Here are this week's releases on WiiWare, DSiWare, and Virtual Console!

WiiWare

Jam City Rollergirls
Publisher: Frozen Codebase
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Animated Blood, Comic Mischief, Mild Violence
Price: 1,000 Wii Points
Description: Blast off into the wild world of roller derby. Lace up your skates and join up with real-life roller derby teams the Texecutioners, Dairyland Dolls, Brewcity Bruisers, Rat City Rollergirls and Gotham Girls Roller Derby as they skate hard and hit harder in a battle for flat-track dominance. Create your own custom roller derby skater and level up as you progress through the season, or play as one of the readymade stars of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association. Choose from five tracks and skate forward, backward, by yourself or with a friend. Skaters, refs, fans and gamers will be thrilled by the fast, furious game play.

Furry Legends (demo version)
Publisher: Gamelion
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Comic Mischief, Mild Language
Price: 0 Wii Points; full version available for 1,000 Wii Points
Description: The legend starts here. Play Furry Legends, a dynamic platform adventure with the most fur you've ever seen. Start the crazy adventure and solve fun, physics-based puzzles in a fantastic 3D world called Furland. Furland is a humorous and weird place, populated by funny creatures such as five-eyed crabs, round cows, crazy rabbits and, of course, the lovely Furballs. The player controls fluffy characters with special skills such as the ability to manipulate time, which can influence the physics-driven environment. Save the Furballs from their doom and keep Furland safe from Lord Squarie.

Fish'em All!™ (demo version)
Publisher: Abylight
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Mild Cartoon Violence
Price: 0 Wii Points; full version available for 800 Wii Points
Description: Here's an arcade game with real coin-op flavor. Jack and Walter are two old fishermen in a fantasy world. They have found places where crazy fish leap out of the water all day long - the perfect place for a spot of fishing. It's a shame the other strange creatures aren't going to make things easy. In this surreal action game, you will experience the excitement of the great arcade classics on your Wii console. Hold on tight to your Wii Remote™ controller and fish 'em all. The game features nine colorful scenarios and three game modes. In Arcade mode, catch as many fish as possible within the time limit. In Challenge mode, note how many fish of each color you need to catch. In Fishtris mode, match three or more fish of the same color to make them disappear.

Note: Some demo versions do not support all game features, and players cannot save their in-game progress in demo versions.

Virtual Console

1942
Publisher: Capcom
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Mild Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: This classic, vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up is perhaps Capcom's finest moment of the pre-Street Fighter era. Spawning a million clones and reappearing throughout the history of gaming, 1942's biplane action needs no introduction. The original and best version is now available on the Wii console for the first time.

BLACK TIGER™
Publisher: Capcom
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: Everyone (Everyone) - Fantasy Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: Fight your way through colorful, action-packed levels in this 1987 arcade classic. Explore huge, sprawling levels as a powerful barbarian seeking to defeat menacing bosses. Plus, upgrade your character with one of the first inventory and power-up systems ever built.

Nintendo DSiWare

Airport Mania: Non-Stop Flights
Publisher: Lemon Games
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: Hundreds of airplanes are on their way to your airport. In Airport Mania: Non-Stop Flights, you'll face the challenge of coordinating an endless number of incoming flights for as long as you can. You'll need to care for each plane by bringing it safely to the airport. Send each one to a gate to drop off and pick up passengers, then schedule them for a runway to ensure an on-time departure. Doing all this will maximize both customer satisfaction and your score. Upgrade your airport at any time to make sure you're ready for every color and type of plane. Enjoy frantic time-management action with an airport twist that you won't want to miss.

Rocks N' Rockets
Publisher: TikGames, LLC
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Mild Fantasy Violence
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Are you ready to take the hero's seat in this mesmerizing arcade game? Civilization is threatened by a terrifying, multi-phased meteor attack - thousands of strange meteors are heading toward Earth. Your mission is to protect our cities by controlling a rocket launcher that is built to protect each city. Experience waves of increasingly destructive meteors, innovative power-ups and more than 100 exciting levels.

Digger Dan & Kaboom
Publisher: Virtual Playground
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Digger Dan has always loved digging. That's probably how he got his name, although nobody knows for sure. He also loves gems, and he just happens to have found a ton of them. However, all of the gems are in some pretty nasty caves, so you're going to have to help Dan get them out. Dan has sent Kaboom, his pet gopher, into the caves to find the best place to start, but he hasn't returned. Kaboom has a habit of falling asleep, though, so it looks like Dan is going to have to rescue him too.

Ante Up: Texas Hold'em
Publisher: MonkeyPaw Games
Players: 1-8
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) - Simulated Gambling
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: It's time to let your inner gambler get a turn at the table. While poker has always been a part of Western culture, the ease and accessibility of Texas Hold'em has brought the game to the masses, whether on TV or in casinos. Ante Up: Texas Hold'em makes poker fun portable with realistic mechanics and a compelling story to keep you stimulated and playing for hours. The game is graphically superb, and the players are realistic portrayals of uncanny casino characters. Choices include an undercover vice cop who practices what he patrols and an aspiring actress with a daring streak. You'll find 12 characters in all. Best of all, the game is based on the authenticity of poker and the algorithms that produce a natural falling of the cards. You'll swear you're in Vegas as you face the pressure of making a call or daring a bluff while your money sweats it out on the table.

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@X-pert74

It's really not. Demon's Crest's story is pretty much self-contained, and I found the GB game enjoyable when I rented it back when I was 12, but it was over after a couple of hours, the RPG elements didn't really add to the game and the level design was nowhere near close to Demon's Crest.

I'd probably buy it if it came to the 3DS Virtual Handheld, but in truth its best attribute is that it got me to pay attention to "Gargoyle's Quest 3" (Demon's Crest) when it was announced for the SNES.

Man, I wish I hadn't sold my console and all my games way back when...

Posted by

Pandareus

on: 01/25/11, 02:26

How is Jam City Rollergirls?

--ugh, YES, I'm serious!!

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 01/26/11, 21:29

There's a video on the Nintendo Channel.

Looks clunktastic.

Posted by

Anand

on: 01/26/11, 21:32

Edited:

01/26/11, 21:32

@anandxxx

I just watched a video. It looks like the NASCAR Kart game. I might get it!

--Anand, did you give me Twin Bee or Darius Twin? I can't remember!
(And I haven't played it yet...but soon!)

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 01/26/11, 21:32

TwinBee! For co-op! Play iiiiit!!

Posted by

Anand

on: 01/26/11, 21:37

@anandxxx

Sure thing! ...How is your Ogre Battle run going!?...

Uh-huh....

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 01/26/11, 21:45

Furry Legends demo impressions!

Man, there is no excuse for this game to look as bad as it does. Wiiware saw LostWinds at its launch, fer crossaches!

The platforming is nice enough, but the whole game is ruined by the most imprecise motion controls I have ever been subjected to. I guess if "Vol. 2" improves a lot on the first one, I could consider a purchase, but I doubt one is coming, and my standards aren't low enough to consider buying vol. 1. Sucks for Gamelion, I guess.

Fish'em All! demo impressions!

Looks a lot nicer than Furry Legends, surprisingly!

The concept is just fine for an arcade-type game: move your guy around, cash the fish in your net trying to maximize your score while avoiding hazards. Sadly, the whole game is ruined by the most imprecise motion controls I have ever been subjected to.



No Rollergirls impressions for you, Mr_Mustache, I'm afraid.

Posted by

Pandareus

on: 01/28/11, 06:42

You owe it to him to buy Rollergirls, Pandareus.


You owe it to all of us.

Posted by

Anand

on: 01/28/11, 07:02

@Mr_Mustache
@anandxxx

Just for you, Mustache, and also because I owe it to everyone here apparently...

...I downloaded Jam City Rollergirls.

Also, the friend who introduced me to roller derby was here all week and I thought it could be fun/funny to play this with him.

But as it turns out, it wasn't, really, because despite being the one who brought me to 1-2 bouts of this sport, he didn't really remember the rules, and was all confused even after doing the tutorial. It also didn't help that we had the choice of playing either this game (in which I kept kicking his ass) or NHL Slapshot (in which I had no chance against him).

So yeah, the initial impressions weren't too good, it seemed to play like a weird Mario Kart with poor controls and tiny tracks that you went around in for 10 minutes.

But I started a single player season tonight and played on all of the venues (there's 6 of them), I chose the hardest difficulty because a review I read said he hasn't lost a single match save his first one on normal, and it is pretty fun, I have to admit. Certainly more fun than it looks.

Maybe I'll post more in-depth impressions in a review.
Then again, maybe I won't.

Posted by

Pandareus

on: 02/13/11, 07:10

Edited:

02/13/11, 07:14

@Pandareus

Huh. Maybe I will get it.

You just pass people for points..right? Or is it different?
Did you have to make a chick Pandareus?

I've already worn pigtails / pigtailed braids / very tight/short clothes in public, so its no biggie, haha.
Oh, wrestling..

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 02/15/11, 23:23

@Mr_Mustache

Haha, yeah, but you're a big manly man that no one would dare make fun of (except perhaps bigger, manlier men).

Yeah, I'll play some more before I actually recommend it, but it's definitely better than expected. I found myself thinking "You know, if this came out as a retail game in a more polished form, I'd consider buying it". It's like the second sports game after NHL Slapshot that I considered buying this year, it's so weird. I don't know what's happening to me. I blame you for this.

You do pass people for points. It's the actual roller derby rules: you've got a "pack" and one "jammer" in each team. The first jammer who passes the pack becomes the "lead jammer" and has the advantage of being able to call off the jam before the 2 minute limit. And both jammers score a point for each member of the opposing team that they pass.

This game follows these exact same rules, but it also throws in some Mario Kart-like power-ups, wacky obstacles, and shortcuts. It's fun.

I'm playing on Hard and each victory is a struggle.

As for your character, yeah you have to be a woman, of course. And you don't get to customize her body type or anything, from what I've seen. But you can buy a bunch of accessories, a lot of which change your stats, so that's good.

Posted by

Pandareus

on: 02/15/11, 23:38

@Pandareus

How about numbers? Do you get to pick your own? I want to get #24 with a nice butt. You know..like me!

--Haha, I'M a big manly man? Do people think I look like a lumberjack?
I'm probably skinnier than Jesus. Well, except for my spare tire.. :(

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 02/15/11, 23:47

The numbers are weird. First, they can affect your stats. Second, you've got less chance of being able to select the number 24 than random numbers like 3000, the square root of 52, 666 or 0.4871.

Forget what I said about the manliness. I haven't actually seen you, I just assumed from the fact that you wrestled.

Posted by

Pandareus

on: 02/15/11, 23:51

Edited:

02/15/11, 23:52

@Pandareus

Hmm. That IS weird. Numbers..that affect stats...

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 02/16/11, 00:06