Four for WiiWare/Virtual Console

Nintendo has released a pair of WiiWare games and two more for the Virtual Console as part of the latest phase of the Hanabi Festival.

Sadly there's nothing to rival last week's amazing Super Mario RPG, but the WiiWare titles might be interesting.

The first is MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade, where up to three players tackle three separate puzzle games - based around circle, square and bar shapes - at the same time on the same screen, each trying to score a million points and each player's actions impacting the other puzzles.

MaBoShi also allows you to use Mii characters and save off replays, which you can distribute to friends via WiiConnect24. There's even a DS download version for taking The Three Shape Arcade on the road with you. MaBoShi costs 800 Wii Points (GBP 6 / EUR 8 approx).

The other WiiWare release is Critter Round-Up from Konami, where players have to mend fences to put animals back in their cages. Or as the press release puts it, "The critters have escaped and the barnyard is in chaos!"

Fence-mending is puzzle-based, it says, with over 50 levels set in areas like the Outback and Arctic, and various mini-games including Snowball Soccer, Chicken Catch, Fence Trap and potentially the odd one out, "Predator Rampage". All this and four-player competitive/co-operative multiplayer for 1000 Wii Points (GBP 7 / EUR 10 approx).

As for the Virtual Console additions, first is Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa, which came out on the Famicom Disk System in 1988, and must not be misread as "Bio Miracle Bukkake Upa", lest the amazing story take on a terrifying new significance.

It's a Japanese platform game, see, in which a baby named Upa fights people by inflating them using his magic rattle, and can then bounce or ride around on their ballooned bodies.

"By accident, Upa smashes an urn that releases the spirit of Zai, an evil goat-like demon who proceeds to absorb the life force of the kingdom’s adults and kidnap every baby!" the press release explains. 600 Wii Points for this, or approximately GBP 4.20 / EUR 6. Bearded ex-pats in Asia should probably steer clear.

And finally there's a damp squib to go out on - the NES version of Dig Dug. "This original Famicom version was unavailable outside of Japan, until now, making this tunnel-digging classic a real monster-bashing gem for all Virtual Console fans!" the press release protests.

However, Dig Dug is available on about four billion other formats and we suspect you'll be hard-pressed to get excited about it or value for money out of it, especially with Hanabi inflation pushing the asking price up to 600 Wii Points (GBP 4.20 / EUR 6).

Look out for our thoughts on MaBoShi, Critter Round-Up, Bukkake thing and Dig Dug in a forthcoming WiiWare/Virtual Console Roundup.