Virtual Console 12/1

Christ, I was dreading this. I have a lot of work to catch up on, and wasn't too thrilled with the prospect of playing whatever awful game Nintendo threw up on VC this week... and then I saw the list.



Metal Slug 2 is my favorite entry in one of my favorite series of all time. This is the one where they got everything right. From eating until you get fat ("Whoa, big!") to turning into a mummy, I never get tired of it.

But then there's the issue of Nintendo's incessant repackaging of games that are already available . What doesn't make one goddamn lick of sense is that you can get the Metal Slug Anthology for Wii and get Metal Slugs 1-6 and X (a redux of 2). Even the ones in that collection that aren't up to snuff (I'm looking at you, 4) are still good by most games' standards. You're much better off coughing up the $30 or less to just buy the disc version, cope with the random loading, and appreciate the best Contra-esque platform/shooters outside of Gunstar Heroes... and Contra.

Virtual Console: 11/17

Space Invaders: The Original Game

This one is a port of the arcade game that came out for the SNES. The main problem here is that there's practically no reason to download this if you have a DS or PSP because you can get the fantastic Space Invaders Extreme instead. There's not really much else to say; if you haven't heard of Space Invaders then you suck at video gaming.



Forgotten Worlds

I don't understand Nintendo sometimes (okay, a lot of the time). This is a good damn game, except that they've picked probably the worst port of it imaginable- the Genesis version. It's a side scrolling shooter with a gimmick, 360 degree rotatable shooting, that is much more than the gimmick would suggest. It's not that the Genesis version is a bad game, it's just that the controls for rotating are assigned to the face buttons and that it's missing two entire stages from the arcade version. However, if you have a PS2 or original Xbox, you can get Capcom Classics Vol. 1 for pretty cheap and get the full version, which uses the right analog stick to aim. Not only that but you get 21 other games, at least half of which are awesome. The whole collection is only $14 on Amazon and you absolutely get your money's worth there. If you have no other option than Wii, then there are certainly far worse ways to spend your points, but if you have any other system to play this on, please use it.


Did these dudes just step out of the Top Gun volleyball scene?



The number next to the blue ball on the top left is your currency. All upgrades have to be purchased, which works pretty dang well honestly.


You will see this pretty often.

Virtual Console Roundup, Weeks of 11/3 and 11/10/08

I meant to do this last week but got distracted, so here goes.





The only new VC game available on 11/3 is the wholly underwhelming Space Harrier. Somewhat notable at the time for being quasi-3d, but mostly known now as boring, repetitive crap.

SKIP IT






In stark contrast, though, 11/10 brings you Mega Man 3 (NES), which is pretty much inarguably the best game in the (looooong) series after the amazing 2. There is no excuse to own a Wii and not download this one unless you're allergic to good games (which would then make Wii your ideal console- OHHHHHH).

GET IT