According to a comment by Drake on the Virtual Console Review Site, they have been informed that Hudson is going to focus entirely on WiiWare and no longer will support VC.
I’m not surprised by this since what else does Hudson have to release for the Virtual Console? All their Soldier Blade titles are out. All their Bonk titles are out. Y’s I and II are out as are Lords of Thunder and other CD games. The poorer Hudson games from the TG 16 are out. Even Lode Runner is out. (Rondo of Blood is a Konami game, not a Hudson one.) What else could Hudson put out? (And I am not counting stuff like Hudson’s ‘Mario Brothers Special’ which isn’t that good anyway.)
Binary Land– This is an early NES era game. It was a sort of puzzle like game somewhat similiar to Lolo. There are two penguins and whatever you did controlled both at the same time. If you pressed up, they both went up. If you pressed left, they both went left. The puzzle was to get both of them at the same door at the same time. It is pretty fun.
Raid on Bungling Bay– Will Wright’s classic computer game was published on the NES by Hudson. I suppose now it will never appear on the Virtual Console.
Faxanadu
Aww man, will we not get our Faxanadu? This is a NES classic. The game is somewhat similiar to Zelda II but entirely in the side view style. Hudson is the developer and publisher.
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
This adventure/RPGish type game was quite unique on the NES. Hudson was both the developer and publisher. I suppose we will never see it now.
Xexyz
This NES game is a multi-genre combining the gameplay of Super Mario Brothers and Gradius. You play as Apollo, the Sun God. Check out the screenshots. The game looks pretty good for NES. A shame we will never discover this title. Multi-genre games are always my favorite.
Adventure Island 4
The Adventure Island games are always fun. I really liked the one with the dinosaurs (Adventure Island III I think). But Adventure Island 4, which drops the platforming for adventure more like Wonder Boy series or Metroid, never was released outside Japan. It is a shame this game will never reach us or the other Adventure Island games (I really did like the dinosaurs!).
Mario Party– Hudson is absolutely stupid not to release the N64 Mario Party games on the VC considering how many kids are on the Wii. Since it uses Nintendo IP, Hudson may not have control over publishing it. If that is the case, then Nintendo is stupid not to have published these games. Nintendo 64 library is already thin on the VC. No excuse not to put these out.
Super Bomberman 2
I’ve been waiting for this SNES game for a long time. Some say it is the best Bomberman. Hudson did release Bomberman ’93 did they not? (And where is our Bomberman ’94?) I suppose with Bomberman on the Wiiware, Hudson doesn’t feel previous Bomberman games are relevant anymore. That is a crying shame. Aside from the simpler, less flashy, multiplayer modes, I did enjoy the single player.
Conclusion
Hudson has made a very strong, no, spectacular, showing on the VC and has supported it better than any other company out there (including Nintendo). Hudson actually went out of its way to bring over Japanese titles and CD titles which people did not think possible at the start of the VC service.
I’m only really stung by the lack of Adventure Islands, Faxanadu, and previous Bomberman games. I was looking forward to such games!
However, Hudson has been a spectacular supporter of WiiWare as well. Look at the titles they have made so far:
-Alien Crush Returns
-Bomberman Blast
-My Aquarium
-Tetris Party
-Star Soldier R
-Pit Crew
-Pool Revolution
Some stinkers in there but some good stuff. Hopefully Hudson will make us a WiiWare platformer (which everyone desperately wants) such as a new Adventure Island or a new Bonk game.
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