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

It's a one game update but a worthy one as the VC gets another side-scrolling shooter. Anyway enough from me and on with the erm... game!

Available for download this week we have...

• Mega Turrican

Points: 800
Publisher: DataEast
Developer: Factor 5
Released: 1994
System: Megadrive

Another installment in the great Turrican series this time with a "Mega" precursor in keeping with it's original console release. The plot is identical to it's "Super" variant as is the lead character Bren McGuire, the object of the game (to blast your way throw hordes of enemies) the upgrades such as the grapple beam and well everything else.

Indeed at first glance you would be forgiven for stating that it's exactly the same as Super Turrican but that isn't quite so. For a start this iteration is sorely lacking in both the visual and audio department in comparison; this is due to the superiority of the SNES scaling abilities and superb sound chip vs the Megadrives comparatively compromised hardware.

Yes it still looks like Turrican minus a lot of SFX, it sounds like it too but without the awesome soundtrack, it even plays like it but with a few tweaks here and there to the level design. But still even though it is a separate entry in it's own right it's still hard to shake off the fact that it feels like a slightly redone version of a previously released title rather than something new.

Choose whichever you like out of the Mega and Super Variants of Turrican as they are both decent but if you want the better experience my advice is simple; stick with the SNES version as you get more for your points. Other than that this is yet another decent outing in the fine sharp-shooting, side-scrolling, shooting series.

Verdict : A satisfyingly sustainable 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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