Post by: WindyMan on February 19, 2007, 04:29:55 PM
It's been a while since each game in a set of Virtual Console releases has been from a different platform, but here we are. The NES, SNES, Genesis and TurboGrafx are each represented with a game this week, and from the looks of it, they're all pretty good. Which ones should you get? Every one of them. If this is financially infeasible, then
Donkey Kong Country - SNES
Released 11/25/1994
1-2 Players
Cost: 800 Wii Points ($8)
Controllers: Wii Classic, GameCube
While Rare had been making quality games for over a decade, Donkey Kong Country arguably made the British developer a household name, and cemented a long and fruitful relationship with Nintendo. In DKC, Donkey Kong and his chimp pal Diddy Kong must brave the jungles to reclaim DK’s giant horde of bananas from King K. Rool and his reptilian minions. Versions of this game have been released for the Game Boy (Donkey Kong Land), Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance—and now, the Wii.
Since Nintendo ditched the bean-shaped B-button, Donkey Kong Country, like Super Mario World, is thoroughly unplayable using a GameCube controller. Run (Y) and jump (B) cannot be pressed at the same time with your thumb, so unless you like using multiple fingers for face buttons, you’ll have to grab a Classic controller (or comparable alternative).
Back in 1994 Donkey Kong Country’s pre-rendered sprite and background graphics were a technological blow to the competition, proving the SNES still had some pepper in it. While the technique is now commonplace, Rare’s attention to detail in DKC shines through, and the environments, from flurries to butterflies, still impress. While the level design is somewhat crude when compared with its direct sequels, Donkey Kong Country’s zany animal buddies, cleverly hidden bonus rooms, tricky platforming, beautiful music, and solid controls remain enjoyable. We recommend Donkey Kong Country (in one form or another) to everyone. - Michael Cole
New Adventure Island - TurboGrafx 16
Released 6/1992
1 Player
Cost: 600 Wii Points ($6)
Controllers: Wii Remote, Wii Classic, GameCube
Have you ever wanted to jump on platforms in order to rescue the girl? No, I'm not talking about Mario and Princess Peach. In New Adventure Island it's Master Higgins and Tina! Kidding aside, the Adventure Island series really has a significantly different feel to it than other platform games of the time. Players race through the levels dodging obstacles and throwing weapons at enemies. Several types of fruit are littered throughout the level. If enough of it isn't collected, Master Higgins' vitality will drop and he'll die.
New Adventure Island is a great game with a good amount of content. There are seven different levels, each of which is split into 4 sections and concludes with a boss. Master Higgins has a variety of weapons that he can use, like axes and boomerangs. There is also the classic skateboard for him to ride on, changing things up a bit more. The difficulty is balanced, and ramps up comfortably as you play. Overall, New Adventure Island is a quality platform game that will fit in nicely on your Wii's channel listing. - Mike Gamin
Streets of Rage - Genesis
Released 12/31/1991
1-2 Players
Cost: 800 Wii Points ($8)
Controllers: Wii Remote, Wii Classic, GameCube
I remember playing a lot of Double Dragon back in the day, but I don't recall hearing about Streets of Rage, which is much in the same vein. It's a two-player beat-'em-up where you can select characters with different attributes and special moves (including a napalm assist from a bazooka-wielding cop in a police car), pick up weapons of various strengths, and combo the crap out of anyone that gets in your way. There are eight levels in all with bosses at the end of each, and two endings to make the second time through more rewarding than the first.
From the moment you first start playing Streets of Rage, you know you're going to be in for an awesome ride. It looks great, it sounds great and it plays great, even with the Wii Remote. I can't believe I didn't play this game in the 16-bit days, but thank the stars Virtual Console is giving me a second chance. This game is definitely something everyone will like, so we'll give it one of our green check marks. - Steven Rodriguez
The Legend of Kage - NES
Released 8/1/1987
1-2 Players
Cost: 500 Wii Points ($5)
Controllers: Wii Remote, Wii Classic, GameCube
As Kage, you need to rescue Princess Kirihime from ninjas. Kage is kind of a ninja himself, although he doesn't have the ninja getup that his enemies do. What he can do is jump really, really high into the air, taking out any other ninjas that jump across his path, either with a throwing shuriken or his sword. The sword is handy for blocking other shurikens thrown your way from other ninjas, but be careful you don't get hit by those ninjas that shoot fire at you. There are also various ninja powerups you can get, which will make you faster or create an illusionary ninja double. Oh yeah, the last boss is a really powerful ninja.
The Legend of Kage has lots of ninjas. That's good enough for most people. However, the game itself isn't half-bad. It's simple, and the same four levels repeat themselves a few times, but there's just something about running around shooting down ninjas while flying around like a ninja that makes things really fun. Be warned, however, this is a classic NES game with classic NES difficulty. Though it's short, it'll take you a while to get to the end in one shot. Ninja ninja ninja ninja. Ninja. - Steven Rodriguez
Thanks to VG Museum for help with some screenshots.
Post by: Kairon on February 19, 2007, 05:20:34 PM
~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com
Post by: Arbok on February 19, 2007, 06:02:47 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: NewsBot
Versions of this game have been released for the Game Boy (Donkey Kong Land)...
Donkey Kong Land had totally new levels. If one is going to say it was just a different version of DKC, then one might as well just state that the NES Mega Man games were all just different versions of the first, since the same principal applies.
Post by: WuTangTurtle on February 19, 2007, 06:41:15 PM
Post by: Svevan on February 19, 2007, 06:53:18 PM
Post by: NeoThunder on February 19, 2007, 11:57:38 PM
Post by: GamerGeorge on February 20, 2007, 12:47:37 AM
Post by: Maximilian on February 20, 2007, 02:15:49 AM
Post by: Pale on February 20, 2007, 02:42:30 AM
Post by: UncleBob on February 20, 2007, 03:13:54 AM
Post by: Bloodworth on February 20, 2007, 05:00:25 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: NeoThunder
Ok, so.....if Nintendo can bring a Rare game like Donkey Kong Country to VC, then I don't see why they can't bring Goldeneye, unless it's something with the "James Bond" name license and EA who has the rights to it.
Actually, Activision has the rights now.
Post by: Entroper on February 20, 2007, 06:02:38 AM
Post by: Arbok on February 20, 2007, 06:42:17 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: Svevan
Arbok, there were also Game Boy Advance versions of the actual DKC games. We just mixed it up with the Donkey Kong Land games - it'll be fixed shortly.
The GBA and GBC versions were both already mentioned, I was wondering why Donkey Kong Land was clumped with those, though, considering it was not an attempted port of the original DKC.
Post by: tonythekitty on February 20, 2007, 11:12:09 AM
Post by: Arbok on February 20, 2007, 11:25:47 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: tonythekitty
Anyone got any idea who owns the rights to the super awesome Battletoads Rare franchise? i would love to see Battletoads for nes or Genesis come out....
In terms of the old games, it's either the developer (Rare) or the publisher (Tradewest, which is now owned by Midway) depending on the original agreement.
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on February 20, 2007, 12:40:19 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: ArbokQuote
Originally posted by: tonythekitty
Anyone got any idea who owns the rights to the super awesome Battletoads Rare franchise? i would love to see Battletoads for nes or Genesis come out....
In terms of the old games, it's either the developer (Rare) or the publisher (Tradewest, which is now owned by Midway) depending on the original agreement.
I seem to remember back some time ago they were selling franchise rights to games like Double Dragon, and I'm not sure if Battletoads was also one.
Post by: Viewtiful mario on February 20, 2007, 12:58:16 PM
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NeoThunder, Nintendo can release Donkey Kong Country on the Virtual Console because they own the Donkey Kong license; they did create it, after all.
So doesn't that mean that all Nintendo needs to do is get permission from Activision to have a James Bond game and there all set? Doesn't sound that hard.
Post by: Blue Plant on February 20, 2007, 02:07:01 PM
Post by: Viewtiful mario on February 20, 2007, 03:19:42 PM
Post by: NeoThunder on February 20, 2007, 04:29:57 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Viewtiful marioQuote
NeoThunder, Nintendo can release Donkey Kong Country on the Virtual Console because they own the Donkey Kong license; they did create it, after all.
So doesn't that mean that all Nintendo needs to do is get permission from Activision to have a James Bond game and there all set? Doesn't sound that hard.
Well, I think it's more than that, and that is money. If a company holds the license on something, for nintendo to make any money, they have to offer a lot of money to get a little money. Why buisnesses just can't say 50/50 and therefor make some money instead of trying to milk every cent they can.....is beyond me.
Post by: TheYoungerPlumber on February 20, 2007, 05:11:09 PM
Post by: KDR_11k on February 20, 2007, 07:05:01 PM
Post by: Arbok on February 21, 2007, 05:25:58 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: TheYoungerPlumber
From what I played, DKL seemed like a half-port of DKC. There seemed to be very strong similarities in level designs. Perhaps my memory is failing me, though. Perhaps I made a mistake.
The first few levels were similar, although when you get into the sky world (aka the cloud place o death) and others, similarities between the two begin to vanish. The bad guys were mostly the same between the two, though. Never played the later Donky Kong Lands to see how those compared with the console offerings.
Post by: tonythekitty on February 22, 2007, 05:53:21 AM
Taken today from ebay....A copy of the much complained about Mario Kart 64 goes for between $20.00 for just a cartridge and $60.00 new in the box. A Wii download is only $10.00. Oh and I didnt even mention the shipping price
Even Super Mario World which is cheap due to its immense availibility goes for about $2.99 plus $5.00 shipping, which is the same price as the virtual console release.
Oh and "New adventure island?" for TG-16? I didn't look up its price on ebay today, but it is so hard to find an american copy I have personally paid $60.00 for a copy and $45 for another copy (after I lost the first one) so did I complain about having to pay $6.00 to download it now? I. DONT. THINK. SO.
Post by: Ian Sane on February 22, 2007, 08:44:04 AM
The extra money is for working ghost saves.
Actually I think N64 games are well priced. It's mostly just some NES games that cost to much. Most of the "pixel box art" games should be cheaper.Some games are cheaper to buy as the real thing if you're lucky and have a good used game store in your area. If you hit ebay then the shipping cost is going to affect things. But any flea market will have Super Mario Bros. (usually with Duck Hunt included) for much cheaper than the VC price. It really depends on the game.
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on February 22, 2007, 08:46:16 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"Taken today from ebay....A copy of the much complained about Mario Kart 64 goes for between $20.00 for just a cartridge and $60.00 new in the box. A Wii download is only $10.00. Oh and I didnt even mention the shipping price"
The extra money is for working ghost saves.
Some games are cheaper to buy as the real thing if you're lucky and have a good used game store in your area. If you hit ebay then the shipping cost is going to affect things. But any flea market will have Super Mario Bros. (usually with Duck Hunt included) for much cheaper than the VC price. It really depends on the game.
I agree with Ian N64, most SNES, Genesis and TGX games are fairly priced (though there are some stinkers that should be 5$ MAX like Bonanza Brothers). NES also has many games worth it but 5$ for the pixel art games is way too much.
Post by: Entroper on February 22, 2007, 01:01:55 PM
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on February 22, 2007, 01:06:20 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Entroper
I suppose I can agree that $5 for the original Donkey Kong is a bit much. They ought to at least include both DK and DK Jr. for 5 bucks. But either way, we're still talking about FIVE dollars here. Kid Icarus was certainly worth it.
That is definately debatable
.
Post by: Kairon on February 22, 2007, 04:04:13 PM
~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com
Post by: Artimus on February 22, 2007, 05:01:30 PM
Post by: KDR_11k on February 22, 2007, 06:15:50 PM
I don't know about you but I'd still need a NES to play that on.
Post by: Smoke39 on February 22, 2007, 06:30:07 PM
Post by: KDR_11k on February 22, 2007, 08:03:24 PM
