Featured Reviews
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (TurboGrafx-16)
Review by Corbie Dillard / The PC Engine classic finally arrives on the Virtual C..
Final Fantasy II (Super Nintendo)
Review by Corbie Dillard / Still a timeless RPG classic.
Fatal Fury Special (Neo Geo)
Review by Corbie Dillard / Is it really all that special?
Zaxxon (Virtual Console Arcade)
Review by Sean Aaron / One for the history books, but not for everyone
Sonic & Knuckles (Sega Mega Drive)
Review by James Newton / Lock-on, baby
Latest News
Review: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
The PC Engine classic finally arrives on the Virtual Console
The Castlevania titles have seen releases on a variety of game consoles over the years, but it's this PC Engine release that's garnered a lot of attention and focus among diehard game fans and collectors over the years. Since the game was only released in Japan, gamers who wanted to play the game have long been forced to pay the lofty..
Nintendo Download: 15th March 2010 (North America)
Gladiators, vampires, shooting, dinos, zoos and golf this week
Fans of the classics will be pleased to see the TG-16 CD entry in the Castlevania series as well as a new take on the Punch-Out formula and a surprise target shooter on Wii, whilst the DSi gets a range of sim-style games: zoo, dino and gangster and a golf game for good measure. WiiWareRage of the Gladiator (1000pts - Ghostfire Games)..
Nintendo Download: 16 & 17 March 2010 (Japan)
Racing punch-up, Zombie Wonderland and karate for the Wii; learning, canoeing, dogfighting, puzzling and shogi on the DSi
The Virtual Console Arcade gets a surprise release (always nice) and there's a couple of interesting WiiWare games to tide over Wii owners; add in some intesting titles on the DSi and you get a pretty good week for Nintendo downloading overall. WiiWarePokosuka Racing (500pts -..
Nintendo Download: 12th March 2010 (Europe)
The Hanabi Festival kicks off, but sadly not with its most anticipated game.
It seemed quite likely that Nintendo of Europe would be starting the fifth Hanabi Festival with some Castlevania goodness, but as it turns out, this is not the case! At least there's two different import games instead, one of which is another highly recommended title. WiiWare gets the short end of the stick for once with..
Review: Final Fantasy II (Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Still a timeless RPG classic.
While the game was the second numbered Final Fantasy when it was released in North America back in 1991, it's actually the fourth entry in the series due to the second and third 8-bit releases remaining in Japan at the time. It marked the series debut on Nintendo's 16-bit console and added quite a few new gameplay elements to the mix, namely Square's new Active-Time..
News: Last Ninja 3 Refunds Going Out Now
Keep an eye on your inbox
If you were among the unlucky people who purchased Last Ninja 3 on Virtual Console, you were no doubt quite annoyed that the game would, without fail, freeze after the first level, making any further progress impossible. Nintendo recently announced they would be removing the game from the Wii Shop, and have since done so. Commodore Gaming is now sending out apologetic..
News: 5th Hanabi Festival Inbound
Featuring the mighty Castlevania Rondo of Blood!
While we speculated on the return of the Hanabi Festival recently, Nintendo were busy putting the finishing touches to the fifth instalment of their import spectacular, due to launch this Friday. Kicking off with the fantastic Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and taking in IronClad, Milon's Secret Castle and, er,
News: Hanabi Festival 5 to Happen Soon?
Nintendo of Europe's site seems to suggest so
A handful of new import titles were recently given ratings by the OFLC, leading many to believe that Europe and Australia would be on their way to the fifth Hanabi Festival, and thus another nice batch of import Virtual Console games. Nintendo of Europe has now practically confirmed that this will be happening soon, as they've added four import titles..
Nintendo Download: 8th March 2010 (North America)
Markers, Dracula, Fantasy and Spanish this week
WiiWareMax & the Magic Marker (1000pts – Press Play) – The novel platformer makes its North American debut today. We thought it was a very good addition to the platforming line-up on WiiWare, so if that kind of game floats your boat get your points ready! Dracula: Undead Awakening (1000pts – Chillingo) – Hot on the heels of the Eur
Nintendo Download: 9th & 10th March 2010 (Japan)
Capcom and Nichibutsu classics on Wii, Gameloft, G.G. Series and Kanji Training on DSi
DSiWare doesn't hold any surprises, but it's nice to see more VCA releases and of course Capcom fueling the retro-fires. WiiWareRockman 10 (1000pts - Capcom) — By now we hope everyone knows this is what we know as Mega Man 10 outside of Japan. We though it was a worthy successor to the franchise crown; no..
Review: Fatal Fury Special (Virtual Console / Neo Geo)
Is it really all that special?
There's no question that Fatal Fury 2 was quite a step up in quality from the original, but it seems SNK still wasn't completely satisfied with the game and decided to release an upgrade in the form of Fatal Fury Special. Rather than start from scratch, they basically took Fatal Fury 2, added in the ability to play as the four boss characters, increased the game's..
Review: Zaxxon (Virtual Console / Virtual Console Arcade)
One for the history books, but not for everyone
In 1982 Sega made a little gaming history with Zaxxon: the first 3D arcade game to use an isometric perspective – even more shockingly, it used sprite-based graphics at a time when 3D games were pretty much all being done with vectors. Whilst Zaxxon got a lot of attention due to its flashy graphics and fancy analogue flight stick, even in 1982 it..
News: Ironclad Gets ESRB Rating, Shoots It
Shmup'ing its way onto the North American Virtual Console
The North American shoot-em-up crowd may have looked at the Japanese Virtual Console with some envy the past few months for having the Neo Geo CD release Ironclad ready and willing, but the jealous glare will hopefully soon diminish as the Entertainment Software Rating Board has put their stamp on it. The Neo Geo game has been rated Everyone..
Nintendo Download: 5th March 2010 (Europe)
"Retro" delights from Capcom, along with plenty of other things.
There's quite a lot to downloads to pick from this week. The Virtual Console makes yet another return after being nowhere in sight the past two weeks, while Capcom has released not one, but two new "retro" games at once. Also finally available in Europe is the third installment in the Bit.Trip series, along with several..
News: Nintendo Download 1st March 2010 (North America)
March is Mega Month!
This week Mega Man 10 debuts in North America, much to the delight of retro-gaming fans eager to get more 8-bit styled platforming goodness out of their Wiis. Of course let's not ignore the other WiiWare offerings or the fact that the NEO GEO is back on the Virtual Console following a short hiatus. DSi Owners have a couple of sporting games to choose from, some more adventure..
Nintendo Download: 2nd & 3rd March 2010 (Japan)
Another light week for the Wii and the usual assortment for DSi to start the month off
Japan seems to have settled very much into a release schedule like other territories, which will hopefully send some green-eyed monsters off to bed (well, except Virtual Console fans). WiiWareAqualiving: Television de Nagameru Sakana Tachi (800pts - Nintendo) – Nintendo are finally getting in on the virtual..
News: Japanese Virtual Console list - March 2010
Even Japan seems to be getting several VC-less weeks from now on.
Things are moderately bad for Virtual Console in Europe and North America at the moment, with each month having several weeks without a new release for the service. But now it's really time to worry - Even Japan seems to be getting several of these now. March only sees three new releases, and although two of those are from Nintendo..
News: WiiWare Market Grows to Nearly $60M USD in 2009
WiiWare sales are projected to overtake that of Virtual Console in the coming year. Games WiiWant? Apparently so
It's interesting to see how both the Virtual Console and WiiWare services have been utilised by today's gamers. The act of acquiring a game via download is something that was previously only common-place in a market like the PC. Now, all three current-generation home consoles have their..
News: Last Ninja 3 Pulled From European Virtual Console
Bye bye, broken Commodore 64 game
Bringing an end to a long-standing issue with the download release of the Commodore 64's Last Ninja 3, Nintendo has pulled the game from the European Virtual Console. A bug present since release was never fixed by Commodore Gaming, and those who have purchased the game will be receiving a refund. Nintendo Life had raised the issue with Commodore Gaming when the..
Nintendo Download: 23rd & 24th February 2010 (Japan)
Another light release week, but a surprise VCA release takes us higher
This year Nintendo seems to be taking a more leisurely release pace than its overseas arms. Whilst this can be disappointing for importers, it certainly seems more fair and we have to think that game publishers will be happy to have less competition than in those massive release weeks gone by. WiiWareGyakuten Saiban 3 (1200pts -..
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