Sin & Punishment series arrives on Wii U in latest eShop update

By Danny Cowan Published August 27, 2015

This week’s eShop update brings the Nintendo 64 shooter Sin & Punishment and its 2010 follow-up Star Successor to the Wii U, giving players a new chance to experience a pair of little-seen classics from developer Treasure.

Released exclusively in Japan for the Nintendo 64 in the year 2000, Sin & Punishment was one of the platform’s few import-only standouts. Developed by Japanese studio Treasure (Gunstar Heroes, Ikaruga), Sin & Punishment is a forward-scrolling rail shooter that uses the Nintendo 64 controller’s unique button configuration to grant players greater freedom of movement during gameplay.

Recommended Videos

Related: Pandora’s Tower, Wind-Up Knight 2 join Wii U eShop

While a North American release for Sin & Punishment was considered, an official localization was ultimately scrapped as Nintendo shifted its focus to its next console, the GameCube. Sin & Punishment saw its first official release in western territories in 2007 with a digital Virtual Console release for the Nintendo Wii. This week’s upgraded Wii U version offers new features like savestates and button configuration options.

A sequel, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, launched for the Nintendo Wii worldwide in 2010, swapping out the original game’s control setup in favor of a new targeting system that used the Wii Remote for aiming. Star Successor is now one of the few Nintendo Wii games available digitally via the Wii U eShop, following up on the recent debuts of Metroid Prime Trilogy, Kirby’s Return to Dreamland, and Pandora’s Tower.

Other games launching digitally for the Wii U this week include 13AM Games’ “9-player party-platformer” Runbow and Disney Infinity 3.0, a 3D action-adventure game powered by collectible figures. The formerly Japan-exclusive racer Vs. Excitebike will also hit the Wii U this week as part of Nintendo’s “Builders Week” promotion.

This week’s eShop update also introduces Arc System Works’ Wii U action game Brave Tank Hero, arcade-styled shoot-’em-up Full Blast, autoscrolling platformer Pixel Slime U, and 3DS-exclusive driving game Gotcha Racing.

Former Contributor

Danny’s passion for video games was ignited upon his first encounter with Nintendo’s Duck Hunt, and years later, he still…

Topics

Gaming

Virtual taekwondo sounds like a gimmick until it solves the biggest fear of combat sports

The noncontact VR discipline is gaining momentum in Southeast Asia by keeping the athletic grind while reducing the injury risk that scares many people away.

Electronics, Screen, Person

Virtual taekwondo sounds ridiculous in the easiest way. Put on a headset, strap sensors to your body, kick at empty air, and call it a combat sport. Somewhere, Wii Sports is quietly stretching.

Athletes are still kicking, reacting, and gasping through the work. The difference is that the hits land on avatars instead of bodies.

Gaming

This VR empathy game could be the start of something much creepier

Rekindle uses face-tracking biometrics to deepen player involvement, but the same idea could eventually shape therapy tools, safety systems, and emotionally responsive interfaces.

VR Headset, Accessories, Goggles

A new VR empathy game called Rekindle turns facial expressions into part of the controls. The game asks players to perform emotions, then watches their faces to see whether those reactions match the scene.

The first-person story centers on memory, identity, and empathy for the LGBTQ+ community. Players move through a dystopian future where sexual identity has been targeted and erased, collecting memory fragments tied to the protagonist’s experience.

Gaming

PlayStation’s disc-killing move may have blindsided the very partners keeping its games business alive

Sony’s reported shift away from physical discs allegedly caught publishers, regional teams, and retail partners off guard, turning a gamer ownership fight into a business trust problem.

A PS5 sits on a table with a DualSense standing up next to it.

PlayStation’s reported move away from physical discs already looked bad for players who still care about owning games. Now it sounds messy for the companies expected to sell, support, and build around Sony’s ecosystem.

High Chaos Run reports that Sony’s decision to end physical disc production for PS5, and likely PS6 in 2028, came without warning publishers, business partners, or some regional operations. If accurate, Sony didn’t only create another fight over PlayStation discs. It left parts of its own games business catching up after the decision was already public.