Gamertell

We’re a little slow on the uptake this week, but thankfully, it looks like the Virtual Console isn’t. Classic brawler/RPG River City Ransom and genesis RPG Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom round out an uncharacteristically high-quality update. Seriously, River City Ransom is one of the coolest, most bad-ass NES games ever, and I encourage all comers to give it a shot.

All VC titles are available on the Wii Shop channel, with a fresh batch arriving every Monday at 9 AM Pacific time. Wii points can be purchased at a rate of $1 for 100 points. The new games bring the North American count to 220.

Nintendo’s descriptions, via press release:

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This week on the Virtual Console, we have two old-school Sega games for your retro gaming pleasure. Fantasy Zone and Mega Turrican are currently up for grabs on the Wii Shop Channel. Frankly, I’m still waiting for the last remaining Nintendo classics (Hello… Majora’s Mask?), though Fantasy Zone looks pretty tasty.

All VC titles are available on the Wii Shop channel, with a fresh batch arriving every Monday at 9 AM PST. Wii points can be purchased at a rate of $1 for 100 points. The new games bring the North American count to 218.

Nintendo’s official descriptions, from the press release:

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Imagic, the creators of Atlantis, which was just released for the Atari, is going to hold a fantastic contest titled “Defend Atlantis”to find the treasure of Atlantis. The four players who send in the highest scores from Atlantis will be sent to Bermuda with a guest to compete in a contest to win a chest of gold worth $10,000. All the players who manage to make it to the finals and don’t win will receive $1,000. Even if you aren’t that good at Atlantis, don’t despair, the 250 third place winners will get snorkeling sets and and 1,000 runners up will receive Atlantis T-shirts.

Keep reading to learn how to enter.

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I just picked up the latest Atari Catalog (CO16725-Rev. E) at Sears. It lists 49 games, four of which are completely new from the previous catalog (CO16725-Rev. D). It also has a section in the back with a few accessories for storing games and a better picture of the Game Center storage case.

The last page also features “Coming Attractions” that include a yet-to-be-named football game that will have “life-like pro players,” a baseball game and a “jolly version” of video volleyball. Atari is also promising an updated version of Combat (Combat II or maybe Revenge of Combat?) and a “gripping” adventure game in two installments in October and November 1982.

The four news games are…

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Product: X-Arcade Tankstick
Price: $199.95
Rating: 9/10
Pros: Easy to install on pretty much any computer and fun to use. Works on Mac and Windows PCs as well as many game consoles (with separate adapters).
Cons: Programming the buttons can be a little tricky. It’s not compatible with the Xbox 360, the trackball does not work on all consoles and it and might not work perfectly on older computers.
Overall: An impressive controller not just to use but to sow off to all your friends. Definitely a great buy - or gift - for a fan of arcade games or a nostalgic gamer.

Click through for the full review.

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Peter Payne’s site specializing in all thing Japanese, J-List (and J-Box for the under-18 crowd) has another groovy videogame related items.

For today’s installment, a PC USB retro style controller by Elecom called the Red Retro USB Game Pad (JC-U2208TRD ).

Selling on the site for $18, this PC game controller has 8 buttons and is modeled after the Nintendo Famicom (aka. the original, Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES)…

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