Thank G-D! Now the complaints will finally end! At least until they find something else that they want. But for right now, sweet, sweet silence.

Neat. Secret of Mana really is a great game. I'm stuck at the mana fortress right now though ... so hard to level the girls magic up. I might be getting a Wii Points card in the morning but I'm definately getting one before christmas. Any suggestions on what to buy? I plan on getting Bomberman Blast but I'm not positive. And even if I do, I'll have 1000 points left.

2 days till christmas eve? AWESOME! I get to open half my presents on X-mas eve because my great grandma and grandpa are getting too old to come over during the icy weather, so I open my presents there, come home, sleep (yeah right) get up and open more presents! Also, I would like to know of some good MULTIPLAYER (or at least co-op) WiiShop Channel games. So basically anything with 2 or more player capabilities. Any good ones?

I hope North America gets a good set of games tommrow. It would really suck to have a one game release before Christmas.

Well, we're already getting two Wiiware games this week, so there is a good chance that we'll only get one VC game this week. I mean, heck, look at what Europe's getting - this basically their equivalent of a one-game week, even if they are top-pick games. Anyways lets just hope I'm wrong, or at the very least that one game is the one you want.

Come on, M.U.S.H.A., Daddy needs a new pair a' shoes!

Is that the hallelujah chorus I'm hearing? Now if America can just get Castlevania III, or at least a decent game tomorrow, all will be well.

@Mickeymac. Just wait. Now they're gonna start bitching about Mario Golf.

Mario Golf was pretty good Mr Cheez, but I for one in the PAL region, do not care much for it now... But oh yeah, Secret of Mana! Bring it on!

By the way, Santa is a cross dresser. You know, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara...

Just watch I bet us American Wii owners will get a lump of poop in our Virtual console stockings this week. Sure we've had Secret of Mana for a while now but it never fails that Europe gets more games than us each week and we always get the shaft. I predict a big up yours from nintendo this monday. I'll be pretty shocked if anything decent gets added.

Well score Europe! Good show. Nintendo finally coughed it up after keeping it in their back pocket too long. Of the two absent games, SoM or Mario Golf, you easily got the better of two I'd say.

And with Sonic as the back up, just getting things up to a one-game-per-week status, eh....it could be worse.

Enjoy that SoM you guys!

So wait, do we get a Christmas update as well, or just the usualy Friday (Boxing Day) update?

Oh, and Captain Konami, we get VC updates every fortnignt. So a "one-game-per-fortnight status" would be a better way to put it.

One word needs to be said here.

"Finally!"

You're welcome, Darren.

P.S.: Yay, I could be of help to the VCR. ^^
P.P.S.: This truly is great news, although I gotta say I was hoping we'd also get Mario Golf. But who knows...maybe the Friday's aslo gonna get its share of games. Even with SoM ony two games would be a pretty slim update, especially for a Christmas week with Nintendo proclaiming to be celebrating.

Edit: You forgot to mention in the news that we're going to get the games on Wednesday rather than Friday.

Finally Indeed. No much longer now. There's too much stuff i want that would require 10 Wii points cards at the least, so whether i get this as soon as it's out will probably depend on if i get a points card at christmas or get it as a gift. Also, we're geting them on Wednesday?

Even so, i'm getting Soulcalibur IV, NiGHTS and some unknown games so i wouldn't even play it.

I realized I'm only half way through SoM on my old SNES cart (unbelievable). O_o

Well, good for Europe. What other Mana games are really worth playing, anyway? I guess Secret of Mana is considered the best, and word of the rest of the series is kinda spotty.

"What other Mana games are really worth playing, anyway? I guess Secret of Mana is considered the best, and word of the rest of the series is kinda spotty."

The prequel (Final Fantasy Adventure in NA) is an AMAZING game, as well.

I Heard that Heroes of Mana was quite good. Better than Children of Mana anyway.

Yeah! Finally!

yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyessss

@Big A2:

I get what yer saying, but since there were two games mentioned, isn't that 1 game per week, or two games per fortnight, if you prefer?

Congratulations Europe.

@Captain Konami: Yeah, I guess so, but some times we get one game a fornight, so I guess that would be half a game a week or something.

@Dazza: Last year they moved the usual Friday update to Tuesday (Christmas Day), so there's really no "rule", but I have no idea what KeeperBvK is trying to say. I don't think we'll get these on Wednesday.

Whoah, you're right, sorry. I saw the news on two other sites first and they were both announcing a Wednesday release, although they quoted Nintendo Power as their source...which clearly says "Friday". I guess that got me confused a bit. Never mind. ^^

I hate spoilers..... btw where's Mario Golf?!

Europe get Secret of Mana in 50Hz on Boxing Day! YAY! Even know this game can run in 60Hz Nintendo. <_<

But Europe fans will be happy nonetheless. Just don't bother with Sonic 2 for the Master System. It isn't easy as the review says.

Now as I'm using the USA Chanel, give use something good Nintendo of America!

yay, lots of people now will be happy, including me
my favorite snes game comes soon now
just dont call it complaining, its just talking about it
and those who dont like it, just dont read those comments/threads

i cant believe this, i am so mad. i was worring about this, and here it is. my worst fears confirmed. EU was going to get what we had, and US was going to get what they had. meaning, the chances of us getting Phantasy star IV and castlevania 3 are really high. altho they may be really good games, im not really interested in either of them, i got all excited because the one day out of the the ENTIRE year that we were garaneteed a surprise/awesome game, was the monday before christmas, this is horrible. i got so excited about today that i could hardly sleep. i was hoping for something mind blowing, like majora's mask or donkey kong 64. but now, seems like we are just playing catchup with europe. what kind of crap is that? the ONEDAY we are told we are going to get a surprise. oops guess not, your just getting games that they have.

i cant believe this.
wow. what kind of surprise is that nintendo.

(while listing to Round 1 music on Streets of Rage)

Is the US Shop Channel getting an update today?

oh yeah. I knew it! Secret of Mana is an instant download. I did expect Mario Golf alongside it but no matter. I've actually got into playing Secret of Evermore again recently which is still pretty good. It builds on the SoM experience; the story is better, alchemy is better than MP and there are more puzzles. I hope Evermore comes to VC some time too.

I was just about to say "Where are you Bass X0!?" and there he is number 30

Congrats Europalians! Now let's hope America gets something good announced in 5 minutes

I'd like to remind you all of the current track record of announced VC games before their actual release. I myself will not believe it until it actually happens.

Yeah and you americans will get Earthbound....

Merry X-Mas indeed, Phantasy Star IV for America. Oh well, there's always next week for me!

Whenever I heard someone talking about boxing day I thought that this had to do with fighting...and I always thought it odd that other countries would have a holiday about fighting...but to each his own...so I finaly look it up and it is about putting money in boxes for the poor. Dude, maybe call it money for the poor day, or something more fitting. Boxing over here is all about the violence, not about bonuses or extra cash. (unless your Don King that is)

Oh and I am happy you guys got SOM maybe some peace and quiet from the complainers now.

@ Tragickingdom, Its alternative name is St. Stephen's Day

But yeah, I'll wait until Boxing Day itself to find out for sure...

Saw the original cart in my local shop for €70, nice to know it'll be available for a mere 800 Wii Points

@Big A2:

Yowwwww. Half game weeks. I thought maybe ya'll had not been hit with such yet. I guess anything's possible for the Big N. I guess NA could even get nothing at all for Christmas (I doubt it..... but my faith in N's motivations has been diminished in past weeks/months).

Wow, this is great news - if it does indeed happen of course! I guess all I'd be waiting for now, in a catch-up kinda way is Axelay, which will come out some time I'm sure!

Having read all the various comments and complaints on this website for a while now, and having seen what sorts of games get released in each of the territories, I guess the only people that really do have anything to gripe about are those in Australasia - wouldn't it be really cool if they got some nice exclusives sometime? (or at least some of the C64 games, etc..)

"Saw the original cart in my local shop for €70"

That's one hell of a sick store, then.

Great! I will download Secret of Mana.

But only 2 Games? Sorry, but i thought we will get 3 or 4 games!

Maybe there will be another game (i hope)

yep i was right, cept US only gets phantasy star IV
unbelieveable...

Speaking of Secret if Mana, I keep getting lost (pre-Flammie) and this site helps keep me on-track. (www.rpgclassics.com/shrines/snes/som) Hope this helps...

We Europeans are getting the same amount the games as in America these days. Sometimes 1 more VC game. But it feels better because of no solo game weeks.

I suspect that I might be the only one more interested in Sonic 2 than Mana!

Ok, You have your secret of mana, Now its time we get Castlevania 3..

hey, we just gave you Phantasy Star IV.

And you still have our Mario Golf.

I just hope this information is correct, otherwise I will be chopping heads. Great news though. Happy holidays everybody!

Yeah I hope this is good news, I need some good news at the moment! I'm looking forward to down loading Sonic 2 for the master system but I am also going to download Secret of Mana. I'm not over bothered about Mario Golf but I've heard it's a good game, I'd rather download Mario tennis if that was to be made available. If in 2009 we saw Mario kart, Pilot Wings,Majora's mask, Yoshi's Island and Mario-all Stars then 2009 will be a great year for the VC. We can only hope... Happy Christmas and have a great 2009.

Finally SOM. But why did it take this long?

@ Super Flip release Mario Golf and you guys will get CVIII. The hostages are getting released lol.

Win game is win.

Now I have a use for the fiver my Dad randomly gave me. Wii Points FTW!

Give me Soleil and my Virtual Console wants are complete.

yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyessssssss

Rexy out of retirement!!

So has this game been released already? I'd hate to be Dazza if this turns out to be wrong

@djshep1973: axelay is available to you by changing your region to australia.

I wonder ... will wii see Majoras mask anytime soon? Its the one zelda (apart from all the handheld ones excluding Minish Cap and Phantom Hourglass.) I havn't played. I'd download it in an instant. I'm also contemplaiting Link to the Past (I own the original cart but it won't save anymore, plus my SNES's cords are all facked up, so it resets if you bump it). I also own the original Ocarina of Time cart, but I don't enjoy that game as much as everyone else seems to. My favorite zelda is A Link to the Past though. It'd be cool if they made a fully 3d Link to the Past, with the exact same graphics it has now, but 3d ... and not pixelated.

@Shadx

No, we will not be getting Majora's Mask any time soon, as it required the RAM expension, which is difficult to emulate.

As for A Link to The Past, if you can't get easy access to the GBA remake, then I say go for it.

About time is all I can say.

@55 : I agree, A Link To The Past is the best Zelda game. Ocarina of Time was over-hyped for me.

Yeah, I got bored with Ocarina about halfway through. A Link to the Past is my third favorite, after Wind Waker and Twilight Princess.

@56. Mickeymac
Uhh... No. If my PC can emulate an Expansion Pak, so can the Wii.
Besides that, if the Gamecube can emulate a game with an Expansion Pak required (ie, the game in question), shouldn't it's successor also be able to?

@ Hero10x: Calm down, you can't set your expectation too high. PSIV is a good game. You might get CVIII next week, just like we might get Mario Golf next fortnight,

@King Elemento

Fine, then perhaps I'm wrong, although I could've sworn that was Ninty's excuse for why the game wasn't there yet, but I guess that was simply a rumor. I don't care either way, as Majora's Mask is my least favorite Zelda game, and the only one I didn't enjoy, but at least the rest of you still have some hope, eh?

How exactly do you know this?

Best possible christmas gift from Nintendo. Cant wait playing through Mana during the holiday break.

@Betagam7

I didn't, I only thought I knew. I'll try to remember to not make assumtions based on half-assed rumors from now on.

@King Elemento: Apparently, the emulation on the VC is super strict or something. PC emulates can emulate them easy, but then again, most PC emulators crash all the time. The VC doesn't.

I've read from a British gaming magazine that there is a rumour that the Big N are having trouble porting Pilot Wings and Mario Kart to the VC, Some thing to do with mode-7?

which magazine, pj?

@Pj

F-Zero, R-Type III, and several other games already released on the VC use Mode-7 quite extensively, so I don't think that's the issue.

I wonder if the SuperFX chip is hard to emulate, Since both Star Fox and Yoshi's Island use it, and we haven't seen hide nor hair of either of those games.*

*Edit: It is, in fact, quite difficult to emulate the SuperFX chip, apparently. And Super Mario Kart apparently has some built-in anti-emulator thing that also makes it difficult to emulate.

@Mickeymac.

Sorry my "how do you know this" wasn't aimed at you. It was a question about the source of the article. I see now its come from a German magazine.

@Betagam7

Oh, that's alright. The good thing is, you actually got me to look up a source to substantiate my claims that the RAM Expansion was difficult to emulate, since so far I haven't come across a single legitimate source that proves that.

It's officially on the Club Nintendo website so it must be true.

@Viral

That's good to hear, at least you guys get a cool Christmas present from Ninty.

@Bass X0

February's 2009 edition of N-gamer (page 42) The big N invented these great games so they should be able to put them on the VC. So I hope these are only rumours......

Get those Wii points out we are getting Secret of Mana and Sonic 2 (It's on the Nintendo website) So thanks that early post guys.. Enjoy!!!!!!

Glad you guys get that as a Christmas present, it is an awesome game, I'm glad we finally received Phantasy Star IV on Monday.

so is it actually downloadable now ?

The nintendo site has the same message!!
Friday Secret of Mana!!!!

Good for you guys! Wonder if everyone gets a Christmas update? Probably not...anyway, Happy Holidays!!

@69:
But Nintendo would probably know about their own copy protections?
That hasn't stopped emulators.
The only special chip game we've gotten (that I can remember) is Super Mario RPG (SA-1). And I hear that was plenty difficult to support.

Is it wrong of me to hope for more than 2 games despite 1 of them being SoM?

@KingMike

Except in this case, the copy protection was provided by a certain piece of hardware in the very cartridge itself, and it's pretty damn smart, too. All-in-all, it's something that has to be worked around, and might explain why the game hasn't been released yet.

@Bass X0: Not at all wrong........ just potentially masochistic.

But yes, I still have a tiny sparkle in my heart holding out hope that N will manage a Christmas effort in the next 24 hours.

No Bass, it's completely acceptable for them not to tell us we're getting an additional two games. I'll find out in an hour and 29 minutes or so.

@.58 Viral: Finally someone who agrees with me! Every time Zelda comes up in a conversation (which it does alot as Zelda is probably Ninty's greatest series (since it's more mature than Mario) IMO) my friends all say "OoT was the best" and call me crazy for thinking that ALttP was the best.

@59.Mickeymac: I wouldn't say I got bored with it, but it definately wasn't my favorite. I also loved TP and WW. Wind Waker has the best replay value out of them though.