Wii owners have long since accepted the sad truth that classic arcade gems like The Simpsons Arcade Game, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game simply wouldn’t be appearing on the console, all while XBLA clearly dominates in the arcade category. But in 2009, Nintendo released the Virtual Console Arcade, a sector of titles from the coin-operated days of yore.  Finally, we thought, could Nintendo be readying the release of our favorite titles? Not even close.

The Virtual Console Arcade launched in the U.S. in March of 2009, and since its release, we’ve had a stellar 13 titles added to the library. And by stellar, I mean appalling. There’s Mappy, Rygar, and Star Force, but no Ms. Pac-Man, no OutRunners, and no BurgerTime. You’d think that the one next-gen system that can’t support HD graphics would be all over the idea of re-releasing the classics.

I have to admit, my hopes were way too high for the VCA. I dreamed of my favorite titles proudly positioned on my Wii System Menu. There’s still hope, but based on the near abandonment of regular Virtual Console releases, I think it’s safe to scratch your favorites off the list of “likely.”

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It’s a relatively quiet download weekend in the PAL regions, you’d think this was the calm before a storm or something. Among the titles, though, is the classic arcade version of Space Harrier, and the equivalent of Art Style: SOMNIUM. Not bad for a three game offering!

DSiWare

• Art Style: NEMREM (Nintendo, 500 Points)

WiiWare

• Fish’em All! (Abylight, 800 Points)

Virtual Console Arcade

• Space Harrier (SEGA, 800 Points)

GoNintendo

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Effective today, we’re getting another category of downloadable games for the Wii, with games that could potentially predate even those Commodore 64 titles on your system. The Virtual Console is going ARCADE.

Announced at GDC, the new Virtual Console Arcade launches with four classic titles not generally available for any other home console: Tecmo’s Starforce, and Namco Bandai’s Mappy, Gaplus, and The Tower of Druaga. On the way are Namco Bandai’s Solvalou and Sega’s Space Harrier, and all titles should be available at prices comparable to current NES and Master System games on the service.

You think they’ll try and release Donkey Kong again? Or even Pong for 500 dingers?

Gamers will be glad to have that additional storage space, as the Virtual Console will expand to include the arcade versions of classic third-party games like STARFORCE by Tecmo Ltd., and Mappy, Gaplus and Tower of Druaga by Namco Bandai Games Inc. starting today.

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