Star Soldier R bound for US WiiWare

With Nintendo's WiiWare downloadable game service set to launch in North America on May 12, specific details about how the program will work and what games will be offered are starting to emerge. The latest piece of the puzzle comes from Hudson Soft, which today announced that one of its Japanese WiiWare launch games will be making the trek westward.

Star Soldier R is officially headed to the WiiWare service in North America, giving gamers a chance to try out the score-attack-focused installment of the long-running vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up series. Previous installments in the series, such as Super Star Soldier and Blazing Lazers, have been traditional shooters in which players blast their way through multiple levels with the main goal being to defeat an armada of alien spaceships.

Star Soldier R will play much the same way, but with a "tournament" focus. Gamers will choose to play in 2-minute or 5-minute sessions, attempting to rack up the highest score possible before time runs out. To provide a little competitive encouragement, Hudson Soft will also be including online leaderboards so players can see how they rank in their regions, their countries, or around the world.

Pricing for the North American edition of Star Soldier R has not been announced; it sells on the Japanese WiiWare store for 800 Wii points ($8).