We're counting down to the Wii's launch with a daily look at what retro games we'd like to see on the Virtual Console. Each also features a Virtual Console Likelihood rating. A rating of 5 means the game has officially been announced for the service. Click here for an archive of previous days, or keep on reading below!
Released: June 1992
Developer: Irem
Console: SNES
Players: 1
Save: none
Virtual Console Likelihood: 1 / 5
There are many people who have not heard of, let alone played Rocky Rodent, which is why I'd like to see this game on Virtual Console. The developer, Irem, has recently been making games for the PS2 and PS3 in Japan. Their best known franchise outside of Japan is R-Type. The odds of them supporting Nintendo in this new generation are slim, so allowing more people to play Rocky Rodent is a long shot.
Rocky Rodent was, at its core, an attempt to cash in on Sonic The Hedgehog's success. All the elements that made Sonic "cool" are present. Rocky is a rodent, he runs fast, he eats a lot all the time, and he has spiky hair. What he Rocky can do that Sonic can't is change his spiky hairstyle to gain different abilities. Finding hairspray along the way allows you to get a new 'do on the fly', so to speak. Your hair can allow you to bounce on it like a spring by turning upside down, in order to make higher jumps. It can allow you to throw your hair like a boomerang, killing enemies and embedding into walls to create springboards. It can allow you to ponytail-whip (or in Rocky's case, rat-tail whip) hooks like a grappling hook. What it can't do, is look like anything other than early 90's hair.
Our story begins with Rocky eating at an all-you-can-eat restaurant owned by a man flatteringly named Pie Face Balboa. In the course of your gourmet rampage through the restaurant, Rocky, without realizing it, eats an envelope full of cash. This cash was protection money that Balboa intended to pay to the local mafia. When the mobsters find out that they won't be getting their money, they kidnap Balboa's daughter and flee in a Depression-era getaway car. Balboa, in his distress, calls upon Rocky to save her, because he can run really fast, and it will get him away from the food for a little while. Rocky agrees on the condition that he gets free buffet if he succeeds, and subsequently sets off on a whirlwind platforming adventure through six fairly large levels with multiple stages. These include the freeway where Rocky chases down a mob vehicle, a skyscraper under construction, the streets of the city, a haunted hotel, and the mob-owned Red Hot Chili Factory, where the chili looks more like lava than anything edible.
With fun, fast-paced stages, entertaining mini-games, and the unique powers granted by Rocky's hairstyle, it's pretty easy to recommend the game to a platforming fan. Just, try not to groan at how incredibly 90's it all is.
Released: July 1998
Developer: Nintendo
Console: N64
Players: 1-4
Save: Battery Save
VCL: 4 / 5
If you haven't heard of the F-Zero franchise, I welcome you to a universe filled with bounty hunters, gambling on races, and a multitude of species. What you won't find are characters not finding the 'droids they are looking for.
With thirty cars, twenty four tracks, and over seventy randomly generated tracks in the X Cup, all available without any microtransactions, a game like this may be seen as a huge bargain when it's released for Virtual Console. These tracks can be competed on in Grand Prix mode, Time Trial, or Death Race mode, in which players compete to be the only car left on the field. Completing Grand Prix mode unlocks most of the cars, each of which is driven by a unique character with their own story to tell ranging from a new generation of Samurai to the backstory of the Star Fox games. F-Zero X is also the fastest game on the N64 ever released, moving at 60 frames per second even with thirty cars on screen at once.
After the game was released, Nintendo made an expansion to the game using the Japan-only 64DD add-on. Using the expansion kit allowed you to create custom tracks and cars, and it also added new cups and cars to the existing roster. While I have no doubt that this game will be available for download, I do hope that Nintendo decides to let the rest of the world experience the 64DD expansion.
To date, only a few racing games can hold my attention for hours on end, and most of them are in the F-Zero franchise. While in my opinion, the GameCube sequel made by SEGA is far superior in every way, many people prefer the look and feel of the N64 iteration. While these people are obviously in need of a CAT scan, I can't deny that there are many of them. If they could be pointed this way without too much drooling and falling over, I have a message for these people: F-Zero X is an excellent game, and I hope we all have fun playing it again with the Wii's retro gaming controller.
#28 (Third Party) - Rocky Rodent
Developer: Irem
Console: SNES
Players: 1
Save: none
Virtual Console Likelihood: 1 / 5
There are many people who have not heard of, let alone played Rocky Rodent, which is why I'd like to see this game on Virtual Console. The developer, Irem, has recently been making games for the PS2 and PS3 in Japan. Their best known franchise outside of Japan is R-Type. The odds of them supporting Nintendo in this new generation are slim, so allowing more people to play Rocky Rodent is a long shot.
Rocky Rodent was, at its core, an attempt to cash in on Sonic The Hedgehog's success. All the elements that made Sonic "cool" are present. Rocky is a rodent, he runs fast, he eats a lot all the time, and he has spiky hair. What he Rocky can do that Sonic can't is change his spiky hairstyle to gain different abilities. Finding hairspray along the way allows you to get a new 'do on the fly', so to speak. Your hair can allow you to bounce on it like a spring by turning upside down, in order to make higher jumps. It can allow you to throw your hair like a boomerang, killing enemies and embedding into walls to create springboards. It can allow you to ponytail-whip (or in Rocky's case, rat-tail whip) hooks like a grappling hook. What it can't do, is look like anything other than early 90's hair.
Our story begins with Rocky eating at an all-you-can-eat restaurant owned by a man flatteringly named Pie Face Balboa. In the course of your gourmet rampage through the restaurant, Rocky, without realizing it, eats an envelope full of cash. This cash was protection money that Balboa intended to pay to the local mafia. When the mobsters find out that they won't be getting their money, they kidnap Balboa's daughter and flee in a Depression-era getaway car. Balboa, in his distress, calls upon Rocky to save her, because he can run really fast, and it will get him away from the food for a little while. Rocky agrees on the condition that he gets free buffet if he succeeds, and subsequently sets off on a whirlwind platforming adventure through six fairly large levels with multiple stages. These include the freeway where Rocky chases down a mob vehicle, a skyscraper under construction, the streets of the city, a haunted hotel, and the mob-owned Red Hot Chili Factory, where the chili looks more like lava than anything edible.
With fun, fast-paced stages, entertaining mini-games, and the unique powers granted by Rocky's hairstyle, it's pretty easy to recommend the game to a platforming fan. Just, try not to groan at how incredibly 90's it all is.
#28 (Nintendo) - F-Zero X
Developer: Nintendo
Console: N64
Players: 1-4
Save: Battery Save
VCL: 4 / 5
If you haven't heard of the F-Zero franchise, I welcome you to a universe filled with bounty hunters, gambling on races, and a multitude of species. What you won't find are characters not finding the 'droids they are looking for.
With thirty cars, twenty four tracks, and over seventy randomly generated tracks in the X Cup, all available without any microtransactions, a game like this may be seen as a huge bargain when it's released for Virtual Console. These tracks can be competed on in Grand Prix mode, Time Trial, or Death Race mode, in which players compete to be the only car left on the field. Completing Grand Prix mode unlocks most of the cars, each of which is driven by a unique character with their own story to tell ranging from a new generation of Samurai to the backstory of the Star Fox games. F-Zero X is also the fastest game on the N64 ever released, moving at 60 frames per second even with thirty cars on screen at once.
After the game was released, Nintendo made an expansion to the game using the Japan-only 64DD add-on. Using the expansion kit allowed you to create custom tracks and cars, and it also added new cups and cars to the existing roster. While I have no doubt that this game will be available for download, I do hope that Nintendo decides to let the rest of the world experience the 64DD expansion.
To date, only a few racing games can hold my attention for hours on end, and most of them are in the F-Zero franchise. While in my opinion, the GameCube sequel made by SEGA is far superior in every way, many people prefer the look and feel of the N64 iteration. While these people are obviously in need of a CAT scan, I can't deny that there are many of them. If they could be pointed this way without too much drooling and falling over, I have a message for these people: F-Zero X is an excellent game, and I hope we all have fun playing it again with the Wii's retro gaming controller.