This mysterious writer has hundreds of articles to their name, yet nobody is quite sure where they come from.
Some say it's one shy staff member who plies their trade only on the condition of anonymity, though it's been suggested that 'NL Staff' is a superhero-style mantle donned in times past when writers called upon The Voice Of The Site...
Review Chew Man Fu (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
Fried rice and egg rolls are in danger!
This is no doubt a game that not many will be familiar with. I think an award should go for best named game 'Chew Man Fu'. The Japanese release was called 'Be Ball' so for once the western name is much more fun! Basically this is a puzzle game where you have to push large coloured balls around the screen; the...
Review Streets of Rage (Wii Virtual Console / Mega Drive)
Sega's answer to Final Fight
It's tricky to review Streets of Rage and be fair to it in light of the high quality of its sequel. Nevertheless it laid the foundations for even more future greatness, so it is only fair to give the original game the respect it deserves. Basically, Streets of Rage is Sega's answer to Final Fight; the Axel character is a...
Review Excitebike (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
This bike still excites
Excitebike will no doubt be remembered fondly by older gamers. After all, it was one of the original launch titles for the NES way back in 1985. Some might be dubious and question if a game this old is worth purchasing for the Virtual Console, but worry not — this classic game has somehow managed to retain its appeal...
Review Kirby's Adventure (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Kirby's first adventure
Kirby’s Adventure was released in 1993 when many gamers had packed up their NES in favour of the shiny new Sega Mega Drive / Genesis or a SNES. Those who stayed faithful to the mighty grey toaster and picked up this game at the time would have been in for a real treat. It really pushed the boundaries of the NES hardware,...
Review Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
The black sheep of the family?
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is often referred to as the black sheep of the Zelda family. Unlike the original Zelda games, the top-down perspective is replaced in favour of side-scrolling platform action, similar to that found in Castlevania. Perhaps more significantly than that, it is the only Zelda game to offer...
Brave the streets of New York City in this side-scrolling beat-'em-up
Essentially Vigilante is a modernised version of Irem's classic Kung-Fu Master. It's the usual damsel in distress routine. Your gal Madonna is thrown in the back of the baddies truck and whisked away. It is your job to go through various stages to finally rescue her from her...
Review Contra III: The Alien Wars (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Run 'n gun
Konami really went all out with this title, the third instalment to the Contra series (or Probotector to gamers in the PAL regions). The development team at the time must have relished the challenge of developing on the Super Nintendo as this is one of the more impressive games on the system; the experience is a good deal bigger and...
A fun shooter in the Star Soldier tradition
One thing that can be said for sure is that if you owned a TurboGrafx console you would never be in short supply of shoot-em-up games! For anyone who is a big fan of the genre it is great news that Hudson has brought one of the most respected games of the genre to the Virtual Console. Soldier Blade is a...
Review Baseball (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Batter up!
Nintendo’s Baseball was actually a launch title for the NES way back in 1985. With unknown brands like Ice Climber and Gyromite it made perfect sense for Nintendo to have a representation of a popular sports game to attract sceptics to their new console. Predictably enough, it’s now horribly dated. The gameplay itself just focuses on...
Toe Jam and Earl are two fun-loving aliens
This is a very strange game. It was hugely popular at the time and most Megadrive / Genesis gamers at the time will probably remember the wacky lead characters, but how does it fare today? The action is played from a top-down view. As either Tom Jam or Earl you must search the planet Funkatron for all the...
Review Tennis (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Anyone for Tennis?
Tennis was one of the launch titles for the NES way back in 1985, and it succeeded in winning new gamers to the system in much the same way as Wii Sports. That begs the question, of course, why bother with this if you already have Wii Sports Tennis, which you got as a freebie with your Wii? Well for a start you control the...
Review Ice Hockey (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Ice to see you again
The earlier titles in the NES sports series are probably not remembered by many for being great games, but Nintendo’s Ice Hockey — a latecomer to the series in 1988 — certainly bucks that trend. It is fondly remembered as a semi-faithful translation of the sport which was fiendishly addictive to play and hard to put down...
Review Super Star Soldier (TG-16)
Super Star Soldier is a classic vertical-scrolling shooting game.
The TurboGrafx-16 has more than its fair share of excellent shoot-em-ups. Super Star Soldier is a follow-up to Hudson’s NES classic Star Soldier. It was one of the earlier games on the TurboGrafx and spawned two quality sequels including the rather spiffy Soldier Blade. The...
Review Solomon's Key (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
I've got the key, I've got the secret!
Solomon’s Key started life as a little known arcade game, but the NES version is probably more well known and remains a faithful rendition of the original. Playing as a little wizard by the name of Dana, you are tasked with escaping from a series of dungeons, using a handy magic wand that can create or...
Review Wario's Woods (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
If you go down to the woods today...
Toad, the hero of this story (or Mushroom-head to his mates) gets to show off his muscles in this Tetris-style falling block game by lifting and stacking bombs and monsters. Our friend Toad cleverly discovered that if he puts monsters of the same colour in a row along with a bomb of the same colour that they will...
Review Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS)
Another handheld Castlevania?
Since the release of the absolute classic Symphony of the Night on the Playstation, the Castlevania series has metamorphasized from the original side scrolling action/platformers to sprawling adventures games, packed to bursting point with collectables, enemies and areas. Recent 3D incarnations have been incredibly hit...
