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

More Game Gear games anyone? Or perhaps a couple of home console classics... a fine selection is on offer this time around. Anyway enough from me and on with the games!
 
Available for download this week we have...     

Pilotwings
Sonic Drift 2
Vampire: Master of Darkness
G-LOC: Air Battle
The King of Fighters '99

 

Price: GB £5.49, EU €7.99
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EAD  
Released: 1992
System: SNES

Throughout the golden age of gaming Nintendo would always find new ways to push their 16-bit hardware to the limits and thanks to Mode-7 technology which rotated and scaled textures to give a reasonably accurate and impressive representation of 3D, the company were able to break boundaries once again. Of course this technique had been used before in F-zero and Mario Kart but never before in a flight simulation; so in swoops Pilotwings descending majestically upon unsuspecting SNES owners the world over. Firstly you'll notice that this is one nicely presented game indeed, from the rotating text title screen to the detailed mission overview screens right through of course to the main island itself where your attempts at aerial acrobatics take place. Everything looks surprisingly realistic for what is basically still a mere 16-bit title and it's a wonder to look at even today despite the fact that things have moved on tenfold technically since its release.

When you get to the actual main game you are instructed on what you need to do by an on-screen avatar in the mission briefing; essentially this boils down to scoring a certain cumulative amount of points in order to progress. You then pick from either Parachuting or Flying and can opt to view how your chosen aerial activity is scored plus the controls, you may from glancing at these pieces of info that it's gonna be a piece of cake but that is not so. Beginning with the plane you start off in the air and need to pass through two rings which isn't too bad but then you are asked to land and this is where most will either crash into the runway or even into the ocean due to either accelerating too fast or clipping the wings of the plane as you get closer to ground / sea level.

Parachuting is entirely different however and starts off with your skydiver holding onto a rope ladder attached to a helicopter which then ascends a few thousand feet before you let go and free-fall downward as you navigate through the rings on the way before opening  your parachute and attempting to land in the target area. Alternatively you can opt to not deploy your parachute resulting in your on-screen character plummeting to their cartoon-like demise leaving a person-shaped hole in the ground and - amusingly - an angry instructor who merely responds with... “You did that on purpose didn't you?” damn right I did. Using both the Rocketbelt and Hang-glider is a satisfying experience as their control schemes feel extremely well tuned and very believable indeed even if on the later more difficult missions piloting them well may take more than a few tries, of course though if you really can't be bothered with a particular mission you can always cheat and obtain the relevant password to input on the title screen.

Indeed all of these missions are really just a warm up for the 'beast' that you get to fly near the end of the game which is an Attack Helicopter loaded with missiles as you set off on a daring rescue mission to save your captured instructors; of course one hit and it's game over though so both caution and a quick trigger-finger are necessary here to succeed. The only area in which the game is let down slightly is in the music department, while the sound effects are spot-on the actual background music serves its purpose but isn't exactly amazing; but for the amount of things that this title gets right, this small niggle really doesn't matter as much as you might think and won't ruin your enjoyment of what is otherwise a genuinely captivating title.

Of course this title has since been bettered by its N64 sequel - which we will hopefully get released soon on the VC - but the original Pilotwings is more worthy of praise for what it achieved on the 16-bit hardware that it was created on. A technical achievement plus an original title that is a huge amount of fun to play and it's to its credit that such a game can still provide an experience that's more engaging than many modern day titles, if you haven't played this yet then please do as it's a truly unique game.

Verdict : Practically perfect piloting simulation.



Price: GB £3.59, EU €3.99
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Released: 1995
System: Game Gear

There may have been many imitators or half-hearted 'answers' to Super Mario Kart during the nineties, but among the best has to be Sonic Drift 2 which although being a portable title is actually quite surprising, moreso because the original Sonic Drift was such a let down yet this sequel managed to surpass many peoples expectations. Using the same scrolling track technique that was employed in such games as Outrun and the hugely overlooked Burnin' Rubber - a little shout-out for Amstrad fans there - it might not create quite as convincing an illusion of 3D as Mario Kart did but it's still very impressive considering the fairly limited hardware which actually manages to shine here.

You will get to choose from a total of seven characters including favourites such as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and on the 'dark-side' we have Robotnik, (NOT Eggman!) Knack plus the always awesome Metal Sonic; each character has their own special skill which can be deployed by pressing 'Up' on the d-pad after collecting two rings... these abilites can range from speed boosts, projectiles to even all out attacks helping to add a bit of strategy to the proceedings. Of course there's also a selection of standard items to acquire by smashing 'TV boxes' such as speed boosts, temporary invincibility plus jump springs which are very useful indded, especially on corners.

For the main mode you have Chaos GP which will take you through three different difficulties - Purple, White, Blue - in which you'll get six track for each making a grand total of sixteen, of course each track is unique so you'll get to see classic locations such as Casion Night, Green Hill, Ice Cap and many more all of which contain much of the charm that the original platforming games are famed for. Controls are really 'focused' so you should only take a moment to adjust especially if you remap the drift button to the right shoulder which makes things feel very Mario Kart in a good way; as with many Game Gear games you can thankfully play two-player versus providing you both own the game, honestly it's well worth checking out because there is a lot of fun to be had here and I'd even go as far to say that it makes this an essential purchase if you know someone nearby who's got the game as well.

Visually there's a whole lot to love about this title as being that it was one of the 'later' Game Gear titles it really uses the full power of the system, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised to see just what Sega's 8-bit behemoth of its time was really capable of, naturally everything looks even lovelier on the 3DS given the clarity of the screen; so you can enjoy the trackside detail along with the superb character animation as it was really intended back in the day thanks to modern hardware. Soundtracks for Sonic games have always been good, this is no exception as it delivers everything you could have hoped for from a game of its era so there are many pleasingly familiar tunes which fit in really well with the up-tempo racing atmosphere; also yes, the classic 'Ring' sound effect is present.

Overall there is a really great portable racing game in Sonic Drift 2 so this is one for fans not just of Sonic but the racing genre in general as quite honestly if you missed this the first time around for whatever reason then please don't pass it up this time as there is a lot of fun to be had here for what it a very reasonable price. Everybody should be Super Sonic Racing with this one!        

Verdict : Super Sonic Racing!

Price: GB £4.49, EU €4.99
Publisher: Sega
Developer: SIMS
Released: 1993
System: Game Gear

Who wouldn't want to replicate the success of the legendary Castlevania series? That seems to be the case here with this rather shameless title which dares to 'have a go' at cashing in, the slightly shocking thing is though that Vampire: Master of Darkness actually manages to rather competently clone one of Konami's best creations. Set in nineteenth century London you take on the role of the brilliantly named psychologist Dr. Social as you attempt to solve some murders originally thought to have been carried out by Jack the Ripper; it turns out though that the perpetrator is actually Vlad Tepes, so this then leads our unlikely hero on an almost subterranean adventure through some of the deepest, darkest parts of London doing battle with diseased dogs, grim ghosts, sickly skeletons and much more besides.

Castlevania was famed for its formidable weapons but here you are largely limited to using just axes, knives, swords... while secondary weapons are better as they include bombs and pistols but these are limited by ammo, you will most likely wish to save them for those trickier encounters with more difficult enemies. On the subject of difficulty this game does not shy away from it even seeming harder than the title it's trying to copy at times, this is of course good if you like a challenge but bad if you're easily frustrated; there will be many moments when you'll just get 'jumped' losing much of your health bar, of course you can avoid taking too many hits by being vigilant with your svae states but it still gets annoying after a spell.

Providing you don't give up on the game you'll probably have quite an enjoyable time of things otherwise, the controls are very solid as they respond just as you'd expect them to which is a blessing in those slightly stickier situations of which there are many... almost too many for my liking, but if you're something of a masochist then perhaps you'll just enjoy the game even more? Who knows, stick with it though if you can because overall the levels in this title can actually hold a reasonably brightly burning torch to Castlevania even if you do get the feeling that a little too much has been ripped off here and there.

Visually a nice job of retaining that essential 'dark' feeling of gloom which these kind of titles thrive off, for an 8-bit console this stuff is pretty impressive perhaps even looking better than the NES Castlevania titles which is quite an achievement; though due to the poor resolution of the original Game Gear screen everything is zoomed-in quite a bit which is a tad annoying, the sprites are good though. On the musical front it's obvious that this was never going to match the truly terrific tunes of Castlevania but then that would be a rather unrealistic expectation to have, still at least a valiant effort has been made to add to that dark atmosphere which this title has in spades.

Fans of the genre will love this even if it will be forever compared to the big series starting with 'C' but dig deep and you will be sure to find an enjoyable experience that does very well on its own merits, it's just as playable now as it once was with modern day refinements making the more frustrating parts passable. Give it a go if you're curios, for the price you could do a lot worse, plus this is one Vampire based title which might just be able to surprise you... albeit for a brief moment.     

Verdict : Not as much bite as Castlevania but it definitely doesn't suck like Twilight.

Price: GB £3.59, EU €3.99
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega AM2
Released: 1991
System: Game Gear

During the nineties flight-sims seemed to be all the rage, among these was the 'popular in arcades' G-Loc: Air Battle mainly because it really put you in the role of a fighter pilot, there was a successful Megadrive port which manage to capture most of the action, as a result remaining perfectly playable. But then we have the Game Gear version which leaves much to be desired, indeed if a tenth of the game was lost in translation from state of the art arcade to 16-bit home console then a further three quarters was definitely lost by the time we get to lowly portable 8-bit hardware which was actually capable of a lot more than this!

There is a thin plot detailed in the manual but honestly, who cares about that? You get to fly a jet and take down other enemy jets, tanks plus boats... which sounds exciting right? It would be if the experience was any good, but sadly it just isn't. It's genuinely painful to review but even worse to play if you were somehow unfortunate enough to have spent money on this, missions revolve around 'destroy ten jets' which you will look for, not find and then realise... wait what's that grey mass slowly coming toward me? So you shoot, miss, then get close enough to take it down; this is of course if you're lucky enough to find the enemy which in itself is an exercise in tedium.

You get nine unforgivingly tough missions to complete in any order you choose, if you bother with the game long enough to beat them your rewward is... another final mission! Completing misions awards you with points, these can be used to gain repairs or upgrades; dillemma time! Do you refuel or buy more missiles? If you make the wrong choice then you'll probably fail the next mission so I'd recommend abusing the save state feature here if you're stubborn enough to try and complete this chore of a title. The controls are good though, even better thanks to the 3DS even but really this is about the only true positive thing that I can really say so it's all a free-fall again from here.

Graphics have never looked so ghastly, the backdrops are beastly, enemies are excrement and the HUD is hopeless; so no awards for aesthetics here clearly. Audio is so bad that this one had to be played on mute... genuinely it was that terrible.

Nothing can save this title from being completely unworthy of your time or money, this would have been the case even back in the day so it rings even more true by today's standards. Really I can't see how Sega got permission to taint the Virtual Console with this release? But they did unfortunately so... avoid it please.

Verdict : Takes a nose-dive from the start and crashes shortly after take-off.

Points: 900
Publisher: D4 Enterprise
Developer: D4 Enterprise
Released: 1999
System: Neo Geo

Whenever the Neo Geo is mentioned it will usually conjure up images from many fighting games, but the most widely known would have to be The King of Fighters games, we've been blessed with many iterations from the series over the years on the Wii Virtual Console and this latest release could well be the last; but what exactly does the '99 entry do differently from previous revisions? Well the controls are pretty straightforward as you have two punch buttons along with two kick buttons, one light and one strong, there is a power meter which you'll want to fill quickly so that you can use your 'Death Blow' attack; as ever utilising many different combos will work to your advantage.

Indeed it's mastering many combos which will eventually lead to you winning many matches, of course each character has their specific move-set for you to learn and as you play more you'll start to learn about all the various intricacies; it all might seem rather daunting especially when you consider that you have a team of up to four characters at a time to play with thanks to the large roster but getting it 'right' is a very rewarding feeling in a game such as this. Things seem more tactical owing to the ability to boost either your attack or defence, which really helps to bring everything together along with the aforementioned finishing moves... it's almost too much but these are the things that 'make' a fighting game enjoyable for us hardcore KoF fans.

Newcomers shouldn't worry too much though - unless you don't have the time to invest in this title - as everything is still very much intuitive just as it always has been over the years, things have just been switched-up a bit in order to keep things just that little bit more interesting for everyone. To me it's familiar fun with a touch of frivolity but to others it might seem a little 'too much' especially when you consider that KoF '98 pretty much had things set up very nicely indeed; change is necessary though as it keeps things fresh while allowing a series to evolve... more importantly it has saved the series from becoming stagnant a fair few times over the years.

Just as you may have come to expect by now the visuals are of the very highest calibre ranking among the best on the Neo Geo not to mention the VC overall, beautiful backdrops are standard here as is the astounding level of animation present on the characters, really no expense has been spared in this department. The rock-based soundtrack is still amazingly effective, providing the player with plenty of motivational music to keep you fighting, characters sound exactly as they should while the announcer complements everything further with a solid vocal performance.

Some may choost to resolutely stick with KoF '98 purely because of how much it accomplished in such a short time-frame but for me I very much like the '99 edition as it mixes things up enough to make it enjoyable all over again in its own unique way. How much you will enjoy this title depends on how much you're willing to adapt, if the previous iteration is the very pinnacle for you then you may wish to stick with what you know but for everyone else I would most definitely suggest that you give this game a go because it's well worth the points even if it would be much better suited to the Wii U Virtual Console; come on SNK you want us to play your games more don't you?        

Verdict : Second in line to the throne, so very nearly stealing the fighting game crown from '98 even though it's still great.

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!