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

Since the launch of the VC we have had the chance to download titles from six different classic console of old and now we have a seventh; yes you can now download C64 titles as it launches this week and becomes a welcome addition unlike this weeks accompanying N64 title which you may wish to avoid. Anyway enough from me and on with the games!

Available for download this week we have...

• International Karate
• Uridium
• Cruis'n USA

Points: 500
Publisher: System 3
Developer: System 3
Released: 1986
System: C64

So here we have one of the first C64 games to be released on the Wii; it's not the best but not the worst, just a decidedly average basic but fun fighting game. That said to have any fun with it you need to invest a certain amount of time playing it which is quite surprising for a game of it's age that features only basic controls by todays standards.

No combos, special moves or even energy bars here, this truly is as bare bones as you can probably get for a one on one fighting game. You control your fighter using just the D-pad and one action button, attempting to land the odd hit here and there on your opponent to win; there is no button mashing here and you are limited to the most basic of kicks and punches with of course the obligatory jump and block maneuvers.

Visually everything is well detailed for the limited hardware it was produced on, the animation is reasonable and the sound is decent if a little repetitive. There are a nice array of backgrounds which run along themes from around the world (think Street Fighter but nowhere near as detailed). An odd mechanic due to the system controller is that you execute some moves without pressing the action button which feels somewhat odd by todays fighting game standards.

Overall it's a reasonable game, just don't expect anything amazing from it, they could have easily picked a better title to launch the C64 on the VC but they could have picked much worse too. Another thing worthy of mention is that due to the C64 having a keyboard for certain functions in games one has been implemented virtually which you can access from any C64 game by the press of the 1 button.

Verdict : A competent combat title from the Commodore.

Points: 500
Publisher: Hewson Consultants
Developer: Dominic Robinson
Released: 1986
System: C64

Regarded as a "classic" by many C64 owners at the time, this space-based, fast-paced shooter pushed the system at the time and while visually it looks admittedly quite bad by todays standards it's in the way that it plays which saves it from mediocrity.

It's control method is pleasantly surprising as your ship can move all the way around as opposed to being limited to one fixed linear direction. This allows for some nice maneuvers which can come in useful when deftly dodging incoming enemy fire and crafts.

The craft has a decent responsive feel to the way it controls and while it will take you a few minutes to get used to it due to it's speed it quickly becomes second nature. Other than that the game revolves around avoiding and destroying enemies and taking part in the odd self destruct mini game which although feels tacked on helps to break things up.

Even though it may have pushed boundaries at the time this really isn't anything special by todays standards, if your feeling nostalgic you may wish to download it and you may get some enjoyment out of it but frankly the visuals would easily put most off straight away but if your not deterred then give it a go but this really isn't anything amazing.

Verdict : A nostalgic novelty.

Points: 1000
Publisher: Midway Games
Developer: Williams
Released: 1998
System: N64

Of all the games from the long list of N64 games available and they choose to bring out this? A game that really needs no introduction as it's terrible reputation proceeds it for being one of the worst games available on the console at the time, here it is, the one you've (hopefully not) been waiting for... it's Cruis'n USA! *one random person cheers in the background amongst the booing.*

Where to start... originally an average arcade game, though admittedly even that was a lot better than this port; this racer had you driving through various landmarks and locations throughout the USA with the focus on driving rather than all out racing. Think of this as Outrun except instead of being a sublime driving experience with great gameplay and wondrous visuals it's an outright atrocity from the poorly ported mechanics, failure frame-rate and quite simply horrendous visuals and sound.

So what exactly are the games finest points of failing? Well aside from the muddy visuals in all their washed out, pixelated glory and the average soundtrack; the game plays like well to be honest it doesn't even really "play" at all. The cars handle like Ice-cream trucks driven by an inexperienced juvenile across a sheet of ice covered by oil; yep it's that "realistic" folks and if that wasn't unforgivable enough, the collision detection is seemingly absent just like the game testers evidently were when this game got evaluated.

Indeed how this "game" made it to the retail shelf all those years ago let alone the VC is a wonder in itself. I could go on about how bad it is but quite frankly I don't have the time or the inclination to and no one should have either of those to waste if considering downloading the game; seriously just avoid it and download ANY other game on the VC if you need to, just avoid this like the plague to end all plagues that it is

Verdict : A perfect example of a pointless, poisonous port.

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
[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.