Wii Rally

Only one new release this week but it is strong nontheless and it is surly significant in ones Wii world view. This week Wii Rally honours the release of the first non-Pokémon Wii title to feature online play, Mario Strikers: Charged.

Mario Strikers: Charged is the sequel to the GameCube title featuring 9 new arenas and a butt-load of new characters each with their own special moves. More importantly Strikers: Charged will allow you to take the battle for the Cup online as you and other soccer enthusiasts wage war on the pitch of battle to get that coveted number 1 spot in the rankings. Now any victory will be short lived if you do not defend the title. Nintendo plans on resetting the rankings once a week to keep the competition new and fresh.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Mario sports games; I’ve spent many hours with Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Power Tennis both for the GameCube. Although I am still waiting for a Wii version of Mario Tennis. I’d recommend picking this one up if not for the Soccer than to see what Nintendo has done with the Wi-Fi Connection. If things go well with Strikers: Charged hopefully we will see a slew of other Wii titles featuring online play.

Monday morning once again as I struggle to write this post. I struggle because I mangled my right index finger. I know it sounds silly but you try and type with a big fat band-aid on your finger. Anyway your guys don’t care about that you care about the new virtual console titles.

I know that in the past I’ve made jokes about the abundance of scrolling space based shooters available for the Virtual Console. Well since there have been so many I must say that I am effectively out of material. So I’ll just give it to ya straight. Star Soldier is a vertical scrolling where you fly inside a giant space station with your space ship named Caesar. No matter how you word it it still sounds like something you’ve done a billion times before.

The other game I’m going to talk about today offers something a little more unique in regards to gameplay. In Dynamite Headdy you play as Headdy a toy with a detachable head. You with me so far, Headdy must save all his toy companions in North Town from the evil Dark Demon before he turn all the puppets in North Town into his evil minions. To be honest they had me detachable head. With games like this appearing on the Genesis back in the early 90s it’s no wonder the Genesis started to pull ahead of the SNES which seemed to be over producing the same crap at the time. Anyway Headdy seems like it could be more fun than lighting a Teddy Ruxpin on fire and watching the evil bear wriggle in pain. Muahahaha! Take that you mechanical demon who plagued my nightmares as a child!

Star Soldier (NES, Rated E, 500 Wii Points)
Dynamite Headdy (Genesis, Rated E, 800 Wii Points)
Drop Off (TG-16, Rated E, 600 Wii Points)

Man I can’t wait to get out of July I’m sick of typing all these 7s. Good afternoon Europe how are you fairing today? Not too good I supposed seeing as how you guys only get two new Virtual Console titles today.

Europe does some catch-up to the NA VC with Devil’s Crush being released now if we can just catch up to them and get some Mega Man action going I’ll be happy, sorry happier. A totally different Kirby game has been bestowed on our European brethren. Kirby’s Ghost Trap known as Kirby’s Avalanche here in North America is a puzzle game featuring 16 stages of blob dropping goodness. I’ve never personally played it but to me it sounds like it could have been a precursor to Bejeweled, a popular cell phone game developed by EA mobile (formerly Jamdat Mobile).

Devil’s Crush (PC Engine, 600 Wii points)
Kirby’s Ghost Trap (SNES, 800 Wii Points)

Have a good weekend all, see you on Monday.

It’s Video Thursday once again in rally land and today I have some gameplay videos for you. The game featured this week is Mario Strikers: Charged, the Wii edition of the GameCube title of the same name; well minus the “Charged” part. Mario Strikers: Charged will be the first non-Pokémon Wii game to feature online multi-player. Also available in Europe, the downside is that folks from North America will not be able to play against their European counterparts. Still the game looks like but-load of fun. Enjoy!

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Would a Mortal Kombat game be the same without Fatalities? Kind of but not really.

Midway’s goal upon porting Mortal Kombat: Armageddon to the Wii was to give any type of gamer a chance to be able to produce special moves and fatalities. When Mortal Kombat debuted in arcades back in 1993 fatalities and special moves were a sign of skill but with the Wii edition of Armageddon a 5 year old can do anything a seasoned veteran can do. So the playing field has been effectively leveled.

Armageddon accomplishes this by allowing a player to produce special moves and fatalities simply by making one of eight possible motions with the Wii Remote. 4 of which are either up/down, down/up, forward/back and back/forward; the rest are quarter circles with the Wii Remote. The downside is that by simplifying the controls they’ve really dumbed down the challenge that made the gameplay exciting. Also in simplyfying the controls they’ve ditched the characters unique fatalities and replaced them with a generic one that can be escalated by the player but they pretty much all end up the same.
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Finally some new software to talk about and I use the term “new” loosely. There are two titles available for the Wii this week. The first is Escape from Bug Island which was released in Japan under the title Necro-Nesia. Why they changed the title I’ll never understand. To me “Necro-Nesia” sounds a lot cooler than “Escape from Bug Island”. Why do the Japanese have to dumb everything down for the rest of the world I mean come on I didn’t think that Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japanese version) was too tough for us North Americans but apparently the powers that be at Nintendo think that us poor folks in the Western hemisphere are too dimwitted to wrap our heads around most games from the land of the rising sun. However I digress, I’ll take what I can get.

The other new release this week is another re-make of a classic game that has been redesigned for the Wii, Alien Syndrome. Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s Alien Syndrome appeared on almost every console under the sun, and a few computers. There was a DOS version (Anyone remember DOS?) and a Commodore 64 version. Well now over 10 years later the game a been redone for the Wii and I must say that the gameplay looks solid I’m just really itching for some more unique and new software for my Wii.

New Releases:
Escape From Bug Island
Horror/Action Adventure
1 Player
Rated M for Mature

Alien Syndrome
Action/RPG
1-4 Players
Rated T for Teen

Parents, don’t forget to check the ESRB ratings on these games if you plan on buying or renting any of the above titles for little Johnny . For more infromation on the ESRB and video game ratings please visit the ESRB website

Hello once again to all of you out there in rally land. Sorry I didn’t post the new Virtual Console titles yesterday but I had a lengthy interview for a day job I’m trying to acquire. Regardless not much was missed; this weeks VC titles are far from stellar but the bunch does have some promise.

Kirby’s Dream Course (Super NES, Rated E, 800 Wii Points)
I have a soft spot for golf games especially those that have a different and often more amusing take on the game. Which is what can be found in playing Kirby’s Dream Course. Starring that cuddly yet voracious carnivore Kirby, and some of his friends. Your mission is to get the little pink puff ball [Kirby] from the tee blocks into the hole. Set on a course high in the sky. Kirby’s Dream Course may have some very unique gameplay in store for those who give this alternative golf game a whirl.

Devil’s Crush (TG-16, Rated E, 600 Wii Points)
The sequel to Alien Crush which was released on the North American VC sometime ago. The “Crush” games are an interesting take on the grandfather of modern video games…Pinball! Use flippers and a table bump to keep your ball on the table all while avoiding enemies and trying not to get distracted by all the 8/16 bit special effects that may come your way.

Shining Force (Genesis, Rated E, 800 Wii Points)
I’m not too familiar with Shining Force, having never owned a Genesis but from the description it sounds an awful lot like a Final Fantasy rip-off. I could be wrong though.

That wraps up the North American Virtual Console releases for this week and don’t forget that if you live in Europe or any other of the PAL regions I’ll have an all new Euro VC Update for you guys on Friday.

The Euro VC plays a little bit of catch up this week along with jumping ahead in the “finally available” category. By catch up I mean the addition of Street Fighter II: Turbo and Silent Debuggers which have become available within the last week or two.

The real gem is the late Gumpei Yokoi’s Metroid. I recently played some original Metroid on my GBA after completing Metriod: Zero Mission and I must say that I definitely though the SNES version (Super Metroid) was a superior game. Though the reveal at the end of Metroid (NES) was much more culturally significant. If you’re looking for something to sink a couple of hours into for 5 bucks you really can’t go wrong with this classic. Those of you who like me who downloaded Street Fighter II: The World Warrior last Christmas are probably kicking themselves now that Street Fighter II: Turbo is available, mais c’est la vie.

Metroid (NES,E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points)
Street Fighter II: Turbo (SNES, T for Teen, 8 Wii Points)
Silent Debuggers (TG-16, 600 Wii Points)

No I’m not talking about Sub-Machine Guns I’m of course speaking about Super Mario Galaxy. Nintendo revealed some nice juicy footage at last week’s e3 including this all new trailer which shows us that Mario will need to don several of Aunt Harriet’s magic hats to complete his outer space adventure.

Super Mario Galaxy e3 ‘07 trailer.

Now to get a little more in depth with a play through of one of the levels that was demonstrated at this years e3.

Alright Super Mario you’ve made it onto my Christmas list again this year. Are you happy now can I have my pet turtle back?

SMG will be released on November 12th 2007

Anyone remember that engine test game that Rockstar released around May last year. If not you may remember it being called something along the lines of Rockstar presents, Table Tennis. Table Tennis was never really meant to turn heads but critics praised it for it’s fun factor, realistic ball control and physics.

Now according to a post on Kotaku Table Tennis is headed to the Nintendo Wii and yes you will be able to use the Wii Remote to control your ping pong table tennis experience. Will there be anything else unique to the Wii version, only time will tell. After playing some of the more graphically intense games that the Wii has to offer I can say that the Wii version of Table Tennis should look pretty close to the 360 version. Now remember that the difference in processing power between the 360 and Wii is significant so the game will take some sort of a hit in the graphics department. Now depending how well Rockstar works with the Wii SDK (Software Development Kit) The difference may be negligible or significant. We’ll have to wait and see.

Hooray!! It’s virtual console Monday and I didn’t have to wait very long to get my hands on Paper Mario. It’s only been 1 weekend since the game dropped onto the Wii Shop channel across the pond in Europe and PAL regions.

Now you guys read what I had to say about Paper Mario on Friday so I won’t bother to reiterate it here today. Anyway I’d rather talk about another game that hits the North American Virtual Console today, Balloon Fight.

Balloon Fight is is an oldy but a goodie and seriously who can resist popping balloons I know I sure can’t.

Paper Mario (N64, E for Everyone, 1000 Wii Points)
Balloon Fight (NES, E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points)
Silent Debuggers (TG-16, E for Everyone, 600 Wii Points)

Only two new titles are hitting the Euro VC this week but they’re are strong none the less. I talked about Air “Zonk” on Monday when it hit the Wii Shop Channel here in North America. The big deal this week in Europe however is the addition on Paper Mario to the Virtual Console. This predecessor to Super Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door was originally released on the N64. Many believe that Nintendo went in this “RPG-ish” direction with Mario becuse there seemed little hope that the guys at SquareEnix would ever do a sequel to the tremendously popular Super Mario RPG for the SNES. 3 games later Paper Mario has endeared itself to gamers with it’s simplified RPG style gameplay, sharp humor, and cartoony aesthetic.

If you have the 1000 Wii points I suggest you download this title. It’s a good bang for your buck like the Zelda series there is lots of gameplay to be had here for a somewhat meager price. Also once you try out Paper Mario you may understand why I was so hard on Super Paper Mario for its incredibly dumbed down platforming gameplay.

Paper Mario and Air “Zonk” would make a great addition to any one’s Virtual Console.

Air “Zonk” (PC Engine, Rated E, 600 Wii Points)
Paper Mario (N64, Rated E, 1000 Wii Points)

Can’t be at E3? Well neither can I, So I’ve got the next best thing Internet video.

OK here Wii go.

First up for the Nintendo media briefing is a 2 minute video of some news stories and user videos which have used the Wii as a focal point. Nintendo begins by tooting their own horn….obviously.

After the short video a gigantic man in a beige suit [Reggie Fils-Aime, NoA President] walks to the middle of the stage and says “Hi I’m Reggie and I am Happy!”

The first segment of Reggie’s speech is about all the stuff that only venture capitalists and investors care about. You know stuff like expanding demographics, sales figures, and market share info….BORING!

Now some interesting stuff. Reggie states that by the holiday shopping season there should be over 160 Wii titles available in North America and over 430 DS titles for the same territory.

After a second video similar to the first Reggie introduces to the world the first offspring of the Wii Remote and nunchuck. The Wii Zapper a housing for your Wii Remote and nunchuck making it look like a small SMG. Reggie goes on to talk about 3 new games that are being designed around the new housing, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Sega’s Ghost Squad a popular arcade light gun game, and the newest addition to the Medal of Honour series will also be centered around the Wii Zapper which will retail for about 19.99 USD. Reggie also mentions plans for a 1st party title that will come packed with a zapper later this year.

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I really need to stop trying to do things that depend on streaming internet video. I know I promised all of you a breakdown of Nintendo’s E3 media briefing today but I can’t seem to get the feed to work. I will try again tomorrow. Sorry everyone but check back tomorrow for all your Nintendo E3 goodness.

Hello once again everybody out there in Rally land. Well it’s E3 week and two of the weeks biggest events take place today. Nintendo and Sony’s E3 media briefings. As I write this post I am listening to Microsoft’s media briefing which was yesterday. Nintendo’s media briefing starts at 9am PST which is 12 noon EST. I’ll be watching the briefing and will break it down for you later today so stay tuned.