Virtual Console, thou art a cruel mistress

So the most recent Virtual Console dropping was just that, a steamy dropping. Why Nintendo would deem it necessary to release Baseball for a system that shipped with motion-controlled Wii Sports Baseball is beyond me. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe they hit send before the email was finished. Maybe not. Urban Champion apparently belongs in the very same sewer the character in the game has been tasked with hitting foes into. Adding insult to injury was that the one saving grace of the latest VC update, a 5-player Turbo Grafx-16 title called Dungeon Explorer, was left out due to bug issues.

“It appears that there were some last minute bugs that needed to be addressed, so we have decided to hold back to see what can be done. As some of you know, when games are played on an emulator, which is the case for Virtual Console games, sometimes funky things happen. Emulation technology is not perfect, so not all games work right from the get go. In this particular case, the bug was serious enough to have a the [sic] release schedule changed. I’m sure we’ll have an update on when the game is coming soon.” — Hudson’s John Master Lee

So there was a stinker of a release or two for New Year’s. We can vent and rant, as is our right as consumers, but isn’t that part of the fun? Every Monday is a surprise, for better or worse. No one, save the Game Genie, bats 1.000, and I expect there to be several more clunkers over the course of 2007. There will also be mega hits, like Mario Kart 64 or Burger Time. Part of the fun of the VC, I think, is that it brings back the entire NES/SNES experience. That includes the duds too. Complain away though, by all means — and especially to me. I currently sit on 2000 pts and have no intention of spending them for another six months or so. Ultimately it is you who hits the purchase button (thereby leaving you with a worthless 100 or 200 points or so in your account).

[Via 4cr]

P.S. — Urban Champion may stink, but it’s rumored to be the inspiration for the book/film Fight Club.