Virtual Console Reviews - Page 17

Shoot the ball onto the board with the Devil Shooter, then use flippers and nudging to keep it in play and rack up a high score.

After the wonderfully wacky Alien Crush you would have thought developers Naxat would have struggled to create an even more unhinged pinball simulation - but you’d be wrong! Devil’s Crush improves on its spiritual predecessor in almost every way possible. Firstly, the..

Where it all started

More than 20 years have past since Metroid first blew away NES owners with its clever mixture of platforming, exploration and character upgrades. It went on to become spawn many sequels over the years, becoming a much-loved franchise for Nintendo fans – but nostalgia aside, is Metroid still high-quality by today’s standards?...

Make your way through a dungeon-like space station and defeat the prowling monsters in this real-time first-person shooter.

'Silent Debuggers' has to rank as one of the greatest names ever for a videogame. The first few minutes might convince you that this is a great game too. The funky intro music really sets the scene with style along with some nicely drawn anime style scenes. Welcome to the..

In this sprawling action-RPG, Mario may be two-dimensional but his adventure is anything but thin!

Remember Super Mario RPG? It was basically the swansong of the SNES, and though sales for it were fairly poor (Since people had moved on to new consoles and all), the games managed to build up quite a fanbase, and is, nowadays, one of the most popular...

The powered-up Zonk gathers his friends to form Team Cool, and they set out to stop King Drool’s plan to conquer the world.

Air Zonk is a horizontally scrolling shoot-em-up with the cuteness factor cranked up to 10 in much the same way as Konami's Parodius. Hudson essentially took the Bonk character and renamed him Zonk for this one which makes the game even stranger. Perhaps they felt it wasn't..

In this sequel to Ecco the Dolphin, everyone's favorite underwater hero must battle the Vortex Queen and her hive of drones.

Good old Ecco the Dolphin, after saving his dolphin chums from an invading alien race you would have thought he could have just spent the rest of his life in peace spinning a ball on his nose! These plans were shattered when the queen of the Vortex took it upon herself to..

A fantastic world of adventure unfolds in this vertical-scrolling shooter.

Throughout the history of shooting games we've faced a hell of a lot of alien rebels and futuristic baddies. The 2D shooter seems to lend itself to these situations - but it's always nice to see a company try something fresh and new. The PC Engine/TG-16 blast-a-thon Dragon Spirit is one such example. Namco had clearly had..

A new spin on crazy golf

Kirby much like our friend Mario has never been afraid to offer his own take on another genre. In this case the world renowned sport of mini golf. Unlike other pitch and putt games like EA’s Zany Golf on the Mega Drive / Genesis, Kirby has a few tricks up his sleeve. To destroy enemies in your path you roll into them...

Regarded as one of the greatest games of all time, Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting was the third and final release of the original Street Fighter II series.

If there's one thing the Virtual Console service has taught us, it's that some games have aged better than others. Playing the original Street Fighter II after all these years is a real eye-opening experience - it is almost too slow to..

The Blue Bomber's debut

The Mega Man series will need no introduction to most gamers; this game spawned five sequels on the NES, not to mention numerous games on other systems over the years. Mega Man has come a long way since his début way back in 1987. This originally story spins the yarn that Dr Light created six master robots for industrial...

China Warrior is a side-scrolling action game that was released around the same time as the TurboGrafx16 in Japan.

When the PC Engine was first released in Japan, China Warrior (or 'The Kung Fu' as it was known in the Land of the Rising Sun) was put forward as a showcase for its graphical prowess. Technically the first game on the system (it was released as 'Hudsonsoft Volume 1' in Japan), it sent..

Enter alone, deep into enemy territory to rescue the kidnapped President in this overhead-view action shooter.

Anyone familiar with Ikari Warriors, Mercs or Capcom's Commando will instantly recognise this style of run n' gun action. Yes it's another Rambo clone! That's not such a bad thing - guns, explosions and death is what we all want from our retro games right? The action is viewed from a..

The fastest racing game in the universe returns!

The original F-Zero on the Super Nintendo really blew gamers away with its flagrant use of mode 7, crisp graphics, inspired music and tough difficulty curve. It was really the first of its kind spawning many imitators such as Wipeout. Nintendo must have known the expectations were high for the N64...

A lode of rubbish or not?

The timing could have been a bit better for this as the far superior Battle Lode Runner for the TurboGrafx became available on the Virtual Console only two months ago. Is there a reason to bother with the NES original when for just 100 more points you could be enjoying better graphics, music and a whole host of new...

Not long after the malign reign of Death Adder has ended, another evil rises.

When I first clapped eyes on Golden Axe 2 as a lad I was over the moon. Being a massive fan of the original I simply could not wait to play this. Graphically, it looked even better than the original and promised to be the sequel I was waiting for. Sadly, it actually turned...

Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik) is searching for the Chaos Emeralds to fuel his new Death Egg engine.

Any gamer worth his or her salt will remember the day Sonic 2 was released. Cheekily dubbed 'Sonic Twos-Day' (it was released worldwide on a Tuesday, you see) it became a massive seller for Sega and cemented Sonic's position as one of the most popular...

Balloon Light

Before games like Metroid and The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo's NES console relied on simple arcade titles to keep itself afloat. Balloon Fight used an already-successful gameplay mechanic similar to that of William's Joust arcade release, and while it offers up some simple arcade enjoyment, the repetitive gameplay keeps it from lasting,...

The Great Devil has threatened to destroy the peaceful country of Eden, so Princess Lala and Prince Lolo set off to seek help.

Before HAL labs created our favourite pink cuddly blob named Kirby there was a blue blob by the name of Lolo. In 1989 when Adventures of Lolo was first released it got modest attention due to the quality of the game but as a...

A musty old place

Milon’s Secret Castle is one of those games you’ve never heard of, but when you do finally acknowledge its presence you realize that it inexplicably has an enormous following. A minor classic in the Hudson library, Milon was originally published in 1986 to fairly lukewarm critical response. To be perfectly honest, time has...