WII-KLY UPDATE: THREE NEW CLASSIC GAMES ADDED TO WII SHOP CHANNEL

Aug. 20, 2007

You've longed for it, you've begged for it and now it's finally here. Nintendo's Month of Metroid continues with today's release of the ultra-classic Super Metroid® for the Super NES®. It's one of the many teasers to whet your appetite in advance of the Aug. 27 release of Metroid® Prime 3: Corruption for Wii™. You have a full week to dive into Super Metroid and explore the other great new games added to the Wii Shop Channel: Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master™ and Neutopia.

Three new classic games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week's new games are:

Super Metroid (Super NES, 1 player, rated E for Everyone - Mild Violence, 800 Wii Points): The Space Pirates, merciless agents of the evil Mother Brain, have stolen the last Metroid from a research station, and once again Mother Brain threatens the safety of the galaxy. Samus Aran must don her awesome array of high-tech weaponry to retrieve the deadly Metroid hidden deep within the cave-riddled planet Zebes. Super Metroid features excellent graphics, with a huge variety of enemies and worlds to explore. The side-view action will be familiar to many players, only now there are new weapons and items, including the Grappling Beam, which allows Samus to swing across large chasms, and the X-Ray Scope, which reveals secret passages.

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (Sega Genesis, 1 player, rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older - Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points): In this thrilling sequel to The Revenge of Shinobi, Joe Musashi finds that Neo Zeed - the crime syndicate he believed he had wiped out two years earlier - is indeed still alive and well. The return of Neo Zeed and its leader, the mysterious Shadow Master, forces Musashi to return from exile and confront the growing evil. As the Shinobi, the master of long-forgotten Oboro Ninjitsu martial arts, Musashi must utilize all his powers to overcome his various enemies. Thanks to his considerable combat skills and special Ninjitsu moves, only the Shinobi can thwart Neo Zeed and vanquish the Shadow Master.

Neutopia (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, rated E for Everyone - Mild Fantasy Violence, 600 Wii Points): In this action role-playing game, you take control of a brave boy who sets off on a journey to rescue the kidnapped princess and reclaim the eight medallions that were stolen by the evil demon, Dirth. You'll need to rely on your magic compass and information you've gathered to find entrances to labyrinths and defeat the bosses in them. Solve puzzles, avoid traps, move blocks and destroy walls to uncover secret rooms in the labyrinths. Carefully use your map to uncover hidden treasure and powerful equipment. Travel the land, underground, sea and sky on your quest to recover the medallions. With a save function, the right difficulty level and a system that doesn't include experience points, this is truly an RPG that anyone can enjoy.

The latest Metroid Prime 3: Corruption preview clips added to WiiWare in tandem with the latest Wii firmware update give us a better look at one potential returning Metroid staple. The "Aurora"—more commonly known as the Mother Brain to Metroid and Super Metroid fans—is heavily featured in one of the clips, indicating that a starring role (or at least a cameo) for the organic computer is more than likely.

What's even more interesting is that we may even see multiple Auroras, as the narrator explains that the old school Tourian bitch is just one of many Mother and Father Brains. It's confirmed: My interest in Metroid Prime 3 has never been so high.

While the ESRB has yet to issue a rating for either Metroid title, usually a reliable measuring stick for what's on deck, that doesn't rule out a smart marketing move by Nintendo. Don't be surprised if both show up next Monday or the following.

Ultimate Awesome Wii Virtual Console Discussion [NeoGAF]

This Japanese Super Metroid commercial doesn't have quite the same panache as last week's Metroid II clip, but it's still a pretty good one. The funny thing about this clip though is that while the voice overs are in Japanese, there is nary a Japanese person in the entire commercial. At first I thought perhaps this was filmed for North America and then re-purposed for Japan, but I was unable to find an English language version. I did however find the North American commercial for the same game that you can see after the jump. Flynn De Marco

I love these Japanese Metroid commercials. In the first, Samus Aran surfs a 3.5" floppy through the universe to battle gelatinous, brain-sucking slugs. I also love how Japanese pronounce every letter in the English language like a separate syllable. "Muh-eh-tuh-ruh-oid-u!"

In the second, a sexy bikini Samus morphs into full battle armor, but only after we discover that all Anglo-Saxon scientists of the future speak perfect Japanese. Florian Eckhardt

I'm talking, of course, about Gunpei Yokoi, who would have been 65 today, had he not been killed in a car accident in 1997. After giving us countless hours of enjoyment with his and his team's fantastic products, whether we're talking about Dr. Mario or Kid Icarus, he should be well remembered by anyone who calls themselves a gamer. Hell, anyone who's used a crosspad enabled controller should be thanking Mr. Yokoi right about now.

If you aren't aware of the technical and artistic achievements Gunpei brought to this industry, you're well advised to read up on him at his Wikipedia entry and at this much more personal article by Wired's Chris Kohler.

My most memorable Gunpei inspired moment? Dedicating a Saturday to replaying Super Metroid from start to finish to get the Samus sans armor ending, only to receive many puzzled WTF-esque stares from my college roommates. "That's IT?" they said, "You spent 3 hours for that?!". Michael McWhertor