Nintendo has announced release dates and prices for next month's round of Virtual Console games, including the launch of the Game Boy Advance on the Wii U.

Nintendo of America said:

April 3:
Advance Wars (Wii U, $7.99): Command air, ground and naval forces in strategic turn-based battles to drive back the vibrant armies of several scheming generals. Order troops carefully, then watch as tanks obliterate enemies and jets go head-to-head in midair dogfights. Can you fend off an army of elite strategists? It’s your move.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (Wii U, $7.99): Leap and level up as Mario and Luigi simultaneously in their first role-playing adventure as a team of Bros. When an evil witch replaces Princess Peach’s voice with explosives, the Bros. must venture beyond the Mushroom Kingdom to save her. Control each bro separately or together, then team up to unleash Bros. Attacks on Fawful’s fan-favorite face.
Metroid Fusion (Wii U, $7.99): Your mission: Eradicate the X parasites and the mutants they infect. Power up with the Fusion Suit to annihilate your enemies in this action-packed side-scroller set on an isolated research station. Along the way, you’ll find game-changing items like the Space Jump as you lose yourself in the blissful solitude of this eerily engrossing adventure.

April 10:
Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (Wii U, $6.99): When the going gets tough, Kirby gets cloning. Call in colorful clone reinforcements to aid Kirby in blasting, bashing and smashing his foes. With a new menace at his side, Dark Meta Knight is corrupting the sprawling, mazelike Mirror Kingdom. Join the famous pink puffball on an adventure to save the land in this classic platformer.
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (Wii U, $6.99): Get ready for video games done Wario-style. In the game that started the WarioWare, Inc. empire, Wario has a plan to get rich quick. Skate, jump, scare and shoot your way through more than 200 frantic, rapid-fire microgames of every type, from retro classics to sports games to sci-fi shooters that anyone can pick up and play.

April 17
Super Mario Bros. 3 (Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, $4.99): Jump, swim and fly through one of the greatest and most beloved Super Mario Bros. games of all time. In this timeless NES classic, you’ll battle through over 70 baddie-infested courses and face off against the infamous Koopalings. Bowser and the Koopalings are causing chaos yet again, but this time, they’re going beyond the Mushroom Kingdom and into seven neighboring worlds. Lucky for the brothers, they have more power-ups than ever before. Fly above the action with the Super Leaf, swim faster as Frog Mario or turn into stone and drop onto enemies as Tanooki Mario. You can even choose your path on the map to reach the end of the World. There, you’ll have to pass massive Airships filled with cannons and fire traps to reach a showdown with one of the Koopalings.
F-Zero: Maximum Velocity (Wii U, $6.99): Get your adrenaline pumping and race plasma-powered machines till your knuckles turn white. Boost down some of the most dangerous tracks in the universe and strive for victory at all costs, even if it means ramming your opponents off the road. Revel in your accomplishments and climb the Grand Prix standings to unlock tracks and vehicles.
Golden Sun (Wii U, $7.99): Marvel at your own awesome power while protecting the world as it crumbles around you. Wield mighty weapons and use your mind to bend reality with magical Psynergy in the premiere installment of this epic RPG series. To aid you on your quest, seek out the omnipotent creatures known as Djinn – but beware: You must defeat them to harness their power.

April 24
Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (Wii U, $7.99): Yoshi is back, baby, and he’s ready to romp through a crayon-colored world where enemies are everywhere. Prepare to flutter jump and toss eggs to protect young Mario from the evil Magikoopa, Kamek. To save the day, Yoshi and his pals will have to morph into vehicles and even EAT their enemies to turn them into eggs. Umm … yum?

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@r_hjort Ah, I see. It's okay, no problem, I get terms like these mixed up sometimes also. It can be pretty confusing.

Thinking about it some more, though, since the Game Boy Player is trying to match the GBA to an SD screen, then it will no longer be an even upscale on an HDTV since 480p doesn't scale evenly to 1080p. So, the original resolution option on the Wii U will be a better conversion than using the Game Boy Player on an HDTV. That said, the problem isn't about the image being blurry, it's plenty crisp. The problem is that the pixels are freakin' huge. It might actually help if it were blurry, as that might reduce some of the jagged edges that are super-noticeable. The "soft" setting of the GBPlayer's filter helped with this, though turning down the sharpness on the TV can do the same thing.

The games will probably look a lot better on the GamePad than on the TV.

Posted by

Mop it up

on: 04/02/14, 22:57

@PogueSquadron

Weird, I enjoyed them so, so much. That little glint someone would get in their eye and you'd like that OH MAN, HERE COMES A HUGE ATTACK like a second later..

@nate38
@PogueSquadron

..and THIS is just lost on me. For a second, I can't even tell whats going on. "Is he throwing a shield in the air, or is that a huge sword? Oh, its a shield..wait..where did his sword go? There it is --where was it??" I don't like it.

@PogueSquadron
@GameDadGrant

Holy crap those were AWESOME. I don't even know if I used all of those. Calill's Lightning one, I definitely don't remember (though I was EXTREMELY conservative in those games, gotta save everything!!). There were some spells that required you to be an S-Proficiency which you could only have reached if you worked on them in Path of Radiance, too.. (But I guess this WAS Path of Radiance... Maybe I just didn't use those guys too much? Tormod definitely didn't get a lot of play.) In any event, I thoroughly enjoyed all of those, and I have no idea how anyone else wouldn't. I mean, people like Final Fantasy spells, and the characters aren't even moving for those.

@r_hjort
@ludist210

Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks, dudes.

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 04/03/14, 00:24

Sorry man I just don't see it. The models in PoR just look super lifeless to me. They hardly even move. They look like action figures or something, like animations I'd expect out of an N64 game. Compared to Awakening they just look so dead (though in their defense, they do have visible feet).

I also don't really see what's hard to see? He throws up his shield, hits the guy, and then catches the shield as it comes back down to him.

I particularly like all the squash and stretch stuff they do with the GBA games. The Peg Knights in particular look awesome.

Posted by

PogueSquadron

on: 04/03/14, 01:31

@PogueSquadron

Did you look at anyone not casting Magic? Check out Titania. What a BEAST.

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 04/03/14, 01:36

@Mr_Mustache

Yeah, sorry bro. I'm with @PogueSquadron on this one. The spells in the console games look cool, I guess? I mean, I can barely see what's going on, the screen is just completely blocked out by light or fire, so there's no clue about what's happening. But what really kills it are the character animations. Or lack thereof. They are so utterly dull and stiff and just...boring in comparison to the GBA sprites, it really takes away from any of the potential "whizz-bang" the fire and lightning spells show off in the Radiance games.

Not to mention...those scenes last way too long for an SRPG. Those drag on foreverrrrrrrrrr...... *sigh*

Had to switch off animations for the GCN game. Doing that increased my enjoyment of the game ten-fold. But hey, if you prefer those console animations, then...I mean, I dunno what to say.

Posted by

GameDadGrant

on: 04/03/14, 16:37

Edited:

04/03/14, 16:39

@GameDadGrant

It's just a matter of preference. I played the GCN game first, so I prefer the way consoles handled the battle animations. The GB games looked too cartoony to me, but I still appreciated them.

Can we all agree that Awakening (sans feet) had the best animation to date? I think that's a fair compromise.

Posted by

ludist210

on: 04/03/14, 19:23

@GameDadGrant

Yeah, no movement whatsoever..



I don't know what you guys are looking at.



@ludist210

Haven't played it, but they built on what the console games did, right?



EDIT- YouTube stuff:


Top Comment:
HyruleMetalhead
2 months ago

Damn! The attack animations on this game are BADAZZ!! I kinda wish Awakening was bit like this one.


*shrug*

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 04/04/14, 00:39

Edited:

04/04/14, 00:57

We'll have to disagree on this one. I think Mia looks really robotic there and doesn't have a whole lot of life to her. The characters in these games just don't look like they're breathing at all or something. In any other game, they'd be bobbing up and down or look a little more braced for battle, or in some more exaggerated poses. I feel like the animation in this game looks like it's out of an N64 game or something. But even in something like, I dunno, FF7, the characters bob up and down. It just seems weird seeing cartoons when they don't do that.

Posted by

PogueSquadron

on: 04/05/14, 06:40

Edited:

04/07/14, 02:03

I picked up all three GBA VC games yesterday. I'm quite impressed with the emulation. I think I'll end up with most of the ones Nintendo decides to release.

I know it's not a VC game but I can't wait for NES Remix 2!

Posted by

OrbitalBeard

on: 04/05/14, 09:58

@OrbitalBeard

If I hadn't read that M2 worked on the emulation I would've been surprised at the quality. The different presentational options are very nice.

Posted by

gojira

on: 04/05/14, 18:41

Yeah, M2 rocks! I hope Nintendo uses them for more VC content in the future.

Posted by

OrbitalBeard

on: 04/05/14, 23:01

@Mr_Mustache



Top Comments:

WhiteLycanXII
3 Years Ago

"*wishes newest FE games woulda stayed in sprite format*

*shrugs*

Posted by

GameDadGrant

on: 04/06/14, 01:46

@Mr_Mustache

Mia holds her breath when she fights.

@GameDadGrant

...thats Pogue's account.

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 04/06/14, 02:10

@Mr_Mustache

LOL!

I guess...can we maybe just agree that Nintendo makes great-looking (and great animated) games for all their systems? Even if they appeal to different groups? And we each have our preferences. Win/win for everyone!

And even though I'm personally not a fan of the animation in those games, I really dug the games themselves. Path of Radiance was a really fun experience, and I'm glad I played it. I liked what I played of Radiant Dawn, but I still have yet to finish it.

I should fix that soon, actually...

Posted by

GameDadGrant

on: 04/06/14, 03:02

@PogueSquadron
One of the big reasons Intelligent Systems skipped a generation before bringing Fire Emblem into 3D was that they were having trouble training their staff, who were specialized in 2D, in 3D animations and protocols.

It's one of those "happy accidents" that landed the Paper Mario series at our doorstep. They had to do SOMETHING for the N64, so they compromised by contrasting 2D sprites on a comparatively dull 3D landscape.

The alternative was doing an all-2D game like the fantastic Ogre Battle 64, but I guess they really wanted to get some 3D over none.

Posted by

Dark Weres

on: 04/08/14, 01:54

Edited:

04/08/14, 01:55

Dark Weres said:

fantastic Ogre Battle 64.

Youuuu said it.

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 04/08/14, 02:24

I just saw Klonoa: Empire of Dreams came out on GBA VC in Europe this week. Awesome game, definitely recommended for anyone who hasn't played it.

Posted by

Jargon

on: 05/19/14, 16:17

@Jargon

Is that it's own title in the series or is it a port?

Posted by

ludist210

on: 05/19/14, 16:52

@ludist210

Not a port.

Posted by

GameDadGrant

on: 05/19/14, 17:03

@GameDadGrant

Interesting. I enjoyed Door to Phantomile on Wii, so I'd likely plunk down a few dollars to experience this one.

Posted by

ludist210

on: 05/19/14, 17:10