Pilotwings for VC this Friday!

By Robert Purchese Published 18 August, 2009

With Minis March Again! on DSi.

Nintendo plans to add Pilotwings to the Virtual Console and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! to DSiWare this coming Friday. Both will cost 800 Nintendo Points (approx £5.60 / €8).

Pilotwings was made for the SNES by Shigeru Miyamoto, who's done some other games since then - notably Wii Music. The idea is to master various aerial pursuits by flying through hoops and then landing perfectly. There's sky-diving, biplane flying and even an experiment Rocketbelt to get to grips with. It was great (still is - Ed.).

Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! is a sequel to Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, would you believe. That game was decent, but the new one should be better, because Again! has new levels and a Construction Zone to make your own in. And creations can be shared over Wi-Fi with the world, or locally with a friend.

Those of you trekking out to gamescom in Cologne, Germany this week should head to the Nintendo stand for an early play. And that's definitely what we would do in a hall full of the latest and greatest games.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • wizlon #1 3 years ago

    Never played Pilotwings, loved Pilotwings 64 though. Might have to pick it up and give it a crack.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #2 3 years ago

    Oooh yeah... where's me credit card?

  • macmurphy #3 3 years ago

    Played Pilotwings after Pilotwings 64. I know it's sacrelidge, but it was a bit of a let down and I don't think it aged very well. Pilotwings 64 one of my all time favourites, roll on pilotwings Wii.

  • gimo80 #4 3 years ago

    YAY! I absolutely adore the original Pilotwings, so many memories! It's incredibly challenging though, especially the helicopter levels later on in the game...and is the reason why I have 2 horrifically mutilated and deformed controllers. Forgive me Nintendo.

  • speedjack #5 3 years ago

    For reasons best known to Nintendo (greed ?) DSiware points are more than Wiiware points.

    1000 Wii points = £7

    1000 DSi ware points = £9

    Therefore Pilotwings = £5.60

    March Of The Minis = £7.20

    btw - wasn't Bit.Trip Core meant to be out this week ?
    Edited by 2 at 18/08/09 @ 11:37

  • Der_tolle_Emil #6 3 years ago

    Pilotwings on the SNES was great but I can imagine that playing it after Pilotwings 64 will give you the wrong impression. PW64 was much more relaxed while the SNES original was quite tough as far as the challenges are concerned. It's still a great game but personally I prefer PW64 as well; I also really hope that we will get PW64 on VC. I've put countless hours into that game, back then when 3d was new flying around as Birdman for hours was an absolutely incredible experience.

  • seasidebaz #7 3 years ago

    @speedjack:

    Don't be silly. Nintendo points cards can be used on either system. Don't buy direct from the console.

  • Bazfrag #8 3 years ago

    Awesome game... apart from the heiicopter mission after you gain your pilotwings. Worth picking up. Mode 7 may hurt the eyes a bit compared to today's 3D but i dont care.

  • Toothball #9 3 years ago

    Ah, Pilotwings. I had this on the SNES but wasn't very good at it back then. Used cheats quite often to play the Helicopter missions, but couldn't defeat those either. It was fun, but I enjoyed the N64 quite a lot more. Never managed to get the last ten points on the last Gyrocopter set though.

  • septimus #10 3 years ago

    One of the best games ever. Thankfully still have it for my SNES, so no need to waste more money on Wii.

  • speedjack #11 3 years ago

    @ seasidebaz

    Fair point.

    Still begs the question : Why does Nintendo penalize credit card users ?

    Weird.

  • Ninja_Tino #12 3 years ago

    Dare you play Cursed Mountain?

  • KrissAkabusi #13 3 years ago

    Great news. Really looking forward to this. Don't think I've played it since around 1995. And I second calls for Pilotwings 64 to be added, that was an amazing game in its time. I don't think they should do a Wii version of Pilotwings as such, they should hold off and do one for the Wii HD because the graphics were an important part of the 64 bit version.

  • peterfll #14 3 years ago

    I was ace at the SNES original, but that went the way of part exchange back in the mid-nineties... so I will buy again on the VC service for sure for sure.

    I still have my N64 and N64 Pilotwings. It is still a great game.

  • LazyDan #15 3 years ago

    @speedjack - it's the same on XBox Live - never buy via the console, you'll get bummed. Don't do the monthly direct debit XBox Live Gold subscription either - you pay way more. Don't know why either Nintendo or MS work in this way, but there you go.

    This is so purchased. It's about time Nintendo released another AAA on the VC. What's still missing?

    Yoshi's Island?
    Super Mario Kart SNES?
    Pilotwings 64?
    Perfect Dark/Goldeneye (may never happen)
    Super Mario All Stars
    Final Fantasy 3/6?

  • LudusSolers #16 3 years ago

    At last!! (Can we have Super Mario Kart SNES now too please?)

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #17 3 years ago

    1000 Wii points = £7

    1000 DSi ware points = £9

    I didn't know that! Thanks for pointing it out - I'll look into it.

  • KDR_11k #18 3 years ago

    The answer to the why 9 GBP question is the same as always: The GBP lost too much value.

  • snick #19 3 years ago

    So they've sorted out the Mode 7 problems they had and SNES mariokart is out in Japan... surely only a matter of time until we get it, BUT HOW MUCH TIME.

  • lavalant #20 3 years ago

    I'm still amazed at how slow Nintendo are at bringing their back catalouge to the Wii, still no SNES mario kart?

  • rommy667 #21 3 years ago

    Great news :) I know ppl who have mario kart for snes on wii like 2 yrs ago..............

  • Fido128 #22 3 years ago

    Oh crap, I almost lost it, before realising that this was the SNES version. It's still good, but it ain't the N64 game. That's one of my personal top 10.

  • peterfll #23 3 years ago

    Some games, Mario Kart and Pilotwings (others I think too?) had that special DSP chip in addition to using the native Mode 7 functionality, to produce those snazzy graphics. I heard it was emulation of this additional DSP function that had prevented other DSP games being released on the VC?

    Hopefully Starfox and Stunt Race FX might see the light of day when they sort out the emulation of the Super FX chip too...

  • Paulie_P #24 3 years ago

    @peterfll - I did the same thing.

    I have been waiting for ages for this to be available on Virtual Console. I'm still angry at you Nintendo but I'll buy it anyway.

  • MrsPacMan #25 3 years ago

    Let's have PW64

  • scouserfuller9 #26 3 years ago

    @lazydan - Starwing is an awsome SNES game we're still waiting for!!! Would like to see DK 64 and Diddy Kong Racing appearing too but whether we will or not depends on those stupid agreements between Nintendo and Microsoft. I'll be amazed if we see Banjo's and Conker's games on the N64 appearing on the Wii Shop too!?

  • SG #27 3 years ago

    I'll defo be getting Pilotwings - one of the N64's gems that I never picked up AND there's no loss of rumble as it didn't have it, so I won't be losing out.

    EDIT: Oh, PW not PW64. Hmmm...
    Edited by 1 at 20/08/09 @ 12:40