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

Another triple bill this week and though it might not seem like Nintendo have gone all out this holiday season, they have provided a rather nice surprise in the way of Donkey Kong Country 3 which will be reviewed in VC Weekly #45 but for now we have three titles to tide us over. Anyway enough from me and on with the games!

Available for download this week we have...

• Blades of Steel
• Skate or Die
• Monster Lair

Points: 500
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Released: 1990
System: NES

Being that this sports simulation is created by the same developer responsible for the dreadfully dull Double Dribble you might think that by reputation this would be a similarly slap-dash effort. Quite the contrary though is true in this case as this decent offering deftly demonstrates.

While it's true that both games were much loved upon their original release; Blades of Steel has aged remarkably well in comparison to it's Basketball based brethren. Indeed in an age where we rely on high-def visuals to represent such insignificant details as logos and complicated customisation to the nth degree, it's somewhat refreshing to have a sports games which you can just simply pick up and play.

It plays in a relatively straightforward manner; after you've picked your team from one of eight, your difficulty from three and either one or two player, your away. After that it's a fast and frantic fight to the finish, quite literally as at certain points fights between players will break out which you get to control, Urban Champion style; these parts are quite entertaining and helps to break up the tried and tested pass and tackle play mechanic which otherwise dominates the action.

This has everything you could want from an Ice Hockey game, solid visuals, no music, just decent sound effects and some unique quirks to the otherwise as expected flow of play. You even get to play a rather entertaining cut down version of Gradius during certain intermission sequences, without a doubt the best Hockey sim on the VC.

Verdict : A satisfyingly simple sports title.

Points: 500
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Electronic Arts
Released: 1987
System: NES

Skates simulations, these days they come think and fast in comparison to twenty years ago when if you wanted such a thing, this was basically it. You take on the role of some dude on a board with wheels who's on a quest of sorts to show off his skateboarding "skillz" and prove his worth to a guy in the hood named Rodney Recloose who owns the Flesh n Asphalt Skateboard Shop and is well known for being the best boarder in the area.

The game is divided into five sections which incorporate the downhill race, freestyle on a half-pipe, downhill jam where you fight an opponent, half-pipe jump and pool joust where you battle other players. Sounding initially impressive quite honestly they play like a collection of skate based mini-games and while that in itself isn't a bad thing the whole experience is somewhat hampered by a restrictive control system which while offering both directional and rotational forms of control just feels severely sluggish.

It looks and sounds reasonable but generally it's just standard scene-setting stuff which does what it's supposed to do but isn't really that memorable by any account. Having said that though the two player mode is worth a look after your done with the single player bits and if you can look past it's flaws it will keep you entertained for a few plays.

Verdict : Slapdash substandard skating sim.

Points: 800
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Westone
Released: 1990
System: Turbografx

If you are familiar with the Wonderboy games then you will know vaguely what to expect here as while this title bears some of the hallmarks of the series it isn't exactly in the same league as the rest. Make no mistake that Wonderboy in Monster World and Dragons Curse (Wondeyboy III with slight tweaks) and the two main exceptional examples from the series, this however sadly isn't.

Brushing the almost non-existent plot aside, you play as one of two characters named Adam and Laura; you run, jump, hack and slash your way through cute looking enemies for a bit and periodically you get to fly through the levels and gun stuff down in true shoot-em-up style.

In actual fact it's more shoot em up than anything else, as you shoot down wave upon wave of enemies, get to the end boss encounter, beat the boss and return to the ground for the next level. From that point forward it's a case of lather, rinse and repeat as the game follows exactly the same template for each painfully generic level.

The two player mode adds a bit of fun to the proceedings but really after a few minutes it just gets too monotonous and mundane to be of any enjoyable worth whatsoever. Visually it's fine but lacks impact, the audio is a nice accompaniment but it's othwerwise instantly forgettable.

Even though it may be a semi ambitious crossover of both platforming and shcmup genres with a smattering of RPG lite elements none of this really does it any justice at all because the end product is more of an experiment gone wrong which is loosely associated with the Wonderboy brand in order to gain some sort of credibility. If you want a Wonderboy game then go for one of the two as aforementioned or if you want a schmup thats a bit different go for Super Air Zonk but not this.

Verdict : It's a Wonder that this ever got released.

Thats it for another installment of VC Weekly which will return again soon. So until then, have a Merry Christmas, enjoy the rest of the week and Game On!

Sam Gittins
[email protected]

Looking for reviews on other Virtual Console games? Or a full list of games available on the system? Then Check out our Virtual Console Index Page.