Looking for recommendations on virtual console games for the Wii; interested in games I've never played before, and I'm considering a handful of action RPGs and shooters, namely, stuff I can just pick up and play, and get back to easily even after long periods of withdrawal.

Here's what I'm looking at already, to help give you an idea of what I'm looking for, or perhaps you'd like to discourage me from something I'm otherwise interested in:

Bolded titles are the ones I've never played before

NES

-Castlevania
-Castlevania II
-Double Dragon
-Kirby's Adventure (Already played)
-Legend of Zelda (Already played)
-Legend of Zelda II ~ Adventures of Link (Already played)
-Metroid (Already played)
-River City Ransom
-Star Tropics (Already played)
-Star Tropics II ~ Zoda's Revenge (Already played)

SNES

-Actraiser
-Breath of Fire II (already played)
-Contra III (already played)
-Donkey Kong Country (already played)
-Donkey Kong Country 2 (Already played)
-Donkey Kong Country 3 (Already played)
-F-Zero (Already played)
-Final Fight
-Harvest Moon
-Kirby's Dreamland 3 (Already played)
-Legend of Zelda ~ Link to the Past (Already played)
-Secret of Mana (Already played)
-Super Mario RPG (Already played)
-Super Street Fighter II (Already played)
-Super Mario World (Already played)

Nintendo 64

-F-Zero X (Already played)
-Kirby 64 (Already played)
-Legend of Zelda ~ Ocarina of Time (Already played)
-Paper Mario (Already played)
-Pokemon Snap (Already played)
-Sin & Punishment
-Super Mario 64 (Already played)
-Yoshi's Story (Already played)

SEGA Gensis

-Beyond Oasis
-Comix Zone
-Dynamite Headdy
-Earthworm Jim
-Grey Lancer
-Golden Axe
-Light Crusader
-Phantasy Star II
-Phantasy Star III
-Phantasy Star IV
-Ristar
-Shining Force
-Shining Force II
-Shining in the Darkness

Turbo Grafx 16

-Double Dungeons
-Dungeon Explorer
-Dynastic Hero
-Ys Book I & II

Neo Geo

-Fatal Fury
-Fatal Fury 2
-World Heroes

I've only played the NES and SNES games on that list and most of them are good (I'd start with Actraiser. River City Random is also excellent).

I need to get Phantasy Star IV...

Final Fight is fun enough but at $5 I'd pass it up... I'd go with River City Ransom.

Isn't Ninja Gaiden on the VC? I'd recommend that but find the sequel much more enjoyable and somewhat more forgiving.

If you're considering Phantasy Star, avoid PSIII. It's a stinker. Some of those you haven't played are surprising, but I don't necessarily feel comfortable advising you to spend money on them when console emulation on PCs is so well-established. I'll recommend River City Ransom if you have someone else to play with though, as multiplayer on emulators usually consists of too much effort and not enough reward.

For beat-em-ups, you can't go wrong with Final Fight, Golden Axe, Double Dragon, or River City Ransom. (Those would be my order of preference.)  Ristar's a fantastic platformer, and Sin & Punishment a shooter of equal merit - though I'd recommend using a Gamecube controller if you're picking up S&P.

Of the three Neo Geo fighters you listed, I would go with Fatal Fury 2.  (I'm hoping they bring World Heroes 2 over some day; it's a far better game than the first.)  You're not interested in Samurai Shodown 2?

Must Haves (all the major Nintendo standards, really):

Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES), Legend of Zelda: LTTP (SNES), F-ZERO (SNES), Donkey Kong Country 1&2 (SNES), Super Mario World (SNES), Mega Man 3 (NES), Super Mario RPG (SNES), Actraiser (SNES), TMNT (NES)

Ability to save anywhere is wonderful...

...ok that last one is a nostalgic favorite not really shared by too many others.

And I don't own F-ZERO on VC but I know I should.

Never had a TG16 or Neo Geo, didn't have any magazines that recommended SEGA Genesis games back in the day, but other than that, yeah, people ARE surprised at some of the NES and SNES games I passed up back in the day, but I didn't have my own money back then like I do now.

And I'll agree that it's bullocks that virtual console games cost more than $5; not like it really costs them that much more to provide certain titles over other ones, but it's really hard to come by emulators and ROMs these days, and you always have to worry about viral problems with them.

Nintendo REALLY needs to get their rear in gear with providing more virtual console titles; why the hell isn't Super Mario World 2 ~ Yoshi's Island there, when Super Mario World, Yoshi's Story, and Super Mario 64 are?!

I've never heard of viruses being an issue, although maybe you use Limewire, in which case everything is potentially viral. I won't argue about it though, if there's one thing I've found out it's that you can't change someone's downloading habits easily.

Yoshi's Island used an expansion chip. I doubt they'll bother to add support for it.

Wonder Boy in Monster World (Sega Genesis/MD) - this is really really great. An action RPG platformer with cutesy graphics that still hold up very well today, and some non-linear exploration. I also have Dragon's Curse but it's not nearly as good. I just wish they would release Chiki Chiki Boys.

Ristar is the best Genesis game on the service, but if you've a PS2 you can just get the Genesis Collection to get many of those listed for under $20.

But yeah, Ristar. Jump, swing, and headbutt - standard platform tropes, but executed extremely well. Well, stage 6-1 is kind of BS-ish, but besides that, high recommendation.

I don't think the use of a special chip would stop them that much... I mean Capcom had X3 ported to the PSX (and later X2 and X3 in the PS2 collection by an outside developer but I guess mode 7 from the SNES MM7 was too much for the other collection? hmmm...) despite their use of the Cx4 chip in the SNES carts. Even emulator writters were eventually able to crack the S-DD1 chips in the Star Ocean and Street Fighter Alpha 2 carts. Of course, that acomplishment is deminished by the fact SFA2 had much better ports since day one and Star Ocean is now on the PSP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cx4_chip#CX4

Seems like pretty much any Neo Geo game ever made is available or is coming out on compilation thanks to the awesome people at SNK! So, I would not suggest purchasing any Neo Geo games unless you only have a Wii. As for some recommendations:

Phantasy Star IV
Shining Force
Shining Force II
Shining in the Darkness

All those are amazing RPGs! Still as addictive today as ever! Just keep in mind that the graphics and sound are obviously sub-par by today's standards, but I personally don't think it detracts from the game. Also, Shining in the Darkness is like an amazing fairy tale, but it's hard! I suggest looking up maps of the labyrinth before attempting it. Even with the maps, it's no cake walk! Shining Force and SFII are both straightforward, and amazing! PSIV is SO much fun, and a fairly easy RPG. If you have the time, those will last a while, and you'll be playing some of the best JRPGs ever made!

cheers,

-avatar!

At least 14 of the games on your list are on GameTap.  It'd cost $109.00 to buy those 14 games on Virtual Console.  By contrast, a subscription to GameTap costs $59.95 a year if you select the annual billing option.

Ehhh, don't know if I'd actually manage to play through all those games in a year, though. Besides, pay the $5-10, and I can play the game as much as I want, as opposed to having to pay every so often.

Yeeeaaahhh, I suppose I'm pouring money into an evil corporation that's able to give us this service for really no extra cost, but...whatever. When you REALLY want it, you gotta pay.

...

Why isn't Crystalis offered through the Wii Shop Channel yet?!

Well, if you REALLY want to recommend me a place where I could just d-load the stuff for free, then, by all means, go ahead!

That was a port. We're not talking about porting, we're talking about emulation (the Virtual Console). And for five to ten bucks a pop at most, Nintendo isn't likely to add support for a chip that only two or three games ever made use of. Yes, emulator authors have been able to add support for just about every expansion chip. They do this as a hobby in their free time and they don't get paid for it. Nintendo has to make money off of it or they're not going to bother.

Well the emulators themselves are perfectly and unambiguously legal. You can download any of them from their individual homepages. I think Adam would probably prefer people not to post ROM links on the board, but if you learn to use BitTorrent you'd find every game imaginable that way.

Surprised I haven't seen any love for Ys Book I&II so far in this thread.  That was the first Wii VC purchase I made and I certainly don't regret it.  Of course I'd had the TG16 game back in the day but only with the ability to listen to the music, so half the fun is just hearing the music in the game.  It's a basic one and I know there's supposed to be a port coming through for the DS, but still think it's worth the money.

music = good.

"bumping" people to attack with your sword = less good.

DS version please!

(my experience: if you hadn't played the TG-16 version at time of release, you'll be annoyed to death by the experience of "attacking" enemies.)

For anyone downloading Genesis games...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Genesis_Collection

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic%27s_ … Collection

I LOVE compilations

cheers,

-avatar!

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for PS3 and 360 http://www.sega.com/games/?g=577 is coming out soon and it will have both the Phantasy Star ANG Shining Force games, I'd wait for that if you've got the consoles. Also, Ys Book I & II is pretty good but there's a remake version coming out stateside from Atlus this Winter, so you might want to wait for it if you've got a DS.

Edit: Avatar beat me to it, should have checked his second link too

I remember thinking the same thing at first with the Turbo CD version of Ys all those years ago but once I started playing it didn't bother me at all.  It looks a little goofy but from what I recall it kept the action moving at a fast pace, and was just as fun to play as any other action RPG at the time.

Then again maybe I was so bedazzled by the cinemas and the music that I just didn't care   When I do finally get my Wii connected, Ys will probably the first game I download (followed shortly by Super Castlevania IV and Sin & Punishment).

Ys struck me as being pretty good, actually. In fact...*possibly controversial opinion in hidden text*I think it did a better job at streamlining the monotony of battles than FFXII did - it's far less passive in its execution.

Yeah, apparently Chiki Chiki Boys is available on the Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2 as the arcade version "Mega Twins", but I'd still rather have the Sega version.

And Monster World isn't on that collection.

Of the stuff you haven't played, I'd recommend ActRaiser and Sin & Punishment.

Cool, cool.

Y'know, I actually wanted to play ActRaiser back in the day, I mean, I thought even just the logo was cool, but my older brother wanted a different game, and back then, what he said went.

I'm imagining Sin & Punishment must be REALLY good, considering that a sequel's coming out for the Wii.

Ys I & II, I have high hopes for after Ys VI.

Those're definitely three I'm gonna get.