This post is by guest blogger Steve.
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Categories: Commentary
Tags: wii
A little over two weeks ago, after several failed attempts that included my first speeding ticket ever, I finally got my Wii. I bit the bullet, woke up at 4 in the morning, and sat down in front of Toys “R” Us. I picked up an extra Nunchuk attachment as well. By that time, I already owned The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, one extra Wii remote, and two Classic Controller attachments for use with the Virtual Console. The Wii games themselves have been great so far, but I actually own more games for the Virtual Console at the moment. Here’s what I’ve bought and what I am looking forward to on the VC.
Super Mario 64: This was the first VC game I bought and downloaded. Most people have fond memories of this groundbreaking N64 title. I recall playing it for the first time at a demo station in a local EBGames and, surprisingly, hating it. I hated the character design. I hated that it was 3D. I hated that stupid Mario voice. Wait, wait, don’t stop reading, I’ve seen the error of my ways! Except the Mario voice, I still hate that. Looking back, the game came out during a time I was losing interest in gaming in general. The game came free with my DS two years ago and I decided to give it another shot. Unfortunately, I hated the way it controlled on the handheld, so I stopped playing.
So now I can finally give the game a proper shot. I’ve been using the Classic Controller and it definitely plays better than on the DS. I’m not too far yet, but I am having fun with it.
Bomberman ‘93: Ah, the Turbografx-16. Truly the forgotten 16-bit console, dwarfed by the war between the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. I never had the chance to own one, but a friend of mine in high school had one with the TurboTap (5-player adapter), the CD-ROM attachment, and several games. We’d gather in a group and spend a day playing 5-player Bomberman. Sure, there was only one battle arena, but the idea of five people playing at once was enough to keep us playing it for at least two years. Bomberman itself is a very simple concept: you’re this guy who can place timed bombs within the grid-style playing field. If you or anyone else is in the path of the explosion, that person dies for that round. There are powerups which increase the number of bombs you can drop at once and the size of your bombs’ explosions, as well as “diseases” which cause unwanted effects such as reversing your controls, running uncontrollably fast, or moving at a snail’s pace. We called them “diseases” because you could spread them to other players by touching them, usually resulting in lots of real-life shouting.
Unfortunately, by the time Bomberman ‘93 arrived, we didn’t get together as often due to school. When we did get together, though, Bomberman ‘93 had taken the original’s place. It takes almost everything good about the first game and adds to it. The big change was adding 7 new playing fields to choose from, each of which has new obstacles or features like warp holes, conveyer belts, and no-bomb tiles. There was little reason to play the original game anymore.
The Wii Virtual Console version supports 5 players, making it a great party title. It is not the best version of Bomberman out there (Saturn Bomberman gets that distinction) but it’s definitely up there.
Super Star Soldier: Everyone likes a vertical shoot ‘em up, right? This was a Turbografx game I had never played. It’s a pretty traditional shooter, complete with the usual powerups and screen-clearing bombs. Sure, it’s no Ikaruga, but it’s a pretty solid game overall. Just shoot everything and don’t get hit.
Gunstar Heroes: This is, by far, the best game available on the Virtual Console at the moment. It was Treasure’s first game, and they made the Sega Genesis do some pretty amazing things. It’s basically a run-and-gun shooter like Contra. It has a 2-player co-op mode. Sure, you can shoot things, and you will be shooting a lot of stuff, but you can also throw stuff. You can throw grenades back at enemies. You can throw enemies into other enemies. You can throw your friend into enemies. It also has a pretty deep weapon system where you can combine two of the standard weapons intro a hybrid weapon. The boss battles were usually pretty awesome as well, with the highlight being Seven Force. Seven Force would basically take on seven different forms that you would battle while rushing through a mine shaft on a hover car. These forms range from a gigantic running dog to a loaded handgun. Anyway, Gunstar Heroes is highly recommended.
That is everything I have bought so far for the Virtual Console. I think I’m mostly excited about the Turbografx games that will or could come out. They recently released the pinball game Alien Crush, and I can only hope that the far superior Devil’s Crush will be released in the future. Dungeon Explorer should be out by the end of the year. It’s a 5-player Gauntlet clone with a few more RPG elements.
What I really, really hope we get for the Virtual Console are the Turbografx-CD games. Ys Book I and II and the Japanese-only Castlevania game Dracula X: Rondo of Blood would be most welcome.