Attention "jailbroken" iPhone owners: Touch Arcade reports that it's now perfectly okay to Bonk your wunderphone without having to worry about its purty glass screen cracking. Emulator author ZodTTD (shall we kneel before him?) has ported the nifty TurboGrafx-16 emu, Temper, to iPhone as – wait for it – temper4iphone.

Temper was originally developed for the South Korean GamePark 2X handheld and ran ROM- and CD-Based titles designed for NEC's 16-bit system, which was a smash in Japan (as the PC-Engine) but enjoyed modest success in the West under its Turbo-fied moniker. As you can see from the embedded video, the emu is already plenty impressive. Unlike its GP2X counterpart, there's no support (yet) for CD-based game images, but compatibility with TG-16 ROMs (if you don't own the game, don't download em, 'kay?) is said to be high. Like previous emulators ported to iPhone, the retro console's controls are recreated on the touch screen.

Apple is expected to launch its "2.0" refresh of the iPhone along with the iPhone App Store in just a couple of weeks, and we'd be jazzed to see a proper Virtual Console-esque suite of "sanctioned" emulators offered for download via the service.

[Via TUAW]

Hudson Soft is giving Wii owners its second dose of Bonk with Bonk's Revenge. The Turbo-Grafx 16 platformer is due sometime next month on the Virtual Console, according to the publisher's official list. Also on the list for next month are Dragon's Curse, Bravoman, Battle Lode Runner and Shockman. Bravoman stands as only the second TurboGrafx-16 game from Namco Bandai, and only the fourth title not distributed by Hudson Soft.

The first title to be released, Dragon's Curse, is scheduled for next Monday, April 2. All titles will be priced the usual 600 Wii Points for purchase. Also known for next month are three from Sega, including a 2-dimensional Virtua Fighter 2. No word on what classic titles, if any, Nintendo will release in April.

Another Virtual Console Monday rears its ugly, beginning-of-the-week head, but the tiny sparkle of joy that is the Virtual Console offers some respite. Heading up the list of games this week is the NES classic Excitebike (500 Wii Points), the spiritual predecessor to Excite Truck. No motion-sensitive controls here, just daredevil racing and stunts in glorious 8-bit color. You can even design your own tracks!

As promised, both Splatterhouse and Beyond Oasis are also available to download. Splatterhouse (600 Wii Points) is a side-scrolling brawler originally for the TurboGrafx16. This was the first game to ever receive a parental advisory disclaimer, though by today's standards it seems relatively meek. After the carnage is complete, the Sega Genesis action/adventure game Beyond Oasis (800 Wii Points) should cool your adrenal glands with a dose of lush 16-bit graphics.

Vectorman is still on-target for a VC release this month, so expect it to head up next week's list.

Nintendo takes a backseat this week while three third-party titles are launched for Wii's Virtual Console. Tecmo, which promised aggressive support back in August, has released its NFL license-free (and not-so-super) Tecmo Bowl ($5) for NES. The other two titles we already knew were coming: Sonic Spinball ($8) for Sega Genesis and Double Dungeons ($6) for TurboGrafx 16.

Though there is no specific VC release schedule (a predicament both Nintendo and Microsoft's downloadable services unfortunately share), we do know that Splatterhouse, Vectorman, and Beyond Oasis have been promised for this month.

It's time to don your Terror Mask and grab a chainsaw. According to Hudson's Virtual Console list, next month will bring rise to Splatterhouse and Double Dungeons on the Nintendo Wii.

Splatterhouse is a classic gorefest, full of blood and guts and severed hands that flick you off (an homage to Evil Dead II, to be sure). It's a welcome addition the Virtual Console and one of the few titles guaranteed to earn an M rating. Double Dungeon is a first-person RPG similar to Wizardry.

Sega also recently announced four titles, including Vectorman and Beyond Oasis, for release soon, likely in March.

By Knuttz's count, it's taken 70 steps, including many retreads, to get from Odyssey to Wii. You can view each of these steps -- all 71 consoles -- in this scrolling gallery. (Note: handhelds have been omitted.)

Nintendo has announced the four new titles coming to the Virtual Console today. As predicted, TurboGrafx-16's Alien Crush makes the list, although the also-mentioned Dungeon Explorer is currently MIA. The other three titles are Gunstar Heroes, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (both Genesis) and Ice Hockey (NES), which were all featured on the launch list for the US Virtual Console.

Also on the launch list, but still absent, are Baseball, Tennis, Urban Champion (all NES), Space Harrier II and Toe Jam & Earl (both Genesis). As noted by Joystiq tipster Eric B., Sega lists Space Harrier II landing next Monday (December 18) and Toe Jam & Earl arriving Christmas Day. Assuming Dungeon Explorer makes the list by 2006 -- it, too, was on the list -- that's at least six more titles we can expect before the New Year. With any luck, we'll also see a few better titles purported by Nintendo -- that is, unless it interferes with Reggie's strategies.

The four new VC titles today will be added at 12:00pm EST. Ice Hockey is 500 points, Alien Crush 600, and both Genesis titles are 800 points apiece.

Keep up on: Virtual Console Mondays

[Thanks, ElChibo and Shadow Hog]

It's time for fun with Virtual Console math. OK, so a few weeks ago Nintendo promised 30 games would be available for the classic gaming download service by the end of the year. Fourteen of those games premiered on the service at launch (or just after), leaving 16 more to be released in the remainder of 2006. With Nintendo set to premiere new VC content on Mondays and only five more Mondays in 2006 (including today) we could reasonably expect three or four virtual console games each week, right?

Apparently not. With less than two hours remaining in Monday on the East coast, the Wii Shop Channel is only showing one new game today: TurboGrafx-16 vertical shooter Super Star Soldier.

We suppose its Nintendo's prerogative to slow-play its 2006 Virtual Console hand like this, but we're a little frustrated that we still have to wait for promised classics like ToeJam and Earl and Ecco the Dolphin. It shouldn't take much work on Nintendo's part to upload these decades-old ROMs to their servers -- perhaps the slow release is a way to offer a respite to Nintendo download servers that reportedly slowed to a crawl shortly after launch.

Anyway, the game is up and available for 600 points, so go and buy if you're into the whole classic shmup thin.

[Update: Fixed some math errors in paragraph 1]

The classic controller is a good fit, albeit unfamiliar, for a gamepad that supports NES, SNES, N64, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx 16. Part of the sacrifice though, is that the classic controller can't offer an authentic retro experience and, of course, leaves us wondering, why bother?

It's no secret that all of these platforms and their games are readily available in emulated formats for computers and other devices. And it's easy enough to invest in a gamepad that's as generic as Nintendo's classic controller. For Virtual Console to succeed, it's got to be clean, easy, and cheap.

That said, the E3 Virtual Console demo featured an elegant interface (the downloading process was not shown) and superb emulation software. The demo featured a sampling of beloved launch titles, including Super Mario Bros. (NES), Super Mario World (SNES), Super Mario 64 (N64), Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis), and Bonk's Adventure (TurboGrafx 16).