"Zelda II™: The Adventure of Link®: You swing a sword and rescue a princess. Put simply, Link could buy and sell you. "

That is the worst description I have ever heard for a Zelda game, simply put. What a waste of money this all is, if only it was 9.99.

I believe we have the very first Classic NES series game that isn't a complete waste of time: Castlevania. Off the top of my head Castlevania has never been re-released in North America since it's debut on the NES. Bravo!

As for the rest...

Dr. Mario - the Cube bonus disc with the Viewtiful Joe demo on it has the full game on it. Plus I believe Warioware contains Dr. Wario which is essentially the same thing.

Zelda II - released FOR FREE on the Zelda Collector's disc. True that version's not portable but $20 > $0.

Metroid - biggest Classic NES ripoff yet (except for Pac-Man) as this is available on Metroid: Zero Mission. It's already available on the GBA and it comes with an amazing new game too.

The Classic NES series is by the far the worst thing Nintendo has done this last gen. How they can expect to push innovation as the future when they not only re-release a bunch of ports but unessential ports that are easily available in cheaper and BETTER versions. What a scam.

And yet it's incredibly successful. So what do you want, Ian? I reward innovation/integrity/other uppity ideals as much as any other games elitist, so I don't buy these games. But it's making Nintendo money. Why would I expect them to stop? They're still releasing new games that I enjoy.

Anyway, it's not as if these versions are simply emulated ROMs and nothing more. They have save, wireless multiplayer, other additions. There is appeal, even in the face of cheaper versions. It's there, in a cart, with added features. Only $20.

"Dr. Mario - the Cube bonus disc with the Viewtiful Joe demo on it has the full game on it. Plus I believe Warioware contains Dr. Wario which is essentially the same thing."

Not everyone got that bonus disc, buddy...

"Zelda II - released FOR FREE on the Zelda Collector's disc. True that version's not portable but $20 > $0."

And AGAIN, not everyone got the Collector's disc! You can't automatically expect people to get the "first version" of a game...I have a friend that likes puzzle games like Dr. Mario yet doesn't really like Wario Ware...What about him? I'm sure he'd rather buy the separate Dr. Mario, and it's these people that you are completely oblivious to...Not every gamer in the world has these games...(But anyways, I'll be getting AoL sometime merely to complete my Zelda collection...)

I have to say i'm with Ian and Jonny on how completely retarded it is to release Metroid..... I'll still be grabbing Zelda II and Castlevania though.

"not everyone got the Collector's disc! You can't automatically expect people to get the 'first version' of a game"

If you buy both NES Zeldas new for the GBA it will cost you $40. You could easily find the Collector's disc for less than that on Ebay and that comes with two more games. Sure the NES Classics versions of most of these games is the only version currently in stores but alternate used copies, and not on the NES, are reasonably easy to find with some effort. And in cases like Donkey Kong or Pac-Man these slightly older re-releases are arcade perfect unlike the obsolete NES versions.

The NES series was a good concept in theory if classic NES games that are hard to obtain were re-released. Re-releasing a bunch of games that a year ago were available on e-Reader format is just ripping people off. With very minimal effort virtually every Classic NES title but Castlevania can be obtained for a cheaper price and on hardware that is less than 10 years old.

I think this is a good idea, but twenty dollars is really pushing it. If they were ten dollars, or maybe even fifteen dollars, that'd be more reasonable.

Was that poll on NOA's website for...nothing? We've only seen games that hit the japanese market.

Dr. Wario is a three second version of Dr. Mario, Ian. Not quite the same experience. Still, it's a bit sad that Nintendo's opinion on third party 'NES Classics' is totally screwed. Castlevania's a step in the right direction but Pac-Man, Bomberman? The NES versions are the worst ever. I don't ever remember people getting hot and sweaty over playing Pac-Man on NES.

> Dr. Wario is a three second version of Dr. Mario, Ian.

Actually, Wario Ware features a three second version of Dr. Mario. "Dr. Wario", also featured in Wario Ware is a complete "Type A" version of Dr. Mario that you can play until your heart's content...

Oh. Is it in the GC version? I avoided the GBA one.

Well the NES pac-man was way better than the 2600 pac-man.

Well the NES pac-man was way better than the 2600 pac-man.

The 2600 Pac-Man had much flashier graphics, though.

> Oh. Is it in the GC version? I avoided the GBA one

I dunno if it's in the GCN version - I just picked it up yesterday (Yay TRU sale!) - I haven't found it in there yet though...

Dr. Wario has slightly different rules. Only three viruses per level instead of four and no combo bonuses.

Nah, if you unlocked the "full" Dr. Wario game on the GBA version, you basically had a full version of Dr. Mario with an upside down M.

Full version? You mean, the game changes once you beat all minigames in the net or something?