Wii VC Gains Metroid, Shining in the Darkness, Cratermaze

This week's three additions to Wii's online Virtual Console highlight the perils of life-sucking parasites, time travel, and knowing someone named "Dark Sol." First of this week's releases is Nintendo's original NES Metroid, which has heroine Samus exploring the world of Zebes and battling against the Space Pirates and their nefarious plans for the energy-rich Metroids. It sells for 500 Wii Points ($5). The Super Nintendo Metroid entry, Super Metroid, hits the service next Monday, setting the stage for the retail release of Retro Studios' Wii shooter Metroid Prime 3: Corruption on August 27. Fleshing out the Shining Force mythology is Climax Entertainment and Sonic! Software Planning's Genesis RPG Shining in the Darkness. Featuring a turn-based battle system, the first entry in the long-running series has players exploring a 3D maze as they attempt to stop the evil Dark Sol. It is priced at 800 Wii Points ($8). Last of this week's titles is NEC and Hudson Soft's TurboGrafx-16 time-traveling epic Cratermaze. Zenzombie and Kublai have trapped the main character's friends at different points in time, requiring players to place traps in the mazes and lure dinosaurs, ninjas and robots into them. Spanning 60 levels, the adventure of Cratermaze comes at the cost of 600 Wii Points ($6).