Japanese Virtual Console list - May 2008

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Posted Fri, 25 Apr 2008 - By Marcel Van Duyn

Ganbare Goemon 2 - Konami, could we have it, pretty please?

Ganbare Goemon 2 - Konami, could we have it, pretty please?

Although a number of arguably "big" things are coming to Japan this month, none of them are true shockers. Konami will be bringing out the big guns with Ganbare Goemon 2, the second SNES Goemon game. This one was never released outside Japan, despite arguably being one of the best games in the series, so we hope this becomes an import title!

Shooter fans will be happy that Axelay, Gynoug, Super Fantasy Zone and Star Parodier are coming out, and Japan gets another new system this month, as announced two months ago: The MSX.

Japan's full list for May is as follows:

Famicom:

Super Famicom:

  • Axelay
  • Ganbare Goemon 2
  • Front Mission Gun Hazard

Nintendo 64:

  • Nothing this month!

Master System:

Mega Drive:

PC Engine:

Neo Geo:

MSX:

  • Eggy
  • Aleste

Posted in Japanese releases.

Have your say about this story

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1. Bass X0 United Kingdom 25 Apr 2008, 13:22 GMT

I hope the NeoGeo games come to America and Europe quickly. Not that I'd buy any of them, I just want to see more games on the NeoGeo.

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2. Charco Ireland 25 Apr 2008, 13:30 GMT

I agree, it's good to see more Neo Geo games as it makes the release of the newer versions ever closer. What's next Fatal Fury Special? Also, I'd love to know how well received Rondo of Blood was last month over in the Land of the Rising Sun.

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3. Lugia2 United States 25 Apr 2008, 13:44 GMT

I got Goemon 4, but...

If they bring 2 here, it BETTER be translated. It's basically a Zelda game, which means great action and lots of dialogue. TRANSLATE IT!

Front Mission looks good. I hope Star Parodier leads to the release of the Parodius games!

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4. Shiryu Portugal 25 Apr 2008, 14:01 GMT

i hope of seeing Axelay in europe has been fading for as long as I recall.

Im quite surprised to see Front Mission: Gun hazard, the "spiritual" sequel to Assuatl Suits Valken/ Cybernator up there (Made by most of the same team, even if under Squaresoft supervision). It was sadly never released outside of Japan and even tough its very much like its Valken counterpart, it is much huge and dialogue heavy so I doubt we will see ever see it over here...

Guess No Front mission 1 for anyone... the recent DS remake must have shut down hopes of that... too bad, those are really awesome games. Wich reminds me, Militia never arrived in Euro VC either, but it has bene out for months in the US...

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5. MrLopez Netherlands 25 Apr 2008, 14:26 GMT

Fatal fury 2!
I hope we get Mystical Ninja 2!

6. Jay 25 Apr 2008, 14:31 GMT

Gynoug is superb. I really hope we get MSX support here in the UK - I'd buy Athletic Land and Ping Pong in a second.

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7. slangman United Kingdom 25 Apr 2008, 15:15 GMT

Heres hoping the release of Axelay in Japan will mean us europeans get a chance to download it soon (its long overdue)

More NEO GEO games would be cool since we never any got update for a long time.

8. Rapadash6 United States 25 Apr 2008, 15:38 GMT

Hmm, nothing Earth shattering but a decent selection of titles anyway. Another Square game is always a welcome addition and shows they are some what supporting the service. No N64 game in Japan means there likely won't be one anywhere else either, which is unfortunate. I still wish Nintendo of America and Europe would put up monthly lists like this.

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9. Angelic Lapras King United Kingdom 25 Apr 2008, 15:48 GMT

I think an N64 game outside Japan is likely, since Euroland didnt get one in the month of April.

10. eltomo United Kingdom 25 Apr 2008, 16:13 GMT

Goemon! Yes Please!! and the n64 version too =)

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11. WarioFan63 United States 25 Apr 2008, 16:14 GMT

Another Square...Oho! I didnt even think of that when I saw Front Mission! Kinda hoping they would put Rad Racer and 3-D World Runner up there before some of these bigger titles but this is good news anyway.

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12. Stuffgamer1 United States 25 Apr 2008, 16:32 GMT

I hope they translate and import Goemon (the game just plain wouldn't be playable in Japanese, and not translating imports in general is just plain stupid!). I'm playing Goemon's Great Adventure for N64 right now (best game in series...at least that was released in the U.S.), and I have both the SNES and other N64 games (SNES on VC, of course). I've tried the Game Boy one, but it didn't seem so good at the time. I might like it more now, though, although I'd have to find a copy... Sorry, just showing my love of the series. If you haven't already, you should definitely download Legend of the Mystical Ninja. Might help the odds of more getting released over here.
More Squenix support of any kind is encouraging, even if this one won't be released over here. Keep at it, Squenix! You know we want it!

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13. ChocoDK Canada 25 Apr 2008, 18:29 GMT

Nothing interesting in there. Oh wells and the N64 is being ignored the poor soul.

14. toffeeman30 United Kingdom 25 Apr 2008, 19:34 GMT

goeman 2! didnt know it existed. love the mystical ninga games! hope n64 game comes out as well. better than legend of the mystical ninga on snes? is it possible?

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15. Bass X0 United Kingdom 25 Apr 2008, 20:32 GMT

There are four Goemon games on the Super Famicom. And unless you like starting at the beginning every time you want to play Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, then I doubt it would ever appear until Nintendo get their memory pak functionality sorted for virtual console.

16. Jupiter Adept Canada 25 Apr 2008, 20:37 GMT

Meh, the only one I want is Alex Kidd.

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17. hansolo350 Canada 25 Apr 2008, 20:40 GMT

Cruis'n USA uses the memory pak just fine.

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18. Stuffgamer1 United States 25 Apr 2008, 21:24 GMT

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but didn't Pokemon Snap have controller pack functionality on the N64? If so, it didn't seem to stop it from releasing on VC, so that wouldn't be a good excuse for not giving us Goemon. Why did Goemon need a controller pack in the first place? Wouldn't a save file on the game have been easier? I very much doubt they had a good reason for doing it the way they did.

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19. That Guy from Faxanadu Sweden 25 Apr 2008, 21:32 GMT

I own Ganbare Goemon 2 but it won´t work =( I hope for Neo Geo titles to come here too. Especially Fatal Fury 2.

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20. hansolo350 Canada 25 Apr 2008, 22:09 GMT

Pokemon Snap never used the memory pak. There were a lot of third party games that used the pak to save because they were too cheap to add normal saving or just too lazy.

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21. Tony United States 25 Apr 2008, 23:13 GMT

I am ready for Super Fantasy Zone. I like the Master System version

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22. Outrunner United Kingdom 26 Apr 2008, 10:30 GMT

Is there any hope that Rocket Knight Adventures will be seen any time soon?

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23. RoninDennis Netherlands 26 Apr 2008, 14:33 GMT

@Outrunner:, Well, I hope it does! ;-)
Goemon 2 is perfectly playable without translated dialogue, I've finished it maybe 20 times since its release. It's a shame you won't get the witticisms, but then it shouldn't keep you from playing a great, great 2P game. It got a double release with Goemon 1 on GBA and it's in Konami's Best Buy series, so you can pick it up for scratch!

24. toffeeman30 United Kingdom 26 Apr 2008, 17:20 GMT

hey mate, is it like the game on vc? is it better than the 1st game?

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25. MasterMario United States 26 Apr 2008, 17:40 GMT

How do you guys know that Ganbare Goemon 2 is a great game if it never came out outside of Japan?

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26. E-dawg Australia 27 Apr 2008, 04:33 GMT

Why do Nintendo keep ignoring the Nintendo 64 (arguably their best console)?

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27. Smoke39 United States 27 Apr 2008, 21:08 GMT

@MasterMario: Importing. :b

Ganbare Goemon 2 is excellent. It's a pretty straightforward platformer, so it doesn't really HAVE to be translated, like RoninDennis pointed out. Here's hoping they bring it to the rest of the world.

As for Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon requiring the control pak to save, isn't the suspend play feature an adequate substitute for control pak emulation?

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28. Drake Netherlands 28 Apr 2008, 11:43 GMT

Ganbare Goemon 2 pretty much only consists of the 2D sections from Legend of the Mystical Ninja. There's a few town sections, but these aren't as complicated as some of those in the first game (I believe you need to buy a pass in one of them, and that's all). You can also play as Ebisumaru and Sasuke (A new character), who both have different abilities from Goemon. It's also the game that introduces Impact.

Here's a video of the first world: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CSXeFes5XoQ

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29. Stuffgamer1 United States 29 Apr 2008, 19:18 GMT

Good old Sasuke (pictured in Smoke39's avatar, in case you didn't know). What was the first Goemon game to feature Yae? And did Konami ever state a reason for releasing so few games in the series in America (and for changing Goemon's and Ebisumaru's names in the SNES release)? Just seems stupid to me, seeing as they're such great games.

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30. Stuffgamer1 United States 29 Apr 2008, 19:19 GMT

Good old Sasuke (pictured in Smoke39's avatar, in case you didn't know). What was the first Goemon game to feature Yae? And did Konami ever state a reason for releasing so few games in the series in America (and for changing Goemon's and Ebisumaru's names in the SNES release)? Just seems stupid to me, seeing as they're such great games.

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31. Smoke39 United States 29 Apr 2008, 20:46 GMT

Yae was in Ganbare Goemon 3. The reasoning behind "Kid Yang" and "Dr. Ying" was probably that "Goemon" and "Ebisumaru" are pretty weird names to westerners. At least the N64 games made it mostly in tact. And I would guess that so few games have been released outside of Japan because they're so quirky and Japanese that they don't expect the games to appeal to many westerners. ):

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32. Stuffgamer1 United States 01 May 2008, 18:58 GMT

Yeah, and "Kid Yang" and "Dr. Ying" aren't weird at all (I kid, of course)! Your reason for lack of release made sense at the time, but given the popularity of games like Katamari Damacy, I'd say that rule no longer flows. Konami should give the series another go. I bet it'd do well.
Does anybody know how well Legend of the Mystical Ninja has done on VC so far? That would likely effect whether the series was revived or not.

33. toffeeman30 United Kingdom 01 May 2008, 19:01 GMT

THE N64 GAME WAS GOOD. WELL DIFFERENT AS I ONLY PLAYED THE VC GAME OUT. PLAYING AS A GIANT KID YANG WAS WELL GOOD!

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