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

If you're a fan of Sunsoft then you may be pleased about this latest re-release of theirs, while it's certainly not their best it'll certainly gain points for originality. Anyway enough from me and on with the game!

Available for download this week we have...

• Trip World

Price: GB �2.70, EU �3
Publisher: Sunsoft
Developer: Sunsoft
Released: 1993
System: GameBoy

Sunsoft have certainly had their fair share of hits over the years with perhaps their greatest hit in the Blaster Master series helping to put them squarely on the map but they have had a whole slew of lesser known titles which are only really starting to come to light now which just happens to include Trip World which thankfully is now available. Taking on the role of a creature named 'Yakopoo' you must recover the flower which has been stolen from your tribe so that you may restore peace to the currently restless villagers, hardly riveting stuff but it's merely there to provide some sort of incentive.

If this title is to be compared to any other platformer then it would have to be Kirby on account of the character not only bearing similarities to the little pink blob but also due to his ability to transform plus the fact that it's very easy to complete. Although it's not quite as simple for Yakopoo to gain abilities as he can't just swallow enemies but instead he must seek out power-ups which will then transform him into a ball or even grant the little fellow a tail-whip ability, you also have two transformations which can be used from your default form by simply pressing 'Up' which turns you into a helicopter or 'Down' turning you into a fish... you will find places to use these abilities but you won't be relying on them or your rather feeble default 'kick' attack for that matter which allows you to deal a small amount of damage to enemies at close range but it's so weak that you may just choose to avoid enemies altogether.

Controls may taker a bit of getting used to as will the rather odd physics of the game but it's all pretty solid throughout just almost painfully easy for almost the entirety of the adventure aside from a few 'testing' boss encounters. Unfortunately their isn't really a great wealth of content as there are only five main stages which can be blitzed through easily offering no real extra incentive for a second playthrough.

Where this title does indeed shine though is through its use of detailed visuals which are very impressive indeed even eluding to the feel of a moving manga in some parts, clearly a lot of work has been put into the game world making it feel very believable for the hardware it has been created for. The music is rather delightful as well managing to create a serene scene throughout your adventure and does a good job of drawing you in for the short time that the journey actually lasts.

To wholeheartedly recommend Trip World would be a mistake as although there are a good few things that it does very well indeed it's let down by what is a very short length indeed coupled with a rather laughable level of difficulty. If you're the kind of gamer who enjoys new experiences though then I would still advise giving this a go as it's not often that titles like this get a re-release, just don't expect it to last you more than a few hours... if you're fine with this then purchase is entirely justified.

Verdict : A terrific trip but a short one regardless.

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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