Slowly but surely, Nintendo is populating its Wii Shop channel with every tiny piece of our collective childhoods. This week is one of the better batches thus far, with Donkey Kong Country, The Legend of Kage, Streets of Rage and New Adventure Island all seeing release on the Virtual Console.
Donkey Kong Country (Super NES, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
Still as fun and colorful as ever,this is thehuge side-scrolling adventure that started the %26ldquo;apes jumping on crocodiles%26rdquo; craze that we so easily take for granted in games these days.
The Legend of Kage (NES, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points)
A noble ninja Kage (pronounced %26ldquo;kah-gay%26rdquo;, if you want to sound in the know) ventures out to rescue princess Kiri who has been kidnapped and dragged to a menacing castle. Sounds a little reminiscent of a certainItalian plumber%26rsquo;s adventure... But that plumber couldn%26rsquo;t throw Shurikens, now could he?
New Adventure Island (TurboGrafx-16, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)
Also took more than a few pointers from Mario, but became its own series with a nice mix of boomerangs, witch doctors, and a tropical setting. It%26rsquo;s crazy.
Streets of Rage (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, 800 Wii points)
Battle an evil crime syndicate as one of three slightly different characters using moves with names like %26ldquo;Horizontal Chop%26rdquo; and %26ldquo;Fist Smash.%26rdquo; It%26rsquo;s good fun with a buddy, especially once the knives and lead pipes start to come out.
So go grab some Wii Points at your local retailer or on the Shop Channel itself and indulge in your weekly dose of nostalgia. Hopefully Nintendo speeds up the flow at some point so we can see some of the more obscure gems (Anticipation, Clu Clu Land) and bizarre offerings (Samurai Zombie Nation, Dudes With Attitude) that these systems had to offer.
February 20, 2007
