A user by the name of Gary (username WarioBrose) on Miiverse shared with the newly created Shantae community a code to enter the debug mode of Shantae. On the title screen, hit the following directions:
Left (×2), right (×8), left (×6), right (×2), left (×7), right (×6), left (×8).
In their latest Nintendo Direct (Mini) presentation, Nintendo announced that the release of Earthbound had narrowed down to a specific date. That date: NOW! Yep, Nintendo has gone and released Earthbound to an unsuspecting public on the Wii U Virtual Console. On top of this, Nintendo has also made the original, larger than normal Player’s Guide available for viewing online. And yes, you can see the whole guide. You can view the guide right here. While it might look strange viewing it on a computer now, it’ll look just fine on a Wii U gamepad.
Earthbound was originally released on the SNES in 1995. Sadly, the game did poorly sales -wise despite a somewhat massive advertising campaign and positive critical reception. This lead to Nintendo not releasing anymore Earthbound material outside Japan, including the much requested Earthbound 2 (Mother 3) on the GBA. Interest grew for the game after Ness’ (and Lucas’) appearance in the Smash Bros. series, alongside the established cult following the game garnered. Due to its rarity and its absence on other platforms outside of the SNES, prices for the original game, both boxed and cart-only, would range from as low as $200 to as high as $1000. There’s even a website dedicated to getting Earthbound at a price you can afford.
Earthbound is now available on the Wii U Virtual Console for $9.99
Nintendo Direct Mini 7.18.13 [Youtube]
Sorry for the pun, but it had to happen. Late this morning, Satoru Iwata in the latest Nintendo Direct announced that Earthbound will be headed to the North American Wii U Virtual Console by the end of this year. This news came as a result of North American fans practically bombarding the Mother 2 Miiverse with pleas of a U.S. release when it launched in Japan in March.
Earthbound (known as Mother 2 in Japan) was a commercial flop when it launched back on the SNES, leading Nintendo to ignore markets outside Japan whenever games in this series popped up. This also lead to Earthbound 2 (aka Mother 3) never getting launched here either. However, the series has gained a passionate cult following, clamoring for some kind of release in this series. It also helped that Ness, the main character of Earthbound, was something of a mainstay in the Super Smash Bros. series and helped give exposure to the game he came from (like Marth and Roy for Fire Emblem). Some, including myself, want to get into this game to see what all the hubbub is about. Unfortunately, the asking price for the cartridge alone is well into the $100+ range online. Maybe those assholes can lower the price now.
No word yet if the music will be changed since many fans believed it was the many music samples that prevented a re-release in the U.S. But now, more of the U.S. can finally play an RPG that some call one of the best RPGs of all time.
[via Nintendo Direct 4.17.13 around the 23:13 mark]
In the midst of all the hoopla surrounding the launch of the Wii U comes a silent announcement that starting on November 25th, 2012, Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, and 3 will be removed from the Wii’s Virtual Console. News of this came first from Nintendo Life from Twitter user NintenDaan who received a notice on the Wii Shop Channel. It states, “Hello, We would like to let you know you that the following titles will become unavailable for purchase on 25/11/12: Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2, Donkey Kong Country 3.” There was no prior warning as to why these titles were being pulled. Initially it seemed to only affect Europe. But it’s been confirmed that NA’s Virtual Console will also be lacking the Kongs.
There are already questions swirling if it has something to do with Rare being the original developers of these games. For those people who believe this, go here. It’s kinda sad to see these apes go. Without ’em on the VC, I wouldn’t have been able to play DKC 1 again after it bit the dust in my childhood. Or play DKC 2, the one game that’s eluded me for an extremely long time. Yeah yeah there’s emulators, but it’s nothing compared to actually playing these on a TV screen. If you haven’t played these games yet and have no plans to get the original carts, buy these three now before November 25th. If you have them still, hold on tight to them. And be sure your little Pikmin friends transfer those games safely to your shiny new Wii U if you get one!
Donkey Kong Country Games To Be Removed From Wii Virtual Console [gamrConnect]
Donkey Kong Country Trilogy To Be Pulled From Wii Virtual Console [Nintendo Life]
Near the end of the Game Boy Color lifecycle, a neat little game called Shantae was released. It was one part action, one part rhythm, and one part Metroid. This was all topped off with a genie that used her hair like a whip, shook her ass for some gold and transformed into other creatures. This was a game that was packed to the brim with content, especially for a GBC game. The game was compatible with the Game Boy Advance for extra colors. A sequel was planned on the GBA, but was scrapped. But WayForward, the developers of Shantae, brought her back in the DSiWare sequel, Shantae: Risky’s Revenge. Since then, WayForward’s been riding high on the success of some of their games, including Mighty Flip Champs, Mighty Switch Force, and are currently creating an Adventure Time game.
WayForward says that they submitted the game to the ESRB to rate it, and will then have to wait for Nintendo to approve it. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem considering that 1) WayForward was smart in maintaining the Shantae IP and not letting DLCapcom hold it (and they said that all they’d have to do is remove Capcom’s logo from the intro), and 2) Nintendo could use a game in the handheld VC that pushed the GBC to its limits at the time. Since Shantae is pretty damn rare, I’ve only had the chance of playing a little bit of it on an emulator. Releasing it on the VC would be a dream come true and I won’t have to dread spending a huge sum of money to play it.
Shantae Coming to 3DS Virtual Console Soon (Hopefully) [Nintendo World Report, via Operation Rainfall
The game? Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers for the SEGA Genesis. Wow. Y’know, I gotta give props to Capcom for this. They managed to do something that not even Nintendo thought of doing with their own games. Since the start of the Wii’s Virtual Console service, many had hoped that many of those old classics would have online multiplayer; Super Mario Bros., Joe & Mac, F-ZERO X, Bubble Bobble, Secret of Mana, and many other games with great multiplayer. But the games released would just be straight ports with no new bells and whistles added. But Capcom sought to fix this and added online multiplayer for the Genesis version Super Street Fighter II:The New Challengers. Makes a bit of sense though since the original had XBAND support. Unfortunately they may not be able to add it for the SNES version since they’ve long since released it. It may not mean much since the Wii’s life is close to the end. But hopefully sends a message to Nintendo and other companies that it’d be awesome for these old games to have online multiplayer. If Nintendo continues VC service on the 3DS and resumes the line on the Wii U, this feature would be more than a welcome addition.
So big ups Capcom, big ups.
Genesis version of Super SFII now on US Virtual Console – with online play [Capcom Unity]
The Wired Fish Network 