Hudson Announces First Turbografx-16 Titles

by Michael Cole - October 31, 2006, 5:40 pm EST
Total comments: 10

Hudson will have five games at launch in western markets and seven in the homeland.

HUDSON ANNOUNCES FIRST BATCH OF “VIRTUAL CONSOLE" TITLES FOR Wii IN NORTH AMERICA, EUROPE AND JAPAN

Gamers Will Be Able to Play Classic Turbografx-16 Games on Wii’s Virtual Console

REDWOOD CITY, CA - October 31, 2006 - Hudson Entertainment, the North American publishing arm of Hudson Soft Co., Ltd, announced today that classic games originally created for the TurboGrafx-16(TM) system (also known as the PC Engine(TM) in Japan) will be available to download using the Virtual Console(TM) feature on Wii(TM). Wii, Nintendo’s new home console, launches on November 19th in North America, December 2nd in Japan, and December 8th in Europe.

By year end, Hudson Entertainment will release five games in North America and Europe, and seven games in Japan. Over the next year, Hudson will provide more than 40 classic TurboGrafx-16 titles in North America and Europe, and more than 60 in Japan. Third-party TurboGrafx-16 games will be released by Hudson.

The titles can be downloaded through the Wii Shop Channel using Wii Points, starting at 600 Wii Points per title. Wii Points can either be purchased online via the Wii Shop Channel using a credit card or users can purchase a Wii Points Card in retail stores.

About the Virtual Console titles available in 2006:

North America:

Price per download (Turbo Chip Titles): start at 600 Wii Points = 6 dollars

Number of Titles: 5

Hudson Entertainment will provide more than 40 games over the next year including third-party games originally released for the TurboGrafx-16.

Initial titles include: "Bonk’s Adventure," "Super Star Soldier," "Victory Run," "Bomberman 93," "Dungeon Explorer"

Japan:

Price per download (HuCard Titles): start at 600 Wii points = 600 Yen

Number of Titles: 7

Hudson Soft will provide more than 60 games over the next year including third-party games originally released for the PC Engine.

Initial titles include: "Adventure Island," "Bonk’s Adventure," "Super Star Soldier," "Victory Run," "Bomberman 94," "Dungeon Explorer," "Necromancer"

Europe:

Price per download (Turbo Chip Titles): start at 600 Wii points = 6.00 Euro

Number of Titles: 5

Hudson Entertainment will provide more than 40 games over the next year including third-party games originally released for the TurboGrafx-16.

Initial titles include: "Bonk’s Adventure," "Super Star Soldier," "Victory Run," "Bomberman 93," "Dungeon Explorer"

PRESS RELEASE

Wii and Virtual Console Launch Line-Up Revealed

Combined, you'll be able to play 60+ games on your console in a few weeks!

NINTENDO'S WII WILL BOAST 62 TITLES AND COUNTLESS NEW WAYS TO PLAY

32 New Wii Titles and 30 Classics Form Huge Launch Library

REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 31, 2006 – Within the first five weeks of launch, Wii™ owners can pick from up to 62 games, representing the most diverse, and most exciting, console video game library available. Licensees and developers have lined up to support the Wii launch in unprecedented numbers. Wii and its Wii Remote™ completely change the way people play and experience video games by making every motion of the controller translate into action on the screen. All at once, Wii makes games both easier to play and more immersive. In the five weeks after Wii launches in the United States on Nov. 19, gamers of all ages and abilities will be telling their friends and family: "You've got to play this!"

By year's end, Wii owners will have 32 new titles to play, including industry powerhouse games like The Legend of Zelda®: Twilight Princess, Madden NFL '07, Need for Speed™: Carbon and Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam™; category-redefining adventures like Red Steel™, Elebits™ and Trauma Center™: Second Opinion; and Hollywood favorites like Cars, SpongeBob SquarePants™: Creature from the Krusty Krab and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Some of these games might be familiar, but if you haven't played them on Wii, you're only getting half the experience.

Wii owners also will return to their youth with 30 classic games available for download to play on Wii's Virtual Console™. These include games for the NES®, Super NES®, Nintendo® 64, Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx16 consoles. Players redeem Wii Points in the Wii Shop Channel and download their games. And that's not to mention the entire library of more than 530 Nintendo GameCube™ games that can be played on the Wii console from day one because Wii is directly backward compatible.

"Developers worldwide have enhanced Wii's launch library of new games with countless new ways to play," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Whether you pick a completely new property or a classic franchise, the Wii experience draws you in."

Every Wii owner starts off with Wii Sports™, which comes packed in with the console itself. The sporting collection of bowling, tennis, baseball, boxing and golf lets players literally swing the Wii Remote like a bowling ball, racket, bat, boxing glove and golf club. The games are easy for anyone to try and they dramatically demonstrate how Wii makes video games fun for everyone.

For avid gamers, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess emerges as this season's video game masterpiece. The epic adventure lets players swing the Wii Remote as a sword and can play in a 16:9 aspect ratio with beautiful visuals and glorious sound. Have you ever tilted your controller while playing a driving game, hoping in vain that extra oomph would help you land a huge jump? Now EXCITE TRUCK™ translates those movements of the Wii Remote as players hold it sideways and turn it like a steering wheel.

Wii's launch library contains games of all genres, and each one gives gamers a new way to play. While Wii Sports, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and EXCITE TRUCK will be ready to go on launch day, last-minute polishing by third parties means their exact dates will soon be locked down, though most will launch by the end of November. A complete list of launch-day titles will be announced in the near future. Visit www.Wii.com for updates. Third-party publishers have created an impressive list of launch titles for Wii, and their backing will continue steadily into the new year. Before the end of December alone, the following titles will be available:

Activision: Call of Duty® 3, Marvel™ Ultimate Alliance, Rapala® Tournament Fishing, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam™, World Series of Poker®: Tournament of Champions

Atari: Dragon Ball Z®: Budokai Tenkaichi™ 2

Atlus: Trauma Center™: Second Opinion

EA: Madden NFL '07, Need for Speed™: Carbon

Konami: Elebits™

Midway: Happy Feet™, Rampage®: Total Destruction™, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy™, The Ant Bully

Sega: Super Monkey Ball™: Banana Blitz

SNK: Metal Slug™ Anthology

Tecmo: Super Swing Golf

THQ: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Barnyard®, Cars, SpongeBob SquarePants™: The Creature from the Krusty Krab

Ubisoft: Far Cry®: Vengeance, GT Pro Series, Monster 4X4 World Circuit, Open Season™, Rayman Raving Rabbids™, Red Steel™, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent™

Vivendi: Ice Age 2™: The Meltdown

In addition to these new titles, Nintendo is making the greatest video game archive in history available for download to its Virtual Console. NES games start at 500 Wii Points, Super NES games start at 800 Wii Points and Nintendo 64 games start at 1,000 Wii Points. Sega Genesis games start at 800 Wii Points and TurboGrafx16 games start at 600 Wii Points. Wii Points can be purchased online or at retail at an MSRP of $20 for 2,000 points. Before the end of December, the following titles will be available:

NES: Mario Bros.®, The Legend of Zelda®, Donkey Kong®, Donkey Kong Jr. ®, Ice Hockey, Pinball, Soccer, Tennis, Urban Champion®, Wario's Woods™, Baseball, Solomon's Key

SNES: F-Zero®, SimCity™

N64: Super Mario® 64

Sega Genesis: Sonic the Hedgehog, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Columns, Ecco the Dolphin, Gunstar Heroes, Space Harrier II, Toe Jam & Earl, Ristar, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

TurboGrafx16: Bonk's Adventure, Super Star Soldier, Victory Run, Bomberman '93, Dungeon Explorer

As previously announced, Wii contains built-in parental controls that let adults set the console to play only games of a certain rating and lock their selection with a PIN code.

Talkback

IceColdOctober 31, 2006

Hmm, what's with all the VC announcements today? Embargo?

ShyGuyOctober 31, 2006

I hope they bring Side Arms.

KaironCarmine Red, Associate EditorOctober 31, 2006

Hudson itself will bring more than 40 titles to the VC over the next year, INCLUDING third party games released on their TGFX16?

...wow...

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

vuduOctober 31, 2006

Bonk's Adventure will be a million seller; mark my words.

CalibanOctober 31, 2006

They are charging more than Nintendo, what gives?

Edit: Actually I take back what I just said.

Hudson, please release Faxanadu.

SvevanEvan Burchfield, Staff AlumnusOctober 31, 2006

I am relying on the forum goers (and Aaron) to point me towards the best TurboGrafx VC games, cause I have ZERO experience with them.

Ian SaneOctober 31, 2006

Seeing different VC release lists for difference regions makes me sad. There's no reason for that and it's just going to ensure that Japan-only games like Rondo of Blood will remain in Japan.

Still Bomberman '93, dynomite!!

MegaByteAaron Kaluszka, Associate EditorOctober 31, 2006

Bonk's Adventure is fun, but dated... the sequels are much better.
It's unfortunate that we get stuck with Bomberman '93 because '94 was much better.
Super Star Soldier is a great vertical shoot 'em up.
Victory Run is an old-school arcade style racing game... I was never able to get past the first 4 levels.
I have no experience with Dungeon Explorer.

The price makes sense since NES is 500, SNES is 800, and TG-16 is a machine class somewhere between the two = 600. Personally, I think all of the VC prices are too high.

I expect to see a lot more from Hudson in the future, especially if they can get their third party agreements through, or manage to revive the IPs of dead companies. I know at least the US branch is actively trying because they want to see certain games get out there as much as we do.

Viewtiful marioNovember 01, 2006

Quote
Bonk's Adventure is fun, but dated... the sequels are much better.
It's unfortunate that we get stuck with Bomberman '93 because '94 was much better

Well, I don't know which system Bomberman '94 or the Bonk sequals are for but rememer, these are just the launch games. They probably won't release sequals until later when people have played the older ones. If they release the sequal along with the original who will play the original?

Quote
Seeing different VC release lists for difference regions makes me sad. There's no reason for that and it's just going to ensure that Japan-only games like Rondo of Blood will remain in Japan.

they're probably going by how popular the games are in that region. Plus if a game is Japan-only what's the point of releasing it in a English speaking country when all of it's text is Japanese?

nitsu niflheimNovember 02, 2006

I hope they get Konami to give up Dracula X. I played the "port" on SNES, but I would love to play the real deal.

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