For the Japanese Virtual Console, April is month full of awesome and win. For Tuesday's update, Japan got some of those gems in a package of five games for their Virtual Console.

Leading off the pack is a familiar game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the Famicom. Those who do remember know that it was a hard and frustrating game, and also because of the license it's 600 Points.


Next up is Sky Kid, also for the Famicom. It is a horizontally-scrolling shooter made by the folks over at Namco.


Third up is Musha Aleste for the Sega Mega Drive, known as M.U.S.H.A. in the West. It is a vertically scrolling shooter, and is known as one of the best shooters for the Mega Drive/Genesis that pushed the console to its limits. It was developed by the now-defunct Compile, makers of some pretty awesome shooters.


Fourth up is the familiar Crest of Wolf for the PC Engine CD, more commonly known as Riot Zone in the West. We got that game back in January, so nothing's really changed with this one.


Last but not least is the Legend of Valkyrie for the PC Engine. As one of Namco's more recognizable mascots, Valkyrie stars in this action-adventure game, with sword-swinging and projectile action.


Hefty recap:

PCE: Legend of Valkyrie, 1 Player, 600 Points

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

The Month of Awesome (as we have unofficially dubbed April for its wealth of Virtual Console releases) has kicked off rather well in Japan, with a bunch of new games available to NTSC/J Wii owners. Surprisingly, only two of these games are scrolling shooters (Sky Kid and Musha Aleste), and of those, one is an absolute classic of the genre. If you like giant robots mashed up with Japanese mythology (and why wouldn't you?) Musha Aleste is right up your alley (and shooting glowing shurikens).

We're really hoping for a U.S. release of Legend of Valkyrie, as well. It's a totally great top-down action game in the vein of something like Pocky & Rocky -- with light RPG elements.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Famicom, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

Sky Kid (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points)

Musha Aleste (Mega Drive, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

Crest of Wolf (Riot Zone) (PC Engine, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)

Legend of Valkyrie (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

Akira_EX via nintendowiifanboy.com »