With the US releases of Sin & Punishment and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels on the Virtual Console a couple weeks ago, paying attention to which games get VC releases in both Japan and Europe get much more important, as these games are then ready to be used on the VC, and sport the possibility of crossing the ocean.

Highlighting this week's Japanese VC Offerings is SNK's Samurai Spirits, better known as Samurai Shodown in the US. As such, the possibility is now there for it to be released in the US.

Joining Samurai Spirits is Famicom Tantei Club for the Famicom Disk System, Assault Suits Valken for the Super Famicom, Sonic 3D Blast for the Mega Drive, and Ys I & II for the PC Engine CD (for which the US got their first game for yesterday).

SNK is wasting no time getting all its big fighting franchises onto the VC. Even though their VC offerings are already dominated by fighters, we imagine that most Neo fans will be pleased to see the arrival of Samurai Spirits, also known as Samurai Shodown, as it heralds the release of the game in our region.

Other releases include one-time Turbo CD pack-in Ys I&II, a collection of two lovely action RPGs from Nihon Falcom; Assault Suits Valken, which you may recognize as Cybernator; and Famicom Tantei (Detective) Club, a graphical text adventure from Nintendo.

Also there's Sonic 3D Blast, whose title is 2/3 accurate.

Famicom Tantei Club (Famicom Disk System, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

Assault Suits Valken (Super Famicom, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)

Sonic 3D Blast (Mega Drive, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

Ys I&II (PC Engine CD-ROM, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)

Samurai Spirits (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points)

Akira_EX via nintendowiifanboy.com »