Big news for Virtual Console: the original Paper Mario will hit the Wii's download service this Tuesday, in Japan.
Known as Mario Story in Japan, the innovative storybook-style graphics and hilarious script launched a new era of Mario games, adding a previously un-explored level of self-aware humor and character depth to the franchise.
Up until recently, I'd have said that this means the US will get Paper Mario on Monday. But Nintendo broke its streak of simultaneous Virtual Console releases when it introduced a several-week gap before the US launch of F-Zero X. Fingers crossed that was just an anomaly, and we're not stuck waiting until August for Paper Mario.
I'm actually really excited for this, because I've never played Paper Mario in English beyond the first hour or so. I bought it when I was in Japan and played it straight through in their crazy moon language, except this was in the long-ago year 2000 when my Japanese skills weren't so hot. Plus the whole thing was in katakana, which was really painful.
Other Virtual Console games slated for Tuesday include Militia for Super Famicom, Shining Force for Mega Drive, and Makai Hakkenden Shada for PC Engine. It's a very RPG-filled week, actually.
Of course, there's no information on what games will hit the US this week except for our good, reliable, stout, unyielding, always-there-for-you friends at Hudson, who have announced that Air Zonk will grace our unworthy foriegn Wiis on Monday.
Virtual Console lineup [Nintendo.jp]
