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European Nintendo downloads: Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, Monkey Island

by JC Fletcher { Dec 11th 2009 at 4:00PM }

The sole Virtual Console release this week is a reminder of a very odd time: when Sega thought Alex Kidd was a viable character. The company took an in-progress Shinobi parody game called Shinobi Kid, and then added the Alex Kidd character. Someone at Sega was under the impression that a game would sell better with Alex Kidd in it.

Also available: more Monkey Island, an expansion of one of Rubik's World's games, and Pallurikio, a cute platformer with a slingshot mechanic. And on DSiWare, it's ... a stripped-down version of Hell's Kitchen!

Pallurikio (WiiWare, 1 player, 1,000 Wii Points)
Rubik's Puzzle Galaxy: RUSH (WiiWare, 1-2 players, 600 Wii Points)
Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 4 (WiiWare, 1 player, 1,000 Wii Points)
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World (Sega Master System, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)
PictureBook Games: The Royal Bluff (DSiWare, 1-4 players, 500 DSi Points)
Hell's Kitchen Vs. (DSiWare, 1-2 players, 800 DSi Points)

Capcom handing out mysterious Mega Man items before VGAs

by JC Fletcher { Dec 11th 2009 at 1:45PM }

If you're in Los Angeles tomorrow and have an interest in either Mega Man collectibles or eBay profits, be sure to get to 1013 W. Olympic Blvd. in LA tomorrow between 2pm and 5pm -- actually, we're guessing you're going to need to get there early. And bring a printout of this coupon with you.

Capcom and i am 8 Bit plan to hand out some kind of extremely limited Mega Man swag in enticing E-Tank boxes. It's likely related to the newly announced Mega Man 10, and with the Mega Man 10 "box art" done by i am 8 Bit's Gerald de Jesus, it's possible that the item will bear that image. If you get one, be sure to let us know what's in the box! We have to know what is in the box.

ESRB: NIS promotes 'Viral Survival' for Wii owners

by JC Fletcher { Dec 10th 2009 at 10:05AM }

An ESRB rating has revealed a new Wii game published by Disgaea creator NIS America, with the catchy title of "Viral Survival." The ratings board describes a game "in which players direct small 'cartoony' DNA-strand creatures around a game board," collecting other DNA strands and avoiding viruses.

This sounds like peakvox escape virus, an obscure WiiWare title that snuck into Japan in June. That game involved chaining DNA creatures and navigating them between virus blobs, occasionally gaining the ability to destroy them with "immunity" missiles. NIS America seems to simply have an interest in picking up games about viruses, like the hilariously localized Puchi Puchi Virus.

Nintendo Power reveals Mega Man 10 for WiiWare

by JC Fletcher { Dec 9th 2009 at 6:41PM }

Get your weapons ready! The latest issue of Nintendo Power features some mega news -- specifically, the upcoming release of Mega Man 10 on WiiWare.

The new installment, like the brilliant Mega Man 9, uses an NES-style aesthetic, and features wacky new bosses like Sheep Man. Sheep Man! Proto Man returns as a playable character (this time immediately, and not as time-delayed DLC), along with a third mystery character! The extra character's identity: just one of the details, like the release date or whether or not it's on other platforms, that we're just going to have to wait to find out.

An image in the writeup also reveals an Easy Mode for the game, which we can imagine being welcome for a lot of people not accustomed to the uniquely painful experience of trying to complete an NES Mega Man title.

Phoenix Wright WiiWare trailer takes the stand

by JC Fletcher { Dec 9th 2009 at 6:15PM }

This slightly hokey Japanese trailer for the WiiWare ports of the Phoenix Wright games features an overexcited kid informing his easily shocked father that the series is now available on WiiWare -- at which point they turn on the Wii and, essentially, watch more of the trailer that they are currently in.

The family also demonstrates the new Wiimote gestures for Phoenix's exclamations: Igiari! (Objection!), Matta! (Hold it!) and Kurae! (Take that!) Seeing people perform the motions on video, it actually looks like much more fun than we anticipated. So much fun that we'll be driven to play through the games again on Wii just to make fools of ourselves in a new way.

Gallery: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (WiiWare)

This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Jack's stress reliever

by David Hinkle { Dec 7th 2009 at 6:15PM }

When we heard about Stop Stress: A Day of Fury, we were pretty interested. It's not that we have above-normal levels of stress or anything, it's all about the method Jack employs. After checking out the game's info video on the Nintendo Channel this week, we can safely say that Jack just has a short fuse. Hey, Jack, we deal with large, autonomous copy machines all the time and you don't see us going on a rampage. Seriously, stop being such a spaz!

Head past the break for the full list of this week's content.

Gallery: Stop Stress: A Day of Fury (WiiWare)

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NintendoWare Weekly: Rayman, Stop Stress, Shinobi, Street Fighter Alpha 2

by David Hinkle { Dec 7th 2009 at 10:30AM }

There's some classic platforming to be had in both Rayman and Shinobi in this week's Nintendo downloads, and even a way to deal with Jack's overabundance of stress in Stop Stress: A Day of Fury. There's over ten titles in all, so cruise past the break for the full list.

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European Nintendo downloads: Earthworm Jim 2, holiday games

by JC Fletcher { Dec 4th 2009 at 1:45PM }

This week, the European Wii and DS Shops' halls are decked, with one festive, holiday-themed game each! Happy Holidays: Christmas on WiiWare is, like the Halloween WiiWare release, a program that lets you put together and send e-cards. Yep.

Just Sing! Christmas Songs on DSiWare is pretty much what it sounds like: a karaoke game in which you just sing Christmas songs. Two of them. Just watch the trailer (via GoNintendo) after the break.

Oh, also, Earthworm Jim 2 on Virtual Console. Neat!

Earthworm Jim 2 (Mega Drive, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)
Mahjong (WiiWare, 500 Wii Points)
Happy Holidays: Christmas (WiiWare, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)
Foto Face: The Face Stealer Strikes (DSiWare, 1 player, 800 DSi Points)
A Little Bit of ... Magic Made Fun: Matchmaker (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points)
Just Sing! Christmas Songs (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points)
myNotebook: Red (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points)

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Strike a pose: Bandai Namco localizing Muscle March

by JC Fletcher { Dec 2nd 2009 at 4:15PM }

Confirmed: Bandai Namco has lost its damn mind. And we couldn't be happier! The company has officially announced a winter release for Muscle March, the WiiWare port of a limited-release arcade game about striking the right pose to lead a line of bodybuilders through holes in walls left by a bulked-up thief.

Sure, it's reportedly awful, but it has multiplayer, and it's sure to be a conversation starter, with possible topics ranging from "what is this" to "why are we playing this." And while we're not assuming the quality is similar, does anyone else get a Katamari vibe from the music and art? It's quite likely that some of the same people are involved.

Gallery: Muscle March (WiiWare)

WiiWare's Phalanx remake is almost a Virtual Console game

by JC Fletcher { Dec 2nd 2009 at 12:30PM }

[GAME Watch]

The trailer for the WiiWare version of Phalanx (after the break) reveals that it looks very much like a 16-bit game, rather than a remake of a 16-bit game. In fact, it looks identical to the Sharp X68000 version upon which it is based (and which is included in its unaltered form in the 500-point download).

Essentially, developer Zoom is using WiiWare to release a Virtual Console game whose platform isn't supported on the Virtual Console -- with some new bonus content, like a new mode with new stages and manual weapon selection. We approve of this tactic. Phalanx will be released on December 22 in Japan.

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Japanese Nintendo downloads: King of Fighters '95, Kamenin Merchant

by JC Fletcher { Dec 1st 2009 at 1:15PM }

Today, for those Japanese gamers who like King of Fighters games but didn't purchase the Orochi Collection disc -- or the Neo Geo Online Collection Complete Box sets, King of Fighters '95 is available on the Virtual Console. SNK Playmore's business model is so strange -- these Virtual Console releases seem to actively compete with the company's retail collections.

Also available: two cute Namco arcade games, including Rompers, an obscure game about pushing walls over on enemies. DSiWare features a Tales of Graces spinoff, a calendar that lets you mark upcoming events, and a Picross variant with surprisingly nice sprite work.

The King of Fighters '95 (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points)
Ordyne (Arcade, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
Rompers (Arcade, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
Ponjan Wii (WiiWare, 1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points)
Ato Nannichi? Kazoeru Nintendo DSi Calendar (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points)
Kamenin Merchant (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points)
Kaiten Illust Puzzle Guruguru Logic (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)

NintendoWare Weekly: Tales of Monkey Island, Bookworm, The Combatribes

by David Hinkle { Nov 30th 2009 at 12:00PM }

If you thought last week's NintendoWare Weekly update was huge, well ... you'll probably think the same thing about this week's update! That's mostly because Nintendo provides quite the overweight offering this time, with a total of ten new titles available for your post-Thanksgiving download. Loosen that belt and make some room for more by heading past the break for the full list of this week's releases.

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USK rates Tetris Party Deluxe for Wii

by Richard Mitchell { Nov 30th 2009 at 9:00AM }

Everyone's favorite -- and fun to say! -- ratings board, the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle has unveiled a new Tetris game for the Wii. Well, that might be a little generous, as the game is actually Tetris Party Deluxe, presumably a sequel to 2008's Tetris Party. The new game comes again from publisher Tetris Online, meaning it's probably not one of Majesco's recently announced Wii and DS Tetris projects. The listing doesn't make it clear whether the game is a retail title or -- like the original -- a WiiWare release.

[Via Siliconera]

Japanese Nintendo downloads: MSX games, Eco Shooter, and 16 more

by JC Fletcher { Nov 24th 2009 at 1:01PM }

There's an incredibly diverse selection of games on the Japanese Wii and DSi Shops today -- 12 different games on Wii, and 6 on DSi. Think of this as Nintendo's online version of the holiday rush.

Most interesting among the multifarious offerings: a few forgotten Konami MSX games on VC, and 530 Eco Shooter on WiiWare. That's ... an Intelligent Systems-developed shooting game about shooting cans. The cans are alive and move around. It's weird. Also weird: Nintendo's Neratte Spot! for DSiWare, which is about throwing bombs into the mouths of fish.

The whole list is after the break, because it's crazy long.

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Critter Crunch dev working on 'Heartbeat' for WiiWare

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 23rd 2009 at 5:15PM }

Capybara Games, developer of PSN darling Critter Crunch, is working on Heartbeat for WiiWare. The title is the company's entry for the 2010 Independent Games Festival and is described as being about the "experience of growing sounds." Heartbeat's game description explains it has players starting with an "ambient whisper" and growing the "music" there, which we remember being the idea behind Electroplankton -- an idea that may or may not have manifested depending on how one feels.

IGN describes the game as involving the use of the Wiimote to control a "heart-shaped cursor," which triggers sounds, activates objects and keeps the beat going. There's no word on a release date. We contacted Capybara for a video of Heartbeat, so we could wrap our eyes around the game's concept, but were told the game isn't "together" or "stylish" enough to show at the moment. The dev hopes to share something in a couple months.