Virtual Console Roundup Review

Two weeks ago I compared Nintendo's Virtual Console, rather disturbingly I now realise, to a callous and insensitive husband, ignoring our devotion on a whim and then lavishing us with gifts when we least expect it. If last week's solitary offering of NES puzzler Yoshi's Cookie was the equivalent of a cursory phone call while he "works late at the office", then this week's bonanza of four new games and another new gaming platform feels like he's surprised us on Friday evening with flowers and chocolates.

Admittedly, in the case of the actual games on offer, the metaphorical flowers are from the petrol station down the road, and the chocolates are suspiciously close to their expiry date, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Yoshi's Cookie

• Platform: NES
• Wii Points: 500
• In Real Money: GBP 3.50 / EUR 5 (approx)

Yet another of those tangentially linked Mario puzzle spin-offs, this early '90s effort finds Mario working in some sort of hellish bakery, constructing lines of biscuits by sliding rows and columns of pastries until they match. Clear all the cookies and it's onto the next round.

Play is focused in the lower left hand corner, with new clusters of crusty comestibles sauntering in from above, to the side and even diagonally. Rows and columns only disappear when the entire line matches, so there's a little tweak of strategy in deciding whether to clear as many lines as possible straight away, or wait for them to get bigger for more matching options - and more points, naturally. Wikipedia compares it to the way you rotate a Rubik's Cube, which is a good comparison so I'm stealing it.

You can alter the speed at which new blocks arrive - although anything below the top speed is pretty turgid - and there's also a two-player versus mode. It never really set the puzzle game genre alight, but it still manages to exert some of that familiar hypnotic allure and keeps you playing longer than is strictly necessary.

6/10

Fantasy Zone

• Platform: Master System
• Wii Points: 500
• In Real Money: GBP 3.50 / EUR 5 (approx)

The second Master System offering is this curious shoot-'em-up, which takes the basic template of Defender and cutes it up until you want to puke. You're in control of Opa-Opa, a colourful little spaceship that must flit left to right and back again around pastel-hued levels. Blast the enemies, scoop up the coins they drop and spend your loot to beef up your weapons for the inevitable boss fights.

I tend not to point out the technical issues on every VC review, simply because I'd get tired of cutting and pasting comments about black borders and I think most retro-heads are pretty resigned to the fact that most games will suffer from some hiccups in that area. Much like Wonder Boy, however, Fantasy Zone suffers from some extremely noticeable sprite flickering which can be a real hindrance to the gameplay. The controls feel fudgey as well, with sluggish forward movement contrasted with a surprisingly speedy turn-around move. The result makes it hard to navigate with the sort of nimble grace you need in a shoot-'em-up, no matter how cute it looks.

As always, there are better choices available.

6/10

Wonder Boy

• Platform: Master System
• Wii Points: 500
• In Real Money: GBP 3.50 / EUR 5 (approx)

First of all, who remembers the announcement that Master System games would be 400 Points? Hmm? And yet here they are, for 500. If I was conspiracy minded, I'd wonder aloud that maybe Nintendo got cranky about SEGA undercutting the price of the NES games, but I'll leave such ruminations to the tinfoil hat brigade.

That's because we've got bigger grumbles to fry, such as the once baffling and now downright unnerving proliferation of Wonder Boy games on the Virtual Console. Not content with uploading Wonder Boy in Monster World twice (once in its Megadrive incarnation, again as Dynastic Hero), we now get our second version of the original Wonder Boy.

See, this exact same game already joined the VC in February, under the title Adventure Island, which was the name given to the NES remix.

Even without the rather misleading repetition, there's little reason to recommend this. It's decent enough for its vintage, but definitely marred by clunkiness - both in the original design and this rather flickery emulation. I feel like I've said this a hundred times in these round-ups, but the Virtual Console isn't exactly short of cute platformers - and there are plenty that are better than this early effort.

5/10

California Games

• Platform: C64
• Wii Points: 500
• In Real Money: GBP 3.50 / EUR 5 (approx)

Often fondly remembered by those of a certain age, this spin-off from the Epyx Winter and Summer Games stick-wagglers won many of us over in 1987. The daffy sense of humour may have helped, along with the freshness that comes from a sports game that doesn't revolve around the same old track and field events. No, these are more like sunny day pastimes than true sports, and the emphasis is firmly on multiplayer fun.

Surfing, BMX, rollerblading and the skateboard half-pipe are the more obvious entries. "Flying disk" and "foot bag" round things out as cheesy '80s oddities. There's support for up to eight players, though you'll need two Wiimotes for a full contingent of players.

Sadly, while the concept is strong, the execution is weak. Partly this is due to the original coding, with some painfully slow responses for events that should be nippy and fun, but playing it on the tiny d-pad of the Wiimote certainly doesn't help. That titchy little plastic cross is no replacement for the firm comforting feel of a big old-fashioned joystick in your hand, and several events are rendered almost unplayable because of this change in control.

Having played through each event once, and having failed most of them because of the sluggish animation colliding with ergonomically evil Wii controls, I'd satisfied my nostalgic impulse and felt no compulsion to go back and improve my skills at these basic challenges.

3/10

Impossible Mission

• Platform: C64
• Wii Points: 500
• In Real Money: GBP 3.50 / EUR 5 (approx)

I figured I'd save the best until last. Impossible Mission is a game that always gets muddled up with Elevator Action when I try and recall specifics from my fuzzy '80s childhood, so the chance to play it anew helped to blow away some cobwebs.

What I found was an innovative and genre-hopping experience that really demonstrates how much tunnel vision has afflicted game designers over the last few decades. Impossible Mission is a spy game in which you enter the base of Elvin Atombender and try to find the pieces of a code that will foil his evil (and rather vague) world domination scheme.

You navigate his base by riding up and down in elevator shafts, dodging robots using a very athletic diving roll and searching furniture and computer consoles for codes. It's a bit platformy, but also quite heavily puzzle-orientated. It's a slick and fast-paced action game - you're always playing against the clock - but you're unable to shoot, punch or attack anything. It's also pretty ruthless and difficult, but unlike so many early twitch games with their roots in the arcade, it's usually feels fair.

Considering this is a game that was first published almost a quarter century ago, it holds up incredibly well. The concept is ingenious, and the execution is bold and engaging. Like a lot of games from that era, the pacing can make completion feel like an uphill battle, but the overall experience is still overwhelmingly entertaining.

8/10