The classic PCE strategy game returns

The Wii only has two downloads next Tuesday, but they're both hotly anticipated releases for strategy and retro fans. DSiWare is where the real download action is though, with no less than seven releases - all of which appear to be bona fide games this time!

WiiWare

Nectaris (1000pts - Hudson) - The classic PC Engine turn-based strategy game gets a major graphical facelift and online multiplayer for up to four players. Hudson's past WiiWare games have had worldwide releases pretty close together so hopefully we'll see this come to Wii Shops outside of Japan soon.

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Virtual Console

Rockman 4 (500pts Famicom - Capcom) - This is the third sequel to the iconic Capcom action-platformer and whilst it might not be everyone's favourite, die-hard fans should be thrilled.

DSiWare

Wanko to Issho ♪ (800pts - Gameloft) - You have to give it to Gameloft for the effort put into localising their downloadable games for the Japanese market and they're one of the few developers outside of Japan to bother with Japanese DSiWare at all. As a pretty good pet sim, Me and My Dogs: Friends Forever should have a good chance of finding an audience in the land of Tamagotchi, even with a premium price. [It also has the greatest name ever - British Editor]

Pen-driven arcade action!

Star Ship Defender (500pts - Nintendo) - Known as Starship Patrol/Defense elsewhere, this well-regarded variant on the "tower defence" genre of strategy games has a terrific minimalist design - putting "Defender" in the title only makes it better!

Uso Hakkenki: Kokoro no Naka o Nozo Ichao ☆ (500pts - Genki Mobile) - This is the least game-like offering of next week's downloads. If we're understanding the Google Translation of the description it's either a fortune-telling program or a lie-detector a la Mind Probe. 500 Points seems a bit steep for either, but if it successfully predicts the future it's a bargain!

G.G. Series: Assault Buster (200pts - Genterprise) - Genterprise's unending series of budget arcade action games continues. This game has you controlling a character with a jetpack clearing waves of enemies off a single screen. We'll try to get you First Impressions of this and other games in the G.G. Series in the coming months.

More cheap on-the-go arcade action!

Uchimakure! Touchpen Wars (200pts - Tom Create) - Another inexpensive game with some arcade action. Using your stylus you control turrets at the bottom of the screen and need to withstand an air and ground assault by enemy forces for a fixed amount of time - think Front Line meets Missile Command.

From the Abyss: Anonymous Notes (200pts - Sonic Powered) - This is an dungeon-crawling action RPG that started out life as a full DS cart release a couple of years ago. Pretty impressive for a budget DSiWare release - will Aksys bring this version to North America as well?