Gradius ReBirth Gives WiiWare Some Options

While we were hunkered down at the Los Angeles Convention Center last week, wondering "Is that it?" of E3 2008, Konami announced Gradius ReBirth, a WiiWare title that looks to fill the Gradius void in our lives. Like the retro stylings of Mega Man 9, Konami is giving the hardcore what they want — gameplay minus expensive production values — and they're doing it through digital distribution.

Gradius ReBirth is planned for a summer release in Japan. If it arrives elsewhere, buy it. Convince Konami to restart work on Gradius VI. Seriously.

Gradius ReBirth [Konami]

More Japan Only Games Coming To American Virtual Console

The ESRB spilled the beans on more than just ASH - Archaic Sealed Heat today, as a bunch of new Virtual Console candidates were given ratings for the Wii. A duo originally released only in Japan, Sega/NCS's side-scrolling, Mega Drive-era shooter Gley Lancer and Konami's Famicom platformer Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa have been cleared for North American release, nabbing E10+ and E ratings, respectively.

In addition to those Hanabi Festival-caliber releases, Sega's platformer Alex Kid in Miracle World for the Sega Master System and Jaleco's City Connection for the NES were also rated as Wii VC candidates. In other words, everything you've been asking for from day one!

It's Official: Ikaruga Hitting XBLA This Week

In this week's XBLA update, we've finally gotten official confirmation that Ikaruga, the classic Japanese shoot 'em up (sorry, I despise the term "shmup") is coming to the platform this Wednesday, April 9th. Now in HD, players can enjoy standard leaderboards as well as online co-op and replay/save video support. It'll set you back 800 points.

In addition, the highly regarded newb Poker Smash will be offering two expansions. The Environment Pack (with two new action mode environments) and the Puzzle Pack (with 15 new puzzles) will each be available for 100 points.

All in all, it's a nice week of updates on XBLA. For the full, gruesome details, hit the jump.

If you're the type who decided that the Gradius II version of the Vic Viper starfighter should represent but a fraction of your PVC space armada, you may want to hunt down an import retailer for the follow up. The Gradius III version of the Vic Viper doesn't deviate too far from the design path, but comes in a classy off-white and with a sleeker chassis.

This model kit from Atelier Sai is similarly priced to its predecessor at 4500 yen (or $42 US). It ships in May, after the the previously posted Vic hits hobbyist shelves. The backside of the ship is after this.

Shmupcrafters Warashi have updated their website to indicate that the arcade to Dreamcast to Xbox Live Arcade translation of Triggerheart Exelica will be hitting Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday! Triggerheart is about humanoid weapons systems that just so happen to resemble cute anime girls, fighting to save humanity from the Ver'mith. You're good, they're bad, shoot them. Both ships have different weapons but both have the power to perform an anchor shot, snagging enemies to use as a weapon or shield. Not sure I am ready for this yet, as Omega Five is still kicking my ass on a regular basis, but I suppose when it comes to shmups, the more the merrier! The only problem? While it will definitely be out in Japan next Wednesday for 800 points, I am seeing now official word on other regions, though Xbox.com did just add a page for the game. Fingers crossed!

Triggerheart Exelica Main Page [Warashi - Thanks Jacob!]

I've been drooling over it for months, and now it's finally here! Is Omega Five everything I had hoped it would be? Well, yes and no. It has all of the shoot-em up action I was expecting, and it is one of the most beautiful games you're likely to find on Xbox Live Arcade, but the limitations of the format inevitably shine through on the presentation end of things. After playing with the game just about every free moment I've had in the day, I can't shake the feeling that this would have been a truly spectacular game had it just been fleshed out a bit.

As I said, it is one of the prettiest games on XBLA, and the visuals alone are worth the $10 worth of points I dropped for it. Playing through as Ruby, one of the two initially available characters, I was really impressed by the variety of enemies, the colorful effects, and the sheer amount of things flying across my screen at the same time. Then I played as Tempest and my jaw completely dropped.

Hudson and Natsume's Omega Five was originally scheduled to hit Xbox Live Arcade sometime in November, but that's obviously come and gone and we're without the game. It looks like Xbox 360 owners may finally get the side-scrolling shoot 'em up as early as next week, as Console Monster indicates a January 9th release date. It was certainly one of my highlights at last year's Tokyo Game Show, so I'll be first in line. No solid word on pricing yet, but the Forgotten Worlds-esque shmup looks like it's worth the scratch.

January 9th Arcade Release Revealed [360 Monster via Destructoid]

When Konami of Japan announced Otomedius, we quickly realized what it was up to. Konami had little interest in trying to revitalize the shrinking arcade shmup scene or looking in a new direction for the Gradius and Parodius series. No, they wanted to bring more boobs into the Konami family and shill loads of Otomedius toys. And they're making good on it again, with new redemption prizes in the form of 14cm tall toys and, yes, smaller than life-sized inflatable versions of the busty shooter girls. You're either shaking your head, sighing with defeat or whipping our your credit card again, I'm sure—it's been a big week for plastic video game girls.

The current lot of goods also includes the "multiple movable system" action figures and a digital manga series featuring the maid-ship ladies of Otomedius. We don't expect it to stop any time soon.

Otomedius Goods [Konami]

Shooter specialist G.rev let slip the other day that Senko no Ronde 2 was in the works, revealing two new gender ambiguous additions to the cast of fighters. Now, courtesy of Yahoo! Japan blog Gemaga, we know a half-dozen characters who will comprise a portion of the roster. As fans of the first can see, gender confusion runs amok yet again, as Cuilan returns and a character known as ??? blurs the line between the sexes. Someone at G.rev should be made to pay for this.

Senko no Ronde 2 [Yahoo! Japan]

Aksys Games announced today that it would be bringing hardcore vertical-shmup Castle of Shikigami III to the Nintendo Wii early next year. Loaded with coin collecting and intense bullet dodging, the series has previously come to North America under other publishers as Mobile Light Force 2 and Castle Shikigami 2. This is eyeball drying, twitch filled stuff and the kind of content we certainly wouldn't mind seeing more of on the Wii. Pre-localized screens are in the gallery below, followed by a handy press release for reference.

Shoot The Very Small Core

Hudson continues to painfully tease my shmup hunger, releasing bits of information on the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade shooter Omega Five while I continuously refresh my Arcade downloads screen just in case they decide to release the game itself while no one is looking. This week we meet Ruby, the scantily clad vixen who brings sexy to the battlefield, along with a vulcan laser cannon, reflecting laser beam, and a lightning gun. I'll let you decide which of those four is the most important. Ruby also has an alternate attack that sends out a satellite that can latch onto larger enemies, dealing damage as well as providing a lock-on target for her normal attacks. Where she stores this satellite when not in use is not something I really want to think about. Lovely! Game please.

Omega Five Is Alive

Nanostray 2 Officially Coming In Early 08

Shin'en's space shooter Nanostray was by no means a hit with critics, but apparently there were enough Nintendo DS owners hip to the first one to warrant a sequel. Today, Majesco officially announced Nanostray 2 will ship in "early 2008" and features some nice improvements over the first. Two-player co-op, two-player versus, traditional and touchscreen control options, even a swell VR Missions-like mode dubbed the Simulator have all been added.

The DS doesn't have much in the way of shmups, so this horizontal and vertical combo shooter is a welcome addition to the library. The fact that it comes well after the holidays makes our wallets happy. More details at the official site.

Nanostray 2 Official Web Site