VC Monday: Tennis (NES), Space Harrier II (Gen), Military Madness (TG16)
by Christopher Grant 
{ Dec 18th 2006 at 9:55AM }
In just a few short hours -- at precisely 12pm ET -- Tennis (NES), Space Harrier II (Genesis), and Military Madness (TurboGrafx-16) will clamber out of their Craftmatic adjustable beds and drag their weary bones onto the Wii's Shop Channel, part of a weekly ritual we've come to know as Virtual Console Mondays.
They may be old, but that doesn't mean they don't have any self respect! Nope, if you want to reignite that old fling, you're gonna need to pay ... just not as much as you used to. Though this troika of platform-specific releases have temporarily joined forces on the Wii, a distinct class system is still evident. NES titles, like Tennis, fetch a cool 500 Wii Points, while Genesis titles, like Space Harrier II, are going for 800 Wii Points. That's 100% more bits for only 60% more Points! Clearly, you can see the injustice being perpetrated here!
All the while TurboGrafx-16 is still rambling on about that 16-bit graphics chip of his, so they figured an extra 100 Wii Points for those games oughta shut him up.
They may be old, but that doesn't mean they don't have any self respect! Nope, if you want to reignite that old fling, you're gonna need to pay ... just not as much as you used to. Though this troika of platform-specific releases have temporarily joined forces on the Wii, a distinct class system is still evident. NES titles, like Tennis, fetch a cool 500 Wii Points, while Genesis titles, like Space Harrier II, are going for 800 Wii Points. That's 100% more bits for only 60% more Points! Clearly, you can see the injustice being perpetrated here!
All the while TurboGrafx-16 is still rambling on about that 16-bit graphics chip of his, so they figured an extra 100 Wii Points for those games oughta shut him up.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
McWeen @ Dec 18th 2006 3:18PM
So far I only buy the TurboGraphx-16 games because that is the only system I don't physically own. If I really cared about any of the other titles I can go to a second hand store and get most Genesis or NES games for $2.99.
darthcollegeguy @ Dec 18th 2006 10:09AM
I thought there were supposed to be 4 new VC games every Monday.
VagabondArts @ Dec 18th 2006 10:10AM
Space Harrier II for me.
Sean @ Dec 18th 2006 10:10AM
Military Madness! Damn, I totally forgot about that game. That was the only reason I ever wanted a TG16... my friend let me borrow his a few times and me and my dad played that game constantly. When I get a Wii, I will have to download that game. :)
samfish @ Dec 18th 2006 10:53AM
Another Monday, another crappy selection of VC games.
...throw us a bone, Nintendo...
dvddesign @ Dec 18th 2006 11:24AM
(gets antsy)
When are we going to be moving out of the "early dawn of man" NES releases? I mean this is THE console here. Crap, I'd almost buy JAWS if they released it just because it's something other than a genero-sport circa 1982 from Nintendo.
We've been thrown a single bone for the NES with Zelda. Everything else has been warmed over stuff we'd played to death about 21-24 years ago.
This Xmas suprise coming next week better knock my damn socks off, and it better not be the internet channel, as that's an already assumed expectation.
For the Nintendo fanboy, the VC's turning out to be a lonely existence to keep. Sega and TG-16 games are swell and all, but I've bought more of them than I have anything from Nintendo.
baby sea tuna @ Dec 18th 2006 10:29AM
Hell yeah, Space Harrier! So glad I bought that points card the otehr day...
RUSKULL @ Dec 18th 2006 10:32AM
Guess it was too much to ask to have two weeks straight of really good games? Although I remember having lots of fun playing Tennis back in the day, I now have Wii Sports, so yeah, I'd probably just feel silly playing NES Tennis on a Wii now :P
Oh well. It's likely we'll get some good better ones next week if they follow what I think they are doing. Aren't we getting the Wii Browser soon too?
hegemonyhog @ Dec 18th 2006 10:34AM
...So we can pay $5 for an 8-bit, poorly aged version of a sport that was already included with the system for free and with motion control.
Wow.
Punch Out, I can understand. Not Tennis.
ryan @ Dec 18th 2006 10:37AM
I agree with dvddesign. When you look at what Japan already has we are getting nintendo's turds over here.
Orangecoke @ Dec 18th 2006 10:56AM
Military Madness is not a crappy game - my friends and I loved playing it head-to-head way back in the day. Great little game.
chenry @ Dec 18th 2006 11:04AM
where is Super Mario Bros.? Huh? And Contra!
PodMonkeys @ Dec 18th 2006 11:00AM
Well shoot! I'm gonna run out of money quick, with all the VC titles I keep buying. :P These aren't turning out to be as cheep as I thought it'd be.
Steve @ Dec 18th 2006 11:02AM
Since Nintendo insists on releasing the oldest NES titles in the slowest possible way, why don't they release Excite Bike? Interest in Excite Bike's going to be at a high right now due to Excite Truck, so why not capitalize on it? The way this VC has been run is basically a reminder that even though Nintendo's made some smart choices in the past couple years the metamorphosis is not yet complete, and we should expect to see Nintendo screwing up many of the details.
Even with the tiny library I bought some games for nostalgia and just to play around with the functionality of the system. Now that I'm used to it I think I'm just going to hold onto my money until Nintendo releases some games for the VC or at least lowers the price a bit. I hope my attitude is becoming more widespread because if consumers forget about the VC due to the pathetic library and high prices Nintendo will be forced to respond.
Sven @ Dec 18th 2006 11:08AM
Last week was a pretty good selection (even though, as a Blades of Steel loyalist, Ice Hockey offends me in many ways) - both Gunstar and Alien Crush were / are top-notch titles.
But this is a thin and not altogether good lineup. I know WHY Nintendo's doing this - they don't want to piss off non-legacy 3rd parties by making the catalogue too robust out of the gate and stealing sales - but it's more than a little bit annoying. I can *guarantee* you that we won't see Super Metroid until at least six months after MetPrime3's release, for that very reason.
I wish they'd stick to a fixed four titles / week, however (1 each from the NES, SNES, Genesis and TG16). Would it have been THAT hard to list... I don't know, Pilotwings(?) on there as an SNES entry? Or, hell, Super Tennis?
Jason @ Dec 18th 2006 11:05AM
I scoff at all of you who pay $5 to play any of these games... Try romnation.net and download an emulator to play every game ever made for each of these systems for ZERO dollars!
Coolie @ Dec 18th 2006 11:07AM
Military Madness is the only game worth getting this week. If any of you liked Advance Wars, you'll really enjoy this game. It's one of my all-time favorites for TG16.
Steve @ Dec 18th 2006 11:06AM
Oh, I would like to say that the libraries for Genesis and Turbo Graphix-16 are far, far, FAR more impressive than Nintendo's library of COMBINED NES, SNES, and N64 games.
devi8i @ Dec 18th 2006 11:39AM
Give me a break you cry babies....XBOX live arcade has been up for over a year now with a grand total of 39 games, Nintendos VC has been out for about oh a month and has almost 30 games, almost every game you could ever want on teh systems will be included at some point, if you couldnt live without a particular game you would have your old console and game hooked up to your tv already. so quit your bitchin and just play
Fred T @ Dec 18th 2006 11:21AM
Anyone who pays $5 for NES Tennis should have their head examined.
btboy500 @ Dec 18th 2006 11:23AM
I personally wished that Nintendo handled Virtual Console a bit differently as well, but at the same time, I wonder about how many people have played all three of these titles to judge that they aren't good? I certainly haven't. Interestingly, VC is getting me interested in games I would've never thought of buying otherwise, namely, the gems that might exist on the not-so-known Turbografx. This system and its games have been placed in obscurity by Nintendo before, so it makes business sense to release these before Nintendo's better known titles.
marty @ Dec 18th 2006 2:38PM
"14. I scoff at all of you who pay $5 to play any of these games... Try romnation.net and download an emulator to play every game ever made for each of these systems for ZERO dollars! "
I scoff at all of you who pay for anything!!! Why not just walk into the stores and steal the new games and consoles and everything. You can take your neighbor's car.. just steal that. and steal an HD Plasma TV while you are at it!!! Stealing is the only way to go apparently!!!
dvddesign @ Dec 18th 2006 11:24AM
And let me elaborate a bit here on the bigger picture...
Supposedly, we've been told we have all these fantastic third parties lined up to support the VC with games. On all platforms. I remember hearing and seeing how fantastic the developers all thought the Wii was in all regards. I'd heard fantastic rumors about games coming bundled with older VC aligned games. I know we aren't even a month in, but I was hoping for something, anything other than this big pile of nothing we keep looking at every week. I mean, I know N's got a lot of stuff going on right now, but they must have some nasty-ass void of releases coming at some point if they're going to keep holding back ALL decent first/third party NES/SNES content from us.
I must've stupidly assumed something incorrectly, because I had visions of games dancing around that haven't even been mentioned in passing.
Where's:
Bionic Commando
Rush'n Attack
1941
Megaman (1-9,X)
Strider
Bubble Bobble
Uniracers
TMNT
TMNT IV: Turtles in Time
Castlevania (1,3, and... Simon's Quest for some of you)
Super Star Wars (whole trilogy)
Lots of games, and this final one goes without saying, but I'm doing it anyway, since this one game is the great equivocator. If they release this game, I'll shut up about the schedule, and they can release SMB in 2018 for all I care.
DuckTales
Magma42 @ Dec 18th 2006 11:27AM
That is a bizarrely apt point Steve, not just in terms of respective quality of games but in quantity too, as with this VC update TG16 and Genesis together have 2 more games available than NES, SNES and N64 combined. Nintendo's losing ground on its own console, how in the seven hells does this make sense from a business stance? Scaring the neophyte 3rd parties might make sense as a reason, but they've released all the good stuff in Japan, where arguably alot of 3rd party games are going to be made, so what the fornication is this excrement?
hegemonyhog @ Dec 18th 2006 11:39AM
The other argument I see coming into play here is that, as far as I know, there are remarkably few Classic Controllers on the market.
Niche titles and second-tier TG-16 and Genesis games make sense under this plan - start releasing AAA titles when you can sell the accompanying $20 controller in bulk. Nintendo knows how to make money, and Nintendo's not going to release a game that'll get downloaded 50,000 times without the ability to sell a matching 50,000 (unnecessary, but matching) Classic Controllers.
My guess - the weekend you start seeing Wii controllers available en masse is the weekend we get Goldeneye and/or SMB3.
Knight15 @ Dec 18th 2006 11:42AM
How about SUPER MARIO WORLD??!! The game that has been shown on all the VC SNES preview screens since the beginning! C'mon Nintendo, give us at least one mario game here besides Mario 64, I can play that on my DS.
devi8i @ Dec 18th 2006 11:55AM
once nintendo is past this holiday season and the install base is greater I am sure we will see a lot more of the more desireable games being released. Big N isnt re-releasing these games for the fun of it they are in it for the money and they know the big name titles that are not mario are going to take a higher percentage of users to make money off of.
Daniel @ Dec 18th 2006 11:55AM
Gimme a break. Lame-o. What exactly is Nintendo waiting for regarding the GOOD VC games? This is the last Monday VC release day before Christmas so I would have thought for sure they'd release something big so all the Wii-getters can download something like Super Mario Bros on Christmas morning after they receive their Wiis (not to mention the hundreds of thousands of people who already OWN a Wii).
But no. These games may be aight, but considering the amount of awesome NES and SNES games they have to choose from, just ONE would be nice.
Get on the ball Nintendo. This is one way in which you're really not doing things right. We're not asking for SMB 1, 2 and 3 one week, and Punch Out, TMNT and Super Mario World the next. Just one would be nice.
James @ Dec 18th 2006 11:59AM
Not for nuthin', but @#23, there's literally millions of GC controllers, which AFAIK work for every system the Classic one does, plus can be had on the used market for a few dollars (vice $20 for the Classic). Spoiled by wireless? Get a Wavebird. Or buy an extension cord for like 2 bucks.
Re: the selection today... it's pretty weak. I haven't bought any VC games yet, because the heavy-hitters aren't there yet. I would *kill* for a $10 version of Majora's Mask -- the only "modern" Zelda I haven't played yet. I would buy Super Metroid *three times* (if I could), just to support the idea of it. But NES Tennis? Some TG16 crap I've never heard of? Please. I understand want to space out the "quality" titles to keep VC alive that much longer, but come on, give us *something* besides NES Zelda.
devi8i @ Dec 18th 2006 12:40PM
#26 I think you sum up the counter to your own arguement pretty well, Nintendo wants to sell new Wii games to you as the primary revenue generator and supplement those sells with VC games. For the Wii to be successfull Nintendo needs original Wii titles to be sold more so then VC titles. Christmas day Nintendo wants you playing Zelda, or Wii sports.
VC will play very well in supplementing slow periods of Wii releases while maintaining momentum, intrest in the system, and revenue streams.
RD @ Dec 18th 2006 12:05PM
I understand the frustration vented in these comments, and the situation will get better (way better!) Just be patient!
James, seriously. Try Military Madness. You'll love it. It's not TG16 "crap".
For those doubting the VC right now, use this system to try new things and understand what these games are all about.
To those who utilize ROMS and emulators.....back off. You know how silly you sound?
Ninegauger @ Dec 18th 2006 12:09PM
I'm going to be honest with you Nintendo, we can play all of these games for free, we only pay you because we're upstanding citizens or something. So you better start giving us some of your good 1st party stuff or who knows what kind of files are going to find their home on my PC.
Kimosabae @ Dec 18th 2006 12:25PM
As usual, Nintendo fans (such as DVDDesign) assiduously lose sight of the fact that Nintendo does not exist simply to make them happy. That's why Nintendo succeeds. There's obviously a certain business sense in the release schedule of Nintendo's back catalog.
Sure, releasing anxiously awaited titles such as Super Metroid, Bionic Commando and Starfox 64 out of the gate would make tons of people happy now, but what would Nintendo have to fall back on if/when they have gaps to fill in their future release schedule (especially considering Ninty's third party history)?
Let's also not forget the effects of Nintendo first party titles when aligned next to everything else. Nintendo's not just trying to sell you their games anymore, they've got Sega and TG games to worry about. Who's gonna care about Bonker or Streets of Rage on a Nintendo platform if their being enveloped by an avalanche of Nintendo's relatively remarkable history? Nintendo fans have proven time and time again that they bu almost solely Nintendo games. To saturate the marketplace with their own games now would not make any financial sense:
"Crap, I'd almost buy JAWS if they released it just because it's something other than a genero-sport circa 1982 from Nintendo."
This comment pretty much solidifies my point.
Ninty fans need to stop the excessive bitching. What you've got now is good, and there's TONS more good where that came from.
Brats.
-SynikaL
Darkness @ Dec 18th 2006 12:39PM
I don't understand people's comments. Just because YOU don't like any of the games, doesn't mean other don't like them. I'm having a blast with Ecco and Gunstar Heroes and I'm thinking of getting Alien Crush (I have this for my TG16, but it's in storage.). Nintendo can't please everyone because each person has a different favorite game. We simply can't expect Nintendo (or any other third party) to release your "favorites" every week. There were WAY too many games released over each of the console's lifetime to do that. There has to be room for the obscure titles as well. The service is only a few weeks old and we need to give them time to mature. Eventually your favorite games will be released. It's just a matter of time.
Miniboss @ Dec 18th 2006 1:04PM
I point everyone who is complaining to this list:
http://www.wiivcguide.com/2006/12/13/the-waiting-game/
That pretty much sums up what could be going on with Nintendo and their releases. We already know they have ESRB ratings for Star Fox 64, Super Mario RPG, and a few others. A Link to the Past and Donkey Kong Country are available in other regions.
I believe the biggest reason they're doing what they're doing is to keep these third parties (which they've had so much trouble in the past with keeping) happy by putting their games in the spotlight.
You people complain that Nintendo can't keep third parties around, but then complain when Nintendo doesn't blow the competition out of the water with their games.
Sven @ Dec 18th 2006 1:15PM
>Bionic Commando
Rush'n Attack
1941
Megaman (1-9,X)
Strider<
All of those are possible, but they're all Capcom's responsibility. They've filed for an ESRB ruling on SFII, so they're obviously moving forward with North American VC titles, but saying those aren't being released isn't a slight on Nintendo.
>Bubble Bobble<
Again, not a Nintendo property.
>Uniracers<
Not likely due to the Rare mess. Although DKC came out, so maybe it's a possibility.
>TMNT
TMNT IV: Turtles in Time<
Depends on who has the license (has Konami somehow kept it all these years?), but these could be problematic.
>Castlevania (1,3, and... Simon's Quest for some of you)<
Those are the big possibles on your list, but since SCIV is already out in Japan Konami may decide "that's enough" and not bother with anything else.
>Super Star Wars (whole trilogy)<
Licensing, again, would throw a monkey wrench into the works, as well as who actually has the rights to the games. Not to mention LucasArts hasn't announced support for the VC, and I can't see JVC putting anything out for approval as well. There's a SLIGHT possibility that the NES Star Wars may see the light of day in Japan if they can somehow get the rights worked out since Namco made it, but that won't translate to North America.
>DuckTales<
Never going to happen. Licensing issues block all the Capcom / Disney games.
For the most part, none of these are Nintendo's fault that they're not being contemplated for the VC, since they're not Nintendo IPs. Just throwing a wish list out there while ignoring the realities of the situation isn't very helpful.
The first hurdle to clear is determining who actually has the rights to re-release the games; for some of these companies, that's a pretty convoluted chain, and when you add the fact that a lot of famous games come from IPs which aren't with the company who originally licensed them you can see the problems.
(I have *no idea* how Tecmo expects to be able to put out Tecmo Bowl, unless they're just going to sanatise the entire game of all NFL / NFLPA references.)
Secondly, even if there's no rights issues, if the company itself isn't going to get moving on filing for ESRB (or equivalent) approval for the games, there's little if anything Nintendo can do about it.
Austin Powers @ Dec 18th 2006 1:16PM
I agree with Miniboss, you bunch of turds.
hegemonyhog @ Dec 18th 2006 1:55PM
"Not for nuthin', but @#23, there's literally millions of GC controllers, which AFAIK work for every system the Classic one does, plus can be had on the used market for a few dollars (vice $20 for the Classic). Spoiled by wireless? Get a Wavebird. Or buy an extension cord for like 2 bucks."
Yep. But Nintendo doesn't make a dime off of the secondary sales of controllers - my guess would also be that they've shut off all system and peripheral production for the GCN, as well.
Meaning, as was my point, that Nintendo wants to make as much money as possible off of the VC, and the best way to maximize profits is to point to your newly replenished Classic Controller stock as the best way to enjoy classics from NES to N64.
You can use Gamecube controllers. However, I'm pretty sure Nintendo would rather you used the new shiny thing they're trying to sell you.
rudimentalist @ Dec 18th 2006 2:32PM
Rare had nothing to do with Uniracers. It was developed by DMA Design, now Rockstar North. On top of that, the wiki article on Uniracers says it's rated for VC on the ESRB site.
What a disappointing VC Monday, no surprises at all.
Burnt Meatloaf @ Dec 19th 2006 4:48AM
Where's the new stuff? Wasn't VC supposed to be an indie developer's paradise?
Didn't Nintendo criticise the competition for making the same games with new graphics? Hey, here's the same games without new graphics. That's even better.