Manaman

@Keegsy

I recommend the two below as ideal games to check out for series newcomers:

"SaGa Frontier Remastered" is a good entry level game in the series, with QOL features that'll help make it easier to understand.

"SaGa 2" (from the 'Collection of SaGa' package). One of the original Game Boy titles and not too tough given the age of the game.

Do check out Gamefaqs guides to get a better understanding of some of some of the mechanics in the games, and the SaGa reddit community is always helpful in helping out beginners.

SaGa Frontier, SaGa Scarlet Grace and (so far) Emerald Beyond are the absolute highlights for me.

Frontier for its setting, huge variety in party roster and unique final bosses. Scarlet Grace and Emerald Beyond for their fantastic engaging battle systems. (I also really like SaGa 2 / FFL2)

Hi Drake, Slimes first appear in stage 7 (dropping out of the gate thingy above the dragon) and there are different colours with varying degrees of difficulty.

I believe the mages first appear in stage 23 (drop out of gates if you take your sweet time), but stage 30 is where they feature prominently (and this is a level not used in the NES version):

http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Solomon%27s_Key/Arcade_29_-_36#Stage_29

Sorry, but I have to correct the review on aspects that are wrong:

The Arcade version DOES in fact have more monsters than the NES version and this changes the scope and how you actually approach the levels (as opposed to the NES version):

Slime - Slow moving but can be between blocks to slaughter you.

Mages - These monsters have the same abilities as you; create blocks, destroy blocks and will chase you relentlessly throughout.

This alone makes the arcade version a LOT more challenging and well worth dishing out the points for. There just seems to be a misconception that these two versions are near identical when they have enough differences to point out.

Not a bad selection. Now there's one step closer to getting the final Mario platformer (and my personal favourite) which is Yoshi's Island. Probably download SMB3 eventually, but it is by no means a priority.

Being a massive fan of the hugely enjoyable original, I came into Super Air Zonk expecting the same kind of exhilaration. I was left disappointed.

Everything that was fantastic about the original - the variety of weapon choices, companions, enemy types and fast-paced actions - seems to have taken a tumble with everything seeming much more subdued, slow and downgraded. Levels just seem sparse, enemies are boring and the freedom of choice simply isn't there.

The soundtrack is the one thing positive I can say about this otherwise underwhelming sequel.

I was planning to download Probotector 2 before someone mentioned the possibility of it being in Contra 4, in which case, I'd rather wait for that.

Given that Mario's Super Picross is one of the best versions of an awesomely addictive puzzle game, I most certain don't want to see this 'replaced' at all for the US market. More people needs to get into this series.

Steve, although the dialogue was already in English, the translations for the menus and the training are most welcome, especially so someone doesn't accidentally erase their own saves due to not understanding the language.

Great news to see some effort put into localising a Japanese game into English, and hopefully this should pave way for possible translations of JP games in the future.

I'm seriously hoping for the SNES Fire Emblems to be given the same treatment. Given how text heavy these games are, I'm willing to wait months for these games.

I'm glad Europe got hold of SMB2j (which is by far a superior platformer to Yoshi's Story) and a brilliant puzzle spin-off in Mario Picross. If it was the other way round, I would've been envious of those that got SMB2 and Picross.

A decent enough game, though I do prefer some of the other Metroid games over this.

An absolute classic. I was always hoping it would appear ever since Japan got it last December, and I'm glad to see some of the classic ditties from GB version is in this game.

One of the best puzzle games around and in many ways, it's much better playing Picross on the telly than the handheld... this is especially true with the larger puzzles where scrolling spoiled the experience somewhat in Picross DS.

Puzzle fans should grab this now. It really is a truly awesome experience.

What the heck are you on about, BJDJ2012? The US have always got their VC games on Mondays, never Wednesdays so I don't know where you got the impression that US VC titles are released mid-week. Also, stop complaining that Europeans are treated as 3rd class... especially since we have on occasion got some top quality games before the US.

Jeez.

IMO, the WORST Breakout style game has to be Alleyway for the original GB. Utterly devoid of any interesting gameplay elements or level design. Drop Off looks interesting, but it hasn't surfaced on Hudson's VC list for Europe yet.

Shining Force will mark the second well-known RPG series after the Zelda series to hit the Virtual Console. I have always considered SF (especially Shining Force 2) to be much better than Sega's other RPG titles - Phantasy Star - and I'm glad to see this one appear first. Top stuff.

No offense, but to suggest Legend of Kage as a game for people that 'care about gameplay, not graphics' is ludicrous. There is practically no redeeming factor about the gameplay in this rubbish that deserves any mention whatsoever. It was terrible back then and it's (predictably) hasn't aged well in this day and age. One to avoid.

This game is finally out in Europe! So so glad about this, and I'm most certainly more ecstatic about this week's VC selection (Lolo and Balloon Fight) than I was for any of Sega's offerings last week. Top stuff. This game's an instant download for me and I can't wait to spend my weekend on this.

A very welcome surprise indeed. I have always considered DKC2 the strongest in the SNES series and I'm delighted that this has come out today. I didn't expect to see this any time soon. Simply a superb game - fantastic soundtrack, great level design and polished through and through.

If this gives me the opportunity to play P.P Hammer again, assuming it has a chance of cropping up (even though I'd rather have the Amiga 500 version), then it's great news.

I never really cared for Pac Man and still don't. Ms Pac Man was more enjoyable in that there was at least some variation to the maze layout.

I always found this game pretty 'meh' to be honest, even back in the day. I also have this on Animal Crossing so I find it hard to justify wasting 500 points on this.

Actraiser was released on the Japanese VC weeks ago, so no, we weren't the first.

Excellent week ESPECIALLY with ActRaiser being out. I agree that if this had been the only game this week, I'd still be very happy.

As someone said, if you don't like this week's (or any other week) selection, then go play or do something else. The Virtual Console really isn't the be-all and end-all of gaming now, is it? Have patience.

This game just doesn't do it for me at all. Maybe it's the somewhat floaty controls that's off-putting, but those horrid Rock-Paper-Scissor games are just ugh. Making you lose a life because you were unlucky at the game (which is all about luck) just plain sucks. I can't imagine spending 800 points on this.

The Story of Thor is a very decent RPG coming from someone who's playing it for the first time. I find it patronising at the suggestion that anybody who likes RPG would hate this game. The soundtrack is most unusual, the combat takes a little getting used to, but the dungeon design is very good. I like it. It's a better Mega Drive role playing game than Sword of Vermillion, that's for sure...

The 3 Sega games and their release date were announced weeks ago. This reallly shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone, and in all honesty, it was easy to guess that Lylat Wars wasn't going to be released at the same time as them.

Story of Thor marks my 3rd MD download, since the other two I already own in compilations.

This game is bloody brilliant. It certain rivals Solomon's Key as one of the best puzzlers on this console. The tune is especially annoyingly catchy, much like Bubble Bobble.

So looking forward to this.

Europe is getting Dragon's Curse (TG16) as one of the games this week.

Check: http://vc-pce.com

Jeremy, if you are 'not sure about the quality of RotTK', then how can you possibly call it a piece of crap?

Romance of the Three Kingdoms might be a niche title, but that doesn't mean people don't care about it. Yes, there could have been more variety but it could have been worse...

Both Turtles games were released to coincide with the release of the movie. Nobody was 'copying' anybody in that regard.

And so much for saving my points for another week... *downloads Castlevania*

I'd probably have picked this up if I didn't already have the GBA cart. Ah well, saving my points for another week then.

"Come on, Nintendo, I want to play the great games that I want!"

Don't we all. But on a different note, if I only wanted to play games I'm familiar with, then I would NEVER have discovered wonderful gems like Military Madness, Gunstar Heroes, and especially Chew Man Fu. These are games I played for the first time thanks to the VC and I'm glad they're putting more obscure titles ahead of the more obvious mainstream classics. I love the good old classics like Mario and Zelda, but they can wait.

That's quite a wild assumption there, dk. Of course there'll be people who would splash out 500 points for THIS version of football even if better titles were made available from the start. The same logic can be applied to most of the other games on the VC whose sequels were or have been released first, and arguably much better than the original games.

I never realised until I played the PAL version of this game for the first time just how much easier the whole game is compared to the US and Japanese versions. The number of monsters inhabiting each level has been reduced, and this is particularly so with the little fire demons that come out of those fiery pits in level 3. In all other versions, you had 1 coming out of each pit; here, no matter which difficulty I play in, this simply is not the case. The awkwardly placed monsters were removed.

It's a brilliant game, but I'm a little disappointed at how watered down the PAL version is, making the 'professional' setting not that much more difficult than 'normal' or 'hard'.

Famous Roy, this game is tougher than Kid Icarus. Kid Icarus's first level was pretty much the hardest bit in the game when you were still weak and had one bar of energy. Once you start gaining Health and weapon upgrades, the game gets much, much easier to handle.

This will probably be my next Megadrive VC download. The only other RPG offering 'Sword of Vermillion' proved to be quite disappointing on the Sega Mega Drive Collection, and this is one of the very few games that's not already in a compilation.

Did anyone honestly think they were gonna release LttP straight after Ocarina of Time?

OoT takes up 286 blocks from what people have reported.

lol Baseball.

Another one also found in Animal Crossing.

It's the Japan VC that has had the Zelda games (amongst others) inflated in terms of Wii points. Anyhoo, I really don't feel the need to purchase this one again as I already have the Master Quest edition and the Zelda Collection for the GC.

The only Zelda I'd contemplate buying again is Majora's Mask, which had bad emulation on the Zelda Collection disc.

Kirby's Dreamland was fun but it was extremely limited and very short (unsurprising as it's the first Kirby game). This NES game trounces it in almost every way... and there's even a level that's based on the GB game, right down to the black and white visuals.

I wouldn't say I regret buying this, but it is easily my least played out of all my VC downloads. I appreciate the difficulty (especially playing solo), but other than that, it doesn't really grab me.

Played this on Animal Crossing. It was free in that game and even then, I felt cheated! This reeally is a steaming pile of crap.

Heck, even that NES world cup game would've been a better choice.

Gradius is nice and all, but what I really want is Life Force. Hope that's coming next...

Ugh... I downloaded this before I knew of the Sega Megadrive Collection with 27 games at a bargain 16 quid. Picked the PSP version instead so I had a portable version of Columns, which made me feel a little better at wasting 800 points on this. I blame my sister...

Love this game, love the music, love the speed!

I'm currently stuck on Operation 5 (Hard mode) but oh boy, this is one heck of an addictive shoot-em-up.

I'll probably buy this even though I imported the Famicom Mini version. It's that good!

This is one of the best games in the series, and is only 1 of the 2 Zeldas that actually tries something new and deviate from the formula (other being Majora's Mask).