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Everyone who hasn’t been living in a cave since last November knows that the Nintendo Wii offers a Virtual Console that allows the user to download classics from the golden age of video games onto his or her Wii hard drive. Naturally, the Marios, Sonics, and Zeldas were being downloaded like crazy within the first few months, but it’s been almost a year now and some noteworthy games are still missing from the Virtual Console’s library, despite weekly updates. Here are just a few titles that most gamers would gladly spend their Wii Points on. _____________________________________________________________________________ MANIAC MANSION (NES, 1990)

By the time this game came out for the NES in 1990, it had already appeared in several forms on PC and Commodore 64. Even though the NES version was slightly edited (family-friendly company Nintendo wanted expressions like “muff diver” taken out of the game), it doesn’t change the fact that it was one of the most unique games ever released for the 8-bit system, and remains a cult fan favorite to this day. It was a satire survival-horror game before survival-horror was even a genre. Trying to save the world, and Dave’s girlfriend, from the insane and homicidal Edison family (not to mention a murderous purple meteor) is a video game experience that can’t be matched. _____________________________________________________________________________ CHRONO TRIGGER (SNES, 1995)

Combine the words “Squaresoft” (which is what Square Enix used to be known as) and “RPG” and you know you’re going to get something amazing, and that’s exactly what this was. In addition to a complex storyline, Chrono Trigger was among the earliest games to have multiple endings and side quests, which are now RPG staples. Re-released as part of the Final Fantasy Chronicles for PS1 in 2001, this classic role-playing game is widely considered to be one of the best games of all time. _____________________________________________________________________________ GOLDENEYE 007 (N64, 1997)

First-person shooters certainly weren’t new in 1997, but GoldenEye earned itself a spot in the FPS Hall of Fame when it was released. Based on the James Bond movie of the same name, GoldenEye’s single-player mode was neat, but couldn’t compare to the multiplayer deathmatches, which N64 owners and their friends spent countless hours engaged in. Interestingly enough, the multiplayer mode almost didn’t make it into the game, but was added in during the last stages of development to showcase the full power of the system, including its ability to have four players at once. Single-player or multiplayer, this game would be a surefire hit on the Wii, and Nintendo owners of this generation should be allowed to enjoy it just as they did ten years ago. _____________________________________________________________________________ Crystalis (NES, 1990)

If Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda had a baby, Crystalis would be it. Sure, it’s not nearly as well known as either of those titles, but its excellent reviews upon its release were not for nothing. Set in a post-apocalyptic future (in the far-off year of 1997), the game’s storyline may have been a little campy, but it also had an awesome twist ending, and the gameplay was a lot of fun. It was re-released on the Game Boy Color in 2000, but the intro and ending were changed, and it’s regarded as an inferior port of the original. Original copies are scarce and overpriced, but for 500 points, this one would be a good buy. _____________________________________________________________________________ EARTHWORM JIM (SEGA GENESIS, 1994)

A hilarious platform shooter, Earthworm Jim had something a lot of games of the early 90s lacked: a sense of humor. Sure, it was juvenile humor, with locations like "Snot a Problem" and "Buttville" and enemies named after various bodily liquids and parts, but that doesn’t make it any less funny. Even though the game didn’t take itself too seriously, it was still fun platforming action, with creative levels and silly characters, and the gameplay holds up after all these years.

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