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

Three titles have been added this time around ranging from the astonishingly awesome to the pathetically poor. Anyway enough from me and on with the games!

Available for download this week we have...

• Metal Slug 2
• Forgotten Worlds
• Space Invaders : The Original Game

Points: 800
Publisher: SNK
Developer: SNK
Released: 1998
System: Neo Geo

Quite unsurprisingly this is the second in the ever popular run-n-gun series which took the template of the original and stepped everything up a notch with more firepower, levels, vehicles and immensely intense graphics and sound which even manage to eclipse those of the original. But being bigger and better... (debatable) comes at a price as so much was packed into this sequel that at certain points the speed of the action has been known to dip considerably but does it bring the game down that much or is it a worthwhile trade-off?

For the uninitiated Metal Slug plays a little like this, one button fires another jumps and the third button drops bombs; it's basically that simple but those three buttons and the d-pad will still be tested to the limit throughout. While it is mostly running and gunning (albeit with the formula down to a "T") you will also get to utilise various vehicles at specific points, these range from an actual Camel right up to a gigantic Jet.

These sections are done really well an as you progress the vehicles may get more ambitious but the gameplay in these sections still remains as fine-tuned as the running sections are all the way to the end, make no mistake that as far as playing the game goes it is a surefire satisfying experience; well apart from one aforementioned downside.

Visually this game truly trumps the original with insanely detailed backdrops respectfully rendered and polished to perfection, not only that but the animation on all of the main controllable characters (including Eri, Fio, Marco and Tarma) is nothing short of astounding, all this comes together for a screen that seems to be literally teeming with life. And it's this which at points causes the game to slow down to an ironically sluggish pace, now it should be noted that this only happens at random parts throughout and it's still well worth playing through these parts but near the end of the game especially it really struggles in parts.

I cannot stress enough though that despite this it truly is a sequel worthy of it's name and if it weren't for the intermittent frame-rate dips then it would be the perfect sequel but as it stands if you can persevere through the parts that are affected the rest of the game remains untainted and untouchable, the action, intensity and of course trademark big bosses as well as the fantastic two player co-op mode it's all here and in spades! If you have yet to experience the series I would still say to start with the original before moving onto this but for everyone else by all means download and enjoy one of the best run-n-gun games ever created.

Verdict : A masterful and memorable Metal Slug game.

Points: 800
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Capcom
Released: 1989
System: Megadrive

Bursting onto the arcade scene in the late eighties, this side-scrolling shooter from Capcom was indeed an impressive feat for it's time which boasted great graphics, stunning sound and even such features as two-player simultaneous play and a two joystick configuration which made all the difference in the arcade release.

Sadly though this Megadrive port while manages to move across most of the cult classic shooter to the home console region it is lacking in a good few areas, firstly the two joystick setup couldn't be fully realised relegating part of the control to two buttons instead; not only that but two of the levels from the arcade version had to be removed due to memory limitations.

What we are left with is indeed still most of the title, you still get the same flying / shooting action as you zip about the screen as a couple of nameless warriors, unleashing an airborne assault on all manner of alien scum that have taken over the planet formally known as Earth, it's up to you to take it back.

There isn't really a great deal of originality here but even with the aforementioned omissions it's still an interesting experience which has it's few moments of shining glory in amongst the relatively standard gameplay you would have come to expect from such a title. It has some impressive visual treats along the way such as the Egyptian themed locale amongst others and an interesting soundtrack, basically it's something that shooter fans might consider to keep their trigger-fingers happy after downloading everything else already from the same genre on the VC but everyone else might not be too fussed about it, still if your curious then by all means it's worth a look.

Verdict : Forgotten blast from the past for some, best forgotten for others.

Points: 800
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Taito
Released: 1994
System: SNES

There truly is very little to say about this crude cash in on a once classic title so I'll keep it short, when this compilation title was released the original game it was based on was already more than a decade and a half old.

What you actually get is the same arcade game, with four different variations which include the ability to play the game in Black and White, Colour, Cabinet (with backgrounds) and last but definitely least No music mode.

And yeah, that's it... hardly mind blowing and more of an insult to be honest to add injury to that it costs eight hundred of your precious Wii points for a cash-in on a game that is now three decades old and has much better conversions out there, save your points as this really isn't worthy of them.

Verdict : The only space this will invade is the limited storage on your Wii.

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.