Got your Opa-Opa right here!

It's that special time of the week again! Thanks to Nintendo's consistent WiiWare Weekly service updates, it's Christmas (or respective holiday sensation) every Monday! New titles are available every week for Nintendo's Virtual Console and WiiWare downloadable services, and we'll guide you through what's hot and what's better left on the floor. But quality is key, and you can bet we love the good stuff!

The recent SNK-loving streak of hits comes to a close with this week's update to the popular Virtual Console service, as NeoGeo madness makes way for Sega Genesis side-scrollinlg shooting frenzy!  One rarely-seen release from the depths of Sega's better days joins a true gem that's never seen (an official) release outside its home country of Japan.  Import gamers take notice, this English-language friendly slice of heaven is waiting to be rediscovered.  The WiiWare gets some Pirate love all its own, which helps make the most stable release schedule in the industry just a bit sweeter.

So shiver the timbers and ready those photon-lazers, because there's more than enough action and adventure with this week's releases to keep you busy until the next over-marketed, over-hyped (not to mention over-priced) disappointment hits the physical shelves.  Do I sound just a bit cynical?  Never!

Gley Lancer (Sega Genesis) 900 Wii Points

If there's one thing hardcore Sega Genesis fans will remember fondly, its that their console 'o choice was the be-all, end-all for all things in the world of hardcore console shooters during its existance.  Whatever the console lacked in colors, CD-quality music, or anything else was made up in sheer veracity, action, intensity, and of course several multi-jointed, killer bosses.  In spades.  Although Nintendo has yet to exhaust many of the great American releases for the console, they've gone outside our borders and imported a great one.  As there's no blurb, here's some wiki-speak:

A side-scrolling sci-fi shooter, Gleylancer casts you as Lucia, a young pilot in the Space Fleet of starfighters that hijacks the experimental Gleylancer fighter to go explore the outer borders of known space in search of her missing father. Along the way Lucia will have to shoot down dozens of enemies in standard shooter fashion, while avoiding destruction and collecting power-ups that extend her ship’s energy, upgrade weapons and gather screen-clearing bombs.  The Gleylancer comes equipped with two hovering satellites that can receive weapon upgrades of their own, and can lock their positions at specific angles to increase your firepower and protect the player from enemy attacks. Features only a single-player campaign with two different endings depending on how the final stages are completed (e.g. if Lucia’s father is rescued or not).

Those with limited to no Japanese language skills needn't worry, as the game is very English friendly, and even if it wasn't...its a shooter.  You blow stuff up and try to avoid being blown up yourself.  There's still a large market for this these little gems of digital nirvana, and like many of you I'm crossing my fingers that we'll see that time come soon.

Super Fantasy Zone (Sega Genesis) 800 Wii Points

Pretty much take my lead-in for Glay Lancer (above) and paste it right here, but for Sega's Super Fantasy Zone (proving that back in the day, Nintendo didn't own the word Super) lets add gobs of some of the very best color the console could pump out and you've got a superior sequel to the Master System/arcade original.  Its the game that makes baby-talk seem less ridiculous, and while part of me wants to see a new Fantasy Zone, I'm not sure I'd trust the current heads at Sega to do it justice.  Even more wiki-talk in place of official blurbs:

The next-gen sequel to Fantasy Zone, Super Fantasy Zone starts as a strange gravitational force appears in the Menon planet, home of the evil Menon empire and thus a new threat looms over the Fantasy Zone.  In a sudden strike by the Menon forces O-Papa, Opa-Opa’s father, is fatally wounded. Thus Opa-Opa once again sets forth to destroy the Menon empire and avenge his father.  Gameplay is identical to the previous games, you control Opa-Opa on a freely scrolling 2D game world and you must seek and destroy all the enemy generators in each level in classic arcade shooter fashion and then face a boss fight. Upon successful completion of a level, you get to spend the coins you collected on it at an upgrade shop, fitting your ship with better weapons and upgrades, and then you head out for the next level.

With two excellent shooters (Namreh would call 'em shmups) available for your twitch-finger reflexes this week, its a good time for fans to start spending those Wii Points that've been collecting dust.  Super Fantasy Zone is a nice blast from the past, and who knows if we'll ever see another chapter in this bizarre, opa-opa franchise.

Pirates: The Key Of Dreams (WiiWare) 1,000 Wii Points

This week's singular WiiWare release is in fact a sequel to the original Pirates: Duel on the High Seas that was released for the Nintendo DS, only now you've got some full-console power to add plenty more booty to your sacking and looting.  Pirate action, with multiplayer madness - what's not to love?  Let's get the blurb, straight from the source:

Sail your way across the Caribbean, cannons blazing, looting booty, running blockades, and ultimately, battling Blackbeard himself!  The player takes control of a Navy Captain sent deep undercover as a ruthless Pirate, in order to seek out and retrieve The Key of Dreams, a valuable and dangerous cursed artifact. Rescue castaways to bolster your ship's crew, gaining performance increases to your navigation, weaponry, structural integrity and cartography skills. Collect increasingly powerful weaponry including Rockets, Mines, Chain Shot, Saw Blades and a Flamethrower to hurl destruction into the path of your enemies. Play against three of your scurvy friends or AI opponents in pitched multiplayer battles over 35 levels, in seven themed environments.  Choose from different ship types that reflect your play style, and play in turbo mode if you think you're Pirate enough! 

Fans of the original should find plenty to like here, and with the added pleasures of 4-player battles to help spice up the mix, there should be enough replay value for some time to come.  Its a good thing that our society tolerates the whole pirate thing (at least digitally and on movie screens), because if these chums were any other lobbying party there be many an issue to deal with.  Argh...