Welcome to VC Weekly, N-Europe's guide to the wonderful world of Nintendo's download service. Written by Sam C Gittins.

Nintendo have finally seen fit to release a game that should have been on the VC a long time ago, thankfully this injustice has now been put right so start your engines! Anyway enough from me and on with the erm... game!

Available for download this week we have...

• Super Mario Kart

Points: 800
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Released: 1993
System: SNES

Well it's finally here, the game that nearly everyone assumed would have been available at the very start of he Virtual Console has now arrived years later; Super Mario Kart is finally available to download and enjoy once more! But does it still have that magic that it once possessed? Read on to find out.

Back in the day Nintendo decided to make a Mario game that was so different that it would change gaming as we know it, true it may only have been a spin-off to the main series but today the Mario Kart franchise has more than made a name for itself but none of this would have been possible without the very first title.

Released on the SNES the game truly pushed what was possible at the time utilising Mode 7 technology to its limits providing a fantastic pseudo-3D racing experience that set the game apart from anything else available at the time. No less than a staggering eight playable characters from the Mario universe were made available and while this may seem paltry when compared to more recent iterations, it was definitely a huge selling point at the time and arguably made for a more balanced experience overall; you could choose from Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Bowser, Koopa-Trooper and even Donkey Kong Jr, each of whom had their own varied styles of play and anyone who has played the game before will already have a favourite.

Aside from the characters though it's the power-ups that truly set the game apart from the rest, brilliantly you will actually get different items depending on where you are placed in the race; simply run over a '?' block and you'll acquire a random power-up ranging from the green shell and banana skin which you'll get if you're out in front to homing red-shells, invincibility stars, speed-boost mushrooms and the devastating lightning bolt which lets you either speed part or over your rivals, these you'll get if you're not doing so well. Then you have the boo item which allows you to steal another players item and of course the feather which actually allows you to jump over track hazards.

Four cups are available in the forms of Mushroom, Flower, Star and Special � the latter cup is unlockable � difficulty increases as you progress through the cups and the classes of which there are three � 50cc, 100cc and the unlockable 150cc � to work your way through. To start off with things are easy, gaining speed and difficulty by the mid-range setting and in the event that you actually unlock the final setting then the very best of luck to you because it's no joke even by todays standards.

Tracks are based on popular locales from Super Mario World and I'm sure many will be familiar to seasoned veterans of Mario games; Bowser's Castle, Donut Plains and Ghost Valley all make appearances not to mention the now infamous Rainbow Road. Each track is challenging in its own way and contains a whole host of hazards to watch out for, be especially wary of the Thwomps and lava pits in Bowser's Castle!

In single player the game is most definitely challenging in the higher difficulties and worth playing through but it's when you get another player involved that the real fun begins as this is what Mario kart was built for. Not only do you get to race against another player though but the bonus battle mode is available in which you must burst the other players balloons before they burst yours which is a most excellent addition indeed.

Everything about this game just oozes quality and the amount of effort that has been put into its creation is clear from the small graphical details that matter to the superb soundtrack which brings the game to life. Above all though Super Mario Kart is still as much fun to play today as it ever was and it even stacks up well against subsequent games that were released after; regardless of if you've played this monumental game before or not, rediscover the origins of kart racing today!

Verdict : The original and still one of the best Kart racing games ever made.

That's it for another installment of VC Weekly which will return again soon. So until then, enjoy the rest of the week and Game On!

Sam Gittins
[email protected]

Looking for reviews on other Virtual Console games? Or a full list of games available on the system? Then Check out our Virtual Console Index Page.