Hello there, Charlie Marsh here with your Virtual Console releases of the week. And, oh Hossana, they have some GOOD games for us this week! We’re set to recieve Cruis’n USA from the Nintendo 64 and Wonder Boy, the first game from the Sega Master System to be released on the VC. As always, here are our thoughts on these games.
Cruis’n USA
-Genre: Racing
-System: Nintendo 64
-Release Date: 1996
-Price: 1000 Wii Points
Charlie Marsh: Holy testicle Tuesday, a game I…almost want to buy. It was way more fun in the arcade, but then again there aren’t too many games that weren’t. That said, it’s fun, there’s lots of secrets to unlock, and it’s way, WAY better than Cruis’n on the Wii. It’s a good buy if you’re looking for an arcade racing game.
Mark B.: Hey, wow, that’s a trip back to the old days spent in the arcades. Cruis’n USA is one of those games that, most likely, won’t hold up to the memories of it (see also Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES), but what the hell, it’s still a fun blast from the past.
Guy Desmarais: OK, so it’s not the best game in the world, and it has about 6 different cars or so, and there are better made racing games out there… but it’s CRUIS’N USA. My memories on that game are nothing but candies and rainbows. My friends and I used to have these crazy long play sessions to get through the entire game, then we did it again the next day, and so on. It’s one of the first game I ever played on the N64, and even though it might be a mistake to download this game because it could crush everything good I remember about it FOREVER, you can be sure I will be all over this as soon as I get more Wii points in my account.
Christopher Bowen: Weeks like this give me hope that Nintendo is actually listening to me when I slam them. *sniff* Now watch them come back next week with Deadly Towers.
I’ve always thought this game got a bad rap; it was more a victim of too much hype than anything else. It was released in the arcades as a teaser; “hey guys, if you think this is good, wait until the Ultra 64 comes out! It’s going to blow your asshole out!”. Eventually, the system got renamed, the game got delayed, and the controller was made to suck for any game that wasn’t a 3D platformer, so when Cruis’n USA came out, it wasn’t as good as it was hoped to be, so when you combine that with the immense promise it had, the backlash was fierce. It’s still a competent racer – I’ll play it over most of the Need for Speed games personally – and definitely worth $10.
Wonder Boy
-Genre: Platformer
-System: Sega Master System
-Release Date: 1986
-Price: 500 Wii Points
Charlie Marsh: The first SMS game on the US VC (abbreviations FTW LOL!) is a good platformer, but it’s rather strange that it’s being released, since Adventure Island on the NES is almost exactly the same game with some sprites and levels shifted around, and that was released for the VC last year. The graphics in Wonder Boy are better, but the controls on Adventure Island are a bit better; they’re a little loose in Wonder Boy. All in all, it’s still a good game, but a rather unnecessary one. The two games are the same price, so if you want something prettier to look at, get Wonder Boy, but if you want something with better controls, stick with Adventure Island.
Mark B.: Ah, yes, the first in a series of games Hudson had a hard-on for re-releasing under different names (seriously). I’d sooner have been graced with the awesome that is Wonder Boy in Monster Land, but even so, this is a pretty fun game if you happen to be a fan of the franchise it turned into (essentially), Adventure Island. And maybe if everyone buys this one we’ll be lucky enough to see Wonder Boy 3 before NEC gets around to releasing their knock-off, Dragon’s Curse.
Guy Desmarais: I had that game for the Master System. I also had Adventure Island for the NES. Let me tell you something: it’s the same damn thing. It’s just a matter of what you prefer as your main protagonist. If you’re all about blond guys running around half-naked, go for Wonder Boy. If you prefer brown-haired guys running around half-naked, but with a cap on his head, then go for Adventure Island. Either way, you won’t notice much difference.
Christopher Bowen: This is another case, like the Puyo games, of Nintendo giving us the same game with a new coat of varnish, but this time, it at least shows some promise; for $5, anyone that didn’t buy Adventure Island (like me) can see what the Master System had going for it. Most of the people reading this are familiar with Adventure Island so a rehash of what this game is about is unnecessary, but after this is going to come other games such as Fantasy Zone, Shinobi and the classic Phantasy Star. It also gives me hope that the other Wonder Boy games – such as Monster World – are going to come out.
And that is, as they say, that. Until next week, enjoy these good games from the VC for once, or enjoy other good games, or enjoy the fallout from Wrestlemania, or enjoy opening say of baseball (best day of the year!). See you next time!
Leave a Reply