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

A couple of classics have been added to the VC in this catch-up edition of VC Weekly as Nintendo seem to have reverted back to the weekly releases of old instead of the bi-weekly updates that we have become accustomed to. Anyway enough from me and on with the games!

Available for download this week we have...

• Fantasy Zone II
• Pitfall : The Mayan Adventure

Points: 500
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Released: 1987
System: Master System

When the original Fantasy Zone was released it was the beginning of a very original shoot-em-up series; the game followed a ship named Opa-Opa who set off on an adventure to avenge his fallen father and off the back of this somewhat predictable plot came a visually vibrant and near perfectly paced shooting experience that was a joy to play.

All of the classic elements from the first outing have thankfully been retained in this surprisingly slick sequel; you are still required to bomb the enemy base in order to progress but there is now a twist that comes in the form of two different coloured warps that appear after doing so, the blue warps take you to further areas of the level with more bases to bomb while the red warp will transport you to the boss battle which becomes accessible after said blowing up of the bases.

Movement in all directions is still possible and to the credit of the programming it remains as responsive as it ever was in the original; as ever the shop is at your disposal although mercifully stationary this time, currency is of course collected via catching coins from fallen enemies and you will need them to upgrade Opa Opa owing to him only being equipped with a simple cannon plus a bomb to start with, bless.

Visually it's certainly more vibrant this time around and if you enjoyed the taste of the sugar-coated style used in the original then the ones used this time around are sure to set your gaming taste buds tingling once more as everything is that much richer and is very impressive considering the hardware it was produced on. Its only real downfall is the weaker soundtrack which just doesn't manage to captivate the player as much as the sublime sound of the original did.

Everything considered though this is a superior sequel which manages to improve upon the fantastic foundations formed by the original creating a more challenging and cohesive experience. Well worth its relative paltry five hundred point price-tag.

Verdict : Fantastic fantasy themed follow-up.

Points: 800
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Activision
Released: 1995
System: Megadrive

Originally the first Pitfall games were a big deal at the time as they provided something new even if variety was somewhat sacrificed in favour of exploring identical enviroments, running from enemies and picking up the odd bit of treasure; granted the formula worked pretty well to a degree but fast-forward about a decade and things had changed a lot and so the Pitfall of old was forced to evolve and we should be glad that it did.

Gone are the drab crud coloured caverns of the original and in with the dark and dense depths of the jungle making for a much more richly detailed environment in which to adventure in as you guide Harry Jr � son of the original 'pitfall' Harry � on a quest to find his father.

But you aren't merely limited to one single environment this time as you will journey through mines in a mine-cart, wade through crocodile infested rivers, investigate ancient ruins and even scale waterfalls in this truly epic platform adventure. Of course there are other enemies that will encounter along the way ranging from dragonflies, hawks, monkeys, spiders and of course the legendary pitfalls which will consume you upon stumbling into them.

Unlike your father however you are not defenceless against such foes as you can deal out punishment Indy style with your whip, snipe with your slingshot or even slice up spiderwebs with your trusty boomerang. As well as crossing through the perilous platforming sections there are even some simplistic puzzles which add some nice variation to the mix even if the same can't be said for the boss battles which bar one fight is the same Jaguar scenario rehashed many times, still it's one of very few flaws the game has.

Indeed rather bewilderingly the only other flaw could have been avoided had the SNES port of this been re-released on the Virtual Console instead because the Megadrive version is rather inferior in the audio department so it's a shame the the superior version was not released in place of this. It is no deal-breaker though and what you are left with is an excellent reinvention of a well loved platform title; oh and the original Pitfall is hidden away in there too for good measure.

Verdict : An outstanding overhaul of a tired franchise.

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.