Saturday, April 10, 2010

OK, Nintendo, where are your arcade games?

Specifically, where are Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Mario Bros.?

You launched the "Virtual Console Arcade" early last year, and since then you've added just 12 arcade games to the Wii Shop Channel. That would be OK if the three titles above were among them, but they're not. You're planning to add them at some point, right? Right?!?

Don't worry, you're not the only developer that has disappointed in this way. Although Namco has added a few of its arcade titles to the service, only one of them (Mappy) could be considered a classic. Even then, it's no Dig Dug or Galaga or Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man.

And then there's Taito, which, like you, has yet to add a single title to the "Virtual Console Arcade." That's a crying shame, because the folks at Taito are responsible for some of the best quarter munchers of the 70s and 80s--games like Arkanoid, Bubble Bobble, Elevator Action, Rainbow Islands and Space Invaders.

You've done a pretty darn good job of filling out the original "Virtual Console," so I'm confident you'll (eventually) do the same with its arcade-centric counterpart. Just don't wait too long, OK? I've got a bunch of Nintendo Points and they're burning a hole in my pocket.

4 comments:

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Yeah, I sort of feel like they've forgotten it's there. Like, "Hey, here's this cool new thing and...What's that over there?!"

We've got an arcade in town with a lot of the classics! It's nice to pay tribute with a few quarters from time to time.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Unfortunately, Nintendo seems to do this a lot these days -- "Hey, here's this cool new thing and...What's that over there?!" Sigh.

That's great that you have an arcade in town that allows you to indulge in classic games! I'm jealous. I'm guessing there are some good arcades here in Seattle, but I sure don't know about them!

Viewtiful_Justin said...

This one's just a hole in the wall. www.starworldsarcade.com

Bryan Ochalla said...

Aren't all arcades holes in the wall? :) OK, I guess a few aren't, but most of them (in my experience) are.