Wednesday, November 01, 2006

old becomes new: Wii's Virtual Console slate '06

You know how the Wii is going to have this Virtual Console channel? Well, it's of special interest to me as I'm planning on buying the Wii for pretty much this reason alone. Oh sure I'll pick up a few new titles, Mario Galaxies, Zelda, and maybe Red Steel to name a few; but the real draw to me is playing these older 'classic' games on a shiny new system, with spruced up graphics and tons of good wholesome (cheap) fun. The system will, at least begin with games from the NES, SNES, N64, and in a stroke of genius Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafix-16. Hooray!!!

Late yesterday Nintendo revealed its slate of virtual games to be released on the console by the end of the year. The games will be priced in Wii points, where $1 = 100 points. The cost for games, NES = 500 pts, TG-16 = 600 pts, SNES = 800 pts, Genesis = 800 pts, N64 = 1000 pts. I think that maybe some games will be more expensive than that listed price as they notably say that games will 'start' at these prices, but I'd assume this cost will for the most part stay fixed.

Check out the games:

NES
Mario Bros.
The Legend of Zelda
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Ice Hockey
Pinball
Soccer
Tennis
Urban Champion
Wario's Woods
Baseball
Solomon's Key

SNES
F-Zero
SimCity

Nintendo 64
Super Mario 64

Sega Genesis
Sonic the Hedgehog
Altered Beast
Golden Axe
Columns
Ecco the Dolphin
Gunstar Heroes
Space Harrier II
Toe Jam & Earl
Ristar
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

TurboGrafx-16
Bonk's Adventure
Super Star Soldier
Victory Run
Bomberman '93
Dungeon Explorer

I am very very stoked to see this. Great games are on the way, and there's only more to come. Reportedly Nintendo plan to release around 10 new virtual games per month after things settle from the launch. I just hope the console has enough room for all the games I want to pick up.

From this list alone I'll probably go for: Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong Jr, Pinball, Mario 64, Sonic, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Gunstar Heroes, Toe Jam & Earl, Bonk, and Bomberman. So that's like 12 games for $77. That's a damn good deal if you ask me. Especially because these are the kind of games that I know I can pick up and play anytime; so well worth it as opposed to a more blind buy of a new game. At least that's my thought. Anyone else plan on picking up the Wii, or any of these old yet new again virtual games?

If I we're to pick one game per console not on the slate yet, that I'd like to see: Super Wonder Boy from the NES, Street Fighter 2 for the SNES, Mortal Kombat for the Genesis (that's the version that had the blood and secret fatalities intact), and Waverace for the N64. Oh and as I don't really know much about TG-16 past Bonk, I'll say any one of the good ones that was ported onto it along with the other systems, like Operation Wolf, or maybe Super Ghouls and Ghosts.

Oh and go check out how much money everything will cost you using this handy Wii calculator.

Podcasting tonight. See y'all later.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I want to see Jackal and Contra.