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

A bumper catch-up session of VC Weekly this time around as Nintendo craftily revert back to releasing Virtual Console titles once a week instead of every two in celebration of the fourth Hanabi Festival! Anyway enough from me and on with the games!

Available for download this week we have...

• Altered Beast
• SimEarth
• Ogre Battle
• Pulseman

Points: 900
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Released: 1988
System: Arcade

Sega have had many classic side-scrolling scrappers including the great Golden Axe, the sublime Streets of Rage and of course the spectacular Shinobi. So where did they go wrong with the abysmal Altered Beast? Ok so it may have been reasonably enjoyable back in the day but by todays standards it has aged terribly while the other aforementioned titles are still regarded as classics.

For the uninitiated - and lucky - few I will attempt to explain how this game plays out; the words "Wise fwom your gwave!" are uttered in a badly warped digitised voice sample and an age-old 'hero' figure of sorts is raised from the dead. You then advance from left to right, killing enemies with a few very basic attacks, you then collect the orbs that they drop and upon obtaining all of these your character turns into a beast which can be anything from a bear to a dragon depending on the level; you then gain a more powerful projectile attack and you go off to face the end of level boss.

It's then a case of rinse and repeat for the entirety of the game as you journey through caves, ruins and swamps and to the games credit its graphics and sound certainly do have a reasonable amount of variety as do the end of level bosses. Sadly though due to the intense amount of repetition and ease of defeating the said bosses, it really is hard to recommend Altered Beast simply because it really isn't fun to play.

Essentially it doesn't meet the most important criteria for a game because it's just not enjoyable hence you aren't likely to play it or at least not for very long; in fact the only reason you would most likely want to is to laugh at how badly its aged and if you must do that then you can get the - already overpriced - Megadrive version which has been available on the VC for ages but it really wasn't worth it even back then and so it's certainly not worth an extra one hundred points just because it's the arcade variant.

Verdict : This is one beast that should be put down.

Points: 800
Publisher: Hudson
Developer: Maxis
Released: 1992
System: SNES

Simulation games have come and gone during the past couple of decades with the majority of the more successful ones having Will Wright behind them such as the SimCity series; seemingly not content with building and controlling mere cities, the task of creating something on a much grander scale ensued and thus SimEarth was born, but does bigger in this case mean better?

There is quite a lot to the overall package and in many ways it can be quite daunting at first especially as there are no tutorials as such just a planet that 'talks' offering the odd piece of info but other than that you are on your own and so you just end up experimenting. Not that this is a bad thing of course but it can be hard to actually follow exactly what it is you're experimenting with due to the dated presentation and questionable graphics as this is a game that's definitely not aged very well aesthetically.

In order to make progress in this game you need to trigger certain changes in the environment as this in turn will bring about natural changes which help to move things along; finding out that certain trigger though is a different matter entirely and because the game is relatively slow paced, trial and error can be a painful process at times. However once you eventually get into the rhythm of sorts the game can become reasonably enjoyable even if it never reaches the heights of more modern simulations.

Unfortunately the small amount of enjoyment that you'll eventually accrue from investing huge amounts of time in maintaining your planet doesn't really seem worth it when you consider the other annoying technical niggles that the game has; namely the sluggish cursor control, long load times and repetitive music which grates quickly and thankfully can be muted even if this makes the game seem a bit more empty.

Despite all this there is a decent game underneath all of its technical quirks but it's just a case of if you can be bothered to find it, some will absolutely relish this kind of experience and will be able to look past its faults but the vast majority will likely become frustrated by it very quickly. If you love the simulation genre then you will undoubtedly get some enjoyment out of this but just beware that it hasn't aged well at all.

Verdict : Slow and sedate simulation title.

Points: 900
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Quest
Released: 1995
System: SNES

To give its full title 'Ogre Battle : The March of the Black Queen' actually got its name through the series creator Yasumi Matsuno being inspired by two tracks from the famous rock band Queen's second album; a somewhat strange start for a game that would go on to become one of the most critically acclaimed strategy titles. Only twenty-five thousand copies of the game were ever distributed in America making it an incredibly sought after title that is now expensive to obtain; so its re-release on the Virtual Console is most welcome indeed.

You must succeed in ousting the evil usurpers - your fate, and that of the entire population, depends on it. That is basically the plot, it's the age-old good rising up to defeat the evil that we've come to expect over the years and while it won't score any points for originality in that department it certainly makes up for it in all other areas, delivering a fresh experience that's not quite like anything before it.

It bares certain passing similarities to other examples within the strategy genre but the way in which it is executed couldn't be more different; the game runs in real-time but when you actually enter a battle it is basically played for you so ultimately your likelihood of success is based on what equipment you have upgraded or stats you have upped prior to the actual battle. Formation is key to victory when on the battle field so arranging your units tactically before you get attacked is another aspect that you should be well aware of.

Ultimately your objective is to free the various places such as towns that have come under siege, after each successful rescue mission you are awarded accordingly with special tarot cards which will help to boost your arsenal and can be called upon in battle. Quite honestly once you get into the game it's a joy to play as everything is as it should be, the menus are slick enough to navigate through both quickly and easily, the presentation is top-notch, visuals are well detailed despite not employing any Mode Seven technology and the accompanying score is simply sublime.

For many strategy fans the release of this game on the European VC is a dream come true because what you are getting is a very rare and sought after strategy game that would set you back a fair amount in cartridge form yet here it is available in playable form on the Wii for a mere fraction of the price. If your serious about strategy then I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Verdict : A simply spectacular strategy game.

Points: 900
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Game Freak
Released: 1994
System: Megadrive

Ask anyone to name a title created by Game Freak and almost instantly the answer 'Pokemon' will be uttered despite the developer having created a handful of other titles prior to reaching the dizzying heights of success that was achieved by the ever popular RPG series. Indeed one such title is the rather obscure Pulseman, an original action-platform game with excellent visuals that sadly was never released outside of Japan... until now that is.

Pulseman was created when a scientist named Dr Yoshiyama 'merged' his DNA with a female A.I unit � don't ask me to go into more detail than that � with the end result being a child who was half-human and half-robot. Unfortunately for the good doctor though he spent a little too much time in the realms of the virtual world and become corrupted thus turning him into the now evil Dr Waruyama who naturally decides to take over the world; this is of course where you step-in to save the day!

Much like in similar games you must make your way through a set of levels which vary from a Casino, City, Jungle right through to even being inside an Arcade Machine; this level set makes for a refreshing experience and best of all you can choose the order in which you want to tackle them ala Megaman or Gunstar heroes style. You have the power of electricity as your main projectile weapon but you can only use this so long as your power meter is charged up which you do by moving, if you are stuck with no power though you can kick or slash the enemy at close range albeit with less effective results; you can also use your electric abilities to travel down power lines which adds some variety to the proceedings.

Your objective for each stage is to collect various objects and make it to the end where of course a boss will be waiting for you, each boss battle is reasonably original and poses a decent challenge. Graphically the game is easily one of the best looking on the Megadrive with a solid amount of detail and some nicely animated sprites, add to this a varied soundtrack containing many high-tempo and upbeat pieces and you have one very enjoyable game.

It's a mystery as to why this wasn't released sooner as it's an excellent example of a solidly constructed platform game that has a great deal of charm to it and is fun to play. Those who enjoy the genre will most likely love Pulseman, while it does take inspiration from games such as Megaman and Rocket-Knight Adventures it couldn't really be more different in its execution and is a very enjoyable experience.

Verdict : A near perfectly paced platformer.

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.