still (iTunes has that authorization service, I know someone around here has mentioned that in the past), so it seems viable. If the hackerz steel yur ROMz, well, it's not going to impact your sales on a huge level, so you might as well bite the bullet.
[/quote]Can't you copy a VC game to your SD card, then copy it back later and play it? If that is correct, then I'm guessing if I copy a VC game to my SD card, and give it to my friend, he will not be able to play that VC game if he copies it to his console. With those two assumptions, I think the only part of the equation that's missing is being able to play a VC game off your SD card.
 
[quote name='botticus']Can't you copy a VC game to your SD card, then copy it back later and play it? If that is correct, then I'm guessing if I copy a VC game to my SD card, and give it to my friend, he will not be able to play that VC game if he copies it to his console. With those two assumptions, I think the only part of the equation that's missing is being able to play a VC game off your SD card.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but that can be a hassle.

Potentially: Someone has all their slots full. They see a new game in the Wii Shop they want. So they save a game to their SD card, erase it from their system, and download the new game. Then if they want to play the one from the SD card, they have to erase something else, and then load it from the SD card. (Or, re-download it from the Wii Shop.)

That's kind of a big hassle, and I know within a year or so that will be my situation, since I just crept onto the third page of channels.

If there were a way to keep them tied to the system in question but play the games directly off the SD card, that would be easier for everyone involved. Then you could set it up however you want. Personally I'd cards delegated by systems - an NES card, an SNES card, etc.

You can move them on/off an SD card, but you can't play directly off them. I'm willing to bet that the bandwidth is there such that you could play them directly off the card.

Again, this is just one pebble in a bucket of issues that could be fixed. I still don't understand why you can't download the actual emulator itself, instead of having it come packaged as a wrapper for every game. Nintendo could issue updates to it to help with compatibility issues (such as changing the ads in Wave Race 64).

But eh. No real use worrying about it.
 
[quote name='Strell']Yeah, but that can be a hassle.

Potentially: Someone has all their slots full. They see a new game in the Wii Shop they want. So they save a game to their SD card, erase it from their system, and download the new game. Then if they want to play the one from the SD card, they have to erase something else, and then load it from the SD card. (Or, re-download it from the Wii Shop.)

That's kind of a big hassle, and I know within a year or so that will be my situation, since I just crept onto the third page of channels.

If there were a way to keep them tied to the system in question but play the games directly off the SD card, that would be easier for everyone involved. Then you could set it up however you want. Personally I'd cards delegated by systems - an NES card, an SNES card, etc.

You can move them on/off an SD card, but you can't play directly off them. I'm willing to bet that the bandwidth is there such that you could play them directly off the card.

Again, this is just one pebble in a bucket of issues that could be fixed. I still don't understand why you can't download the actual emulator itself, instead of having it come packaged as a wrapper for every game. Nintendo could issue updates to it to help with compatibility issues (such as changing the ads in Wave Race 64).

But eh. No real use worrying about it.[/quote]

It seems that ALL tries at software emulation are like this, not just with the Wii. Companies try to emulate EACH INDIVIDUAL GAME instead of trying to tell the system 'hey, if these x amount of points occur, flip it to this control set over here which controls games for that console'. Meaning they should emulate the HARDWARE and not the software.

But, I don't know if that's possible or not.
 
Would this actually work?

Say there is a Wii Update, and in this update it allows you to "Turn SD Memory ON/OFF". Now if you have an SD card in your system, and you turn this feature on...based on how much memory you have left on your SD card..the appropriate amount of channels show up?

So say you run out of Channel space on the Wii. Besides having to deleting something to download something new, you can just turn this on and then when you download the game it goes right onto the next channel like it would normally do.. but it would be apart of the SD card.

I don't know anything about programming..but I'd imagine something like that can't be TOO difficult/too much to ask for..?
 
Some kind of SD card check system would be nice.

You download the game to the SD card, but a much smaller file remains on the Wii to match the game on the card. Like a key or something.
 
[quote name='dallow']Some kind of SD card check system would be nice.

You download the game to the SD card, but a much smaller file remains on the Wii to match the game on the card. Like a key or something.[/quote]

You mean...like...a friend code?
 
Let me clarify my original point:

If you can copy a VC game to an SD card, and then copy it back again, and it lets you play it, then clearly there is something on the VC file that is tying it to your console. Because you cannot copy a VC game to an SD card and then play it in another console.

Yes, this is not ideal, but my point was only to say that the DRM appears to be in place, it's just a matter of allowing you to play games off your SD card, instead of requiring them to be present on the console.
 
I'm pretty sure there will eventually be a run-from-SD option. There's no reason not to besides just programming it.
 
[quote name='CouRageouS']Boring week, Neutopia might be worth a look. I wonder what they'll do with Sonic and Knuckles if that ever comes.[/quote]

Require you to buy Sonic 3 and Knuckles as well as Knuckles in Sonic 2.

Nintendo means "we will suck all of your money out of you" in Japanese. Fun fact.
 
[quote name='Strell']I guess there should be another that catalogs which are on XBLA.[/QUOTE]

A GameTap developer has made such a list here.

[quote name='lilboo']Isn't GameTap free, too?[/QUOTE]

This page explains the various membership levels of GameTap. There are free levels that have a limited number of rotating games every week, and there is the Gold level that has unlimited access to nearly 1,000 games and hundreds of videos for as low as $5.95/month.

Shameless promotion: If you decide to sign up for GameTap, I would appreciate it if you use this referral link.
 
Never could really get into Sonic too much. Guess I'm too old to have played it in my formative years like a lot of people.
 
[quote name='Strell']Yeah, but that can be a hassle.

Potentially: Someone has all their slots full. They see a new game in the Wii Shop they want. So they save a game to their SD card, erase it from their system, and download the new game. Then if they want to play the one from the SD card, they have to erase something else, and then load it from the SD card. (Or, re-download it from the Wii Shop.)[/QUOTE]
Yep, this is what happened to me as of last week - my channels are full (as are my available blocks of memory), and now I have to swap channels constantly from the SD card to play what I want. It *is* a hassle, and I really hope Nintendo comes up with a solution soon. They can't expect me to *not* buy all of their amazing SNES games, can they?
 
I say pass on Sonic 3. Not because it's not a good game (it's actually one of the greatest), just that some day we *WILL* get Sonic 3 & Knuckles. That, and for about $8 more you can get the uber-awesome Sonic Mega Collection for Gamecube.
 
If I don't get Pro Wrestling soon, I'm going to be really upset, I need to experience the overhand chop of Kin Corn Karn soon, or I'll die of SIDS...
-Goatman
 
Kotaku just reported

Sega has announced a pair of upcoming addition to the Wii Virtual Console in the form of Crack Down and ESWAT. The former, distinguishable from the more recently released Xbox 360 Crackdown by its space and top down shooting/explosives planting thrills, was originally released on Sega's System 24 arcade hardware.

Similarly, ESWAT follows the arcade to Sega Genesis to Virtual Console path, but uses an Altered Beast brand of sidescrolling action featuring a super cop in a tubby exoskeleton.

Both are 800 Wii Points (aka $8 American) and are expected some time "soon."
Click to expand...

I'd imagine one of them will be coming next Monday because Japan AND Europe just got both of them recently.

...Meanwhile I am STILL without Vegas Stakes!

EDIT: ALSO, Today Japan got these games!
NES - Moero! Pro Yakyuu (Which to us is Bases Loaded)
Gen - Chelnov (Atomic Runner??)
TG16 - Gai Flame (No Link)
TG16 - Salamander
 
[quote name='lilboo']Kotaku just reported
Sega has announced a pair of upcoming addition to the Wii Virtual Console in the form of Crack Down and ESWAT. The former, distinguishable from the more recently released Xbox 360 Crackdown by its space and top down shooting/explosives planting thrills, was originally released on Sega's System 24 arcade hardware.
[/quote]

I wonder if it will come with the Halo 3 beta?
 
I hope that wasn't Reggie's surprise for Sept. I keep hoping I'll come home one night and my Wii is glowing and theres a new channel or something.
 
[quote name='CouRageouS']I hope that wasn't Reggie's surprise for Sept. I keep hoping I'll come home one night and my Wii is glowing and theres a new channel or something.[/quote]I'm pretty sure Reggie's surprise was "If you really think that there will be a surprise given all the similar 'surprises' I've overpromised on in the past, then you'll be surprised!"
 
[quote name='botticus']Neo Geo for the US has been officially announced. No date set for the first game, though.

http://gonintendo.com/?p=24866[/quote]
While very cool, it just reminds me of how unfortunately overpriced the VC is.

Why pay $9 for Fatal Fury on Wii, when there are much better alternatives (both in price and offered content) on PS2 and 360?

It's much more tolerable for Nintendo games, because they've been so shrewd with releasing retro compilations. When it comes to the more widely available third party stuff though, it's much tougher to swallow.
 
[quote name='evilmax17']While very cool, it just reminds me of how unfortunately overpriced the VC is.

Why pay $9 for Fatal Fury on Wii, when there are much better alternatives (both in price and offered content) on PS2 and 360?

It's much more tolerable for Nintendo games, because they've been so shrewd with releasing retro compilations. When it comes to the more widely available third party stuff though, it's much tougher to swallow.[/quote]

Not to mention the fact that the 360 has a hard drive that will hold all of these games.
 
[quote name='snipegod']I really would be satiated if Super Smash Bros. would hurry up and release on the VC.[/quote]

I predict they'll do the same thing with Smash Bros. as they did with Metroid. A week before Brawl comes out, they'll release SSB64.
 
I'm gonna get Lost Levels when it hits here (because it will), but I don't know about Picross. Maybe if it's LE.
 
600 points :(. I hope they dont start charging more for 1st party titles. Is this the origional NES version or the SNES version?
 
[quote name='E_G_Man']600 points :(. I hope they dont start charging more for 1st party titles. Is this the origional NES version or the SNES version?[/quote]

They were never released outside of Japan. Plus, since they're Limited Edition, it's justified on their part to charge more. I don't have a problem with paying $6 for a game never released here.
 
Completely stupid and backward to have software up only for a limited amount of time.

Even though it seems like it, not everyone has a Wii yet.
 
What happens if you download it and then delete it for space? Will it still be available for re-download?
 
[quote name='E_G_Man']I thought the Lost Levels were part of Mario All Stars.[/QUOTE]

They were, but Lost Levels was originally SMB 2 in Japan.
 
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