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

After waiting two weeks we get as many games to look forward to this time around with Nintendo deciding to generously give us a whopping two titles, heres hoping things get back to a reasonable level of consistency soon. Anyway enough from me and on with the games!

Available for download this week we have...

• Art of Fighting 2
• Ninja Commando

Points: 900
Publisher: SNK
Developer: SNK
Released: 1994
System: NeoGeo

This follow up to the original fantastic fighter seems to add more in terms of plot involvement then gameplay advancement as it's revealed that Mr Karate (boss of the first game) is actually Takuma Sakazaki! Ryo and Yuri's father! Who was the puppet of Geese Howard! And it was Mr Big who originally captured Yuri! Sorry for the excessive exclamation marks but really this is all stuff thats only of most interest to fans of the series and while it serves to move things along it's not the main reason you play a fighting game.

So what else has changed? Well in reality very little, yes graphically it is somewhat stunning and even sets a new standard of visual finery and an acceptable audio score but beyond that the fundamental mechanics are largely untampered with.

It seems relatively slow to start quite literally as there is intentional slow motion incorporated into certain attacks seemingly for dramatic effect; the controls are similar with one button for punches and another for kicks (this time chargeable) with the remaining two set to throws and taunts which are use to deplete the spirit gauge of your opponent.

Like it of loathe it the same style of gameplay is here with the relentless reliance on the much touted spirit gauge which is required in order for you to perform special moves, without it your basically defenceless. Annoyingly if your rival is quick with their taunts this bar can deplete rather rapidly leaving them to decimate you, it's a mechanic which makes and breaks the gameplay and if you didn't like it before, don't expect to now.

A final bone of contention is the difficulty, where a lot of fighters are hard this one doesn't just take the biscuit, but snatches it from you and completely relishes in it's thievery of baked goods with repeated spamming of special moves and cheap combinations from the CPU. Overall it is improved but as a sequel it's a rather large let-down for those who awaited this since the release of the original.

Verdict : A failure follow-up of a fighting game.

Points: 900
Publisher: ADK
Developer: SNK
Released: 1994
System: NeoGeo

We all know that Ninja's are universally awesome and Commando's are also albeit to a lesser extent, so what happens when you combine the two? Quite frankly you get one of the most originally conceived and well put together backbone for a successful genre that has serious potential.

And in actual fact this manages to live up to the promise of it's premise; delivered in a top-down perspective you take control of one of three young warriors each with their own individual fight style as you run and gun through fast paced, enemy laced, visually and audibly graced levels mowing down anything and everything that stands between you and the boss at the end.

While there are very few "pickups" as such to enhance your arsenal there is the original mechanic of increasing the strength of your firepower depending on how fast you tap the action button. Your primary attack is a gun that fires in bursts (if it shoots you it's gonna hurt) secondary ranges from shurikens to samurai swords and your final weapon is a magic attack ala "Ninpo" in Ninja Gaiden.

It manages to remain fun throughout, running and gunning is fast and furious just as it should be with various rolling moves that can be performed inbetween, the enemies come think and fast but are never overwhelming and always fun to decimate. This is a game less focused on being "the hardest game ever" and more one thats there purely to entertain, it's well worth checking out in the absence of anything else.

Verdict : A nostalgic Ninja novelty.

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.