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NintendoWare Weekly: Let's Catch some Towering Toast

by JC Fletcher { Jun 15th 2009 at 10:15AM }

It's an uncharacteristically packed week for WiiWare. Three games are out at once, and we've actually heard of all three. We feel like we're living in Japan! Nintendo didn't skimp on the Virtual Console either, with a new, exciting Virtual Console Arcade title -- well, new in the Virtual Console sense. It's still old.

DSiWare also gets ... well, it's another set of clock and calculator apps. But they're exceptionally cute apps with Mario in them! That's still kind of worthwhile in our opinion. Maybe we just like making Mario coin sounds a little too much. Check after the break for the list of new downloads!

Gallery: Eduardo the Samurai Toaster

Continued →

Taitoverload: Space Invaders Extreme 2, four more announced for North American DS and WiiWare

by JC Fletcher { May 27th 2009 at 12:15PM }

Square Enix just sent out what may be the biggest news of the year for Taito lovers, confirming North American releases for two anticipated DS games and three more WiiWare games (in addition to Bubble Bobble Plus!, which launched this week).

Most exciting of all: Space Invaders Extreme 2 is on the way to the DS this fall. We aren't all going to have to import European copies! Space Bust-a-Move will precede it in stores, releasing on July 28.

In WiiWare, we can look forward to all the Taito games we've seen in Japan so far. Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! will be available for download on June 15. Bust-a-Move Plus!, which features 135 new levels and 270 levels from previous Bust-a-Moves as DLC, is expected later this summer, as is Arkanoid Plus!

We're looking forward to an all-Taito summer as we await the release of Space Invaders Extreme 2!

Gallery: Space Invaders Extreme 2 (DS)

Gallery: Puzzle Bobble Galaxy (DS)

VC Friday: Travel from Rainbow Islands to Fantasy Zone

by JC Fletcher { May 8th 2009 at 11:45AM }

If we really stretch, we can see a bit of a theme in this week's PAL downloadable releases. Both Fantasy Zone II and Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure are classic franchises known for being super-cute and brightly colored, and both titles feature locations (Islands, Zone) described by very cheery, but intangible, visions (rainbows, fantasies). We said it was a stretch. Okay, here's another, less tenuous connection: both series are totally great.

There's also one of those Master of Illusion/Magic Made Fun tricks this week.

Fantasy Zone II (Sega Master System, 1player, 500 Wii Points)
Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! (WiiWare, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
A Little Bit of ... Magic Made Fun: Deep Psyche (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points)

Gallery: Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! (Wii)

VC/WiiWare Tuesday: Rainbow Islands!

by JC Fletcher { Mar 3rd 2009 at 10:00AM }

Wow! Just a few weeks after the release of Bubble Bobble Wii, Taito just sneaked out a WiiWare version of its sequel, Rainbow Islands! As with Bubble Bobble, we knew that it was coming at some point, but we had yet to see any screens or gameplay information. Now it's out, and it appears to feature timed ascents up huge, vertical stages. Also out this week: a WiiWare version of The Game of Life.

Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure (1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
Madsecta (Onslaught) (1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points)
Jinsei Game (1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points)

In other Taito news, today marks the release of the second version of Space Invaders: The Original Game on the Japanese Virtual Console. This time, the PC Engine version of the ancient shooter is being released -- at exactly the same cost as the Super Famicom/SNES version, making the decision between the two basically a matter of platform preference. Unless silly anime-girl backgrounds make a big difference, in which case it's PC Engine all the way.

Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II (Mega Drive, 1 player, 700 Wii Points)
Space Invaders: The Original Game (PC Engine, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)

Gallery: Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! (Wii)

[Screens via Inside-Games]

Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, and tons more Japanese WiiWare announced

by JC Fletcher { Oct 6th 2008 at 9:00AM }

We're still finding new information to come out of Nintendo's fall conferences, both in the US and Japan. Those things were rich with info. We basically completely missed the WiiWare announcements, which are every bit as epic and exciting -- and numerous -- as the retail games.

At the top of the list (actually the middle of the list in terms of organization but right up at the top in terms of interest): Bubble Bobble Wii and Rainbow Island Tower! If these are actually developed by Taito instead of the third parties responsible for the DS games, it is time for celebration!

Other interesting games on the list include:

a revival of Tecmo's Tsuppari Oozumo sumo series!
A game from NIS called Let's Hitchhike, which ... couldn't possibly be a strategy RPG. Right?
Three new Okiraku games, following the great Okiraku Ping-Pong
A drum-based followup to Aero Guitar

The rest, we either don't know anything about, or don't know enough to talk about in detail. Or, is Major League Eating. We'll look into it all as information becomes available. There's ... kind of a long list of games after the break.

Continued →

Worldwide PSP releases for the week of Jan. 20

by Chris Powell { Jan 20th 2008 at 6:00PM }

After a few weeks without nary a release in any region, we're back to seeing the normal flow of games. While Rainbow Islands Evolution may not be the big-name release that some of you have hoped for, we're sure a few people out there have been anticipating its release.

North America Games

Rainbow Islands Evolution

Europe Games

No new releases

Asia Games

If importing is in your nature, you might want to check out Yggdra Union, which is a remake of the GBA version released in 2006. It's a tactical RPG, so if you've already beaten Jeanne d'Arc and Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, this could be right up your alley.

New Bubble Bobble sequel coming to PSP

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 11th 2007 at 9:45AM }

The title doesn't really flaunt its Bubble Bobble heritage, but Rainbow Islands Evolution is yet another addition to the Bubble Bobble franchise. Taito is working on a PSP revival of the long-forgotten Rainbow Islands, which originally released in the arcades in 1987. The new puzzler feature Bub and Bob "under the shadow of an evil record company who is polluting the ecosystem with a constant, mass-produced musical dirge." Does that sound like a political statement to you? According to the press release, "the strict vertical ascents of the original have been expanded and extrapolated into three dimensions, with each level's building-block platforms now following perspective and disappearing into the distance." Once we get video and screenshots of the game, we're sure that'll make a lot more sense.