Never fear - Samus is here!

Samus worshippers will be over the moon to discover that Metroid (NES, 500 points) is now available. We gave the game quite a harsh review as we feel it's totally overshadowed by Super Metroid (out in the US next week, fact fans). Hardcore fans will no doubt make a beeline for this game regardless but casual players should wait for the superior SNES outing.

Sega followers will be happy to see another 'Shining' example of RPG craftwork in the form of Shining in the Darkness (Genesis/Megadrive, 800 points - AKA Shining and the Darkness in Japan). A first person dungeon crawler, this breakthrough adventure was pretty hyped upon release but sadly isn't the solid-gold classic many Sega fans would have you believe. Even at the time many magazines questioned the quality of the game and it plays even worse today. Thankfully there's just enough charm to make the game worthwhile, but only a complete fool would argue that this is one of the best RPGs currently available on the VC.

Finally we have Cratermaze (TG-16, 600 points). Yet another obscure release from Hudson from the TurboGrafx's past. This Bomberman style maze game started life as a Doraemon game. It's a cute game which is worth a look but don't expect it to blow you away or anything!

So there you have it - it's Super Metroid next week, so try and keep the bitching to a minimum until then!