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

Another trio of titles transcend to the Virtual Console; take your pick of varied subject matter from malevolent magicians to digestive dinosaurs and even cybernetic cavemen. Anyway enough from me and on with the games!

Available for download this week we have...

• Magician Lord
• Yoshi's Story
• Super Air Zonk

Points: 900
Publisher: SNK
Developer: ADK
Released: 1990
System: NeoGeo

Magicians, famous for magic and stuff, in reality they are parodied by people who call themselves "entertainers" sporting mere illusions of the eye. In the realms of fantasy though they are much more well magical and this title is no exception to the rule; as a character named Etla who is the last descendant of the Magician Lord you must go on a really long journey in order to save the world from the evil Gul Agieze.

Originally named characters aside the depressingly overused "Good versus Evil" plot isn't going to score it any points and neither is the subplot of obtaining eight orbs which are the key to saving the day but fortunately this does not matter as it just acts as a placeholder to move things along.

For an early NeoGeo title this is an achievement both aesthetically and audibly with visuals which aren't the best the machine is capable of but are solid enough not to let things down with nicely detailed backgrounds and suitable sprites. It's music is nothing short of a melodic masterpiece with a sublime main theme and solid accompanying level themes throughout the adventure which bolster the overall magical feeling which the game delivers well.

Undoubtedly the games main attraction is that of a transformation ability which at certain point allows you to change into six different forms including a Dragon, Merman, Raizin, Samurai, Shinobi and Waterman. Beware though as while they do aid your progress they are time limited transformations so for the majority of the game you are the Magician which is no bad thing.

All things considered Magician Lord is an excellent title which bares a great resemblance to Ghouls and Ghosts in both theme and difficulty even if it's not quite in the same league. What it is though is a very enjoyable game in a platform guise but that has enough depth to set it apart from the crowd; solid stuff and worth it's points.

Verdict: It's a kinda magic of the decent variety.

Points: 1000
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Released: 1998
System: N64

Sickeningly cute is the only way to describe this game from it's outset, but if you were to judge this game merely from the childish introduction sequence and title screen featuring a quite frankly tedious main theme then you would be missing the point of this underrated platform title.

Dealing with the obvious fact first, this is Yoshi's first proper game and yes thats taking into account the beautifully crafted Yoshi's Island on the SNES. This is quite different though, this time around the evil Baby Bowser has cast a spell turning Yoshi's Island into a picture book. Worse yet, the Super Happy Tree has been stolen, making the island dark and gloomy.

You take control of six Yoshi's, each a different colour, and travel through six pages of platforming adventure to recover the tree and return the island to normal. The main thing you will notice about this game is it's unique graphical style; rather than sticking with the pastel hand drawn tones of Yoshi's Island this time a unique 2D/3D look is incorporated which really brings the vibrant worlds to life and is most certainly the highlight of the game.

Flow of gameplay is different as it features a border of thirty dots which must be filled with pieces of fruit before you can properly complete the level. To further complicate matters each Yoshi is partial to a different piece of fruit and while you can copiously consume a variety of fruits you will need to go for that one special fruit thats unique to your Yoshi if you want those high scores; remember, "Eat more fruit so the Yoshi's can grow happier!" Indeed.

Unfortunately though the game is fun enough and features fruit foraging and flutter-jumping aplenty, there are also certain elements which let the game down; namely quotes like the one aforementioned which are just plain childish. Audio appeal or lack of it is another issue for similar reasons, Yoshi's outbursts of "Yaaaay" and "Whoooa" are tolerable but many may find the main theme featuring singing Yoshi's! (I kid you not) just a tad too much to the point of it being rather off putting.

Overall it's a good game with one or two secrets to be found but underneath it's wonderful graphical style is a dumbed down difficulty and a short lifespan. It's sweet and innocent nature will either be a plus or a negative for some but whichever way you look at it, beyond it's vivid visuals this is vastly inferior to the truly sublime Yoshi's Island which graced us with it's most welcome presence many years before this.

Verdict: It's Yoshi in a firm fan favorite.

Points: 800
Publisher: Hudson
Developer: Red Company
Released: 1993
System: Turbografx CD

Remember Air Zonk? That schmup featuring a cybernetic caveman which is actually a spin-off to Bonk's Adventure? Well whether you do or not it doesn't take much to work out that this is a sequel to the original shooter which uses the extra hardware of the upgraded system it was originally released on to improve things even more; except it doesn't.

Following the plot it's the usual unoriginal drivel which basically boils down to Zonk's nakama known as "Team Cool" have been captured by the ebil King Drool and well naturally Zonk goes off to rescue them. See I told you it was a pointless side-story; what it does do though is helps to move things along because as you rescue each member of the team they will aid you in annihilating the end of level boss for the area they were saved from.

It plays every bit as good as the first one does and although it doesn't really add anything new apart from the ability to charge your shots by holding down the fire button; it still manages to retain most of what was present in the original which includes the trademark amusement derived from many of the eccentric enemies and bizarre bosses.

Graphically however while things aren't much worse they certainly aren't any better, gone is the parallax scrolling of the original and apparently in are flat backdrops which although they still look adequate they do absolutely nothing in favor of the game. Thankfully the soundtrack is a delightfully decent mix of odd random pieces featuring electric guitars and pianos which sound great thanks to the CD format it was originally produced on, it complements the oddball nature of the game well also.

So essentially this is more of the same and while this may be no bad thing to fans of the original it's difficult to recommend it as a standalone title when it doesn't push any element of the original forward one bit. If your considering purchasing this but don't yet own the original, the first may be a more pocket friendly prospect as well as saving you a chunk of memory which isn't really justified here.

Verdict: A satisfying semi-sequel shooter.

Thats 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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