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

Do you like Adventure? Good... do you like Islands? Even better... you can take them with you wherever you go thanks to this latest release which is bound to please a fair few players. Anyway enough from me and on with the game!

Available for download this week we have...

• Adventure Island

Price: GB �2.70 EU �3
Publisher: Hudson
Developer: Hudson
Released: 1992
System: GameBoy

The frequently fantastic Adventure Island series has enjoyed more than enough success on the NES, SNES plus Turbografx home consoles so considering this it should come as no surprise that Hudson decided to bring its popular platform title to Nintendo's original portable powerhouse. Instead of moving the original game across though they decided that the first GameBoy title would be based on the second original game which is of course no bad thing to start with but this is no mere port which makes this iteration all the more interesting due to its influences.

As expected you play as Master Higgins who controls much in the same way as he did being moved with the d-pad while jumping with the 'A' button in addition to throwing projectiles with the 'B' button which incidentally will harm your health meter every time you toss a tomahawk towards your enemies so being somewhat reserved with weapon usage is recommended. Of course there are fruits to be had which will restore your health, you will find enough of these during the course of the adventure which spans across six islands each of which plays host to five levels followed by a boss battle; it's worth noting though that items are not plentiful but just enough to get you through each level so you'll have to think tactically if you wish to survive, of course the same can be said when facing bosses which require a bit of logic but never feel unbalanced or difficult.

Precision platforming is the order of the day here just as it always has been with this particular series as the controls while perfectly fine do take a little bit of getting used to so it may feel like trial by fire at first but after a few tries you'll be committing each level to memory, managing to progress at a great rate in no time at all. You may also come across creature eggs in your quest which is a good thing as they contain dinosaurs of varying shapes and sizes who will aid you during your adventure, some will give you a more powerful attack whereas others will aid you in traversing either skies or seas with the greatest of ease.

Decent amounts of detail have clearly been lavished throughout the lands of this title even though we may be used to seeing this game in glorious colour there is something uniquely charming about this portable offering which never fails to impress as the sprites are brilliantly bold and the music is a joy to behold as many of the classic tunes are present with some of them even sounding slightly superior to their home console versions which is something of an achievement in itself.

Even though it's of course not perfect being that this series isn't for everyone owing to its somewhat unique mechanics you can't really fault Hudson for creating a perfectly enjoyable platform game which to fans of the genre is surely a delight to play. If you're already familiar with the series then I'd suggest picking it up as it provides that satisfying fix that only these kind of games can deliver, there is of course a superior sequel however so some might choose to wait it out.

Verdict : A perfectly playable portable platformer.

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
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