Chris Bucci is at it again, producing additional reviews for one of the greatest consoles ever. These two titles take us back to some of the earliest days of the mighty TurboGrafx-16. Click below to check out the videos.

I love retro games so much, but it's hard to keep up with the updates while also juggling the need to play old-school games (necessary research), check out new releases of classic franchises (keeping me vaguely plugged into current-gen gaming), work a real job (wish this site could pay the bills), and entertain the existence of a social life (broke up with the girl I thought I was going to marry recently). So here's a stream of conscious update that will hopefully fill the void since my last update.

Buy Retro Game Challenge
It's an amazingly original retro game, true to the spirit of old-school NES 8-bit, but with better playability than most of the classics. A sequel in Japan has been released, which is focused on the 16-bit era. As the improvement in hardware suggests, it's supposed to be even better! But Retro Game Challenge 2 won't be localized outside of Japan unless the original version sells at least 100,000 copies. Apparently, an additional 20,000 copies need to be sold to reach this milestone. So go out and but Retro Game Challenge, already!

Shia LaBeouf is a Retard
In brief: He's not into the Wii, but who cares? The longer version: Did you see how terrible his acting was in the most recent Indiana Jones film? Way to doom and otherwise brilliant franchise! After this, would you trust anything to come out of his mouth?

Virtual Arcade Coming Into Its Own
This brilliant concept had a whimper of a start—no initial releases worth recognizing. Now, with Space Harrier available in all three regions, and the recent release of Golden Axe and Galaga '88 in Japan, all I can say is: Too bad if you paid Wii points for inferior ports, these are the superior arcade originals of games that defined their respective genres. That's not to make light of people who've played/enjoyed the console ports. I blame Nintendo. Offering infinite varieties of the same game is bound to annoy people and cause them to spend unnecessary money. Whatever happened to the Nintendo seal of quality?

Pretty unbelievable. The fighting genre was a late bloomer for the 16-bit era, yet there is actually an incredible variety of top-notch fighters that were released between 1993 and 1996 on home consoles. Indeed, many would argue that this was the golden age for the genre. You can find the latest version of the top 10 fighters here. As you can see from below, there were a few oversights in version 1.0 of this list.

At long last, North America receives Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. An awesome game unto itself, as a completist this release also makes me particularly happy because it's now possible to play every non-handheld Zelda ever on the Wii, from the original to the Twilight Princess. Well, done Nintendo. Now if only you could flesh out some of the other franchises on the Virtual Console. I'm still waiting for the first Contra and what happened to Super Mario World 2?

Europe got screwed in May. Not a single VC release worth recommending! Japan, however, picked up the slack with the VC arcade leading the way. Cyber Sled is a great one-on-one combat game, and though Splatterhouse is already available in various port forms, you can't beat the arcade original. Similarly, you can already find the first R-Type available as a TG-16 download, but the Sega Master System version remains a phenomenal port. It includes an exclusive secret level, and it's also a hell of a bargain, especially in Japan where getting the full TG-16 R-Type requires downloading R-Type Part I and Part II (each one covering four levels of the arcade original)!

Finally, Japan rounds out the line-up with two Famicom games that launched very successful franchises, which endure to this day. Famicom Wars is the first installment of the turn-based strategy series known today as Advance Wars. No matter how old a game may look and sound, great gameplay is immortal, and this forgotten gem by Intelligent Systems is no exception. Then there's the anything-but-final Final Fantasy. No fan would say that this is a series best; nevertheless you get a very challenging, lengthy, and unusually deep RPG. Final Fantasy breathed new life into Square's perishing development studio and today it still offers incredible bang for your Wii point.

TimeWarpGamer fans, I've finally moved from Northern Virginia to Washington, DC. Surrounded by many an unpacked box in the heart of the nation's capitol, I feel like I'm finally recovering from a suburban lobotomy. Finally gaining access to the Interwebs from my new home, I present you with this belated update. Sorry for the lengthy delay in new material. I've got lots of cool stuff planned for the future, including tons of updates to the top games lists, revisions to the top 10 shoot 'em ups, a top 10 fighting games in the works, and a bazillion other different features. In the meantime, here's a guide to the most recent batch of Wii Virtual Console Downloads.

While the quality below is quite impressive, if my calculations are correct this is also the first month where gamers in North America have gotten totally stiffed. Not a single VC title that I can recommend to them! Turning to more positive news, the drought of N64 games has finally come to an end. BIGTIME. Can you ever go wrong with a Zelda game?

The remaining titles are exclusive to Japan. The original Phantasy Star is the most exciting of the bunch and one of the best reasons to own a Sega Master System. Japan picks up Castlevania III as well, which in my opinion is easily one of the best-sounding NES games ever, thanks to a special sound chip that was only included in the Japanese release way back in 1989.

Rounding out the line-up for the Land of the Rising Sun are two great titles that were already available on the VC, only for different platforms. The TG-16 version of Ninja Gaiden boasts much better and more colorful graphics, but occasionally the audio and gameplay elements don't quite live up to the standard set my the NES version. Der Langrisser takes a less anime approach to graphics, adds branching paths to the storyline, and lowers the challenge substantially, compared to Langrisser II on the Genesis.

One of my favorite TurboGrafx-16 sites is the PC-Engine Bible, and it recently introduced me to Chris Bucci's Turbo Views review series. They are some of the best greatest reviews I've seen for games on any console. They're thorough, well-constructed, and just the right length, usually five to seven minutes. That they cover one of my all-time favorite systems—one that was tragically neglected outside of Japan—is just gravy. Now you can find an embedded video for every title on my greatest TG-16 and TG-CD game lists that Chris has covered. I've added videos for the following games, and I'll do my best to keep up with future reviews.

	Air Zonk	Galaga '90	New Adventure Island
	Alien Crush	Kato & Ken Chan	Ninja Gaiden
	Bloody Wolf	Magical Chase	R-Type
	Dungeon Explorer	Neutopia	Terraforming
	Dungeon Explorer II