With the release of a glorious, space-faring shooter this week, we're subtly reminded just how much the Wiiware service has in common with the limitless and largely unexplored realm of outer space. Though there are several bright spots, most of it's just a cold, empty void. And you shoot everything in it.
Wiiware
Gradius ReBirth (Konami, 1 player, 1000 Wii Points): A retro and peculiarly capitalized side-scrolling shooter, Gradius ReBirth tasks you with dodging death and blasting all manner of deformed space monstrosities. Reminder: Bullets are bad for you!
Virtual Console
Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars (Sega Master System, 1 player, 500 Wii Points): This is the one where Alex Kidd is searching for the twelve zodiac signs. It's easily confused with the one where he's searching for Matthew Fox and Terry O'Quinn.
Reader Comments (16)
Posted: Mar 9th 2009 11:47AM (Unverified) said
My five favorite games haven't been released yet! I hate Nintendo and Virtual Console sucks! Why don't they just let me make all their decisions! I know much better than them!
How, how, how, how in the name of the Lord God Almighty of Heaven Hell Earth and the Baby Jesus could anyone complain about a dearth of titles with the recent (and may I add exquisite?) releases of such titles as, oh, I don't know, bloody fucking Ogre Battle, Life Force, MUSHA, StarTropics II, and so on.
Obviously I've come across much more obnoxiously than my usual here, but in all seriousness - there are a whole hell of a lot of games that have been released in the past 25 years, and the release of each entails the participation of multiple companies. All things considered, if you can honestly look at this list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Virtual_Console_games_(North_America)
and say "it's been a big letdown" or "Virtual Console isn't worthwhile", then you have absolutely zero objective sense of gaming, and perhaps should refrain from making such bogus generalizations.
Reply
How, how, how, how in the name of the Lord God Almighty of Heaven Hell Earth and the Baby Jesus could anyone complain about a dearth of titles with the recent (and may I add exquisite?) releases of such titles as, oh, I don't know, bloody fucking Ogre Battle, Life Force, MUSHA, StarTropics II, and so on.
Obviously I've come across much more obnoxiously than my usual here, but in all seriousness - there are a whole hell of a lot of games that have been released in the past 25 years, and the release of each entails the participation of multiple companies. All things considered, if you can honestly look at this list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Virtual_Console_games_(North_America)
and say "it's been a big letdown" or "Virtual Console isn't worthwhile", then you have absolutely zero objective sense of gaming, and perhaps should refrain from making such bogus generalizations.
Posted: Mar 9th 2009 1:13PM Shogan said
Yourself:
There have been some great games released on the VC, but Nintendo has considerably slowed down on the releases since WiiWare came around. That and the frequent crap releases that have been a staple of the service since it began haven't helped things.
Plus, it's terribly overpriced.
Reply
There have been some great games released on the VC, but Nintendo has considerably slowed down on the releases since WiiWare came around. That and the frequent crap releases that have been a staple of the service since it began haven't helped things.
Plus, it's terribly overpriced.
Posted: Mar 10th 2009 10:19AM Dragun said
You know what the point is, there are amazing games that have not been released that are essential for my taste in games as per the ones I listed that aren't available.
There is so much crap on the VC and yes, there are some good games too.
I own the games I like, but we've been bombarded with crap that doesn't measure up to other VC areas and NA is not bringing out the best of the past.
Sure there's a lot of variety accross multiple platforms but so what? It means very little to me if the games I want aren't released.
If you're happy with the VC's offerings then good for you but that doesn't mean everyone else has to be!
Reply
There is so much crap on the VC and yes, there are some good games too.
I own the games I like, but we've been bombarded with crap that doesn't measure up to other VC areas and NA is not bringing out the best of the past.
Sure there's a lot of variety accross multiple platforms but so what? It means very little to me if the games I want aren't released.
If you're happy with the VC's offerings then good for you but that doesn't mean everyone else has to be!
Posted: Mar 9th 2009 11:43AM cyruszuo said
I'd like more games too, especially some standouts like Contra and Strider that are missing without any comprehensible reason, but irrelevent seems a bit harsh.
After all, we just got Life Force a few weeks ago; I couldn't fault that week no matter how I tried.
Reply
After all, we just got Life Force a few weeks ago; I couldn't fault that week no matter how I tried.
Posted: Mar 9th 2009 12:01PM linkario said
I love how Nintendo went ape$hit for YEARS over people posting ninty ROMS online. They knew one day that would have this INCREDIBLE wiiware store that they could re-release their back catalog and make sweet sweet money.
Now the time has come... their business plan as been written and they've FINALLY hooked us up with all of our favorites like Alex Kidd.
Reply
Now the time has come... their business plan as been written and they've FINALLY hooked us up with all of our favorites like Alex Kidd.
Posted: Mar 9th 2009 1:39PM JoshMilewski said
I though Gradius Rebirth... ReBirth... was released a long time ago... Guess that was only Japan?
Reply
Posted: Mar 9th 2009 7:36PM (Unverified) said
Yes, and I've been playing it all this time. Hahahahaha!
Reply
Posted: Mar 9th 2009 7:26PM tkashur said
And yet, another week goes by where Nintendo hasn't announced the date of its storage solution. Is it really all that hard to tell us WHEN it will happen? It's spring already Nintendo.
I'm still holding out on buying anything on this service till the solution happens. And that has been since Lost Winds came out. And from what I hear that the solution is just downloading straight to sd...then I guess I have more time to wait...darn, I really like the gradius series...oh well, more money for XBLA and PSN from me...
Reply
I'm still holding out on buying anything on this service till the solution happens. And that has been since Lost Winds came out. And from what I hear that the solution is just downloading straight to sd...then I guess I have more time to wait...darn, I really like the gradius series...oh well, more money for XBLA and PSN from me...
Posted: Mar 10th 2009 12:27PM fourblades said
Does "up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, 1, 2, 1, 2, minus, plus" still work for this one?
I know one of the gradius game in Wii works...
Reply
I know one of the gradius game in Wii works...
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