Final Fantasy on Virtual Console this week

Nintendo has announced this week's Virtual Console, WiiWare and DSiWare offerings, with highlights including Final Fantasy on the NES and a music program for the DSi called Rytmik.

Yes, Virtual Console owners are invited to endure [surely "enjoy" - Ed] another Hanabi release - this time in the shape of the first instalment in the ageing Final Fantasy series.

Legend has it that the game was so named because developer Hironobu Sakaguchi was planning to retire after its completion. In the event the game came out and did amazingly for Square, and the rest is history.

It's probably rubbish these days, but hey. It will cost you 600 Wii Points to find out.

The other Wii option this week is Pub Darts, which has less historic value but only costs 500 WP. It's "just like throwing a real dart", apparently, and there are variants like 501, Cricket, Around the Clock, Killer and Baseball to choose from.

Meanwhile, the DSi benefits from four releases, with Rytmik - at 800 DSi Points - the most expensive and potentially the most interesting.

It's an application for "creating rhythmical and melodic themes for composing whole songs", apparently, with classic drum machines, popular trackers and a "modern sound library" of 170 samples.

"It consists of musical notations for up to four instruments that you may transpose, select their location in the stereo field, and modify their volume, polyphony and echo," apparently.

"You may combine up to 128 such clips in four tracks and create complex pieces of music. A rhythm library and varied collection of 16 pre-made compositions at your disposal allows you to quickly compose your own pieces."

Hot. Other options are Flips: Silent But Deadly, an interactive book for kids; Metal Torrent, a vertical shoot-'em-up with high scores on the internet; and Bounce & Break, an "innovative break-out game taking place in a Zen Japanese universe". Those three all cost 500 DP.