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

Yes the Hanabi Festival is here once more heralded in triumphantly last week with the much celebrated release of Super Mario RPG, in this update we have an obscure but amazing Japanese platform title and an arcade classic. Anyway enough from me and on with the games!

Available for download this week we have...

• Bio Miracle Bokette Upa
• Dig Dug

Points: 600
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Released: 1988 (FDS) 1993 (NES)
System: NES

Heres something somewhat original, you control a superhero baby named Upa who defeats enemies by inflating them with his magic rattle, he can also then bounce or ride on their bloated bodies. Upa is the Prince of a magical kingdom and one of a long line of fighters; one day quite by accident Upa smashes an Urn that releases the spirit of a being known as "Zai" who is an evil Goat-Demon who absorbs the life or every adult and kidnaps every child; fortunately though a fairy to whom the urn was also home to bestows upon Upa a magical rattle which he must use to defeat Zai, save the Kingdom and all of it's kidnapped inhabitants.

So yes it is a platform title starring a baby... quite easy to dismiss as childish as pointless but what if I were to tell you that it just happens to be one of the best examples of it's genre ever released for the NES? No I am not joking and am completely sound in my state of mind when I make such a statement so allow me to explain my reasoning as to why it's just so good.

Playing as the Baby Prince and armed with your rattle you simply shake it at your enemies who will then inflate, you can then either jump onto them and use them as an ascending platform of sorts until they burst or you can simply smack them into other enemies, utilising them as powerful projectiles. It's that simple and yet it works oh so well, the game is engaging, fun to play and the controls always remain responsive throughout.

Visually it's solid and soulful with each area ingrained with imagination as you find yourslef absorbed into a child-like dream world with areas based on everything from a candy and ice cream theme to the inside of a computer; add to that an unprecedented level of detail for an 8-bit title and a crazy-catchy, upbeat musical theme that accompanies it and you have a platforming experience like no other.

Dismiss it if you will but I would urge against doing so, especially if you've been looking for something thats both original and just simply fun to play; compare it to any number of generic platform titles that have tried and failed but still sold due to a more "mature" theme and you can see why this never got released yet it's a crime that it didn't. Thankfully now it's actually seen a release outside of Japan it's been given a chance to see the kind of success that it deserved so long ago; heres hoping that it doesn't get ignored and is enjoyed by many as was originally intended.

Verdict : Brilliant baby based platform title.

Points: 600
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Developer: Namco
Released: 1982
System: NES

This age old popularly ported arcade game was surprisingly not released in NES format outside of Japan, in it you play as the titular "Dig Dug" with the objective being to well... dig and defeat all the monsters in each stage before moving onto the next... and the next and the next.

You can do this in one of two ways, firstly there are rocks which if you dig underneath them and time it right you can make them fall on your enemy crushing them instantly; alternatively there is the slightly more inventive hook which you throw into your enemy and then use the attached pump to inflate them until they burst.

Of course you don't always have time to fully inflate them and so you can choose to inflate them a little bit before running, but beware as they will then deflate and give chase again however you may run past them while they are in a state of deflation and not take any damage. There are only two kinds of enemy that inhabit the stages, Pookas which are red, round and have yellow goggles who can move through earth in later stages as time decreases and Fygars which are green fire breathing dragons.

It doesn't take too long to work out their attack patterns however so the only other things you need to worry about is the route you are digging and the fruit in the centre of the screen if your able to collect it within the allotted time which gives you bonus points. Not much else can be said here really, the graphics are decent but nothing special, the music only playing when Dig Dug moves is innovative but thats about it.

An arcade classic this may be but in this day and age it's rather short and there isn't a great deal of variation to the levels; by all means though if you have never played Dig Dug before then feel free to give it a go but for everyone else who's played it before there really is no point to dig deep into your pockets and shell out for this again.

Verdict : Dig dug is damn good fun but ironically lacking in depth.

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]

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