Fancy a bit of a punch up this week? Maybe embarking on an epic quest spanning several generations is your thing? If so you are in luck!
What better way to herald in the series of weekly NES beat ‘em ups than to begin with the mighty River City Ransom? Our North American readers were green with envy when Europe got this in their Wii Shop (entitled Street Gangs) a whole 2 months ago. Finally universal balance is restored and now everyone can enjoy this excellent super-deformed beat ‘em up. It is quite unique because of the RPG elements in the gameplay. At just 500 Wii points this comes highly recommended.
Phantasy Star III is the other game up for grabs this week. Unfortunately for those of you who liked the second game, it's not quite as good. The game just feels rather bland compared to its famous predecessor, which disappointed fans many years ago and no doubt will do so again this time. If you're a die-hard Phantasy Star fan you might find the game worth picking up, otherwise you'll most likely find it to be rather mediocre.
Note: These games will not be available in the North American Wii Shop Channel until 9 a.m. Pacific time on Mon 21st April.

1. Smileoscar
19 Apr 2008, 09:39 BST
You guys finally got it...good for you!
2. Knuckles-san
19 Apr 2008, 09:44 BST
A lot of the predictions from the forum were correct. I hope you lot enjoy RCR
3. Viral
19 Apr 2008, 09:55 BST
Wow, no more bitchin' from America. lol
4. Atlantis1982
19 Apr 2008, 10:48 BST
@Viral
Us, Americans, we'll figure out a way to bitch about something. >.>
5. RoninDennis
19 Apr 2008, 11:03 BST
Please, please, let someone furiously demand Final Fantasy games! The day's just not the same without it.
6. Starwolf_UK
19 Apr 2008, 11:19 BST
^ You forgot Majoras Mask and Super Mario RPG.
7. DEMON212
19 Apr 2008, 11:32 BST
Viral... Mega Man, lol.
8. Kevin
19 Apr 2008, 12:32 BST
This week River City Ransom, next week Double Dragon. Great releases coming up! Are they ever going to release Vectorman or the Mega Mans over here?
9. Jupiter Adept
19 Apr 2008, 12:43 BST
I don't really care for this week. It looks like I'm spending my 500 points on StarTropics.
10. Will
19 Apr 2008, 13:28 BST
Well this should keep a lot of people very happy, until it happens again....
11. Rexy
19 Apr 2008, 13:33 BST
Excellent, you guys finally got River City Ransom
Though I merely emulated that one and still need to make the investment on the VC, it's a great game and should be a neat choice to the fighting gamer in question. Get in there!
Now, I hope for great justice that you guys get the two Mega Man games soon; I feel sheepish being among the many European gamers with MM2 on my Wii O.o
12. Shortay
19 Apr 2008, 15:11 BST
Nice week for RCR alone, and the release of PSIII in the US means that we'll hopefully get PSIV in the next few weeks
13. Tony
19 Apr 2008, 15:46 BST
I am waiting for Double Dragon and maybe Star Soldier R.
Just keep the Sega games coming. I hope they don't drop off like Neo-Geo and TG-16
14. Jogurt the Yogurt
19 Apr 2008, 16:49 BST
Hraey! Best VC week of the year!
15. Stuffgamer1
19 Apr 2008, 16:58 BST
I have a co-worker who highly recommends Phantasy Star III. It's his favorite of the series. I have them all (except the first, darn it all!) on the Genesis Collection, just need to get around to playing them. I'd really like to play the first on VC first, though. Hurry up, Sega! There's no reason to put out two and three and skip one now that Master System is on VC!
I've heard River City Ransom was supposed to be good, but I don't really know anything about it. I might download it if the review and gameplay video look good.
16. That Guy from Faxanadu
19 Apr 2008, 17:29 BST
It´s about time, isn´t it? If you don´t own River City Ransom -buy the game!
17. TheLuigiDude
19 Apr 2008, 17:54 BST
@DEMON212
Mega Man Annversery (sp) collection, lol.
18. MasterMario
19 Apr 2008, 18:01 BST
Yes! Thank you! It's about time the U.S. gets RCR.
19. MasterMario
19 Apr 2008, 18:03 BST
How do you guys know what games are being released on mondays?
20. Viral
19 Apr 2008, 18:23 BST
Master Mario, it's called magic. That's how.
@ Demon, true on the Mega Man case. I think that Mega Man will be joining them shortly...and then we'll get even more stuff that Americans will want in Europe and the cycle shall repeat.
21. NintendoBrad
19 Apr 2008, 19:07 BST
RCR looks interesting, but I'm still waiting for Dracula X.
22. MasterMario
19 Apr 2008, 20:06 BST
@Viral: there's no such thing as magic. So how do you know Dazza?
23. Dazza
19 Apr 2008, 20:13 BST
@MasterMario - Miyamoto-San sends me an wiimail though his wii to mine saying something like "yo bro, wassup, wots da shizzle biatch, da gamez 4 dis week is river city ransom and phat star III, keep it real homes, peace out!"
Whilst his vernacular.is highly unotherdox for a Japanese businessman, the advice is much appreciated. So there you go, the cat is out of the bag now!
24. lockelocke
19 Apr 2008, 20:34 BST
River City is dope, but I'm holding out for the glory of Crash N The Boys: Street Challenge, another classic from the kind folks down at Technos Japan. If you like RCR, then Crash N The Boys deserves a look; Its an Olympic style competition game with teams, taking sprites directly from RCR. Sounds less intriguing than it is, but once you start dispatching your pet piranhas on opponents , along with other equally daft and cruel methods of securing victory, you'll know true love. Grab it on emulator.
25. MasterMario
19 Apr 2008, 21:25 BST
I don't believe you Dazza because
1. I know Miyamoto dosen't talk like that
2. You guys probably don't exchange messages
3. If he does tell you about games in the U.S. then why not Europe?
26. Clayfrd
19 Apr 2008, 22:00 BST
@Dazza
I couldn't stop laughing! That's hilarious. I wish he sent emails to everybody like that. Unfortunately, that was just a joke. In an ideal world, though, he would give updates like that and speak like that at e3.
27. Clayfrd
19 Apr 2008, 22:01 BST
Oh, and also, RCR looks good. I just bought three VC games last night, though, so I'd like to finish, or at least play them before I buy anymore. After all, I already have 34 VC games...
28. Andrew
19 Apr 2008, 22:17 BST
My fingers have been crossed for about 6 months straight waiting for Majora's Mask. Its really starting to hurt...
29. CuzinMike
19 Apr 2008, 22:30 BST
Since I only had phantasy star 3 growing up, i always enjoyed it despite all of its flaws. If you compare it to the 2nd of 4th game you're obsivously gonna be disappointed. But if your an RPG fan then its worth getting to tide you over till others come out.
30. lordbowser
19 Apr 2008, 22:35 BST
@ Lockelocke: CntBSC was a great game but I absolutely sucked at the rooftop jumping event but I was invincible at the swimming event.
31. Csheroe
19 Apr 2008, 23:09 BST
@demon212
Yeah we want Mega Man!
32. Csheroe
19 Apr 2008, 23:10 BST
@Dazza do you really get Email from Shiguru Miyamoto? Stupid Question Right?
33. Csheroe
19 Apr 2008, 23:14 BST
Sorry for the continuous posts here guys but I gotta say one more thing... I want Mario Paint! LOL
34. LIF3LONGTR4G3DY
20 Apr 2008, 01:28 BST
Maybe Im the only person, but I want Nightmare on Elm Street for NES... which will never happen.
35. Jolted85
20 Apr 2008, 01:50 BST
This is awesome, River City Ransom is good news considering most weeks of VC releases for the US has been very dry, the next thing I'm hoping for is having a 3 game week release one more time in the future.
36. Clayfrd
20 Apr 2008, 01:51 BST
@Csheroe
Me too! I've been thinking about buying it on eBay for SNES, but I've kinda been holding out. I think it's a pipedream, though, because there's no Wii Mouse. It could work if they let us use USB mouses/mice.
@LIF3LONGTR4G3DY
I saw the Angry Video Game Nerd's review, and that game just looks awful. Sorry, but I'd have to agree, that's not going to happen.
37. arobo21
20 Apr 2008, 02:54 BST
BOOOOO im not happy about this week either. i hate beat em ups esp those for nes....
38. Clayfrd
20 Apr 2008, 04:36 BST
argh! arobo21, I wanted the tanooki avatar! I've been thinking about changing. Perhaps I'll use Luigi as he appears in Brawl...
39. Mr. Z
20 Apr 2008, 05:04 BST
BARF!
40. deadly.by.design
20 Apr 2008, 05:26 BST
I enjoyed this game back then, but probably won't buy it on VC. I'd really prefer to have something like Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. (hint, hint)
41. Adamant
20 Apr 2008, 08:36 BST
"Finally universal balance is restored"
Not until the US gets Vectorman and Europe gets Tecmo Bowl, I say thee.
42. benja86
20 Apr 2008, 17:02 BST
just a thought about SMRPG what if they decided to not release it in it's older complete fashion. what if instead they decided to turn it into a MMORPG? i mean i remember playing it till morning and you could not miss SQAURESOFT pimping their name all over the thing like Mario is their product.
just me thinking that sqaure may have some rights toward it somehow and look at FFXI i don't think SMRPG online wouldn't be a bad idea
43. whalleywhat
20 Apr 2008, 20:36 BST
PS III was developed by a different team, has barely anything to do with the other PS games, apart from PS IV's efforts to incorporate it. and is considered by almost everyone to be the worst one.
River City Ransom rules!!
44. ShadowSniper7
20 Apr 2008, 23:10 BST
No mega man games for me. I am just going to pick up Mega Man X Collection and Anniversary collection for the Game Cube.
45. Kelvin
21 Apr 2008, 07:59 BST
Adamant, except we don't want Tecmo Bowl.
46. XCWarrior
21 Apr 2008, 12:52 BST
Well since no one else complained about it, where is the Final Fantasy II or III? Heck any good square enix game would be good.
And actually I was hoping for Mario Kart for SNES in joy for next week, but alas.
47. DarkChocolate76
21 Apr 2008, 14:21 BST
NES Double Dragon will be getting my points next week (so would the Sega MS version if they will release it), but what I really would love to see is the original Super NES Super Mario Kart and the original Starfox. Here's hoping.
48. v404
21 Apr 2008, 15:25 BST
The day has finally come! I can't remember the last time I looked forward to a Monday for anything.. RCR is one of my top most wanted VC games since I got my Wii so no complaining from me.
As for Mega Man, for the ump-teenth trillionth time, you can buy the Anniversary disc for the GC for 10-12 bucks & it has every oldschool MegaMan you could possibly ask for. If you want it that bad, it's already there. Complaining about that just means you're lazy.
49. dualj
21 Apr 2008, 16:08 BST
I stopped waiting for Nintendo to get their act in gear. I own a lot of hard to get games like Super Mario RPG and such. I am now attempting to get Earthbound. RCR is a great game, I have the game boy advanced version. though, but I usually end up buying the same game multiple times.
50. ReZon
21 Apr 2008, 17:19 BST
@dualj
NES version > GBA version
The GBA version seemed really 'dumbed down' to me.
51. Sharecrow
21 Apr 2008, 19:00 BST
I actually want both of these, but I don't know if I will download anything today. I am still playing a couple other previous downloads....
52. Rapadash6
21 Apr 2008, 20:49 BST
I'm really glad River City Ransom didn't end up like Vectorman and the Mega Man games. Blah, blah, blah, Mega Man Anniversary Collection, I know. I know you guys in Europe never got the compilation but it sucks because they made A fire and B jump. Plus VCs emulation is spot on for NES games and the MMACs is a little buggy. I'll try not to complain too much though because I am confident we'll get the Mega Man games as well, sometime in the future.
53. Tides of Chaos
21 Apr 2008, 21:19 BST
@Rapadash6
I wouldn't call that a good reason to spend 5 bucks on each Megaman game though. I mean, I have the collection for the PS2 and I'm perfectly fine with it.
54. stinssd
21 Apr 2008, 21:23 BST
I'm still waiting for Secret of Mana--and multiplayer support on the Wii network.
But, I suppose this is a good entry after a considerable quality drought.
55. Rapadash6
21 Apr 2008, 22:46 BST
@Tides of Chaos
I can understand where you're coming from but I still would prefer the VC versions. I hated the reversed controls in the GCN version and the PS2 version, while controlled better, had even worse emulation quality and different music. To me, $5 is well worth a flawless running, ORIGINAL Mega Man game.
56. Csheroe
24 Apr 2008, 23:47 BST
I wanna play 3 which is 6 because it's sorta in the future. Not like 7 though.
57. Csheroe
24 Apr 2008, 23:50 BST
@ stinssd I want that game too! And I'm not throwin down like 70 bucks on ebay or amazon. Online friends who could play with you would be a nice touch. Somebody call nintendo and make that happen.
58. Bass X0
25 Apr 2008, 20:37 BST
Adamant, except we don't want Tecmo Bowl.
Still better than some of the crap we get.
Leave A Comment
Please login to post a comment.