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

Yet another solitary release this time around, a good one though as it was responsible for launching a very successful Nintendo franchise. Anyway enough from me and on with the erm... game!

Available for download this week we have...

• Super Smash Bros

Points: 1000
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Hal Laboratory
Released: 1999
System: N64

When the original game in this since smash-hit series was first conceived it originally wasn't going to have Nintendo characters feature at all, instead under the tentative title of 'Dragon King' it would have featured bland, basic and blocky characters; thankfully though Sakurai stepped in and suggested the use of the company's most prized mascot characters and so Super Smash Bros was born.

Featuring eight starting characters including the likes of Kirby, Link, Mario, Samus and even Pikachu, it gave fans the chance to 'duke it out' as one of their favourite characters. Ever had a disagreement with someone about who's better out of Mario or Link? Now you could settle this dispute and if you've never been a fan of say Pikachu... this was your chance to beat up the little yellow fellow.

Of course being a Nintendo title the violence was done in a more slapstick fashion so you will find no removal of limbs or indeed any smattering of blood here, though it was a somewhat refreshing approach at the time considering the amount of other beat-em-ups at the time that smeared the screen gratuitously with gore.

Indeed the game is a very different experience on the way that it plays; basically you pick a character and then fight it out in one of the themed stages dealing damage to your opponents, as the percentage goes up your chance of smacking that damaged character off the screen increases and if you manage to do this you'll add a point to your score. This is in essence how the game works, it's so simple and yet so satisfying; a selection of power-ups are also available including fans, lasers and wands to name but a few which add fun and hilarity to the proceedings.

Alas though as decent as this game was - and still is - it has since spawned two sequels, each of which contain a wealth of content to unlock including trophies, many more characters, stages etc not to mention more modes including the home-run contest and the adventure modes. In comparison the originals twelve total characters versus the twenty-six in Melee and thirty-five in Brawl seems a little paltry and when you consider that there are only these few characters and a handful of stages to unlock it feels like a giant leap backwards if you've played one of the sequels beforehand.

Despite this though if you have never played a Smash Bros game before then by all means feel free to start here as it is still a superbly crafted entry, indeed if this was your first taste of the series a decade ago then you may also wish to download this purely for its nostalgic value, either way there is a decent amount of fun to be had here, just don't expect it to last long. Also you may wish to play this using a Gamecube pad for best results on the Wii as the classic controller doesn't feel nearly as good, of course nothing beats playing it with the N64 pad but the GC option is by far the best suited for this welcome Virtual Console re-release of a much-loved classic.

Verdict : Brilliant but bettered by Brawl.

That's 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.