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 historical strategy titles or even interesting pieces of Nintendo history then there might be just the selection for you this time around. Anyway enough from me and on with the games!
 
Available for download this week we have...     

Nobunaga's Ambition
Game & Watch Gallery 3


 
Price: GB £5.49, EU €7.99
Publisher: Koei
Developer: Koei
Released: 1993
System: SNES
 
There was a time it seems that the Strategy genre was something which existed solely on the PC, these days of course we have a veritable variety of examples that come under strategy - even spawning sub-genres - across a multitude of platforms which of course include the humble home console, yet if it wasn't for games like Nobunaga's Ambition made by Koei you have to wonder if things might have turned out a little differently. For those unaware of this title's existence - it hasn't even been available in Europe until now - you are tasked with running a country, extending your reach using war as a tool to do so as you battle your way through ancient feudal Japan; it's a strategy game with a touch of simulation to it being that you much take into consideration multiple variable including Economy, Morale and ultimately Strength which will largely determine the outcome of each battle.

It can seem to be rather complex initially especially if you are to take into account the lengthy manual which will take a while to read through but once you start to just play around it's actually not all that bad, soon you'll be increasing the size of your army while managing taxes as if it were nothing, when you're ready to go to war just choose who you're going to attack but be wary as there are many consequences to your actions so you'd be wise not to be overly reckless at first. If you enjoy an experience with depth then you have certainly come to the right place as there is tonnes of it here, perhaps too much for some as even playing on the basic difficulty level can prove to be daunting if you fail to consider every variable; for instance just pondering over which country to attack next can be an agonising decision in itself as you don't know if it's better to attack the stronger or weaker ones first, if the neighbouring or allied countries will then attack you when you're at your lowest point... the only advice I can give you is to take full advantage of the Save States that are unique to this release thanks to the Wii U as at least you'll be able to 'undo' a few fatal mistakes this way.

You will also have to do battle with one of the most intricate yet infuriating menu systems perhaps ever devised for a game as even though it's nicely presented with lots of easy to navigate drop-boxes, it can be a bit of chore figuring out just what each command is or what it does as sometimes you are left with just a picture for an option so you can feel like you're stumbling around in the dark until you learn about what it is each of these pictures do; now this might not seem like so much of an issue but when you consider that the quality of these tiny tile graphics is questionable at best even on the big screen it's understandable to see why this would cause more than a few hiccups, honestly I don't know how anyone is supposed to make out what the icons are when playing on the gamepad but good luck to them is all I can say. A pick up and play experience this most certainly is not but if you're willing to put in the time then you will surely find a deeply rich offering in this title.



Even though it might not seem like much to look at from a visual standpoint you must bare in mind that this was a SNES remake of a NES title which was already years old at that point, so while it might not be one of the most aesthetically appealing games it has still be overhauled since its original release which is something of a blessing at least; the upgrade becomes most apparent during the battle sequences which actually provides a little bit of distinction between the various units. The audio seems to be mostly functional as it certainly serves its purpose of adding something to the experience at least but this isn't a soundtrack which would be considered as being particularly rousing as such, the sound effects are perfectly servicable.

I can say with certainty that Nobunaga's Ambition is one of the most important games that Koei have ever made as its influences stretch deep even extending to the recently released Hyrule Warriors - made by Koei-Tecmo alongside Nintendo - amongst other titles including Pokemon Conquest, so while the franchise itself did receive many successful sequels and spin-offs this original title still has a great deal to offer the strategy enthusiast. It's difficult to advise that anyone else pick up this game unless they are in some way invested in these type of games but anyone who does invest the eShop credit here will surely not feel short-changed being that this is something which can offer an awful lot of longevity to the right kind of player.        

Verdict : A solid strategy title that still holds influence even today.



Price: GB £4.49, EU €4.99
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Released: 2000
System: GameBoy Color

Nintendo certainly hit upon one of their legendary moments of genius when they first manufactured the Game & Watch handheld games in the Eighties - thank you Gunpei Yokoi - as I can personally remember gaining many hours of enjoyment from these simple yet brilliant devices which were a self-contained simple high-score game coupled with a watch and alarm which were quietly addictive experiences that you could enjoy anywhere, so years later when Nintendo decided to re-release these classics on their GameBoy system with the first installment containing at least five games on the one game cartridge, it's not hard to see how they were onto a winner again. So by the third Game & Watch Gallery title we have five different modern-day remakes which are based on the originally released titles which you also get to play all in glorious colour being that this came out on the GBC back in the day, but how does this compilation of games which were already over fifteen years old then stack up a further near decade and a half on? Pretty well it would seem.

Starting off the selection of five titles you have 'Egg' where you play as a Wolf collecting eggs in a basket, in 'Greenhouse' you need to protect your plants from bugs by spraying them with insect repellant, while in Donkey Kong Jr. you are the son of DK as you attempt to free your caged father from the 'evil' Mario by grabbing keys, then you have the immortal 'Mario Bros.' whereby controlling both Mario and Luigi you are tasked with moving packages across conveyor belts and finally there is 'Turtle Bridge' in which you must get across the water by treading on turtles who have a tendency to submerge themselves as you're crossing. In the modern versions you instead have Yoshi catching cookies but avoiding Bob-ombs in Egg, while in the new Greenhouse our green dinosaur must protect flowers by spitting watermelon seeds at enemies, in the new DK Jr. you get to play completely new sets of proper levels which are impressive, Mario Bros. is the same with the addition of Bowser making life difficult and finally Turtle Bridge now stars Toad as he transports packages between two towers while stepping on Seagulls which persistently peck at balloons; the latter game was always my favourite of them all when I first played this compilation as I can remember losing countless amounts of hours to it.

As you keep playing you will no doubt be sure to better your high scores, if you can get high enough scores in each of the games then you will earn up to three stars for each which will in turn give you various unloackable items in the gallery which include information about other Game & Watch titles plus there are a further six unlockable games to get, I won't spoil which ones but suffice to say that they are good even if they are only available in their original form and not with a complete overhaul; well you can't expect everything as it's still a very decent collection. For those who persevere even further with the modern-day remakes of the initial five games you will be able to unlock an even harder mode for each if you can reach one thousand points, there are no more stars to be obtained by this point but it does make things very challenging indeed providing even more replay value.



Visually even the original games looks really crisp thanks to the decent screen technology afforded by the GBC at the time, obviously on the 3DS things are even clearer still which is a blessing and the modern remade stages still look really spectacular with all of the enhanced animation as do all of the menu's as this is a collection known for its rather slick presentation. In the audio department you get all of the original bleeps that you would expect to hear from the original games which adds to that classic feel, while all of the newer takes have newly composed pieces of music which have so much charm to them that it's hard not to be humming along to them long after you've finished playing, I can even remember some of the tunes in my head to this very day which should speak volumes about how memorable the short pieces are.

Clearly I can't recommend purchasing this selection of classic games enough especially as I've been lucky enough to play it the first time around, but now as a lasting legacy to the great Game & Watches of the past I would say there is even more reason to buy this, especially if you've never had the experience of playing any of these simply charming titles as the original units are becoming very scarce indeed these days so to have the ability to play a handful of these classics for less than five pounds seems like a solid deal to me. Add into the mix the ability to post all of those lovely high-scores to Miiverse and you now have even more of an incentive as you're basically competing with the world now instead of merely locally, just try not to abuse the save state feature too much or mess with your 'flow' by attempting to create one at the wrong time as you might find yourself better off playing them the 'old-fashioned' way as they were intended... just for a change.   

Verdict : Game & Watch greatness that Gunpei Yokoi himself would surely be proud of.

(Image Credit to forum member welsh_gamer - NNID 'WelshGamer' - for Game & Watch Gallery 3)

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!