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

Two titles to tide us over, and alas - still no sign of Samus. But rest assured, she will be with us soon enough... it's only a matter of weeks now. Anyway, enough from me and on with the games!

Available for download this week we have...

• Bonk 3 : Bonk's Big Adventure
• Vegas Stakes

Points: 600
Publisher: Hudsonsoft
Developer: Hudsonsoft
Released: 1993
System: Turbografx

So here it is the third and final installment in the original Bonk trilogy; it would be fair to say that this game did for Hudsonsoft's console what Super Mario Bros 3 did for the NES. Several new gameplay gimmicks have been incorporated into Bonk 3 including candles that alter Bonk's molecular structure, (they make him big and small) a Cooperative multiplayer mode and (somewhat unfortunately) a predictable plot.

What's that Evil King Drool doing back in the Dinosaur Kingdom?! Didn't we get rid of him last time? Guess not, huh? Now it's up to our skull-splitting, head-butting, rock-smashing, monster-bashing prehistoric hero Bonk to put an end to Drool's dastardly deeds once and for all. Watch Bonk grow into huge fire-breathing Bonk of shrink to Mini-size Bonk and take on tons of cool new enemies like RocketMan, Robo Turtle and Crazy Lady. Or how about smashing up a few Booga Boogas or Snippies along the way? Waw!!

Indeed... meanwhile putting the carefully crafted story *rolls eyes* aside, what we have is an interesting sequel of sorts which essentially takes most of what was in the previous two titles and adds in a few extra abilities for good measure. Thats not to say that it was lazily developed however because it's clear that the effort has been made here by Hudson to ensure that their mascot goes out with a head-bang as opposed to a headache.

All of Bonk's abilities from previous outings remain intact as you can still bonk, bounce, break blocks, climb with your teeth and more besides; as aforementioned though you can now increase or decrease your size much like you could in Super Mario Bros really via mushrooms except ever extending the concept that little extra bit. As well as playing better than it's previous counterparts, everything looks and sounds a good deal smoother which is just as well considering this was one of the later Turbografx titles.

Bonk's third outing is a delight to play and is a pleasantly surprising end to an overall decent series which came a reasonable way in just three games. Understandably as this is arguably the best of the Bonk's, if you only download one out of them all then make it this one as it improves upon the formula greatly and even features a reasonably decent co-op mode to boot; a fun platforming diversion while it lasts.

Verdict : Bonk goes out with a characteristic bang.

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

Better known for developing a good deal of the adventures of a certain pink blob, HAL also tried their hand at Blackjack, Slots, Roulette, Craps and Poker in this surprisingly successful gambling simulation for Nintendo's super console. It's premise is simple, you play a generic person who goes to Las Vegas to win some cash; and with that out of the way and the ball set well and truly in motion, spinning around the roulette wheel there is the big question; Is this game worth betting on?

In a word, Yes, it is decent and if you are a gambling fan then you might well enjoy this as it's probably the most accomplished example of it's genre and with little to nothing else out there on the VC already to compare it to you probably know whether or not this is going to appeal to you or not.

For the benefit of those who would like a bit more insight into the game however I will continue; as you begin the game you start with a seemingly small amount of cash which comes to the sum of one thousand dollars with the main aim of the game being to accumulate the total of *puts left pinky to lip in true Dr Evil fashion* ten million dollars! Ok so a relatively bad impression and a tenth of the amount but you get the picture by now.

You start off on the small tables in the starter casino of which there are four in total which you get to access depending entirely on your virtual bank balance; it all seems relatively slow to start but eventually you will begin to make a good deal of progress in no time at all. Five games are available as aforementioned in the intro and all are relatively faithful and well represented digital examples of the real thing so you just pick what you like and play; there are some gimmicks too in the way of people who will ask for financial aid in the game and it's up to you to judge whether to donate or not, it's an interesting element and a welcome distraction from the err welcome distraction that is the gambling.

Visually everything looks nice, well rendered static backdrops and music which is well suited to the situation but does tends to grate on the senses after a while but it serves it's purpose. There really isn't much more to say on this really, it achieves what it sets out to do and the the end product is something which mostly comes down to the "marmite" effect; you'll either love it or hate it, or possibly just not be bothered about it.

Verdict : Will you like it or loathe it? *Take a gamble! (if you want)

And so another edition of VC Weekly comes to an end, but rest assured it will return again soon. So until then, enjoy the rest of the week and Game On!

*N-europe does NOT endorse gambling, or do we? No that was a lie we don't so :P

Sam Gittins
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