EU Wii Virtual Console: 03/28/08: The Commodore 64 Debuts on the Virtual Console

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EU Wii Virtual Console: 03/28/08: The Commodore 64 Debuts on the Virtual Console

March 27, 2008 in News comments

This week's European VC update packs so much more content than the previous weeks, that it is insane. Coupled with the fact that Japan didn't get a Virtual Console update (probably because WiiWare had launched), Europe gets a virtual megaton.

The first notable bit is that Europe gets a whopping three games, and two of those games are on a newly supported system for the Virtual Console: the Commodore 64, a widely popular system back in the day, that can boast approximately 10,000 software titles to its name, which includes development tools, office applications, and of course, games. For the Virtual Console, games will be priced at 500 Points apiece.

The first of the two games hailing from this new console is International Karate. As the title would suggest, it is a fighting game, with the goal being to score single solid hits, rather than depleting a health bar.

The second game is Uridium, a horizontal side-scrolling shoot-em-up that sports fifteen different levels.

There is one more game that isn't a C64 game, but rather, it is a N64 game: Cruis'n USA. Nothing really to write home about.

Recap:

C64: International Karate, 1-2 Players, 500 Points

C64: Uridium, 1 Player, 500 Points

N64: Cruis'n USA, 1-2 Players, 1000 Points

Keep track of the latest VC releases with the 2008 edition of What's New on VC? in the Wii Virtual Console forum.

If you like the number 64 you're in luck today - Not only are there three new games, they're all for the Commodore 64 and Nintendo 64! Obviously this also means there's now a new system on VC. Commodore 64 games cost 500 Wii Points each.

As the C64 is arguably bigger news than a new N64 game (It's not that great of a game anyway), its two games are our "top picks" this week. International Karate is probably the single most popular C64 game. It was ported to a variety of systems, some of them even with better graphics, but none of them ever really got as popular as this version. It's quite a basic little fighter, but it spawned a cult following and a number of sequels, so it might be worth checking out. It's not the best fighter on VC though!

The other C64 game this week is Uridium, a rather odd shoot 'em up which is not at all like any other one already on VC. Instead of fixed scrolling, you can decide whether you go left or right on your own in this game, and you can do so at various speeds as well, meaning that you basically decide the pace you want to play at. Nothing quite like it has been made since, so this is also quite a good game to check out.

Nintendo 64 games are normally highly anticipated by the VC user community. Don't get excited this week though - Cruis'n USA was thought of as highly average when it was originally released, and it's even worse now. It is indeed true that unlike almost every other current VC racer, it's quite realistic-looking, with real-life locations, realistic looking cars, and more, but if you don't care if you're driving through real-life areas or fictional locations, then there's much better racer picks already available, such as Mario Kart 64 and F-Zero. There was actually a rather atrocious-looking Wii sequel simply called Cruis'n released recently as well.

Three new games for the EU! That hasn't happened since last December! Check out the reviews:

International Karate - Commodore 64 - 500 Wii Points

Uridium - Commodore 64 - 500 Wii Points

Cruis'n USA - Nintendo 64 - 1000 Wii Points (Review up soon)

By the way, if you've played some C64 games before, you'll know that the system has it's own keyboard. How is this handled on the VC, you ask? Whenever you're required to type something, a "virtual" keyboard similar to the one on the Internet Channel (And Wii Shop search function) pops up and you can type whatever you want.