GDC: Nintendo details Virtual Console Arcade, lists games and prices

Nintendo just press released Virtual Console Arcade, the new Wii feature announced in this morning's Iwata keynote.

Gaplus, Mappy, The Tower of Druaga and STARFORCE are the channel's first games.

Get the full thing, with prices, after the break.

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WELCOME TO VIRTUAL CONSOLE ARCADE – LEGENDARY ARCADE GAMES NOW AVAILABLE TO PLAY AT HOME!

25th March 2009 – Say hello to Virtual Console Arcade - our new addition to the Virtual Console family of retro gaming systems! Inserting coins is now a thing of the past, as classic arcade games become available to download through the Wii Shop Channel, starting with Gaplus, Mappy, The Tower of Druaga and STARFORCE!

VIRTUAL CONSOLE ARCADE:

Each game features virtual credits that you can add at will. In some games you can also access a special menu to change settings such as game difficulty or number of lives.

Our Virtual Console Arcade line-up begins with four favourites from Namco Bandai and Tecmo (Gaplus, Mappy, The Tower of Druaga and STARFORCE) and other big-name publishers will also be bringing their wares to the Wii Shop Channel in the future, so watch this space!

GAPLUS® (NAMCO BANDAI, 500 Wii Points):

Remember the timeless classic, Galaga? Say hello to its successor, as the arcade version of Gaplus hits Virtual Console!

As before, you command a lone fighter ship, facing down hordes of invading aliens. Their mission: to take over your world. Your mission: to stop them at all costs. This time around you'll have the use of a number of collectable Blaster Heads, such as the Phalanx and Sidewinder, which will aid you in your battle - and some even let you bring enemies over to your side!

MAPPY® (NAMCO BANDAI, 500 Wii Points):

It's a cat-and-mouse game like no other as you take control of Mappy, a brave police-mouse, in this arcade classic!

A gang of thieving cats have stolen treasures from all over the city and brought them back to their mansion! Your job is to infiltrate their mansion and negotiate traps, trampolines and dead ends to find all of the treasures and bring them back to their rightful owners. But watch out! Goro and his hench-cats are stalking the mansion and if they find you, you're finished!

THE TOWER OF DRUAGA® (NAMCO BANDAI, 500 Wii Points):

Scale a skyscraper to rescue your lost love in The Tower of Druaga, the well-loved arcade classic!

Armed only with his trusty sword and shield, Gil has to battle his way through monsters and mazes to find the key to each floor and ascend to the next. As a bonus, Druaga's treasures are scattered throughout his tower. If Gil manages to grab even a few of them, he'll be a rich man...if he ever gets out of the tower.

STARFORCE™ (TECMO, 500 Wii Points):

A huge global hit at the arcades, this classic shooter blasts its way back on Virtual Console!

STARFORCE is an exhilarating vertical shooter, in which one button is your key to shooting down hordes of attacking enemy units. Sound simple? Try finding all of the hidden special bonuses scattered across 25 areas! Hunt down the super-secret target in the game for a whopping 1 million bonus points!

Virtual Console arcade games are available to download via the Wii Shop Channel using Nintendo Points. Downloaded games are saved to the Wii’s internal memory and added to the console’s Wii Menu allowing them to be easily accessed at any time.

Following the latest Wii Menu update, scheduled today, you will not only be able to save your Wii Shop Channel downloaded software on an SD Card but also launch them directly from your SD Card! If you feel that you need more space to store your Wii Channels and Virtual Console and WiiWare titles, then this is the solution!

This week’s titles join the 281 other classic games currently available for Virtual Console in Europe.