Game Stooge

Today’s Virtual Console Titles: July 2nd

• Scribbled on July 2nd, 2007 by Devin Grimes
• Filed in Nintendo Wii, Virtual Console

The weekly dosage of Virtual Console titles for the Nintendo Wii brings us yet more memorable (and not some not so memorable) classic games. Here’s this week’s lineup:

• Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES) – 500 Wii Points
• Ecco: The Tides of Time (Sega Genesis) – 800 Wii Points
• DRAGON SPIRIT (TurboGrafx16) – 600 Wii Points

Come on — do we even have to tell you what our pick of the week is? Super Mario Bros. 2 is one of the side-steps for the series that has sparked countless nerdfights since it’s release. Why did it play nothing like the original — or even many of it’s sequels? And why the heck did Japan get a completely different version?

The answer is simple: Super Mario Bros. 2 did not start it’s life as a game set in the Mario universe.

Check out the history of Super Mario Bros. 2, as well as Nintendo’s press release after the break.

When the suits at Nintendo Japan determined that the real SMB2 was too difficult for us primordial American gamers, they took the logical step and used the Famicom Disk game, Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, while substituting the characters with Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool. Each have their own set of abilities and gameplay elements that have changed the series forever. Don’t believe me? Go play Super Paper Mario, sir.

Personally, Super Mario Bros. 2 is my least favorite of the bunch. I’m just not a fan of the change in gameplay and design, yet I can appreciate its impact on the Mario universe.  Is it worth your money?  Even though I’m not the biggest fan, if you’re at all a fan of the series it’s worth a playthrough for its nostalgic and gameplay altering ideas.

PRESS RELEASE:

WII-KLY UPDATE: THREE NEW CLASSIC GAMES ADDED TO WII SHOP CHANNEL
July 2, 2007

This week the Wii Shop Channel is all about a healthy diet. Grab lots of vegetables, drink plenty of water and top it off with some eggs. As an appetizer, might we recommend starting with Super Mario Bros. 2™, a delicious morsel starring everyone’s favorite plumber. But in this game, players can control three other characters as well. As an entrée, try the dolphin. Not to eat, of course, but to play. Ecco™: The Tides of Time is a swimmingly fun underwater adventure. Finally, let a multi-headed dragon help you cleanse your palate in DRAGON SPIRIT™. This week is a veritable feast of delicious games.

Three new classic games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel every Monday. Wii™ owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES®, 1 player, rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Join Mario™, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad in an incredible fantasy world on a quest to save the day. This time, they have little more than vegetables to defend themselves with. Pick up items and throw them at your adversaries to clear levels in seven massive worlds. Even enemies can be picked up and tossed across the screen. Each character has a unique set of abilities: Luigi can jump higher and farther than any of the other characters, Toad can dig extremely fast and pull items out of the ground quicker than anyone and the princess is the only one who can jump and hover temporarily. This unique installment in the Mario series will keep you coming back for more.

Ecco: The Tides of Time (Sega Genesis, 1 player, rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points): In this sequel to Ecco the Dolphin, everyone’s favorite underwater hero must battle the Vortex Queen and her hive of drones. The wicked queen followed Ecco back to Earth from the future and quickly established her hive. It’s up to Ecco to defeat this alien threat by navigating the depths of his side-scrolling world, solving puzzles and receiving help from his marine-mammal friends. When Ecco used the time machine to save his pod, he split the stream of time in two. He must now restore the rift before the world is permanently changed into a mechanical world, sucked dry by the Vortex.

DRAGON SPIRIT (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, rated E for Everyone – Mild Fantasy Violence, 600 Wii Points): A fantastic world of adventure unfolds in this vertical-scrolling shooter. Sealed away by the gods long ago, the Evil Demon of Darkness, Zawell, seeks to rise again and unleash a new reign of evil. The brave warrior Amur races to rescue Princess Alicia from the demon’s wretched clutches. Amur takes the form of the legendary Blue Dragon and fights his way through the legions of monsters that await in the sky. Battle your way through eight different areas, using your Dragon Breath to bring down airborne targets and Fireballs to wipe out targets on the ground. Destroy flashing enemies and smash Eggs to uncover different kinds of power-up items. Boost your firepower by increasing the number of heads your dragon has, and defeat all the bosses as you make your way to Zawell’s dark lair.

For more information about Wii, please visit wii.com.