Rush those blocks!
Green shades anyone?
In Japan you simply cannot have a download release list that's less than four games and next week will be no exception with a mixed total of six.
Only two WiiWare releases:
- World of Goo published by Nintendo themselves for 1500 points -- I think everyone knows what this game is by now!
- Hajiite Block Rush from Agenda for 500 points -- this one looks very pretty, but I'm not sure about how compelling the gameplay is. According to a video on the game website it seems to be a block breaking game where you use the pointer as a virtual paddle to knock a ball into various blocks to score points. There are different balls with various properties and WiFi leaderboards and the blocks move about or are arranged on all four sides of the screen in a departure from traditional block-breaking games like Breakout or Arkanoid. It's only 500 points and it looks like something that could end up on other WiiWare services.
The VC has four releases from four consoles:
- Akumajou Densetsu (Castlevania III) from Konami for the Famicom 500 points
- Phantasy Star from Sega for the Sega Master System 600 points
- Ninja Ryuukenden (Ninja Gaiden) from Hudson for the PC Engine 600 points
- Starblade from Namco for the Virtual Console Arcade 800 points
I can only imagine what the world would be like if NoA and NoE had download weeks like this...
1. ALDAWGZ
17 Apr 2009, 12:19 BST
y does japan get more games than everybody else
2. Sean Aaron
17 Apr 2009, 12:27 BST
I think it's because they made the machine so they feel they should get more games than everyone else. It's just not fair! >o<
3. Kevin
17 Apr 2009, 12:50 BST
They can at least give us two vc games a week. I know they want to showcase wiiware and dsiware but come on. This is getting ridiculous now with these one game weeks.
4. ALDAWGZ
17 Apr 2009, 12:52 BST
@ sean
ur rite its not fair dont they realize that the more games they put out the more money they will make esp off of me i've downloaded over 50 games vc n wiiware combined
5. Ratengo
17 Apr 2009, 13:04 BST
I will download Akumajou Densetsu and Ninja Ryuukenden. Hajiite! Block Rush also looks interesting, since I already own Agenda's first WiiWare game Tataite! Mogupon. Not sure about World of Goo, hm...
@Sean: Last night, I cleared Adventure Island Wii and unlocked the 2-player mode. Do you have that game too or did you download Tsuppari Oozumou Wii Heya instead...?
6. Sean Aaron
17 Apr 2009, 13:16 BST
I actually downloaded neither because I was waiting to see what was coming next week. I do plan on checking out the Sumo game at some point, but I currently have 1500 points and Solvalou and Starblade are beckoning me more strongly since I'm starved for VCA releases and the price seems fair for a couple of early 90s 3D shooters. I'm not a big platform fan, so Adventure Island isn't even a consideration ^_~.
The WiiWare releases for the next few months in PAL-land look pretty nice (I actually might buy all of them, which is amazing and speaks well of the improvements being made in the quality of the offerings), so I don't have a problem with spacing them out, but as Kevin says we should definitely get a minimum of 2 new VC releases a week regardless. I simply see no reason for alternating weeks as has been done.
The Japanese releases of 4-6 titles per week doesn't seem excessive; there's been at least one buy for me pretty much every week they've done that. On the PAL side of things I'm lucky if I'm making 1 purchase per month.
7. Machu
17 Apr 2009, 13:20 BST
Sean...
Where can i find that list of WiiWare releases? It'd help me out loads
8. Lugia2
17 Apr 2009, 13:37 BST
Normally I'd be annoyed, but this seems to be a catch-up week for them; 4 out of their 6 games we've had for months now.
Given the unfairness of it all, it's weird when it's the Japanese who play catch-up...
9. KeeperBvK
17 Apr 2009, 13:50 BST
@ Lugia2: We've only had 3 of those games. Not 4. It's the PCE-version of Ninja Gaiden they're getting, while you are thinking of the NES version.
10. Bendover83
17 Apr 2009, 14:00 BST
@Lugia: Unless I'm missing something isn't Ninja Gaiden for the PC Engine not the NES version. Unless it plays exactly the same which I'm not sure. We don't have Phantasy Star yet just II,III,and IV on Genesis. We have Starforce not Starblade unless that's the same game different name which correct me if ya want I'm not sure.
The only ones we have that they now have are:
Castlevania III
World of Goo
You just confused me saying that. If I'm wrong, than I'm wrong.
11. Hyper Luigi
17 Apr 2009, 14:14 BST
Nintendo is spoiling the Japanese. We on the other hand,get only one to two games a week.
12. Sean Aaron
17 Apr 2009, 14:16 BST
@Machu: The Telegraph has a nice write-up someone directed me to:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologyreviews/videogamereviewsandpreviews/5158504/Nintendo-WiiWare-2009-summer-preview.html
and yes, less jealousy is probably in order due to the amount of catch-up releases, but they've been getting a VCA release every week since it was announced and EU/NA have gotten bupkiss -- what gives?
13. Tony
17 Apr 2009, 14:25 BST
Wait they get WOG, Castlevania III, Phantasy Star, and Ninja Gaiden all in one week. Nintendo certainly loves Japanese gamers. We never get that much greatness in one week.
14. Adam
17 Apr 2009, 14:41 BST
I used to have a game like Block Rush where there are blocks on all four sides of the screen. It was a really neat twist on the Breakout formula.
15. JohnshiBRPG
17 Apr 2009, 14:53 BST
Perhaps CERO is less expensive for companies to rate games with a quicker inspection time.
16. Sean Aaron
17 Apr 2009, 14:58 BST
Could be Johnshi, could be, but then Nintendo could say so yeah? Or maybe there's just not enough noise being made about this issue...use that Contact Us link on the NoA/NoE websites people!
17. JRAPOCALYPSE
17 Apr 2009, 15:22 BST
I want than ninja gaiden for turbo grafx to come to our vc! there is only two ways to play it in i6 bit that i know of and thats the turbo version which of right now is jap only or the ninja gaiden trilogy on the snes and i like the turbo version better,and then they can give us ninja gaiden on sega master which is a little different from it's nes snes turbo counterparts.
18. JRAPOCALYPSE
17 Apr 2009, 15:27 BST
Amen # 13 amen to that! japanese gamers always get the good stuff while over here we get the same crap over and over! but thats based on what you buy so keep buying those 10 cent games like madded and the ruined need for speed crap and crap is what we will continue to get.Im an import player for the most part but i play US games to.....i just play the games here that are unique and then some.
19. Adamant
17 Apr 2009, 15:47 BST
@Bendover83: "Unless I'm missing something isn't Ninja Gaiden for the PC Engine not the NES version. Unless it plays exactly the same which I'm not sure."
Yeah, it's pretty much the same game, just prettier graphics. So, we technically do have it, and I'm sure people would complain about it taking the spot of something NEW had Nintendo released it here, anyway.
20. N64 Gamer
17 Apr 2009, 16:14 BST
Of course Japan gets so many other games cause Nintendo is a Japanese company. When are we getting Super Smash Bros.? They have had it for months now.
I'm thinking about just selling my Wii and buy an Xbox. It's from Microsoft which is from America, which means it isn't a Japanese console, so I would guess the Xbox is much more Europe-friendly than Nintendo. Why does Nintendo even bother releasing their stuff in Europe and America when we only get half of what Japan gets? Those 3 extra Wii channels, all of the exclusive Japanese only games. And what about those cool items from the Japanese Nintendo club? Does anyone remember the SNES controller released a while back for the Wii? Yeah, as if us in Europe or America would get anything like that.
It's like you have to live in Japan in order to fully enjoy a Japanese console.
21. Ricardo91
17 Apr 2009, 16:40 BST
@#1. I think it has something to do with Nintendo being a Japanese company, and that there's more games there in the first place...
Looks like just a catch-up week to me. It's great to see Japan finally getting to play WoG. I hope America gets PS soon.
22. Link79
17 Apr 2009, 16:48 BST
It's really starting to piss me off how every other part of the world is getting alot more VC games at a time while America keeps getting one lousy game each week. Why the hell are they doing this to us? At this rate I'll be an old man by the time anything fantastic hits VC.
23. St3b0
17 Apr 2009, 18:02 BST
lol
@ everyone
at least japan had to have the greenest shade for not having WoG
untill the 21 lol i bet dey want to play it so bad
24. Starwolf_UK
17 Apr 2009, 18:08 BST
This is just a fun trivia point I noticed. The Japanese verison of World of Goo is actually called Planet of Goo. I noticed this when looking of the Japanese website for it and noticing the World of Goo corporation graphics read as Planet of Goo corporation.
25. MarkyVigoroth
17 Apr 2009, 18:31 BST
ALDAWGZ-san: "y does japan get more games than everybody else"
Are not a lot of retro games Japan-only?
26. WarioFan63
17 Apr 2009, 19:05 BST
If it makes anyone feel better, Japan is only getting 2 VC games on the 28th.
27. Atlantis1982
17 Apr 2009, 19:35 BST
(Burst out with so many profanity and envish words) I WANT STARBLADE HERE, RIGHT NOW (plays Fatboy Slim song).
28. RadioShadow
17 Apr 2009, 20:59 BST
A Japan release list. SWEET!
29. Party On Dude
17 Apr 2009, 21:35 BST
I'm honestly aiming this @ everyone on VC.Nintendo.Life:
People, people, people! Stop getting angry & mad at Japan! If you keep fretting that we in the US never get anything good, & Japan always get the better stuff... then you people clearly have no patience!
If Nintendo doesn't release SSB64 the week after this upcoming week, (we have April 20th for another crappy relase I bet); then I bet they will exactly release SSB64 on April 27th, its anniversary... like with Japan got it way back on January 21!
And if Nintendo is trying to hype us up for that surprise #300 game, being obviously Zelda MM; then we might just have to wait out these bad weeks until it comes... it'll be early May or mid May to say the least; which I highly doubt with 1 VC game releases it'll be by May 18th, when Punch-Out Wii comes out!
If none of that actually happens, then head my words... "I guess there's reason to fret"... savvy?!
See how I'm quoting Reggehti from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl?!
30. Objection_Blaster
17 Apr 2009, 22:48 BST
In any case, repeated weeks of only 1 VC and 1 WW in NA or anywhere is unacceptable. We demand at least 2 in one or both categories.
31. Hoofbites
18 Apr 2009, 04:52 BST
As if Nintendo cares about "demands." I'm not saying this from a cynical point of view, but Nintendo's under no obligation to just bow down to the whims of its fanbase (and I'm sure there are little business-related reasons behind everything).
Besides, I think I'd rather that they keep the freshness of the service going as long as they can instead of just blowing through all of the available titles as quickly as possible.
And while we're at it, I know that every so often we get a real clunker like Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars, but I don't see every week that we don't get a big-name first-party title like Super Smash Bros. as a failure week. I enjoy seeing the VC get some great titles that I've never played (like Ogre Battle) or even heard of (like MUSHA). To me, it isn't about just getting all of those games that I played to death as a kid.
32. KnucklesSonic8
18 Apr 2009, 06:00 BST
Block Rush better come like YMS and Star Blade would get a buy from me and possibly Phantasy Star as well. Still waiting patiently for Space Harrier AC...
33. Jolted85
18 Apr 2009, 08:49 BST
I'm fine with them getting more games than us, as long as Nintendo keeps adding to the US catalogue every week, sure it's one game, but it's one game more each week, we're only 4 games away from our 300th game, also the reason why JP has more games than us is because they got a hell of a lot of launch games, just go to the wiki list and you'll see that it dwarfs our launch games.
34. Vendetta
18 Apr 2009, 09:02 BST
Regarding the calls here for increased WiiWare title throughput, Nintendo is probably recognizing an "80-20 rule," or some facsimile thereof, where 80% of the WiiWare business is derived from 20% of their install base. This would yield at least a few observations: 1.) there is no majority demand among Wii owners to increase the release rate; 2.) as console sales increase, the value of 20% increases; and 3.) when market saturation - or the release of the next generation console - is imminent, the only way to capture more WiiWare revenue from the install base will be to increase to >20% the percentage of WiiWare customers, and what better way to do this than to save some high-profile releases for that rainy day. And of course to bundle or or otherwise promote the service within the console sale itself.
Nothing would please me more than to see a flood of VCA games in particular. But trust me, from the timing of the SD fix within the Wii lifecycle, to the phased release of quality titles over the lifespan of the console, Big N knows what it's doing.
-V
35. Sean Aaron
18 Apr 2009, 10:32 BST
I can accept a more limited number of WiiWare releases, but the VC titles aren't really the same; everyone has their favourites, but the initial investment on those games is water under the bridge, so the competition is less important.
Japan has a total of 10 VCA titles right now; 11 next week compared to what, 4 since launch in NA/EU? I just don't see a justification for that level of disparity. The rest of the VC titles do have a lot of Japanese exclusives, so I don't think people need to be as concerned with that (I think most of my VC collection never saw the light of day outside of Japan -- especially the PC Engine stuff), but it does grate and it is noticed and it should be addressed.
36. Vendetta
18 Apr 2009, 15:10 BST
I agree Sean. Re-reading my post, I see I didn't do the best job of connecting my closing thought about VCA releases. (But it was like 3am so I'm cutting myself some slack.
)
What I was getting at was "the flood of VCA games" as a solution to the volume disparity between Japan and NA/EU. They have an opportunity to leverage VCA titles to get the balance right - more or less - which is both rapid and inexpensive compared to WiiWare. It's also now significantly more feasable, and convenient for the install base because of the recently enhanced SD support.
I trust they recognize this, as well as the additional exposure the Wii Shop Channel would receive off the buzz of people talking to their friends about "that awesome game we used to play 20 years ago (dating myself to a degree)," which they just downloaded. That familiarity encourages conversation, which in turn breeds awareness of the shop channel, which in turn might translate into more WiiWare customers, which may result in increasing the install base's percentage of WiiWare customers.
In other words, I'm more likely to say to someone, "DUDE, I just played ASTEROIDS on my Wii" than "Dude, I just played Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King on my Wii." The first precludes the need to explain the game at all, they already know and love it, and they will simply say HOW CAN I GET IT. The second might cause eyes to roll and a few cautious glances. Simply put, VCA greatly broadens the target audience and lowers the threshold for a casual mention of the game to another Wii owner who may not be a game enthusiast, potentially converting him to a Wii Shop customer.
Increasing that ratio of Wii owners to Wii Shop customers is surely a key goal for Nintendo's Wii business unit, and will only become more so when system sales plateau. It will be that unit's last opportunity for growth, so they're pacing themselves. Ok, I'm driving the bus. Having read many of your posts, I'm assuming you're a business guy too, so you get my point.
-V
37. Diebythesword
18 Apr 2009, 19:50 BST
LETS SEND MORE HATE MAIL TO NINTENDO FOR MORE VC RELEASES
38. WarioFan63
19 Apr 2009, 01:11 BST
In any case, repeated weeks of only 1 VC and 1 WW in NA or anywhere is unacceptable.
On the contrary, I think we're lucky to be getting at least one update to either category on a regularly scheduled basis.
39. Kenryoku_Maxis
19 Apr 2009, 07:45 BST
Castlevania III, Ninja Gaiden, Phantasy Star and World of Goo all in one week....
No. Not even Majora's Mask would be equal to 4 great games in one week.
40. StarDust
19 Apr 2009, 10:17 BST
I am happy that Japan is finally getting this gem, although I don't ever recall 2D-Boy having translated the game into Japanese??? I had great fun playing Ninja Gaiden on my Atari Lynx as a teenager; aside from really low pixel resolution, that version is rendered in a pseudo-3d (isomorphic fixed perspective) but the NES titles are all solidly 2D. So was the TG-16 version isomorphic like the Lynx, of flat like the NES?
41. Kelvin
19 Apr 2009, 11:00 BST
Here's hoping Phantasy Star comes to Europe soon!
42. Sean Aaron
19 Apr 2009, 12:21 BST
Screens I've seen of the PC Engine version of Ninja Gaiden look pretty much like the NES version to me, but I'm sure someone must have put up some footage on YouTube by now (the one really great use of it) so you can do a comparison. I'm waiting for the arcade version, myself. ^_~
43. tatemon555
19 Apr 2009, 13:42 BST
PHANTASY STAR!!!!!
44. Objection_Blaster
19 Apr 2009, 21:51 BST
On the contrary, I think we're lucky to be getting at least one update to either category on a regularly scheduled basis. This would be more reasonable if Japan wasn't getting 6 (good) titles this week. Yes, I know they're Japan and they'll always get more but comparing 6 to 2? I think that a bump to 3, for instance, is not asking that much,
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