Virtual Console Mondays: 2/11/08

SNES: Harvest Moon, 800 Wii Points

The original farming sim hits the Virtual Console. You’ve inherited your late grandfather’s farm, a rather desolate one at that, and you’re going to have to improve it and your life if you want to do well in this game. Prepare the fields, plant some crops, raise livestock, expand your house, woo some lady friends, and even have kids. After two and a half years (around 300 game days), your game will end and you’ll be evaluated based on how well you did in life.

TurboGrafx-16 CD-ROM: Lords of Thunder, 800 Wii Points

This side-scrolling shooter for the Turbo CD pegs itself as an incredibly intense experience. As Landis, you set out to defeat your enemies before they revive the Dark One, Zaggart. As you battle across six continents, represented by six stages, you’ll pick your magical armor and buy items using the crystals you collect. You’ll also be listening to heavy metal music as you blast away at legions of enemies.

I’ve never tried Harvest Moon myself, so I’m not sure how good it is, but it does a good job of appealing to a certain part of the female demographic. As for Lords of Thunder, I wish I could try it before I bought it. But I can’t.

Last week’s update: 2/4/08

NES: Operation Wolf, 500 Wii Points

In this game, it’s your job as a member of Operation Wolf to infiltrate a base of enemy terrorists and rescue the five hostages they are holding. Each of the six stages has a slightly different objective, though it’s safe to say you’re shooting the bad guys and saving the hostages/civilians. This game features voiceovers and a progressive storyline, as well as multiple endings based on how many hostages you successfully save. While this game is an on-rails arcade-style shooter, there is unfortunately no Wii Remote pointer functionality.

Genesis: Columns III: Revenge of Columns, 800 Wii Points

This third iteration of the Columns puzzler has identical core gameplay (drop colored jewels, try to line up three of the same color) to the other two, the first of which is available on the Virtual Console already. There are a couple notable differences in this iteration, however, one of the major ones being that the one-player mode now forces you to play against an opponent each time. Multiplayer for up to five players is available as well; you can have a melee between two and five players,  or two players can team up against one.

Columns III seems annoyingly similar to Kirby’s Avalanche and the like, though Operation Wolf intrigues me.