On the PAL Wii Virtual Console today: Commodore 64 debuts with International Karate and Uridium, plus Cruis’n USA
Today Nintendo of Europe (and Australia) added new classic games to the popular Wii Shop Channel. The games went live at midnight CET. 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 stores like Amazon UK (Card).
The Commodore 64 debuts in Europe this week with two of its more popular games! Also out in PAL regions first (and the only game released in Australia today) is a new N64 game. We’ve included videos of the games for nostalgia’s sake or so you can see if it’s for you. This week’s new games are:
Cruis’n USA (priced 1000 Wii Points = €10 / £7.50 / AU$15) is a racing game released in 1994 at the arcades and came to the N64 in 1996. It’s developed and published by Midway Games and distributed by Nintendo. It’s the first game in the Cruis’n series and it features locations around the United States.
Like in most racing games, players race down one-way courses consisting of streets vaguely based on real-life locations. While racing, they do their best to avoid various road hazards such as oncoming traffic and construction. Players chose between seven different cars to race with. The car can simulate either an automatic or manual transmission. Automatic increases the speed of gear shifts, while players using the manual transmission must switch during races. Players who reach first place move on to the next track, etc.
International Karate (priced 500 Wii Points = €5 / £3.75) is a 1986 karate computer game for the Commodore 64. It was first published by System 3 in Europe, and then in the United States of America by Epyx as World Karate Championship.
The core game is a two-dimensional, one-on-one, versus fighting game. Players take on the roles of martial artists competing in a kumite tournament. Rather than wearing down an opponent’s health, the goal is instead to score single solid hits. After each hit, combat stops and both combatants are returned to their starting positions. Depending on how well players hit their opponent, they score either a half-point or a full point. Matches can be quite brief, as only two full points are required to win, and a point can be quickly scored just seconds after a round begins. In single player mode, successive opponents increase in difficulty from novice white belts to master black belts. Play continues as long as the player continues to win matches. Between fights, bonus mini-games focusing on rhythm and timing appear, including one in which the player must break a number of stacked boards using only his or her head.
Uridium (priced 500 Wii Points = €5 / £3.75) is a sci-fi horizontal scrolling shoot ‘em up from 1986 for the Commodore 64. The single player game consists of fifteen levels, each named after a metal element, with the last level being called Uridium.
The plot of Uridium is described as follows: “The solar system is under attack! Enemy Super-Dreadnoughts have been placed in orbit around each of the fifteen planets in this galactic sector. They are draining mineral resources from the planetary cores for use in their interstellar power units. Each Super-Dreadnought seeks out a different metal for its metal converter.
Your Manta class Space Fighter will be transported to each planet in turn and it is your task to destroy each Dreadnought. First you must attack the defensive screen of enemy fighters, then you must neutralise the majority of surface defences before you land on the Super-Dreadnought’s master runway. Once on board you must pull as many fuel rods as possible from the metal converters before you take off for a final strafing run as the Dreadnought vaporises into the ether.”
Via VCreviews
