Those lucky Japanese are all ready to receive this RPG masterpiece tomorrow...

The Virtual Console has proved itself to be a gateway to a world of retro games that will be seen as paradise for the average retro nut and younger people who never experienced the NES/SNES/N64 gaming eras, along with contributions from Sega and Hudson. I personally only got into Nintendo home console gaming with the release of the GameCube, so the Virtual Console is a godsend for me. This is why it pleases me and many other people when games such as the original Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64 are announced for the Wii's golden oldies download service.

Whilst Nintendo Power announced that the game would be coming out at some point on the Virtual Console, we now actually have a firm release date for the game - in Japan. Paper Mario will be out tomorrow (10.07.07) in Japan, though we have no release date for the USA or Europe. If other N64 Virtual Console releases are anything to go by though, the game should be out within weeks in all regions. Hopefully.

Paper Mario is an RPG from Nintendo, the spiritual sequel to Super Mario RPG on the SNES, and has also seen sequels in the form of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door on the GameCube and the upcoming platformer Super Paper Mario on the Wii. The game features a classic Mario storyline with Bowser as the main antagonist, Peach as the damsel in distress and Mario and Co. as the rescue squad, jumping on the heads of Goombas via turn-based roleplaying this time. The game is expected to cost 1000 Wii Points.

Stay tuned to N-Europe for more on Paper Mario on the Virtual Console (and expect a review from Sam if and when this hits European servers).