Wii Virtual Console Releases for July 2, 2007

With the Fourth of July around the corner and Canada Day just happening the other day, what better way to celebrate than with a new threesome of Virtual Console games based around those holidays?

Yeah, not happening. There’s an unfortunate lack of classic games about anything having to do with the United States winning its independence from Britain or Canada officially becoming a country and not just colonies of the European powers. In fact, the list is pretty much one game: Koei’s superb, but often overlooked turn-based strategy game for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, Liberty or Death.

Given that fact, Nintendo is still working the idea of liberation into their games this week, whether it’s liberating the Earth, the world of Subcon, or a far-away kingdom from an evil force. This week's trio of games is:

Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES, 1 player, rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points):
Join Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad in an incredible fantasy world on a quest to save the day. This time, they have little more than vegetables to defend themselves with. Pick up items and throw them at your adversaries to clear levels in seven massive worlds. Even enemies can be picked up and tossed across the screen. Each character has a unique set of abilities: Luigi can jump higher and farther than any of the other characters, Toad can dig extremely fast and pull items out of the ground quicker than anyone and the princess is the only one who can jump and hover temporarily. This unique installment in the Mario series will keep you coming back for more.

Ecco: The Tides of Time (Sega Genesis, 1 player, rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii
Points): In this sequel to Ecco the Dolphin, everyone's favorite underwater hero must battle the Vortex Queen and her hive of drones. The wicked queen followed Ecco back to Earth from the future and quickly established her hive. It's up to Ecco to defeat this alien threat by navigating the depths of his side-scrolling world, solving puzzles and receiving help from his marine-mammal friends. When Ecco used the time machine to save his pod, he split the stream of time in two. He must now restore the rift before the world is permanently changed into a mechanical world, sucked dry by the Vortex.

Article Author: Brian Szabelski

Brian Szabelski is the Assistant Gaming Editor at Blogcritics.org as well as Associate Editor at Tomopop. He also maintains his own blog on IGN, "The Minus World".

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