We catch up with the Americans, as Sega sequels slide onto the system.

Available to our brothers across the Atlantic for a few weeks now, the Mega Drive's Golden Axe II and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 arrive for PAL Virtual Console today. Sonic 2 sees the little blue devil run and spin his way towards defeat of the rather comical Dr. Eggman yet again, sure to remind Nintendo diehards why the competition could sometimes be good as well. Golden Axe II reprises the accessible, if niche, formula of four-player role-playing side-scrolling hyphenated action-adventure. With names like Tyris-Flare and Gilius Thunderhead for the characters, you really can't go wrong. Go nuts for 800 points apiece.

Also yours for 800 precious VC points is Ecco: The Tides of Time (see what they did there?), featuring more submarinal puzzle solving and threat defeating. If you're not so much with the nautical, the final release is the Turbografx shooter Dragon Sprit, a typical hero and princess affair, with the added delights of dragon transforming. At 600 points, it's wicked cool, as the kids might say.

Expect much more professional analysis in the next edition of Sam's VC Weekly.