He kind of is a Sonic type character. It's another platforming franchise that was developed originally for the Playstation. It's known for being one of the first 2.5D games out there. However, I feel there's a bit more charm to the series with the GBA titles.

Week of 3/26/2015:

Wii U Virtual Console:

Namco Museum (GBA)
$6.99



In many ways, I would recommend getting both Namco Museum and Pac-Man Collection for the fact that it's kind of like getting a good deal from the NES versions of some of Namco's arcade classics. Of course, the GBA version of both games does have it's problems. Mainly, due to the fact that you can't save your high scores. However, that can be fixed using the Virtual Console's Restore Points. Namco, in general, seems to love milking their classic games... although I am still baffled as to why the planned Wii U version of Namco Museum got cancelled.

Oooh... Pole Position. I may download this one.

I have the Namco Museum collection for GBA, and what a collection it is! Gotta love Galaga.

A Nintendo Direct was held yesterday, and they announced some new stuff for the Wii U Virtual Console including two console additions that's been added for the very first time. They were released immediately after the direct... so let's get started. This is the week of 4/2/2015:

Wii U Virtual Console:

Super Mario 64 (N64)
$9.99


Yoshi's Island DS (DS)
$9.99



Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this marks the official debut of Nintendo 64 and DS games on the Wii U Virtual Console. For a while, I was wondering if they were ever going to start releasing N64 on there. It was one thing to release GBA games on the Wii U Virtual Console instead of the 3DS since the emulation of GBA games didn't run very well on the 3DS going by reports from the ambassador's program. But if they were able to release N64 games on the original Wii, they can very well do it on the Wii U. Needless to say, the emulator looks excellent, at least going by gameplay footage I've seen online. Now if they can just release Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros, and Sin and Punishment, then I'd be on board of upgrading my Wii N64 games to Wii U.

As for DS games. The idea of having them on the system did kind of baffle me at first, but I am liking the emulation to it so far. I'm assuming M2 has been helping out with this the same way they did GBA games. I really like GBA's emulation on Wii U, and I look forward to see what games they offer from the DS. However, the DS games seem to start on a somewhat sour note as I really did not enjoy Yoshi's Island DS. It was a very crappy remake of the original Yoshi's Island disguised as a sequel and done by the folks at Artoon. It really says a lot when I say that I would rather play Yoshi's Story than I would the DS game... and yes, I HATED Yoshi's Story. After Artoon went down under... they later reformed into Arzest and made Yoshi's New Island for the 3DS. Unfortunately, the results ended up being even worse than the DS game. Here's hoping that Yoshi's Wooly World turns out to be good.

I'm glad that Super Mario 64 is on there as well... but I'm a bit bothered by the fact that it was released at the same time they took down the fanmade remake of the first level of the Super Mario 64 HD remake. It looked fantastic, and Nintendo had no reason to take it down. It shows that Nintendo is out of touch with their consumer, and next to other moves like the Nintendo Creator's Program... it's actually making me starting to lose respect for the company. I hope they change their ways and learn to adapt to the consumer, because of they don't, then eventually, it will get to the point where I'm going to give up on them for good.

Week of 4/9/2015:

Wii U Virtual Console:

Warioware Touched (DS)
$9.99


Yoshi Touch & Go (DS)
$9.99



Nintendo's month long release schedule of N64 and DS games continues with 2 DS titles. I got to say that these DS releases are starting to make me nostalgic for the early days of the Nintendo DS. Both of this week's releases were games that were designed to utilize the DS touch screen. Those were my first DS games along with Super Mario 64 DS. Although, I got to say that Yoshi Touch and Go felt like an overglorified tech demo. Hard to believe that Intelligent Systems would make a game like that. Well... at least it's better than Yoshi's Island DS. That game was awful.

Next week features the VC debut of a certain N64 title that is thought to never see the light of day on the service. But I'll cover that when it comes out.

Not an old school release, but I'm excited for Affordable Space Adventures on the Wii U. 

well I guess if the mewtwo and mario kart dlc doesn't use a lot of space i'll get one more n64 game.

We got something really great for this. This is a game that I've been looking forward to for a while... and I personally never thought it would ever see the light of day due to rights issues. But here is what we have for the week of April 16, 2015.

Wii U Virtual Console:

Donkey Kong 64 (N64)
$9.99


Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Donkey Kong 64 makes it's official Virtual Console debut. Part of why I never thought the game would see the light of day is due to many of Rare's elements being used in this title. A lot of the game used the Banjo Kazooie engine, and it felt very similar to it. There's also the inclusion of Rare's first video game, Jetpac that was used as an unlockable. But going by the UK release, Jetpac is indeed included on the Wii U Virtual Console version, thus, making it the closest we'll see to an actual Rare property being released on a modern Nintendo console. Not only is Jetpac unlockable, but the original arcade version of Donkey Kong. I would actually recommend that over the NES version. I've been wanting to see the original arcade version of Donkey Kong get released for a while, so this might be as close as we'll get. Still, the fact that Nintendo introduced the Virtual Console Arcade for the original Wii felt like a missed opportunity of releasing the arcade versions of Nintendo's early arcade classics on the service.

By the way, I wonder how Mezase Master would feel about this. I remember he used to say he hated DK64 and didn't want to see the game get re-released. Although, to be fair, the game did have it's problems. Mainly, the fact that there was so much crap you had to collect in order to fully complete the game. I still, to this day, never fully completed the game. Having to switch between the Kongs was annoying as hell. Also, the minigames were pretty awful too.... especially Beaver Bother.

DK64 was also the beginning of the end of Nintendo's relationship with Rare. Yes, they may have been in their prime in the N64 era, but this was one of the first foreboding signs that would eventually lead to Rare being bought out by Microsoft. Unfortunately, Rare is not the same company as they were during their days with Nintendo. But the good news is that companies like Retro Studios has been trying to keep that spirit alive with Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze... both of which has some or Rare's former employees. There's also Playtonic games, a new company that started up featuring Rare's former employees. They're currently working on a Banjo Kazooie-esque title for Wii U. They started up a Kickstarter, and released their first look at a minion from the game that was playblasted in Autodesk Maya.

While the 3DS Virtual Console doesn't have anything, the eShop does have 3D Fantasy Zone II available. This 3D classic remake uses the version included on the PS2 title, Sega Ages: Volume 33. For that, it's the first time American gamers gets to experience this version of Fantasy Zone II without having to use a PS2 emulator, or import the Japanese version.

Week of 4/23/2015:

Wii U Virtual Console:

Mario Kart DS (DS)
$9.99



This week is pretty much Mario Kart week. Not just for the release of Mario Kart DS, but also because this is the week that Mario Kart 8's DLC Pack 2 is released. Personally, I still haven't downloaded DLC Pack 1. I'm thinking of getting both pack's together. But hey, at least there is now 200cc.

As for Mario Kart DS... while the game is one of my favorite handheld Mario Kart titles... I still think you're better off with Mario Kart 8. The reason being is because with this being on the Wii U Virtual Console, the multiplayer is useless. Yes, just like with Mario Kart Super Circuit, you can't race with others on the Wii U version due to the original game requiring two copies of the handheld game. Even though the emulation of the game may look good on the Wii U thanks to the help of M2, games like these are still met with downsides due to them being on the console. It would be nice seeing them on the 3DS Virtual Console as well, but unfortunately, the games that were released on the ambassador's program didn't emulate properly, which is why they're on the Wii U instead. Though, I do wonder if they'd be able to get it to work better with the New 3DS. Maybe.

Also, with next week being the last of the N64/DS Virtual Console lineup, I'd also like to bring up that Mega May is coming back. Just like last year, Capcom is asking gamers to vote for which games they'd want to see first. Personally, I don't really care which one I'd like to see first. I wasn't really a fan of the Mega Man spinoff titles... although I guess the Zero series is okay.