If there was ever any one single title on the N64 that helped to silence any doubters in the consoles capabilities early on in the life of the system, then Lylat Wars (this version is the original Star Fox 64) is the title which majority of the credit should go to. Appearing approximately one year on from the machines initial launch; it raised the bar to new heights, increasing the hopes and expectations of players to a new level that was unheard of until that point in time... “We need the Star-Fox team!”

Everything about the second entry in the Star-Fox series (named Lylat Wars in Europe and Australia due to trademark issues) demonstrates high production values from the moment you switch on to a brilliant opening sequence which is rendered using in-game graphics (as opposed to FMV) which was a big deal in itself for it's time and really properly sets the scene before you even get to the lovingly crafted (and interactive) title screen.

After pressing the start button you are greeted with a well presented menu which plays host to various modes and adjustable variables. If this is your first foray into the game then you may want to check out the “Training” option first. Personally I would advise starting here before venturing into the main experience if only because it sets a fine example of how an introductory mode should be; in short, it teaches you all you need to know in a short time frame, manages to hold your attention throughout and thanks to the looped action sequence at the “end” it lets you decide when to move onto the main event.

Mission mode is where all the action is; it all starts with General Pepper informing you that “Andross has invaded the Lylat system” “help us Star-fox” and this is where you step in as Star-fox teams commanding Arwing pilot Fox McCloud who vows “I'll do my best” “Andross won't have his way with me” and it's with those (perhaps questionable) words that your first mission as a member of the Star-Fox team begins.

The opening stage of Star Fox 64, colour matched for authenticity!

It's truly a joy to behold from the very first mission as while it eases you in gently; the action still comes thick and fast with a constant supply of enemies to deal with as well as collapsing pillars, destructible debris otherwise blocking your path or in this case paths as many of the missions including the first has more than one route. All the while you will encounter S.O.S transmissions from one of your other wing-mates and often choosing to help or ignore them will alter that paths that are available to you.

Deciding on whether or not to help Falco Lombardi (hot-shot ace pilot) on the first mission will not only open up an alternate route but also a different and more challenging boss encounter. This route planning also extends to the games 3D scrolling map of the Lylat System from which you select your missions as there are several alternate routes with 15  main planets in total requiring multiple routes in order to discover each of the games missions.

Essentially the action follows the same pattern; you mission starts off with two or three airborne animal associates (including the aforementioned Falco Lombardi along with wise old-timer Peppy Hare and young-gun pipsqueak Slippy Toad – the teams risk assessor)  who aid you in their own ways providing you can help them out by picking off enemies who frequently tail them throughout the frantically paced on-rails journey to the inevitable boss encounter at the end.

The bosses are spectacular spectacles in themselves which often cause you to think on your feet or more precisely your wings and treads; depending on if you are  airborne or semi-grounded in your Arwing or Landmaster respectively. Most instances incorporate using offensive weaponry such as charged laser blasts and smart bombs along with advanced evasive maneuvers often hinted at by Peppy who will often suggest that you should “Do a barrel roll!” (you knew it was coming) to deflect enemy fire.

Beyond the carefully structured missions with it's scoring system that rewards careful players and encourages retrying to improve upon your previous efforts, the branching structure which allows for multiple routes and it's addictive quality, there is more to the N64 based Lylat Wars which makes it the true zenith of the series over both the SNES classic Starwing and the more recent GCN third party effort; Star-Fox Assault.

The opening stage of the recently released Star Fox Zero, complete with classic Arwing... just for comparison!

While it's true that Star-Fox started it all and was truly a revolutionary title for it's time thanks to top-notch programming and the Super FX chip which proved that 3D could be done to a decent standard in the 16-Bit era; Lylat Wars took many elements from the SNES original (and the officially “unreleased” sequel) and stepped things up a notch by taking full advantage of the larger 96-mb cartridge capacity which allowed for cinematic style in game cut scenes, included clearly audible voice acting and beyond the decently proportioned single player campaign even contained a competent 2-4 player battle mode which is still present today.

Everything that made the on-rails blaster such a standout title in it's time has made it across to it's virtual console release with only one mentionable omission; there is no rumble support... It's something of a contradiction perhaps that the game which introduced vibration in pads to the world a decade ago thanks to the Rumble Pak peripheral is now lacking it today; this may be more of an issue to people who have played the game originally as opposed to people experiencing it for the first time today and although ultimately in my opinion it doesn't make a great deal of difference to the overall experience it could have been that much better with it and is slightly damaging to the nostalgia factor. Thankfully though this has now been fixed for the Wii U VC release which is a welcome addition indeed, though don't go expecting the controller to rumble the same amount as it did in the original N64 release. (This may be a crucial deciding factor for our forum member Dazzybee, if you are curious about what this refers to then check out the "Rumble Mumble" contained within Episode #4 of our very own n-europe show)

Rumble ramblings aside; Lylat Wars still has a special place in the hearts of many gamers for many reasons previously mentioned and then some. From all range mode to all out action and sporting both smooth slickly crafted visuals (with display support originally up to 480p with the Wii version, now increased to full 60Hz mode) with an original score by Koji Kondo and the whole project overseen by Shigeru Miyamoto no less; this truly is a timeless title in it's own right and deserves to be played and appreciated by any self respecting gamer.     

Much like the expression Donkey Kong sometimes displays, I gave a confused look when I discovered that the almighty Donkey Kong Country had not yet been reviewed as part of VC Weekly in the past, this owes to the feature only starting a couple of months after the Virtual Console on the Wii existed, so in a sense we've always been playing catch-up - just as I am now - but fear not for all of these wrongs shall be righted as this true digital delight finally gets the review it deserves. Almost twenty years ago on November 24th 1994 Donkey Kong Country was finally released in Europe on the SNES and what a joyous year it was, unfortunately I didn't own Nintendo's glorious 16-bit machine at the time - I had a Sega Megadrive - but I distinctly remember playing this monumental release alongside my best friend at the time who lived next door, it was one of the greatest gaming experiences of my existence as to this day I'll never forget the magic of playing it co-operatively; for a platform game you have to understand that this was relatively uncharted territory at the time so what was achieved here just by having one player control Donkey Kong with his trademark 'DK' tie with the other player assuming the role of Diddy Kong complete with his 'Nintendo' cap while you went on an adventure to recover your banana hoard from King K. Rool and the Kremlins was nothing short of show-stopping brilliance which to this day is hard to top, even by the valiant effort made by Retro in the recent 'Tropical Freeze' which is the closest you'll ever get to this gem but not quite achieving the same sacred status.

Following the brilliant intro you are placed on the map screen at the start of DK Island, this acts as your main hub being that you can return to any previously played stage or visit one of the many members of the Kong clan who are your support characters of sorts; you have 'Funky Kong' who helps you travel quickly to previous areas on the island via Funky Flights, then you have Candy Kong who handles your game progress via her Save Station and then of course there's good old Cranky Kong who will depart to you his many pearls of 'wisdom' which results in many moments of good humour that both the series and Rare used to be famous for. Some of the very first stages are genius from the infamous Minecart Madness where never before has gaming with just one button felt so tense, to Stop & Go Station where you need to time your progress inbetween hitting barrel switches which turns the stages enemies 'Off' for a short time before they come back to life again; even some of the Stage names are genius like Vulture Culture or Elevator Antics to some which have awesome alliteration including Forest Frenzy, Millstone Mayhem and Temple Tempest.

Donkey Kong and Diddy doing some detective work as they find a banana skin aboard a Kremling ship!

Regardless of title though each stage will task you with several objectives including most notably collecting each of the 'K-O-N-G' letters which seem to be simple to find in the first few levels but if doesn't take very long before they become rather illusive, there will most likely be more than one stage where you end up near the end with just 'K-O- -G' or 'K- - N-G' and you'll be scratching your head wondering just where that last annoying missing letter is. There are also nemerous bonus stages to find which can be accessed via some well hidden barrels or even some which you can only get into if you enlist the help of one of your animal buddies who are ever useful, for instance you have Rambi the Rhino who can charge through enemies but if you run into certain walls then you'll end up in a banana collecting bonus area; there are other better ones though such as one where you control Enguarde the Swordfish in an underwater collectathon plus there are even other associated animals including Expresso the Ostritch, Squawks the Parrot and my personal favourite Winky the Frog all of whom you'll need to call on if you want to discover everything.

Controlling your chosen character thankfully is a joy because of the pinpoint precision which is offered by the SNES controller - this VC version supports all expected inputs though I'd recommend the Super NES Classic Controller for authenticity - as you can pull off some really incredible moves including Roll and Cartwheel Jumps for D.K plus Diddy respectively which you will need to execute with aplomb if you wish to get those collectable which are perilously placed over a gap which you would otherwise fall down using a normal jump; If you're playing single player then grabbing a DK Barrel will give you the opposite character to which you selected plus you can swap at the touch of a button which is useful for certain sections. Most enemies you can take out by simply bouncing off their heads but some you will need to break a barrel or a bomb over, the end of area bosses are always challenging too quite often testing your abilities being that this is a 'one or two hits' game which you can thankfully build up a stock-pile of lives in or strategically use save states with but not too often less you ruin the atmosphere for yourself by constantly bringing up the useful but obtrusive VC menu. 

When it comes to Visuals the style used was nothing short of pioneering as no game before had used the Advanced Computer Modelling technique to such stunning effect, Rare invested heavily in the technology to make these visuals possible to it's just as well that it ended up working with such success as the graphics used in the game just wouldn't have been possible otherwise. Even today it all holds up tremendously well, I'd even go as far to say that though the visuals in the recently released Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze are very nice in HD and something Retro should be proud of, the visuals created here by Rare have an infinitely greater amount of charm than any other modern-day platformer could ever dream of; all of that extra depth afforded by such rich details still make the environments 'pop-out' even today in a way that not even DKCR3D on the 3DS could match, indeed the prospect of the game ever being re-released in HD or 3D is an intruiging one but I honestly don't think there is a way that it could be done without compromising the original look so personally I'm just grateful for being able to run through Jungle Japes enjoying that beautiful environment coupled with the astonishing level of animation that's been preserved to this very day.

The underwater music coupled with the detailed backgrounds make this such a memorable stage

The enchanting music score is one of the best in videogame history thanks to David Wise who ultimately really 'is' Donkey Kong Country personified in the sense that his music elevates the entire experience to an unfathomable level of bliss way up there above the jungle tree-tops and beyond with every track composed by him being a unique masterpiece with some truly spine-tingling tracks from the opening stages, minecart sections, a jovial overworld theme - that piano - plus of course those two words... 'Aquatic Ambiance' are all I need to type as that marvelous music comes flooding back into memory. Unlike the 'Go Ape! CD which was included with the original SNES release which I dug out to listen while I reviewed this which just provided a simple yet tainted 'nostalgia' trip back to 1994 and not quite in the same way as playing this joyous title did, still a free CD with a Nintendo game in the nineties... who wouldn't have been thrilled at the prospect? Having said that these days it would be nice to have a collected DKC trilogy CD collection available through Club Nintendo because the original sound tracks are simply sublime. Oh of course the well-sampled sound effects are more than worthy of a mention, from the sounds of Donkey Kong beating his chest as you leave him idle, to Diddy's 'Ow!' when taking damage right through to the enemy kill sounds, the 'snap' of crocodile jaws, barrel blasting, the thundering of mine carts across a track, banana grabbing and of course the most cheerful 'losing a life' jingle imaginable.

An Absolute must-play by anyone who claims to be a gamer, Donkey Kong Country is a classic now just as it always has been, an absolute masterclass in how to create the perfect platformer and it still will be in another two decades, so when everyone is gaming on and Ultra HD 16k Bio-Organic LED display or a head-mounted device, I'll be more than happy if I can still play the definitive version of this 16-bit classic on whichever Nintendo machine I own, or failing that the original SNES game; advancements in gaming may transpire over time but those moments spent playing as D.K and Diddy will always be mine as the cart will never die, always heavenly to hold remaining pleasing to the eye.   

The folks over at Rare Studios in Twycross had wowed the Super Nintendo audience with 1994's Donkey Kong Country. It's pre-renedered back drops and 3D animated charaters did what Ninten-didn't dare do and SNES gamers got a glimpse of just how powerful their little grey box under the tele was. Fast forward one year and they guys and gals at the UK's then most talked about development studio were ready to launch their difficult second album, only this time without the lead singer, yes, without Donkey Kong! This time Diddy would be our Kong-queror, teaming up with his missus "Dixie" to jump, swing, swim and even "fly" around Crocodile Isle to rescue Donkey from the clutches of returning bad egg and general thorn in Kong's side, King K. Rool.

Twenty years have allowed time and dust to settle on Diddy's maiden pirate-based adventure, and Nintnedo has commemorated this anniversary (not that they really knew) by releasing the game on the New 3DS's new SNES Virtual Console service (new™). The first thing that becomes apparent after playing the first game is that there is much, much more to see and do in Kong Quest. Each level has a hard-as-nails to find DK coin tucked away in its depths, as well as less well hidden Kremlin coins, rewarded to the player for finding either 1, 2 or 3 of the bonus stages in each of the game's levels. DK coins award the player "hero" status at the end of the game, and the Kremlin coins grant access to the "Lost Isle" complete with extra challenging levels and yet more DK coins. Both of these challenges add considerable legnth to the game and will keep the player engaged long after K. Rool has been defeated.

All-in-all there are 39 regular stages to power through on top of 8 boss stages, beating the final boss will take around 5-6 hours and finding everything maybe as many as 20. The level design is nothing short of superb. A far cry from the jungle and industrial inspired prequal, Kong Quest takes Diddy and Dixie across perilous pirate ships, suffocating swamps and even through an abandoned amusement park infested with wasps, easily the highlight of the game. There is plenty of variation to be found within each world, straight platforming, vine swinging, barrel blasting, underwater exploration and the return of the runaway minecarts. This is pure Kong, supported by a cast of helpful animal critters, some of which, like Rambi the Rhino make a comeback from the prequal, some of which make their debut here (the spider one and the snake one). The amount of content is enormous, yet feels focused and rarely retreads old ground, constantly managing to throw up something new. Furthermore, the abilty of Dixie to float using her hair (think Mario Sunshine's FLUDD) not only provides a saving grace in tricky spots, but is vital for the most seasoned of speedrunners.

That famous honeycomb shape which would go on to be reused in a certain later developed N64 platformer.

New abilities for our Kong's don't stop at falling with style, they also include piggybacking and throwing the second player to reach those hard to get items or tough to get to spots. While the actual physics of the platforming rarely reaches the lofty heights of the Mario series, the controls are of a high enough standard here to rarely cause problems. The pre-rendered back drops on the other hand can ocassionally prove to be misleading and the hit detection is not always perfect, a minor complaint, but certainly nothing game-breaking and totally worth it when one considers just how beautiful the backdrops look. Not only are the backdrops beautiful, the soundtrack is, in a word, a masterpiece. The first game took the idea of a what constituted a MIDI soundtrack and reinvented the wheel. Kong Quest does it AGAIN. David Wise, take a bow. The game is simply an audio-visual joy to experience. Make sure you get some headphones for your New 3DS and embrace the perfect marriage of the "Bramble Blast" level set to the soothing sounds of "Stickerbrush Symphony". Bliss.

 So, some good news Europeans, this is THE first opportunity us unfortunate PAL gamers have had to play the real version of DKC2, by real of course I mean the 60hz version of the game! Cause for celebration indeed as the Wii VC and then even more shamefully (in 2014, no less) the Wii U VC versions were released in their old, slow, black-border encrusted 50hz versions. Not a problem, I'm sure, for those of us who grew up playing PAL games, but the Internet has given the more savvy amongst us a taste of the holy NTSC grail, and my god the grail tastes good, I'm looking at you Sonic, F-Zero and Starwing. DKC 2 also, incidentally, tastes great. The game plays like an absolute dream, it's smooth, responsive and emulated to a very high standard. Thanks to the New 3DS's small screen, the game is also as sharp and as bright as it has ever been. The backdrops look absolutely stunning and it's often hard to believe that this game was released 21 years ago on a 16-bit system, only now it's finally in super 60hz sexyness.

Brambles! Brambles everywhere! Don't you dare drop me Squawks!

 Another advantage of the 3DS of course is the ability to make restore points or simply close the lid on the system. So great is this advantage that "Wise Old Granny Kong", who resides in the school and charges a frankly absurd 2 banana coins to save your progress, didn't get a single penny off me, muah-ha-ha! That's right, I beat the entire game without "saving" once. A useful feature, designed for this modern world where daily check-ins of Animal Crossing and Nintendo Badge Arcade are a necessity, but one which can be ignored if one really wants to beat the game accoriding to 1995 rules. The option is welcome.

So apart from the 60hz mode and save restore points, not a lot is new in this version of DKC 2. Not that it needed to be, this is still one of the all time classics. People are torn over which game of DKC is their favourite, which Mario game is the best, which Sonic etc. For me, Diddy's Kong Quest takes this series' crown. It adds enough of the new to be a worthy sequal to the fantastic first game, but sticks close enough to the formula so as not to turn into a hot mess and sully the DKC name, like the third game, for example. Sorry, Kiddy Kong.

Diddy's Kong Quest's brilliant level design, gorgeous graphics and the soundtrack of a generation combine to make a truly challenging and memorable 2D platform experience, with seemingly unlimited secrets, hidden items and collectables. Where the orginal DKC set the basic ground rules, this game "Rare-ified" them. If you still haven't played it and want to know where the inspiration for Banjo-Kazooie and other Rare N64 classics came from, download this now as the New 3DS version is by far the best currently available in Europe.  

Verdict : A killer-ape king of the Kong series.

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!