Week of 2/5/2015:

Wii U Virtual Console:

Mappy-Land (NES)
$4.99


Dig Dug (Famicom)
$4.99


3DS Virtual Console:

Game and Watch Gallery 3 (GBC)
$3.99


This week mark's Mappy-land's Virtual Console debut. Kind of a surprise release considering how most of the NES and SNES games we see on here are usually already on the Wii Virtual Console, unless on certain occasions (ie Earthbound on Wii U, The Mysterious Murasame Castle on 3DS, Duck Hunt on Wii U, etc).

Although, Dig Dug has been ported to many different consoles, surprisingly, the NES/Famicom version remained in Japan-only, with Dig Dug II getting an NES port in North America. While there were a bunch of reproduction NES carts of the Famicom-only Dug Dug, the game would eventually get a western release on the Wii Virtual Console, and now it's part of the Virtual Console three-peat club as it's also on the 3DS. Nevertheless, there's already plenty of ports of Dig Dug released on many of Namco's compilation games, so I don't think this is worth $5.

And, of course, with Game and Watch Gallery 3 now being part of the 3DS Virtual Console, then I await that Game and Watch Gallery 4 will come along to the Wii U Virtual Console as well. That's pretty much a given.

With this week seeing the debut of the New 3DS, along with Monster Hunter 4G and a certain overhyped crappy 3D remake that's nothing more than some cheap cash grab, it's a quite a big week for Nintendo. But there's still more Virtual Console releases. So, here's what we have for the week of 2/12/2015.

Wii U Virtual Console:

Breath of Fire (SNES)
$7.99



Yes, despite Breath of Fire II already bring released on the Wii and Wii U Virtual Console... this is the first time the original Breath of Fire actually received a Virtual Console release. Part of why I think that may be is because even though Capcom owns the rights to the series, the first game was published by Squaresoft. The original Breath of Fire didn't have a very good translation for the North American version... but that's nothing compared to what Crapcom does with their current sequels. Still, though. The first Breath of Fire is good for seeing where the series started off as, but I would still recommend Breath of Fire II over this one any day.

Another classic game released this week that doesn't technically count as a Virtual Console title is 3D Fantasy Zone: Opa-Opa Brothers. Another classic game remastering as part of Sega's 3D classics line from M2. Now that's a 3D remastering I'd rather get than seeing Nintendo milking their classic 3D Zelda games bone-dry.

Week of 2/19/2015:

Wii U Virtual Console:

Axelay (SNES)
$7.99


Not a particularly exciting week in general, aside from the release of Kirby and the Rainbow Curse. Although, Axelay is a pretty fun shooter, which I personally find to be better than Life Force. It's a shame we never got a sequel to this title as most of the game's staff went on to work for other companies, such as Treasure.

For the week of February 26, 2015. We've got a big and exciting lineup. Get ready and... PLAY IT LOUD AND IN STEREO, D00DS!

Wii U Virtual Console:

Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
$7.99


Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
$7.99


Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (SNES)
$7.99


3DS Virtual Console:

Donkey Kong Land (GB)
$3.99


Donkey Kong Land 2 (GB)
$3.99


Donkey Kong Land III (GB)
$3.99


At last, the Donkey Kong Country games finally makes a return to Virtual Console. For those of you who do not know, in November 2012, Donkey Kong Country 1-3 was delisted from the Wii Virtual Console. The reason that happened is unknown, though, some people speculated that it may be some dispute from Rare. In fact, I had a theory that some of the characters created for the DKC series belonged to Rare, such has King K. Rool and the Kremlings, all of which did not return in the Retro Studios Donkey Kong Country games. However, a Nintendo representative came out and said that Nintendo owns everything in the Donkey Kong Country series including the Kremlings.

Nintendo also put together a nice trailer for the Virtual Console Donkey Kong release. You can watch it on Nintendo's Youtube channel and the Wii U and 3DS eShop. It's a really nice throwback to the original 1994 commercial and the VHS promo.

On top of the Donkey Kong games, Nintendo is also holding the Donkey Kong knock-out offer. It's where you can buy any of the Donkey Kong Country or Land titles, then you can get 30% off the eShop purchases of Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. However, this offer ends on March 3rd.

finally, it took them long enough. japan and europe have had the games on their virtual console for three and a half months now.

Here's a fact that I did not know about until read NotShane's comment. Not only did Donkey Kong Country 1-3 get released on the Wii U Virtual Console last week, but it was also brought back on the original Wii Shop Channel, thus, making it the first Virtual Console game to be brought back after being delisted. Interesting considering how some of Capcom's fighting games were delisted from the Wii Shop Channel in October 2014 despite them still being made available for Wii U. Also, why Donkey Kong Country got delisted in the first place is way beyond me. I  assumed it had something to do with rights issues from Rare, but that apparently wasn't the case.

But with that said, here is this week's releases for the week of 3/5/2015:

Wii U Virtual Console:

Skykid (NES)
$4.99


Yeah, so we're back to the NES Virtual Console three-peats once again. But come on, you can't really complain, especially after seeing all of Rare's Donkey Kong games get released for both the Wii U and 3DS Virtual Consoles as well as being relisted on the Wii Shop Channel. But then again, people will always find something to complain about because... well... you can't satisfy everybody.

Still though, Skykid is a good game, and there were even references of it used in Super Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS. Not only during Pacman's Namco Roulette, but also, there was a Skykid track used during the Pac-Land stage.

Also, this week was when Mario VS Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars and OlliOlli has been released on the Nintendo eShop for both the Wii U and 3DS. The reason I bring this up... is because they're the first games to implement crossbuy. Something that Sony has been doing for a while with the PS4 and PSvita. This is another one of those things that would hopefully lead to FINALLY getting crossbuy options for some of the NES games released on the Wii U and 3DS Virtual Console.

Week of 3/12/2015:

Wii U Virtual Console:

F-Zero GP Legend (GBA)
$6.99


At last, F-zero GP Legend arrives to the Wii U Virtual Console. While Maximum Velocity was pretty good, I find this game to be far superior. I enjoyed this game, and I also used to get up on Saturday mornings to watch the anime. Unfortunately, the English dub got cancelled after such a short run. I'm guessing the ratings weren't good enough to keep the show on the air. Such a shame, especially considering we never got to see Captain Falcon show up in the dub.

This game, along with the Japan-only sequel, F-zero Climax, are the last games produced in the F-zero franchise. Yeah, F-zero is long overdue for a new title. But then again, the Sega produced F-Zero GX was a really good addition to the series. Well... at least we have the F-zero stage used as DLC in Mario Kart 8.

Also released this week is another Sega 3D Classics title. It's 3D Outrun. A 3D remastering of the 1986 arcade title. Considering that Outrun Online Arcade was delisted from PSN and Xbox Live, then having it on the 3DS would be a good alternative to that.

Week of 3/19/2015:

Wii U Virtual Console:

Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament (GBA)
$6.99



I might actually get both Klonoa 1 and 2 on the Wii U Virtual Console one of these days. Although, it still pisses me off that Namco decided to hold off localization of Klonoa 2 at the time of it's release. It was first released in Japan in 2002, but didn't get localized until 2005... and Europe still never got the game released. Yeah... I think if I were to get the two games, I'd do it because I enjoy the Klonoa series... not because of Bandai Namco.

So, what is Klonoa exactly? What are the game mechanics? Is it a fighting/tournament game like Pokemon?

I've see

blueluigi wrote :

Week of 3/19/2015:

Wii U Virtual Console:

Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament (GBA)
$6.99



I might actually get both Klonoa 1 and 2 on the Wii U Virtual Console one of these days. Although, it still pisses me off that Namco decided to hold off localization of Klonoa 2 at the time of it's release. It was first released in Japan in 2002, but didn't get localized until 2005... and Europe still never got the game released. Yeah... I think if I were to get the two games, I'd do it because I enjoy the Klonoa series... not because of Bandai Namco.
-end quote

I saw an avatar of him on RJ. I thought it was a Sonic type of character.