We were so close to having a unified theme this week with two out of three games having really great music. If only Eternal Champions soundtrack wasn't so reminiscent of a Wesley Willis concert being pushed down a flight of stairs. Oh well.
Eternal Champions (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points): We have a lot of happy childhood memories that involve this 2D, not-in-any-way-a-Mortal-Kombat-rip-off-(wink) fighter, and we'd bet that you do too. Now does that mean it's a good game, or even fun to play? We have absolutely no idea. It's nostalgia roulette, and it's only going to cost you $8 to play.
Zanac (NES, 1 player, 500 Wii Points): In Nintendo's description of vertically scrolling shooter Zanac, the most prominent feature advertised is that the game's difficulty adjusts in real-time to how well you play. It sort of feels like a used car salesman trying to sell you a Chevette by telling you it has "luxuriously wide cup holders." Which is to say it's worrisome. That said, it does have some pretty killer music.
The Dynastic Hero (TurboGrafx16 CD-ROM, 1 player, 800 Wii Points): The Dynastic Hero is an action RPG that has its lead roles filled by insects (finally). It's basically Wonder Boy in Monster World (if that means anything to you) with different characters inserted. Maybe a commenter will be able to share their thoughts on the game. But what we can tell you is that the music is fantastic.
I just think it's great that you site Wesley Willis. OH, and the Sega Cd verasion od E Champions was better than the Genny/Mega Version.... If anyone cares.
Ok, upon initially reading the article I was feeling nostalgic about EC and was thinking hey, 8 bucks would be great to play this again. I remember some of the times in the dorm with this and it was a lot of fun.
I then hit play on the vidoe and watched it and was quickly cured of the nostalgic malaise. Thank you YouTube video!
I'm only half joking when I say that from now on I'm going to watch video of any VC I consider purchasing. This could end up saving me (and my limited Wii available space) lots! :)
Wow, player one is so frickin' cheap in Round Two. He's that guy that would put his quarter on the arcade machine and you would immediately slap it off. "Bitch, not in my town!"
"Nostalgia roulette" is the best phrase I've heard to articulates the enormous uncertain of buying VC games. I feel that way with Eternal Champions, which I probably rented from Blockbuster a few times in my grade school years and which serves as the entire basis for my probably-unfounded nostalgia.
Just watched the video. Wow - the game looks about 98% terrible. 2% not-terrible because of funky music that sounds ripped out of also-terrible Sonic Spinball.
Sega owned the Wonder Boy name and franchise but not the games themselves. Westone, the creators of the games licensed them to Hudson for publishing on other consoles. That's why you have stuff from them like Adventure Island, Dragon's Curse and Dynastic Hero. They're the exact same games with different names and some different graphics.
Well I say.....AWESOME! I love this game! I remember on a message board I was on that asked the question "Which oddball game would you like to come to VC?" I picked Eternal Champions. Sweet.
Say NO to nostalgic gaming, kids! You'll only spoil your fond memories! Playing them now will be mildly entertaining for about 10 minutes and then you'll turn it off forever!
As the owner of several disappointing but "nostalgic" virtual console games, I totally agree with that statement (and also realize the main reason the VC Store doesn't offer demos).
Eternal Champions sucked for the most part, just the controls were bad really. I liked the characters.
But yeah I found out that for the most part, nostalgia is not worth it.
I really regret buying Super Mario Bros and Sonic 2.
SMB is just not a fun game. Yeah it's funny to laugh at the sounds and sprites you remember but it is punishingly hard IMO,and the repetition kills it.
Sonic 2 was the first game I ever owned but that's the problem. I played it to death when I was 8. Now there are no more secrets, and everything is either too easy or still frustrating (I'm looking at you, Mystic Cave boss whose nearest signpost makes you fight him with 0 rings if you die). Plus Sonic 2 is NOT fast, not at all, esp compared to Sonic 3 or the newer GBA/DS Sonic games.
I thought it was a cool fighter and did some things to stand out from the other fighters, but I think it's biggest problem was it was just too slow. It's like everyone was fighting on the moon or something.
That and the fact that finishing moves were just 'make sure the enemy lands on the right spot on the ground so the finishing move thing will initiate'. No combos or special buttons to press for a finishing move, just making sure they land 'next to that one pole... like try and make it to where their knee is lined up with it...' Kinda dumb.
Fun? yes Worth the VC price? no Any game worth their dumb VC prices? no
Agreed. As much as I like the VC (concept, playing nostalgia-inducing games that are difficult to find, et al); I *highly* dislike the overpricing for them... NES games in particular. :\
I don't think all VC games are overpriced. There is a flaw in sticking all games from one system with the same price, however. Something as simplistic as Donkey Kong should not be the same price as, say, SMB3.
eternal champions... back then, my friend and i spent HOURS figuring out where to make the loser land in every level to initiate the fatality things. i don't think we ever really "played" the game. i think we had fun...
To be honest, I'm a little surprised SUPER SMASH BROS for N64 wasn't released today for VC as a way of compensation to the shred of upset masses out there(even though there was no prior announcement of any possible VC release).
@FOXHOUND Compensation for the delay AND the lack of good updates. I mean seriously....we're all pissed we're not playing the game today and what do we get for it? FRIEND CODES
Nuts to all of you. Nuts, I say! Eternal Champions was a great game. Tons of moves, fighting based off of real martial arts, and not one palette-swapped character.
I have to agree...although it was one of the most difficult fighting games I ever played in my younger years (the computer almost ALWAYS had a counter-maneuver for whatever you tried), the originality of the characters and realism devoted to the various martial arts styles is uncanny. Like a previous poster though, I spent a good bit of time pressing Start on P2's controller and then throwing them everywhere to find the sweet spots for the finishing maneuvers.
It is already possible to play Mario Paint on the DS with full touchscreen support, thanks to the genius of homebrew; I was just doing this a couple days ago. But yes, it would also be great, perhaps even better, to put it on the VC with Wii remote support.
I'm sorry but seriously is there anyone else disturbed by the fact that Nintendo has decided to practically rerelease a game that VC had just a year ago!? The Dynastic Hero is Wonder Boy in Monster Land, folks! Some of the music/graphics are better but the puzzles, levels, and monsters are EXACTLY the same! I previously bought and completed Wonder Boy on VC and enjoyed it, but when I saw gameplay footage of Dynastic Hero I was pissed off.
I really think this is rediculous, it's like releasing Super Mario Bros 2 and then Doki Doki Panic a year later. I already felt that VC has been disappointing due to mediocre weekly releases and most of the good games are "been there done that" but this is yet another wasted release opportunity for Nintendo. The holiday season is a good time to bust out a plethora of great games to get gamers excited about the Wii/VC lineup. Nintendo just isn't cutting it.
