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

Something of a redemption this time around as we are treated to one of the better sports simulations from the C64 and the second installment in a popular arcade conversion of a classic run n' gun title. Anyway enough from me and on with the games!

Available for download this week we have...

• Winter Games
• Mercs

Points: 500
Publisher: Epyx
Developer: Epyx
Released: 1985
System: C64

After several successful summer sports simulations under their belts Epyx decided to turn down the heat a little in favour of a much 'cooler' winter theme bringing with it a variety of events that were significantly different from what fans of the series had seen before. Featuring gameplay for up to eight alternating players and two simultaneous in one of the events plus a whole host of options to boot, this was certainly ambitious for what it was even if it inevitably runs out of steam in some ways.

First up is the 'Hot Dog' which is basically skiing down a slope, into the air and performing as many different tricks as possible before (hopefully) landing successfully; scoring big while in the air isn't difficult but landing afterwards requires a certain degree of skiing skills. Secondly we have the Biathlon which comprises for the most part skiing over long distances with some target shooting interspersed throughout, the catch being the more you exert yourself in the skiing sections the faster your heartbeat races and the faster your heartbeat races the trickier it is to hit the targets so your key to success here is balance.

Skating of free and figure variety make up the third and fourth events the difference between the two being that figure skating has you performing a load of preset actions while free skating lets you choose and use the moves that you want; it's all about timing here as many actions require precise timing.

For the fifth event we have the high jump on skiis which basically allows you to imitate Eddie the Eagle as you speed down a steep, slippery slope before reaching the end and soaring into the sky remembering to alter your stance mid-flight for that all important landing; points are awarded based on distanced traveled, style and the quality of your landing.

Speed skating is the sixth event which has you controlling your skater with left,right alternating on the d-pad and getting progressively faster until you eventually miss one, again it's all about timing. Lastly we have Bob-Sleighing which has you hurtling down a course at eighty miles per hour; there are no brakes here, just left and right so just keep the course within your sight and go all out with all your might.

If you enjoyed any of the other titles in this sports simulation series then you will most likely love this but it's purely down to personal preference; if you have a reason to like either season then pick the game that suits that choice. As for Winter games though it's an excellent addition to the series thats as strong as it's ever been, if you want to get the most out of it though, play it in two-player mode where it comes into it's own.

Verdict : Another successful sports simulation.

Points: 800
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Capcom
Released: 1991
System: Megadrive

Originally a title by Capcom this is another case of reprogramming by Sega for their home console in some ways it's better and in others worse for the changes that have been made in the porting process but to all intents and purposes the core of the original game is still here and it's as playable today as it was back in the day.

For the uninitiated this game started life as Commando 2 or in the case of this Virtual Console re-release this version is known as Wolf of the Battlefied : Mercs to give the game it's unnecessarily long full title. Regardless of prefix the game starts off with the president being kidnapped and held hostage on foreign soil and so they need to organise an extraction mission; somewhat predictably this is too much for any ordinary unit and so the government has no choice but to hire in a group of pro mercenaries and this is where you come in and the action begins.

Before blasting through with all the positive aspects though there have been a few omissions from the original game which were lost in translation which need to be addressed; firstly this used to feature a three player co-op mode and this just simply was not possible on the Megadrive at the time as this was before the multi-tap was more mainstream but crushingly there is no two player mode either so what you are left with is a purely single player experience, is it worth it?

Put simply yes it still is well worth playing especially if you've never played the original before, while co-op would have been most welcome and gone down a lot better with fans what we have here is a graphically gorgeous triumph of it's time with many intricate details , varied landscapes and decent animation combined with a super scene setting score which feels just right when going all gung-ho and blasting away bad guys with your weapon of choice.

As for the main game, there are two modes present for you to play with including Arcade which is exactly the same as the first incarnation was in single player mode, still excellent fun to play and offers a good deal of challenge and Original mode which is where the real meat of the game lies as it contains brand new levels as well as more characters to play through the game as which adds a lot of longevity to the title overall and not to mention being immense fun to play.

So it's a case of another quality Sega conversion here, it may not have two players, it may not have three but everything it lacks it makes up easily; for those that have never played the title before this is a decent package that will keep you coming back for more once the credits role, well worth it's points for the amount of fun to be had from it.

Verdict : A substantially satisfying single player 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
[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.