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

If you're a fan of prehistoric platformers - no not Mario... Ba-dum-Tsh! - then you've come to the right place as there's another classic that should be suited to your requirements. Anyway enough from me and on with the game!
 
Available for download this week we have...     

Adventure Island


 
Price: GB £3.49, EU €4.99
Publisher: Hudson
Developer: Hudson
Released: 1992
System: NES
 
The original entry to a classic series which sees the adventure of main character Master Higgins as he journeys across a tropical paradise named Adventure Island in order to - you guessed it- save his girlfriend Tina from the evil Witch Doctor.

Your quest will take you though eight areas infested with a range of enemies but the basic gameplay revolves around zipping through the levels on a skateboard, crossing gaps and throwing hammers and fireballs at giant snails while you constantly gather fruit to replenish your constantly depleting health bar.

As if that wasn't challenging enough, hitting most enemies if not on your board results in instant death, there are a few checkpoints scattered throughout each level but it's nonetheless a trial by fire attempting to complete each increasingly difficult level. Boss battles revolve around facing off against the Witch Doctor who changes his head each time you face him into such things as that of a Rhino and a Hawk but it's the same required pattern to win each time so it's essentially a clone of the famous Bowser battles from Super Mario Bros.



Visually the game looks fine for a NES title, the music is annoyingly infectious - I can still remember one of the levels themes over a decade and a half on when I first played it! - but what really keeps you playing is the simple challenge of completion as evil as some of the levels can seem at times, it somehow keeps you coming back for just that 'one more go' which never ends up being so.

If you've exhausted the entire library of platform titles that the VC currently has to offer then give this a go, it's enjoyable and addictive even if a little frustrating at first it's still fun while it lasts plus it's different enough from its “new” counterpart - available on the Wii VC - to be worth downloading especially as it's the original. Definitely worth the money even today if you're after a fun alternative platformer which has aged rather well, hopefully the Miiverse community will keep the love for this series alive for a long time yet.

Verdict : A super snail smashing spectacular.

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!