This weeks new releases at the Australian Virtual Console shop: Cruis’n USA , originally released on Nintendo 64.

Cruis’n USA (Nintendo 64)

This weeks releases at the Australian Virtual Console shop … hot on the heels of Super Turrican comes Mega Turrican, originally released on the Sega Megadrive (for the religious types, the Genesis).

Mega Turrican (Sega Megadrive)

There’s something about this game that makes it look really satisfying and playable. I think it’s actually the shooting sound that does it for me. It’s going to be a tough choice deciding between a purchase of Mega Turrican or Super Turrican.

Here’s some Wikipedia-derived trivia: Mega Turrican is actually a port of the Amiga version of Turrican 3. Since it’s “Good Friday” today, here are some Mega Turrican Easter Eggs (well, more like cheats, but it’s the best I could come up with).

Here’s an interesting tidbit from a recent installment covering the legendary Atari 2600 in Gamasutra’s “History of Gaming Platforms” series :

Mogul Maniac was packed with the Joyboard, a joystick platform the player stood on and controlled by shifting bodyweight and staying balanced. These and the many other unusual devices produced for the VCS had varying degrees of usefulness and commercial success, but nevertheless enhanced the distinctiveness of Atari’s system.

Sound familiar …. ?? A board … that the player balances on … like, maybe a Balance Board ?

Everything old is new again (and maybe the Nintendo hardware designers aren’t as creative as a lot of people make out … they just have good memories ….)

This week the Australian Virtual Console store sees two fairly solid additions: Operation Wolf (NES) and Super R-Type (Super Nintendo).

Operation Wolf (NES)

I’ve never played the NES version of this, but I remember being slightly obsessed with the PC version for a few weeks when I was a kid. This could really work well as a Wiimote driven remake ….

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Some updates to the recently launched Japanese WiiWare site reveal that Nintendo hasn’t been lying about their estimated prices for WiiWare games - the first crop will cost between 500 and 1000 points, with only Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - My Life as King breaking the 1000 Wii Point mark;  that will cost Japanese players 1500 points. That’s around ~$5, ~$10 or ~$15 per game (in USD, or AUD). Lets hope these attractive prices also apply to WiiWare when it launches in other parts of the world.

Scanning the list of release titles in Japan, I don’t see the WiiWare game I’m looking forward to the most - Pop (by Nnooo). Not to worry; the release titles outside of Japan are very likely to be different.

See the Gamasutra coverage for more details.