Last year, the Hanabi Festival brought several weeks of themed VC releases, special because they had previously only been released in Japan. This year, that celebration is back, and European and Australian Wii owners can pick from two games that were Japan-only and the US version of a third game that was Japan/US-only.

• Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou (TurboGrafx-CD, 900 Wii Points)
• Final Soldier (TurboGrafx-16, 700 Wii Points)
• Columns III: Revenge of Columns (Mega Drive, 900 Wii Points)

The United States and Canada celebrated Hanabi Festival week with several Japanese-only releases last year as well, most notably getting Sin and Punishment. Since those of us in North America have already played Columns III, perhaps we’ll soon be getting a different game that may have been released here, but few have played… If not Monday, then maybe later this month.