Starting next month, there will be a new console on the Japanese Wii Virtual Console: the Sega Master System, Sega's 8-bit predecessor to the Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive. By way of sharing the same hardware, games for the SG-1000 Mark III and the Sega Game Gear will also be available.

Pricing for the Sega Master System games will be akin to those of the NES: 500 Points, with an extra 100 for any extra licensing. Two games have been lined up in Japan: Fist of the North Star (600 Points) and Fantasy Zone (500 Points).

Over at Virtual Console Reviews, the Western VCs will get the Master System in a couple of months, possibly as early as March/April.

Phantasy Star, please.

[Inside Games (Japanese)]

Awesome news for people who love 8-bit games, or just wonderful things: Sega Master System games will be offered on the Japanese Virtual Console starting in February, with other territories to follow. It looks like the base price for games will be 500 points, with the customary 100 tacked on for licenses. Sega Mark III games and even Game Gear games will be offered for download -- marking the first handheld games available through the VC, all thanks to the Game Gear and the Master System using identical hardware.

The first two offerings? Fist of the North Star for 600 points (yay?) and Fantasy Zone for 500 points (yay!) Neither Nintendo nor Sega have updated their Virtual Console pages to reflect this development, so we'll get to freak out again when that happens. For now we can just dream about what the future holds. Remember ALF? He could be back -- in Virtual Console form.

Akira_EX via nintendowiifanboy.com »