Don’t forget, yesterday Nintendo made available the original Metroid on the Wii’s Virtual Console. Also, Nintendo posted some more videos on their Metroid Prime 3 preview channel. One such video tells us of the Aurora unit computers, and their striking similarity to a certain maternal cerebrum. Since I was in such a Metroid mood, I found quite a detailed Wiki on the subject, and found a few random downloads. First of all, in case you need to port an old game save, or just start the game at any given point, someone has made a nice Metroid password generator program. Also, yet another selfless fan has translated the recent Japanese manga canon backstory. In what will hopefully be a regularity, I posted them both in my new Download section. Hope you enjoy.

In case you hadn’t noticed that pulsating blue light on your Wii, let me fill you in. Today, Nintendo released a “Metroid Prime 3 Preview” channel and has proclaimed August to be the Month of Metroid. (Cue Fanfare) The preview channel is a streaming video client to showcase some impressive MP3 clips. So far 2 videos are available and 2 more to be available on 8/13. The videos are pretty amazing, and just had me wanting MP3 even more, though I didn’t know that was possible.

That’s all well and good, but here’s the kicker: Metroid and Super Metroid will be released on the VC over the next couple of weeks! Metroid will hit on 8/13 for $5, then Super Metroid on 8/20 for $8. This will all culminate in Metroid Prime 3’s release on 8/27. By the way, did I mention that Super Metroid is the greatest game ever made!? Super Metroid is the first title I thought of when I heard of the Virtual Console concept. Needless to say, I am excited.

This one’s actually on time!

Wii Virtual Console

• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest (SNES) - $8
• Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis) - $8
• Blazing Lazers (TG-16) - $6

Xbox Live Arcade

• Xevious (Arcade) - $5
• Rush ‘n Attack (Arcade) - $5

This one looks pretty easy to me. Xevious and Rush ‘n Attack are fun for about 40 seconds, but DKC2 and SoR2 stay fun for quite a bit longer. And on top of that we get yet another TG-16 shooter. This one is all you Nintendo, way to tie it up yet again.

Score: XBLA 3, VC 3

Quite an interesting set of releases this week. Let’s take a look at our contestants…

Wii Virtual Console

• Pacman (NES) - $5
• Ninja Gaiden (NES) - $5
• Ninja Spirit (TG-16) - $6

Xbox Live Arcade

• Soltrio Solitaire - $10
• Aegis Wing - FREE!

Now, let’s take an in depth look at both services. Nintendo, Pac-man is fun, but you are late. XBLA already had a better version of Pac-man with leaderboards and achievements for the same price months ago. As for your sneaky inclusion of two ninja games, that’s great. I haven’t played Ninja Spirit, but Ninja Gaiden is a classic and a solid inclusion.

Now Microsoft, Solitaire? Ten bucks!? I understand there are 18 different solitaire games in the package, but still…it’s solitaire. One player games don’t exactly shine on the world’s best gaming network. Now if that was your only release, you would have definitely lost this week, but a free game, that’s unprecedented. Sure it was made by interns, and I know the gameplay probably doesn’t run very deep, but you can’t beat free! Sorry Nintendo, Microsoft has raised the stakes, this round goes to XBLA.

Score: XBLA 3, VC 2

XBLA has won twice in a row, can they make it three? Here’s this week’s downloadable lineup…

Wii Virtual Console

• Mighty Bomb Jack (NES) - $5
• Final Fight (SNES) - $8
• Ordyne (TG-16) - $6

Xbox Live Arcade

• Double Dragon (Arcade) - $5

This week is kind of a tough one. XBLA brings us a nice online enabled version of Double Dragon. It’s an arcade classic with cleaned up visuals for HD. I got admit, it looks good and its fun to play, but I used to own this arcade game, and played it to death. It’s fun, but it just doesn’t seem to leave you wanting more. While the XBLA title brings a good bang-for-the-buck, Wii does bring a decent number of games to choose from. You have another excellent brawler, along with an obscure platformer, and what looks to be an interestingly solid shooter.

So, the verdict this week is…. VC! Just when you thought XBLA was going to bury VC, they come from behind and tie it up. Very nice Nintendo, now get to work on Super Metroid!

Many are quick to point out one of the biggest advantages Xbox’s Live Arcade has over the Wii Virtual Console. There are no demos for the Virtual Console, so there’s really no way to determine if you will like an unfamiliar title. Until now, sort of. Nintendo now has improved their Virtual Console website to include a nice list of all available titles, with corresponding information and a gameplay video. While you still have no way of playing these games before you drop the points, at least you can see what the game looks like now. Thanks Ninty, but when are these videos going to be standard on the Wii Shop Channel?

Wii Virtual Console

Wow, I started this new weekly column, and now I am consistently late in posting it. Quickly, here are this week’s contestants.

Wii Virtual Console

• Castlevania (NES) - $5
• The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES) - $8
• Shockman (TG-16) - $6

Xbox Live Arcade

• Catan - $10
• Centipede / Millipede - $5

So let’s see, Nintendo’s got Castlevania and a couple more obscure retro titles. I’ve heard Mystical Ninja is good, and I know Castlevania is great. But, I have been waiting quite a while for Catan. It’s the Xbox Live enabled game based on the board game Settlers of Catan. The original board game looked like awesome fun, but I have no friends that want to play board games with me. At least with Catan on XBLA you can play on XBL. Also, XBLA brings the first bundle of retro arcade games for the low price of $5. That’s like $2.50 a game, or like $0.05/Pede. Sorry N, XBLA wins again. Thanks for Castlevania though, I mean you did put up a fight.

Winner: Xbox Live Arcade

Score: VC 1, XBLA 2

Don’t worry, I haven’t already abandoned my shiny new website. I was just on vacation. I went to New York, and actually got a lot of awesome pictures which I will post later. Now, I figure better late than never for the weekly edition of VC vs. XBLA. Let’s see what we got this week.

Wii Virtual Console

• Gradius III (SNES) - $8
• Wonder Boy in Monster World (Genesis) - $8
• Battle Lode Runner (TG-16) - $6

Xbox Live Arcade

• Eets Chowdown - $10
• Pinball FX - $10

At first, I didn’t know what to think of the VC titles. I had heard of Gradius, but Wonder Boy and Battle Lode Runner? To be honest, this kind of thing happens somewhat frequently, since I didn’t have a TG-16 or a Genesis growing up, so I missed out on a lot of these games. After doing some Googling, I determined that both Wonder Boy and Battle Lode Runner were great games, just a little obscure. This is the double edged sword of the Virtual Console. Sure, I can go back and play these games that I never played, but how do I know I would like them? This is when Xbox Live Arcade’s demo system really shines. Similarly, I had never heard of Eets Chowdown either, but in contrast, I was able to try it out without spending a single virtual penny. Ultimately I decided both XBLA titles were definitely fun. Pinball FX doesn’t sound like much, but it is a pretty nice looking, and fun to play pinball game.

Overall, no must-buys this week, but kudos to XBLA for letting me figure that out myself. Also, yet another two-fer this week for the XBLA. Congrats Microsoft, this round goes to you.

Normally I just post XBLA and VC releases on the day they are released. But today I noticed that both services announce that week’s titles on Monday anyway. I think Microsoft does this in the hope you will see an XBLA release and stop yourself from making that hasty $-to-Wii-Point conversion. This week is also interesting because for the first time ever, Microsoft has two releases on Wednesday. So without further adieu, here are the releases.
Wii Virtual Console (4/16)

• PunchOut! (NES) - 500 Points/$5
• Virtua Fighter 2 (Genesis) - 800 Points/$8
• Bonk’s Return (TG-16) - 600 Points /$6

Xbox 360 Live Arcade (4/18)

• Gyruss - 400 Points/$5
• 3-D Ultra MiniGolf Adventures - 800 Points/$10

Kudos to Microsoft for making the effort with a multiple release. But I must say, this is simply a tactic to cover for shoddy releases. Gyruss hasn’t aged well, and MiniGolf is probably the most cliche casual gaming can get. Nintendo, on the other hand has some solid offerings. You could opt for PunchOut!, one of my favorite NES games of all time, you could get the Genesis arcade-port of Sega’s popular fighting franchise, or you could go on another adventure with Bonk! Sorry MS, this round goes to Nintendo.

Winner: Wii Virtual Console

Score: VC 1, XBLA 0

Galaga (NES) - 500 Points
BRAVOMAN (TG-16) - 600 Points
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (Genesis) - 800 Points

Another week, another batch of VC games. This week we have the NES port of one of my favorite games, Galaga. Had I not already bought it for XBLA, I’d be buying it today. Now as for BravoMan and Alex Kidd, I can’t say I’ve even heard of these games. Nintendo, I’d love to see a demo feature.