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

Here we have another DS title to add to the virtual library, at this rate it's probably best to abandon all hope on getting GameCube VC titles but at least there should still be a few more titles due for release on the Wii U and 3DS VC's for now. Anyway enough from me and on with the game! 

Available for download this week we have...  

Out of all the Nintendo DS games to be released on the Virtual Console, I didn't think we would end up getting Mario Slam Basketball at all, indeed being that it's a Square-Enix title to boot there would have been many an RPG title I would have expected to see instead of the single sports title they happened to make in collaboration with Nintendo but there you go; perhaps all of those gems are still to come or at least we can hope. In any case this surprisingly decent fantasy sports approximation is now coming on for a decade since its release so I suppose now is a reasonable time for it to be brought to a new audience on the Wii U because although it sold pretty well for its original time of release, there's a good chance that an entire generation may have passed this game by in that time and although that may not be the worst thing in this case - although good, this title would never be an undisputed classic - it is nice to see it being offered up in an age where it seems we can purchase most titles digitally... for a price.

Indeed the price-point here like with all DS games is nearly nine pounds which is a considerable amount when taking into account its age, stable but still niche appeal plus the obvious fact that you have an entire multiplayer mode which is absent due to the way titles originally from portable consoles of past eras are currently able to be emulated for the most-part on the Wii U at this time. Whether this situation will change with the release of Nintendo's mysterious upcoming NX console remains to be seen, but if the lack of multiplayer is something which will bother you then I would advise that you can actually still buy the physical game card on the DS if you look around for half the price of this download, however that is of course if you happen to own an original DS or a 3DS - or any hardware revision of the machines - because if you only own a Wii U and are still curious to see what all the fuss is about with the single player then this is definitely for you; with that matter settled on what the game doesn't have, let's have a look at what exactly is on offer on the courts.

Go on Mario! Dribble that... Goomba? That can't be allowed surely!

All of your actions are controlled with the touch-screen aside from movement which is handled either by the d-pad or the analogue stick in this case, unless you're not right-handed in which case you'll have to wrestle with the face buttons in an attempt to move your character which must be fun I'm guessing but manageable though clearly far from ideal, in any case it's a control scheme which makes sense for the most part as it plays to the system strengths enabling you to dribble, pass, shoot and score a slam dunk with relative ease. Just like in standard, plain, vanilla Basketball you will score more points the further away you are from the basket but unlike in ordinary, basic, normal Basketball here you get to gain coins by dribbling the ball when on top of classic [?] block squares which will sporadically appear on the court, each coin is worth one point in addition to what you manage to normally score by dunking the ball so being that you can carry up to one hundred this can make a game feel a little one-sided for anyone who's really good at hoarding those coins, though coins can be lost if you're hit by another player by way of tackle or from one of several items which also come out of the blocks just like in Mario Kart; so you can expect Shells, Mushrooms and good old Bob-ombs... so just a bit different to the regular sport then, a somewhat dreary yearly piece of sports simulation software this most certainly isn't! 

You have a solid selection of characters, many of which can be seen in the game banner above - yes even Waluigi - so you get all of the usual suspects from within the Mario universe at that point in time plus a few unlockable onces which you may be able to glean from the screenshots, these are hardly spoilers though as you tend to get all of these characters - and then some these days - in any Nintendo themed sports title; hold up though because this is a Square developed game afterall so you also get some cameo appearances from a certain fan favourite franchise of the role-playing variety, I wonder which one that could be? Oh look kupo, a Moogle! Again for anyone familiar with Mario Kart you probably won't be too surprised to learn that the court selection is very similar to tracks you may have raced across as you have Bowser's Castle, DK Cruiser, Koopa Beach, Mario Stadium... the list goes on and with each you can expect to be dodging appropriately themed projectiles as you work your way through all of the tournaments in the single player mode, at least I'm assuming that's the mode you'll be playing because beyond that there is Dribble Race which is your time trial type mode, that's essentially it along with the varying A.I which ranges from Mediocre to Mildly Annoying on the challenge scale during your three on three matches.

A couple of monkeys, a princess, dinosaur, moogle and... Waluigi.

There's a lot to like about the visuals as clearly this is a decent looking fantasy take on Basketball which would have been quite something to behold on the original Nintendo DS but even on the big screen it still holds up fairly well indeed, of course the textures might look a bit off in places but the smoothing helps plus it's not that much of a deal-breaker as the game still runs really well combined with the excellent presentation within the menus makes for an aesthetically pleasing overall experience with some nice effects spread throughout which extend to the consistently decent use of colour. All of the soundtrack is solid as well, of course it can feel generally repetitive at times as you'll end up hearing the same tracks after a while but it's no bad thing, it's all very good quality as well including the suitably punchy sound effects along with the well-placed cues such as the music and sound effect which plays when you're almost out of time being the same as the one used in Super Mario Bros. it's that kind of attention to detail which just shows how far Square went with the concept, running a fair distance with it.

Ultimately this is a Mario sports title which still holds up well today even if it is just in single player mode, if you've played all of the other titles which have had multiple updates such as Golf, Tennis or even Football then why not give Mario Slam Basketball a try as it might just surprise you, especially if you like to appreciate the finer details within such spin-offs as this is one example which has plenty to show you. It's also very fun to play while it lasts which for a lot of players will probably be at least a few play-sessions so it's still not bad value really, previously the only example of Mario playing Basketball I had to compare it with was the GameCube outing of NBA Street V3 which featured Mario, Luigi & peach as cameo appearances which while well done for what it was still doesn't compare to what has been achieved with this well-rounded game of Mario themed Basketball which deserves a decent amount of praise for what it's worth; especially if this is to be the only entry as a standalone title, one thing is for sure though if we were to get an update to it in the future with a larger roster of characters from the stables of both companies then I for one would definitely take a punt at it.      

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!