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

This edition of VC Weekly marks the very first wave of Japanese titles finally to make it to European shores and hopefully the first of many more to come, anyway enough from me and on with the games!

Available for download this week we have...

• Mario's Super Picross
• Neutopia II
• Super Mario Bro's 2 (Japan)

Points: 900
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Released: 1995
System: SNES

Sequel to the classic puzzle game Mario's Picross which debuted on the GameBoy Classic, Mario's Super Picross follows exactly the same pattern as it's precursor. You start off with a large stone slab which is divided into many squares via a grid; along both the vertical and horizontal axis are a series of numbers which as a reference point for where to an occupied square is, the aim of the game is to chisel away the filled squares and mark the ones that are vacant with a cross all within a set time limit.

Purposefully pummeling away will reveal a picture puzzle at the end if you are successful and while it might sound simple in theory, things generally tend to be more challenging in practice. Sure enough the first challenge is easy enough but things get more complicated literally from that point in as upon completing your first foray into the world of Picross you are offered a new set of puzzles by none other than Wario.

Mario and Wario's puzzles differ somewhat as Mario's have to be completed within a descending time limit with deductions for each incorrectly chiseled square and the game ending once the timer reaches zero. Wario's puzzles however you have an ascending counter which logs how long you take to complete the puzzle but absolutely no indication of whether you have gone wrong or not; basically one puzzle game with two varied ways to play.

A decent learning curve is employed with puzzles starting off on grids as small and straightforward as five by five grids which eventually escalate to slabs that tout a testing twenty five by twenty tiles. You get a somewhat staggering two hundred and eighty puzzles to play with in total which are divided equally between Mario and Wario giving the player a satisfying selection.

It may not contain the most vivid of visuals even if they are clear and concise and the audio serves mostly to move things along though some of them are catchy being that this is a loosely Mario themed title. What you pay for with Picross is the sheer wealth of engaging puzzles which are fun to play whenever; it's easily one of the best in the series and it's well worth a download, especially if your curious about the recent DS incarnation.

Verdict: Picross is the perfect pick up and play puzzler.

Points: 600
Publisher: Hudsonsoft
Developer: Hudsonsoft
Released: 1992
System: Turbografx

After successfully ripping off nearly every single element employed by the Zelda series and managing to establish a name for itself it seems only natural that Hudson would want to create a follow up to one of their consoles better games Neutopia. It should basically be thought of as merely an expansion to the original rather than the sequel which it claims to be as it plays in exactly the same way as it's predecessor which is by no means a bad thing but it still fails to reach the heights of Zelda no matter how hard it tries.

Once again the story is fairly standard stuff and is set years after the first games protagonist Jazeta destroyed Dirth, the Emperor of Darkness. All is relatively serene in the land of Neutopia except for the disturbing issue of marauding monsters still roaming the place known as Yurius Shrine. Jazeta journeyed to the shrine to find out what happened but as of yet has not returned; you take on the role of Jazeta's son, who sets of to find his missing father. Could darkness once again be about to fall upon the land of Neutopia?

Identical visuals are carried over along with the concept which has you exploring the land, killing as few things, finding a dwelling of a Neutopian from whom you may inherit items and information which in helps you on your way. Inevitably you will stumble across a dungeon after a while which requires you to bravely battle and bomb your way through, finding keys and treasures en-route to the crypt where you must defeat the demon within.

Basically it is just an expanded version of the original except with different dungeons; everything else from the functional music to included items are all recycled really. With that said Neutopia II still has a lot to offer in the way of adventure, exploration and of course the all important dungeon crawling; it's also well put together and well worth investing in if you embraced the original or are looking for an alternative to A Link to the Past, it's competent but just don't expect it to be as good as the classic it inherited it's ideas from.

Verdict: Another competent Zelda clone is now yours to own.

Points: 600
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Released: 1986
System: NES

When this game was released in European and western territories it turned out to be something rather different from what was known as the true sequel to Super Mario Bros in Japan. Indeed the version of the game that we have come to know is none other than an alternative version of a game known as Doki Doki Panic which was remastered with Nintendo branding.

Indeed years later we did get a version of the original Super Mario Bros 2 included as "The Lost Levels" on the ever popular SNES compilation cartridge Super Mario All-Stars not to mention the edited and enhanced version in Super Mario Bros DX. This release however is the full and unedited version of the original Japanese release.

It's just like the original game except for a few new elements including poison mushrooms which can kill either Mario or Luigi if consumed and blowing wind which can either help of hinder your movement. The main change comes in the way of every single level from the original being taken back to the drawing board and completely redesigned in order to make for a more altogether challenging experience.

One other main inclusion of note is that after beating the entire final world without using a single warp zone which is a challenge in itself, you get to play a secret world nine which comprises of a few excessively easy stages. However if you then manage to beat the game a further seven times (with or without stage 9) you will get the chance to play on worlds A � D which comprise some of the most challenging levels in the history of Mario games, the difficulty of which can only be expressed in the frustration of failure rather than in mere words.

Worth buying then? Almost certainly if you are a fan of the series or maybe even if you aren't but just want to play it for the sake of doing so much like a climbing a mountain just because it's there all for the sake of the challenge. You will certainly get your points worth if it's intense difficulty you are after though but if you want the rare chance to own this original version then be advised that you have until the end of September until the download disappears.

Verdict: An even more super version of an undisputed classic.

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!

Sam Gittins
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