Good news for Konami + PC Engine fans

[Black Tiger]

It looks like Gradius is coming to the North American Virtual Console.

This is a good sign that we may actually get to see some Konami PC Engine titles in the future.

What I've heard now and then over the years, is that TTI couldn't bring over any of Konami's games, because Konami had a strict policy of only importing their titles themselves and had no interest in the Turbo Duo(obviously).

Hopefully having Gradius on VC NES won't hurt the chances of the PC Engine version coming over down the road when all the TG-16 hits are exhausted.

[Dark Fact]

Konami is making a BIG mistake in not choosing to import their Turbo Duo titles to the American Wii.  They're library of titles is amazing and I don't see what they're trying to achieve by passing up this business opportunity to Wii users.

[Keranu]

For awhile I thought you meant they were bringing the PC ENGINE version of Gradius out here  , boy that would've been nice. I guess this is still good news though, but they already brought out Castlevania IV which is Konami, right?

[Dark Fact]

They did, although the Castlevania IV here is the censored version without the crucifixion scene and clothed Venus de Milo statues.

[esteban]

OK, let me get this straight:

1. Konami will release Gradius NES on VC
2. Hopefully this will lead to Konami PCE games on VC

Correct?

I'm shocked that Konami wasn't planning on releasing any NES VC games here in North America!!! That's more shocking than news that they'll release Dracula X here!

[Black Tiger]

I had forgotten about Castlevania IV, since I only briefly browsed the SNES games once.

Regardless of who is actually putting these games out for VC, since Konami titles are now in the mix, hopefully we'll at least see some Konami PCE games for the Japanese VC soon. Once they become readily available and I'm not totally broke ass, I want to buy a Japanese Wii and get the PCE VC games if I can.

Also, someone's recent comment on my Drac X YouTube video made me realize that if SotN does well(as it should) on Xbox Live Arcade, then it would be very logical to assume a PCE Drac X download could(should?) follow.

[GUTS]

I thought somebody said you could go into the options and change your region to asia or Japan and then you could download the Japanese VC games here in the US?

[Black Tiger]

I thought somebody said you could go into the options and change your region to asia or Japan and then you could download the Japanese VC games here in the US?

Lots of people have said all kinds of stuff like that, but it's all b.s.

North American Wii's can only switch between countries from this 'region', which excludes Europe & Japan. So unless Argentina starts getting all the killer apps, country switching desn't do much good other than possibly getting a game in a different language.

What I've been trying to confirm, is whether or not you can hook a Japanese Wii up in North America and then shop the Japan VC store.

[SignOfZeta]

What I've been trying to confirm, is whether or not you can hook a Japanese Wii up in North America and then shop the Japan VC store.

Yeah, you can. I confimed with NCS a few weeks ago. You have to fake a Japanese address (just use Sega's, or something) and I think you might have to buy Japanese Wii points cards since there may be a problem with non-Japanese credit cards, but it's certainly possible. I've known people to do something similar to this with tracks from the Japanese iTunes music store.

With Japanese Wiis still going for $400 US though, I'l probably wait until there is at least a partial region hack for discs. I was actually kind of expecting this to be public already given the usual ease with Nintendo machines can be converted.

[FM-77]

People here in Europe have imported american Wii systems and bought these cards and that has worked just fine.

I don't see the point in paying for this junk though, just download the ROMs off the net, or better yet - buy the original games - they are cheaper.

[GUTS]

Yeah no shit, all that trouble just to download some Japanese games that you could get for free and with better emulation on a computer. 

[Keranu]

One advantage the Virtual Console has over PC emulation so far is being able to play with the wireless remotes. I really enjoyed playing multiplayer Bomberman '93 wirelessly for over two hours straight . Of course this is only a very small advantage and I agree that it's better just to download the ROMs for free on your PC. I'm hoping that they do more with the Virtual Console though, like program some games (specifically light gun games) to use the Wiimote or translate games from Japan. That would make Virtual Console games worth owning, in my opinion.

However you have to admit from a business point of view that this was a great plan by Nintendo as many people have purchased Virtual Console games already, even people who had no plans of doing so like myself. Lets just hope they use this extra money for good things .

[Black Tiger]

In theory, I 'should' sell all my consoles and games and just stick with emulation. Just as theory, I shouldn't own the U.S. and Japanese versions of the same game.

I already own originals of all the Virtual Console Turbo/PCE games available worldwide and pretty much everything that ever will be released. But that's besides the point.

If a work around hasn't been devised by the time that Japanese Wii's become reasonably priced, I'll probably import one and a bunch of points cards.

[Dark Fact]

It would be in Nintendo's best interest to translate and make official some of the games that were released in japan but not over here.  Case in point: Final Fantasy II & III for the NES.  They didn't bother releasing those games on the NES because they wanted to rush the SNES on the market and use Final Fantasy IV to show off the SNES's 16-bit power!

These business politics seriously need to stop and Nintendo needs to start paying attention to what gamers want.  Thanks to the virtual console, the possibility of making the past games available only in japan before accessible over here has just increased.  Now Nintendo seriously needs to get their act together.  Give us the titles we were denied before!

[esteban]

It would be in Nintendo's best interest to translate and make official some of the games that were released in japan but not over here.  Case in point: Final Fantasy II & III for the NES.  They didn't bother releasing those games on the NES because they wanted to rush the SNES on the market and use Final Fantasy IV to show off the SNES's 16-bit power!

These business politics seriously need to stop and Nintendo needs to start paying attention to what gamers want.  Thanks to the virtual console, the possibility of making the past games available only in japan before accessible over here has just increased.  Now Nintendo seriously needs to get their act together.  Give us the titles we were denied before!

I wish this was true, but I don't know if Nintendo (or any publisher) sees a big return on investment if they were to localize text-laden RPGs. In fact, I'm worried that companies (Hudson!) won't even make Japanese shooters available in North America, so don't hold your breath for any game that has more than a handful of words in it .

When the TG-16 library dries up in VC, I'm hoping we'll see some Japanese PCE games released for the Wii. Until then...