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

We have a couple of SNES classics previously spotted on the Wii VC a while ago alongside a not so brilliant portable RPG from an otherwise respected series. Anyway enough from me and on with the games!
 
Available for download this week we have...     

Wild Guns
Natsume Championship Wrestling
Lufia: The Legend Returns


 
Price: GB £5.49, EU €7.99
Publisher: Natsume
Developer: Natsume
Released: 1996
System: SNES

When you consider the Wild West theme the first things you'll probably be thinking of are large hats, saloons and of course shootouts but what if you took certain elements from this and combined them with certain Steampunk elements? Namely giant mechanised robots that want to destroy you and whatnot, the setting may be somewhat different but somehow it all comes together in one excellent experience known only as Wild Guns; so pick up your trusty six-shooter and get blasting!

Choosing from one of two different characters you take on the role of either Clint or Annie as you attempt to take back the city that's being controlled by bands of bandits and a load of robots gone rogue. You control your character by moving either left or right with the D-pad while holding down the fire button and pressing a direction will allow you to move the crosshair while your character remains stationary; it's a somewhat strange setup that works surprisingly well after a few plays, you also have a jump/dive button and a 'panic' button that sets off a limited supply of screen-clearing explosives.

Once you've mastered the controls you set about blasting baddies against beautiful backdrops which are as wonderfully detailed as the characters are astonishingly well animated and fairly well padded out with some nicely placed destructible objects; the saloon stage in particular springs to mind here as you can destroy every single bottle that you can see making the experience that much more absorbing. There are power-ups to be had which will bestow upon you better weapons than your standard shooter ranging from grenade launchers to machine guns and even shotguns not to mention a rather powerful hand-cannon that you can produce upon a time dependant meter reaching full capacity, this is especially useful in tight-spots which you'll find yourself in often.


Indeed the game is very challenging even on the easiest setting which should go some way to telling you how long this game could potentially last you, each stage has two different parts to it featuring mini-bosses along the way and then a colossal boss encounter after that which you need to clear with only three lives which can be challenging at the best of times. You may even want to invite a friend along for the ride to make things a bit more bearable – and fun of course – as this game features a two-player co-op mode which is quite something considering how much content the game has already.

Everything is all nicely backed up by a sterling soundtrack and meaty sound effects which finish off the game rather well leaving you with a satisfying feeling of having played something truly worthwhile rather than just 'another' shooting game. There is no question that this is without a doubt one of those rare games that just oozes class and quality plus the best bit about it being on the VC is that you don't have to pay the - rather hefty -  price-tag which the original cartridge still commands due to its rarity, so if you haven't played this excellent title before now then you really owe it to yourself to give it a go.  

Verdict : This is the Wild West at its very best.  



Price: GB £5.49, EU €7.99
Publisher: Natsume
Developer: Natsume
Released: 1994
System: SNES

To some it may seem bizarre that there hasn't been a single Wrestling game in the entire history of the Virtual Console but as with many titles they fall victim to licensing issues as many of them feature likenesses of actual wrestlers. Fortunately there is one Wrestling title that doesn't tie itself down with such unnecessary – but sometimes welcome – detail and instead has fictional characters with more of a focus on the actual gameplay which is a most welcome and refreshing approach indeed.

However it didn't start life off that way in-fact the original Japanese release featured likenesses of many actual wrestlers but when it came to the American version the sprites were changed and this is what we are left with here as Europe finally gets to play this title many years on.

Featuring a selection of different tournaments including regular, round robin/tag-team and standard tag-team - most are self-explanatory - there's certainly a good deal of variation and a lot of fun to be had specifically in the round-robin mode where you'll end up fighting the entire roster of wrestlers. Of course you can also opt to just jump straight into an exhibition match if you prefer which can be equally as fun and useful if you just want a quick match or two.


The actual character roster is pretty decent with a selection of twelve fighters each who has a satisfyingly varied selection of moves, you also get a rather large amount of health to play with because as one bar gets depleted there is another underneath to a total of six not to mention the gradual health regeneration. Best of all there are no real rules as such so you just go all out in an attempt to either pin down your opponent for three seconds or get them out of the ring for ten.

On a visual level the game is reasonable with a decent amount of animation but it's never really spectacular, though the accompanying music is rather competently composed and only adds to the atmosphere in a positive way. Should you buy this? Well it depends on how desperate you are to play a Wrestling title, it is certainly decent and worth investigating if you've never played it before but equally you might get just as much fun out of a similar game that you already own and for that reason I'd only really recommend this for fans of the genre as they will get the most out of it.

Verdict : A unique Wrestling title that's well worth buying.



Price: GB £4.49, EU €4.99
Publisher: Natsume
Developer: Neverland
Released: 2001
System: GBC
 
While the first two titles in the series were very highly regarded indeed, this portable Lufia game definitely feels the squeeze as it's distorted in the process of moving from its previous home on the SNES, there were bound to be plenty of compromises in this downgrade. Playing as Wain you are the protector of a small village where your duties would typically involve fending off simple creatures; one day a powerful force awakens within him just as the threat of Sinistrels coming back into existence to wreak havoc across the lands, so somehow this all culminates with you having to save the world whether you like it or not, rather standard for an RPG of this era.

Archetypal traits of the genre ensue as you encounter the mystical adventurer named Seena - she's handy with her magic attacks - ends up joining you, there are plenty of places to see containing a good few characters to interact with, some of which are unintentionally hilarious. There's plenty of game world to cover for a portable title, on the overworld you'll have plenty of random battles which is to be expected but once you're in a dungeon you have the advantage of being able to see your enemies so you can either choose to fight them or run away though obviously if you run from every battle then you won't level up so you'll need to strike a balance which isn't always easy to judge.

In battle things can get quite interesting being that you can have a maximum of nine participating in your party but not all at once, you have a nine square grid in which you can decide where to place each character at your dispoal; you will come across many varied beings including a Pirate, Elf and even a Gambler all of which have their own quirks, there are even things such as Skill Scrolls, Learning plus Force points and IP skills but I won't spoil those for you but suffice to say there's enough depth. A fair bit of strategy will need to be employed as well as within the battle grid your attacks are stronger at the front while your defence is weak yet at the back most attacks will deal less damage while you benefit from greater protection.


Still maintaining a bit of visual integrity the world of Lufia looks noticably downgraded even if this is expected when going from 16-bit to 8-bit, everything still looks pretty decent on the whole even if the menus seem a bit garish, there's still some nice animation present. Some of the music is nice enough for what it is in the sense that you'll get an idea of what each track is attempting to convey but the soundtrack isn't exactly stellar; indeed at certain points it's even a bit repetitive though it could have been much worse.

Creating a juxtaposition of ingenuity on one side with its rather brilliant battle system, plus repetitive enviroments on the other end of the spectrum, Lufia: The Legend Returns is less of a legendary title but more one of notability. For anyone who is actively a fan of the series, you might just find enough here to convince yourself that this is worth seeing through to the end but for anyone else I would say just beware as although it has charm, this is still not one of the best Lufia titles but more one seemingly born of experimentation; it's interesting just not for as long as it perhaps could have been.

Verdict : Lufia leaves its legendary status behind for something more sombre.

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!