The Mysterious Murasame Castle debuts in Ireland on 3DS VC

Known in Japan as Nazo no Murasame Jo, it's one of Nintendo's other franchises that's usually known only in culturally celebratory articles. Hmm... I wonder if I should make a label for this?

Anyway the game is getting its first official release in Ireland on 3DS VC this week. I can only assume it's gonna be in 60 Hz.

Penguin Adventure MSX heading to Japanese Wii U VC *sigh*

I love this game. They probably won't release it on our VC though and even if they did, they'd probably hamper us with the 50 Hz version.

At least we have good MSX emulators.

(What we really need though is a remake or something)

Don't you start with the 50 Hz shit Konami! WE WANT 60 HZ GAMES

I just heard the European version of Legend of the Mystical Ninja for SNES will be on the VC this week :(

Konami! Don't dump 50 Hz only games on us! It is a HATEFUL thing to do to your European fans! You put the 60 Hz Contra 3 there the other week, so why not continue with that?!

Seriously Konami, don't make a habit of this. You're in charge of too many VC games for this to continue.

Mario 3 in 60 Hz for Wii U and 3DS. Horray!

Just saw the listings for this week's eShop release list. One of the best games ever will be in glorious full speed for us to enjoy!

I gotta keep an eye on Nintendo because recently they released Link to the Past in 50 Hz on Wii U VC. Ouch :(

Link to the Past 50 Hz on Wii U again :(

Corrected aspect ratio so no borders and there was optimisation in the original release but still. Fuck sake.

The important thing about Wii VC to Wii U VC discounts

Before and after you transfer from Wii to Wii U you can still buy Wii VC games and then they'll be offered at a discount on Wii U VC.

HOWEVER

If you buy on Wii U VC before Wii VC, there won't be any discount on Wii VC and you'll have to buy it at full price.

Here's one of the important things of note to Europeans:

Nintendo are offering 60 Hz versions of games on the Wii U VC but you don't have a choice to switch to 50 Hz. Therefore it would work better if you buy the 50 Hz game on Wii VC first and then later buy the discounted version on Wii U VC—that is, if you want a choice. Also, so far this only applies to NES and SNES games.

Then again, you really should be able to get every version of a VC game when you buy it whether it's 50 Hz, 60 Hz or even in a different language.

I still don't know if Street Gangs on 3DS VC is at the proper speed

Sorry, I know it's out today.  The trailer for the game seems to play music at a good speed but I don't know if I can take that as an indication. I don't know the game very well and there could be something somewhere I'm missing.

Uh-oh... River City Ransom is coming to 3DS VC under its European name Street Gangs....

I just heard about this coming out this week and I'm a bit nervous. Will Street Gangs play at the proper 60 Hz speed?

Balloon Fight got re-released on Wii U VC in full 60 Hz!!

Excellent news! It was the first VC game for Wii U and caused a justified backlash when it was only in 50 Hz.

Really glad that they went back and changed it to the proper speed. Well done Nintendo, and don't ever let it happen again.

Super Metroid PAL & NTSC don't seem to be that different in speed

There's a video doing the rounds now comparing the 50 Hz/60 Hz versions of the game. I don't have the link handy but the PAL 50 Hz version doesn't seem to suffer at all with regards to the speed. I guess they did a good job on the optimisation when they first brought it to Europe. I'd say it's fairly safe to buy it on the Wii U VC.

I only know that from looking at it though and as we all know, playing is believing.

60 Hz NES Mega Man 5 is on the 3DS VC now

How come Super Metroid for Wii U VC has to come out in 50 Hz? The 60 Hz releases like Mega Man 5 here are only going to bully and make fun of it!

Super Metroid on Wii U VC will be in 50 Hz

Another case of this version of the game being optimised for PAL. Nintendo still aren't giving us the option to choose which version we want which as usual is my main gripe.

Otherwise I don't feel that strongly about it as I've only played this game once. I am interested in it though and I would pay the limited 30cents price no problem.

Wii U VC first batch of third party games are in 60 Hz

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=201724

Nice work by Nintendaan and GoNintendo there.

The PR should be telling us this!

Wii U VC and games that were originally optimised for PAL

This is a big topic and it's kind of started with the release of the PAL version of Kirby's Adventure on the Wii U VC. The feedback I'm seeing from this is kind of mixed. Some bits like the brief cinematics are slower but the game controls and plays just fine. So it's a mixed bag. I didn't mind it the other day when I tried my original NES cart of the game. I think in these cases it's a matter of taste and what kind of mood you're in when you want to play.

This is why I want an option to choose between 50 Hz and 60 Hz, not at the download stage, but at the VC application's options menu. The download itself should ideally contain all regional versions of the game.

Wii U's Virtual Console launches! Opening line-up in 60 Hz!

This is besides the Famicom 30th anniversary titles of course.

The fact that they're all in 60 Hz is glorious. The SNES games still cost 8 Euro and the NES games 5 Euro but hey, back in the old days of the Wii VC you were lucky to get a 60 Hz game at all. When you did it was called a "festival" and they cost an extra 1 Euro.

I don't know the exact list but Super Mario World is one of them. :)

Kirby's Adventure was always optimised at the correct speed in Europe, so Wii U VC release will be the PAL version

So says this snippet from the press release on this week's Nintendo downloads:

"This is the European version of the game, which was optimised originally by the developer to offer gameplay and music speed similar to the US version. Demos and animations may run at PAL speed. The aspect ratio has been corrected for this release."

That's an interesting development in the world of VC news. Needless to say though I will be scrutinising this release when it comes out on Thursday. Watch this space...

60 Hz Mega Man 3 is out on the 3DS VC

The 60 Hz loveliness continues. (By the way, I forgot to trumpet 60 Hz Punch-Out!! on the Wii U VC).

For some reason the Americans got this before we did, whereas with the first two Mega Man games we got them first. But there we go. It's available.

Ireland gets 60 Hz F-Zero for Wii U VC. Keep this up please Nintendo!

This is more like it. I shall expect this from now on.

60Hz is essential but I still want 50 Hz as an option. I'm glad to see Nintendo are on the right track though.

50Hz/60Hz and PAL/NTSC don't apply in the world of handheld games.

Thank goodness our handheld games don't perform worse than handheld games from other regions.

The 50Hz/60Hz thing applies to electricity. Handhelds are powered by batteries so that solves a big problem.

PAL/NTSC are different standards of televisions and would you believe PAL is supposed to be superior? Handhelds have their own screens.

Handhelds live by their own rules. Consoles live by the rules of others. An example of which are tv manufacturers and retailers. None of them give a damn about video games and we constantly have to adapt to their negligence. A modern day example is the input lag you get with these new tvs.

If only we could take what makes handhelds work so well and apply them to game consoles! I'd love a game console that had it's own output device like a projector or some super flexible screen you pull out like a curtain or something.

Miiverse footage of reactions to another 50 Hz Virtual Console

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWEJiQg5-9I

Very nice and also works as a compelling advertisement for Nintendo brand social networking. I especially like the grumpy looking Balloon Fight guy.

Haha I'm starting to sound like Miyamoto and co. when they were commenting on their favourite Mario and Zelda flipnotes. (They should totally do that again for stuff like this)