The Virtual Console

When the Wii was first talked about back in its 'Revolution' days, and it was announced that the system would have access to an online library of classic titles, I was stoked.

I love old games. I started gaming with Coleco, and that was great, but when the NES rolled out - wow, what a life-altering system that was. Of course at that point in my life, I only played what the parents bought, or what my brother brought home (of what method he obtained these I never asked). He's always had a knack for picking out good titles though - even in the comic book realm, he picked up on good artists, story arcs, and first appearances. I really need to ask him how he knew what was coming without having access to a video game or comic book store...

I grew up on a variety of good games - Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Contra, Castlevania, Kid Icarus, Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, among others.

I have to say, that the VC was a large reason of why I wanted to buy Nintendo's new 'Revolution'. The purpose of the VC in my mind is to compile all of my favorite games onto one system, and never having to worry about switching cartridges/systems, or losing save data from battery death (which is sad).

So Nintendo releases 2-4 games a week, every Monday at noon eastern time, for the Virtual Console. Of course every week can't be three A-list titles, but I am sure that somewhere out there, someone is excited about a game that comes each week. Nintendo announces its "Wii-kly Update" on Monday mornings at 8 a.m. eastern on press.nintendo.com though it is usually leaked the weekend before and found on sites such as GoNintendo. Or if you're extra savvy, you may notice an upcoming game being listed as rated on the ESRB's website, though this does not guarantee any sort of release date.

So far, I'm up to 23 Virtual Console titles, having purchased about 17,000 points. My first download was Legend of Zelda for the NES. There are games already released that I'd like to have in my library, but they're not high enough on the priority list to constitute me downloading them.

About 75% of the games I've downloaded are first party (Mario, Zelda, Metroid), with the remaining 25% made up of games such as Contra, Castlevanias, Ghouls N Ghosts, and Bubble Bobble. I've probably only played through and beaten about half of the games I've downloaded. (See - So Many Games, So Little Time...)

The list of games to still come out for the Virtual Console seems endless, as there are literally thousands of games yet to be released - as well as the possibility of new systems being added in the future. I would love to see Gameboy and Gameboy Color games added...

Finally, a reason to look forward to those dreaded Mondays...

-Zon

Endless Ocean or Dragon Quest Swords? That is the question

I'm quite torn. My budget is by no means flexible enough for me to buy myself whatever I like.

So in said limited budget, I currently desire three games for the Wii - Endless Ocean (January 21), Dragon Quest Swords (February 25), and Super Smash Bros Brawl (December 3 February 10 March 9). Though I only plan on getting two of them on their release date, and one of them is Brawl.

So I thought we'd go through the pros and cons I could come up with via scouring the internet for details of the remaining two to help me figure out what I'm going to buy.






Endless Ocean -
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: January 21, 2008
MSRP: $29.99
Genre: Adventure (??)
Rated: E

Pros: A soothing game, full of things to do, without you having to do anything; Online cooperative exploring; Wife may enjoy watching/playing this game; $29.99 price tag

Cons: Perhaps a little too soothing - may not keep me entertained as much as the other two games; underwater games/levels make me tired quickly (especially swimming in any Legend of Zelda game...); novelty may wear off too quickly.






Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors
Publisher: Square Enix
Release Date: February 25, 2008
MSRP: $49.99
Genre: First Person Rail Shooter
Rated: T

Pros: It's freaking Dragon Quest on the Wii; use Wii Remote as sword and shield to defeat classic DQ monsters; Akira Toriyama design...; it's a 3rd party game to which I need to show my support to.

Cons: $49.99 price tag; may get redundant being on the 'rail' all the time; wife may not enjoy watching this game and most likely will not play it.

I definitely want both of these games, but after thinking it over, I'm probably going to purchase Dragon Quest Swords. Sometime down the road I will most likely pick up Endless Ocean, probably used on eBay.

Supporting the 3rd party developers, especially Squenix, is pretty important to me, as I rambled about yesterday.

Dragon Quest Swords was the fastest selling game for the seventh generation home consoles in Japan to date, and is also the best selling 3rd party game of said generation. I doubt it will have the same impact here in the States, but I at least have to show my support by getting it at its launch.

-Zon