Weekly Download: Hanabi continues the fun

The second week of the Hanabi Festival is being celebrated by Nintendo, who will deliver two games apiece for Virtual Console and WiiWare; and the fantastic Boxlife finally hitting the local DSiWare store

‘Bomberman 94’ will get its first release in Australia for 700 points. The game first appeared on the Turbografx 15 years ago- a console we never got here. NES classic ‘Zoda’s Revenge: Star Tropics II’ looks to be a decent adventure offering, going for 600 points.

WiiWare will be updated with 5 Spots Party and Karate Phants: Gloves of Glory for 500 and 800 points respectively. 5 Spots Party is a simple spot-the-difference game, making players test their skills of observation in identifying differences between two very similar pictures. Gloves of Glory will be the more meatier WiiWare game this week, with its unique cartoon-styled fighting action.

But the one game we’re really excited about isn’t on the Wii. ‘ArtStyle: Boxlife’ – the western naming for Japan’s Hacolife (watch our impressions of the Japanese version here) – hits the DSiWare store for 500 points. The at-first unassuming game works around the simple mechanic of cutting up flat surfaces into 6 square segments which can be folded up into a box. It doesn’t sound like much, but is incredibly addictive and a welcome addition to the selection of games on the Aussie DSiWare store.

So what’s the big deal over Hanabi? The festival is a traditional fireworks celebration in Japan that has its roots in the 17th century ‘Edo’ period. Nintendo have taken the ‘celebrations of old’ influence of the festival as an opportunity to push retro games on the Virtual Console.