Virtual Console Reviews

Boy wonder

The Wonder Boy franchise is one of many treasured relics from SEGA's past. Dedicated fans have clamoured for a new entry in the platform series ever since the 1994 Mega Drive release of the sixth title, Monster World IV. For now, though, they'll have to make do with the splurge of digital download re-releases. This time, it's the arcade...

Winning run

Name a SEGA arcade racer from the 1980s. Now name one that isn't Out Run. Chances are you've come up with Super Hang-On (or maybe Power Drift if you're really trying), the motorbike racer that's the Pepsi to Out Run's Coke. The fact it's taken SEGA five years to bring Super Hang-On game to the Western Virtual Console is a big surprise,...

Online, but off-base?

It's taken five and a half years for an online Street Fighter game to reach Wii. In that time, Xbox 360 and PS3 owners have had five different SF online titles — six, if you count Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Heck, even 3DS has Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition. Wii owners, for their sins, get an online-enabled...

Another victoly

It's only taken 18 months since Samurai Shodown III for the fourth instalment, Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa's Revenge, to reach Virtual Console in Europe. As part of something of a Neo Geo resurgence following King of Fighters '97, Sam Sho IV is another strong addition to VC's fighter library. SSIV takes the basic three strengths of...

From Russia with love

When you consider that he hasn’t starred in his own game since 2000, Strider Hiryu’s popularity in Capcom fan circles is impressive, which is largely down to the high regard in which players hold his 1989 coin-op début. Powered by Capcom’s CPS hardware, Strider was an arcade action platformer that redefined the genre;...

The once and future king

Despite being the fourth in the series, The King of Fighters '97 is only the third to reach the Wii Virtual Console, SNK Playmore having skipped King of Fighters '96 in favour of its bigger, beefier brother. Without '96 to bridge the gap, the jump from King of Fighters '95 to '97 is huge: there are six more characters for a...

Worthy of the throne

Most gamers are familiar with the original Prince of Persia. Its incredibly realistic animations, created by Jordan Mechner from hours of video footage of his brother running and jumping around, made it an instant hit, and it's still one of the most well-known western game franchises today. Most people, however, are only...

Can you ever have too much of a good thing?

While the Mega Man series on the NES system didn't change too much from release to release, Capcom did manage to keep coming up with new and more challenging ways to keep platformer fans coming back for more. Mega Man 5 didn't try to re-invent the wheel, but what it did do was bring eight brand new robotic...

Adventure Island: Wonder Boy Edition

Most people are aware that the original Adventure Island was in fact a slightly modified NES port of Wonder Boy for the Master System. Immediately after this, Wonder Boy became more of an action RPG-like series, while Adventure Island stayed a platforming series. That is, until the release of Adventure Island IV,...

One of the truly greatest RPG experiences ever created

Soon after Chrono Trigger appeared on the Super Nintendo in 1995, it quickly became regarded as one of the most unique and impressive RPG releases to hit the system. Not only was it developed by a who's who of some of the greatest role-playing designers in the industry, the finished product...

Back to basics

The Adventure Island series started out with an almost exact clone of Wonder Boy, but as Wonder Boy became more of an action RPG rather than an action platformer, Adventure Island sequels stuck with the same formula as the first game and built upon it slightly with each release. In Adventure Island II and the later Adventure Island III, this meant the inclusion of the dinosaurs and..

It burns, but it doesn't crash

Ask anybody to name some firefighting games and you'll be lucky if they name one. Despite the games about the profession generally being quite good, there's not many of them, and they're not very widely known either. The Ignition Factor is one of only two on the SNES, the other one being the more well-known The Firemen, which, funnily enough, was originally released..

X-ceptional

Spinoffs in popular franchises have delivered historically mixed results over the years, but when Capcom spun the X series off of Mega Man, not only did they create a new line every bit as intense and engaging as the originals, but arguably even more polished and fun to a certain degree. And now, after a rather lengthy wait, Capcom have...

Higgins returns

The first Adventure Island was nothing more than a copy of Wonder Boy with some redone graphics. While Wonder Boy quickly became more of an Action RPG series, Adventure Island stuck to the platformer formula for a while before eventually following the same path. The general mechanics are still the same. Higgins' girlfriend has been...

A marked improvement

Jaleco released several beat 'em ups on the SNES, although you may not know that three of them are actually related. Exclusively in Japan, the games Rival Turf!, Brawl Brothers and The Peace Keepers were all part of one series called Rushing Beat, but for their North American releases they were retitled, and the story and character names were all changed. The second game in the..

Still one of the best RPGs to come out of the 16-bit era

What can you say about the Final Fantasy series that hasn't already been said a thousand times before? The titles have become one of the best-selling video game series in history and have been largely responsible for making the RPG genre so popular with fans across the globe. After having success with Final Fantasy II on the Super Nintendo,..

Bomberman flies solo

Apart from the very first game in the series, Bomberman has always been famed for its frantic, fast-paced, and, above all, fun multiplayer modes. Pretty much every single game starring the little guy has featured support for multiple players, with most of the Nintendo outings allowing four or five, and others like Saturn Bomberman even allowing up to ten. Despite this,..

Puts up a fight

It might seem strange that there has not been a single wrestling game on Virtual Console in the West so far, but when you really think about it, it makes sense. Almost every single wrestling title out there features the likenesses of real people, meaning it would take some serious effort and money to rerelease them. Games with made-up characters are of course much easier, but..

G.O.O.D.

Although it's now of course primarily known for its Harvest Moon games, Natsume developed quite a few unique, entertaining little titles in the past. We've already had a few rereleased on Virtual Console, and rest assured, S.C.A.T. can easily stand with the rest of them. If you're a Sega or Capcom fan, taking a glance at the game's screenshots might ring a bell to you. Yes, you're right,..