WiiVCdb :: The Wii Virtual Console Database

As a platformer, Super Mario 64 is without a doubt the foundation for three dimensional platform and adventure games. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time used a modified version of the SM64 engine, which in itself, says enough. However, since the game is one of the most revolutionary, and honestly, best platformers to grace the planet. Ever. The story remains the same, Bowser kidnaps the princess yadi yadi yadda… You know the gig - get out there and rock his world.

First off, the levels are massive. Playing this game again reminded me how small most maps are in many NEW games these days, and it’s really surprising to see how high some of the maps go, as well as the size of the perimeter. Ack, Vertigo! The object of the game is to search all of these different world, looking for Bowser, and collecting Stars along the way. Stars unlock doors to new worlds, and with a total of 100 you’ll have plenty to do. I’ve completed this game a few times, and you don’t need all 100 to totally flip it, but it’s quite an accomplishment if you can manage to successfully complete all of the side missions, which are really fun as well. It’s a load of fun to race penguins down ice slides, blast yourself above the clouds in hope of some red coins, and fighting Bowser multiple times.

Over time, of course the visuals have toned down - but the minimal polygons still reflect well with the color scheme - the game is so colorful and vibrant that the visuals aren’t a problem by any stretch of the imagination. Nintendo really knew what they were doing at the time, and re-releasing this (again) was a smart move. It’s great to have in HD, and it’s just awesome to play it on the Gamecube controller, and more so the ultra comfortable Virtual Console Controller. The controls are very tight, and making Mario go where he should is as easy as pie. And pie is really easy. And delicious.

Nintendo’s legendary platformer is re-reborn on the Wii Virtual Console, and it’s one of the best titles available. There should be no doubt in any humans mind whether or not they should buy this. Buy it. If you spend 1000 points on anything, ever, make it this. It’s a huge, vibrant, and really energetic game that everyone should experience. It’s a definite revolution in gaming and it just kicks ass going back to play it again. And again… and again.

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Contra is one of many defining shooters of our generation. Anyone who’s anyone’s played it, don’t you know? Whether or not you have, I’m going to spoil this review right now and COMMAND you to pick this title up. After many years of aging, it’s only become a fine, crisp, better than ever title. Ripe with energy and flavor, Alien Wars combines classic arcade Contra feel and blends the overhead/sidescrolling modes super well.

Contra III has a pretty generic “Uh oh, Aliens!” storyline that pans out over a whopping six, count ‘em SIX levels. The decent thing about the short length though, is Contra is tough. It’s always been a difficult game, and it just makes for the fun - even the loads of trial and error becomes a bit of fun, especially when you’re playing coop. I love switching up both of my weapons on the fly - it’s great for getting out of a lot of sticky situations, and it’s really handy to have that backup gun in a tight squeeze (ie: ANY BOSS FIGHT).

Weapon pickups galore, co-op kick ass explosiveness (which is EVERYWHERE and all the time), and cool visuals give the action packed classic a little flair (and looks even nicer in HD!). It’s a tad under 10 bucks, and is worth every penny - while it may not be the best entry in the series, it’s the best one you can pick up on Virtual Console right now, and it’s truly a great game, with “Classic” written all over it. Fans of old school Konami games will especially dig the title, even more so if they’ve never spent any time with it.

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As a kid, I remember The Legend of Kage being the birthplace of my love of ninjas. I don’t mean masked “Sub Zero/Scorpion” ninjas, but real ninjas. Sneaky spies, shirukens, and short blades, tunics - however, Legend of Kage involves no spying - only ass whoopin’. However, returning to this game, as fun as it was at first, was just not worth the points. The really bland looking characters and environments (the trees look okay, but everything else is very… Atari) don’t really have any kind of flair. It’s a sloppy mesh of four to five colors… Ouch. The hero, Kage, is on a mission to rescue some princess (you don’t know her name in the game. It’s never told. Neither is Kage’s I’m only assuming…) from an impending doom, shown through a fantastic five second cinema. Princess walking… Ninja jumping on screen… Ninja jumping offscreen with princess. Enter Kage.

At this point, the game is fun for a bit. It’s really cool to fight hordes of ninjas, and a lot of cool one-hit-kills pop up every now and then, but the highlight of the game is Kage’s ‘Crouching Tiger’ powers - jumping on top of 50 foot trees baby! Climbing trees and fighting enemies makes for a super cheap tactic, as they stop, and don’t even try to attack you. At all. The novelty wears off after a mere couple of plays. The game is short, not worth it, and just… bad. I wrote this review twice because my first review gave it four stars. I played it again and re-wrote it. I didn’t like accepting that this was one of the worst games ever, but it’s pure fact. I paid for it - Nintendo got the money for it. Don’t give them more.Rating:

Actraiser was a pinnacle title in the SNES era. It was a defining video game, and is regarded as one of the single greatest games of all time, and not without good reason. It’s unique combination of God simulation and sidescrolling action were a new breed, and has not since been seen again. While not the most difficult game by any means, it’s held the test of time quite enviously.

Actraiser casts you in the role of a God, Sir [Insertnamehere] - You will save the land of its evil monster reign, and create life in a series of different modes of gameplay. From your Sky Palace, you will choose a battleground, an area of land you with to combat the monsters and begin human life. Initially, you cast yourself down in a human warrior form reminiscent of Thor bearing a winged helmet, long blue tunic, and broadsword, in order to fight off all of the monsters in the land. Each act has you finishing off the area with a boss fight in the form of an epic beast, from minotaurs, dragons, and fierce animal hybrids. While the boss fights begin a tad difficult, you soon learn the pattern of your enemy, and with earned magic and brute force you can easily take them down. Levels themselves aren’t all that difficult, and are riddled with power-ups for your sword and magic abilities to aid you in your quest. Once you’ve taken out the monsters headquarters, you can now move away from the gorgeously colorful 2D sidescrolling action to a birds eye view God simulation mode. From here, you will control your angel, who is essentially your right hand man in a series of events with a set amount of skills to help provide a peaceful land for your people to live in. The people will build homes, farms, and eventually cities. They will learn from you as you protect them by battling off enemies from the skies with a bow and arrow, and seal off monster lairs and make them homes. Performing miracles is essential to life, and for destroying rocks or unnecessary bushes, or sand, you will be rewarded with the peoples findings, be they bombs to destroy enemies, new magic, or things you can bring to previous cultures you’ve saved and created, like music and wheat.

For the most part, there’s no real story save you creating life and defending your people. Every so often however, small sub-plots among the people will arise, be they missing men and children, plagues, or feuds, you will deal with these through your menus with your angel counterpart. Your menus are a one-button press, and are very easy to navigate through as you command your people to expand and build, as well as perform the aforementioned miracles. Again, since you’re a God, the most part is aiding your people from the sky and watching them. You’ll notice neat little things like farmers farming, or children walking the dog - it’s difficult to see anything from the birds eye view, but you are looking down from your Sky Palace. This is all very easy, and time consuming, but shockingly addictive. Every province has two action acts, and before you can partake in the second one, you must help the people reach a great goal, like creating cities, and bringing music to themselves - after this, you are able to fight again. However, I found myself continuing my building, and helping the people grow fields and such. I complete my province, filling it with people even before I help them again. It’s a very addicting game, despite its ease.

In both the simulation and Castlevania style action sequences, you will notice backgrounds that stick out to you, some more gorgeous than others, but all of them suiting and acceptable. The overall look of the game is clean and polished, but the music is what stands out. Orchestral symphonies play as you battle your way through the evil waves of enemies, and help cultivate land. Memorable tunes that, should they be taken out of their MIDI format, would make excellent Hollywood soundtracks for an epic film.

Actraiser was an early SNES game - one of the first - and stands out in video game history. That it’s now available for 800 points on the virtual console justifies anyones Wii purchase. It’s a defining game in video game’s history, and is well worthy of a next gen sequel. Until then, I’ll be playing this well aged sim/action hybrid for a long time.

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Sega’s shining RPG Gem casts you in the golden gauntlet of “Prince Ali”, a suspicious Aladdin impersonator in a fictional land of magic, gods, and of course, the aforementioned golden gauntlet. As a treasure hunting prince (Why? Seriously you don’t have enough already?) you find a mysterious gauntlet, which ends up being the better half of a set of two (the bad guys get a silver one!) wherein you unleash an unholy mash of monsters and evil hellions who look to destroy you and your land on account of your silly, greedy discovery.

Well, Alla— Ali, since you brought this mass army of destruction across your people, you better set off to right your wrongs while your mom and pop chill out in the comfort of their thrones with the help of HP upping steaks, crossbows, humongous swords and the magic that the gods grant you. Other than that I can’t say honestly that I remember the plot so much, but the gameplay and visuals truly make up for it.

Like Link before him, Ali is controlled over a top down camera in a 2D world bearing a blade (or whatever you equip) and ventures off to beat the snot out of these ugly squatters… The difference between Ali and 2D era Link is… Well… to be totally honest, Ali is way more bad-ass. Link slashed. That’s it. Ali is set up with a pretty decent set of moves, ranging from Slash, Stab, Kung Fu Kick, and fiery, flipping variations of these moves. Combo kicking a sword slashing Sasquatch wannabe after a stab/circle slash/backflip combination looks awesome in itself, and the vibrant artistic world doesn’t hurt the game at all.

The camera is a tad close, so it’s hard to see a bunch of the world at all, but exploration pays off — come on, you’re a treasure hunting money grubbing, steak eatin’ prince of the land… Huge, difficult, but pattern oriented boss encounters are great fun, and require you to work at leveling up to stand a chance. A vast amount of enemies from Koosh-Balls, Blobs of Paint, and the aforementioned Sasquatch should keep your sword from rusting for sure and will definitely keep you busy.

Beyond Oasis is easily a must own. You’ve got to have this title since you probably missed it the first time around; I know that I sure did. That was then and this is now, Beyond Oasis is here and I am lovin it.

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