Virtual Console Roundup Review

I've pretty much given up trying to spot a pattern in the Virtual Console releases. At the moment we seem to be in a high-low biorhythm where we get one game on a Friday, then three games the next. The choices themselves still seem to be largely random, occasionally throwing out some gems but still frustratingly light on the retro games that people are clamouring for.

Here's the fruits of the last fortnight.

Phantasy Star III Generations of Doom

• Platform: Megadrive
• Wii Points: 800
• In Real Money: GBP 6 / EUR 8 (approx)

While they have their fans, few would argue that the early Phantasy Star games are particularly stellar examples of the RPG genre. They're decent enough, as is this third entry, but there's a generic feel to them that doesn't really send your imagination soaring.

This entry, which is less than popular even with the series' fanbase, makes a few attempts to shake up the status quo but is mostly content to follow the established format put in place by Zelda and Final Fantasy. Items, chests, quests, random combat encounters - it's all standard stuff, while the mix of medieval and sci-fi elements has already been well-established by the earlier games.

What isn't standard is the way the story spans generations, with your character choosing a spouse, getting her up the duff and siring a sprog to continue the adventure. It's a cool concept, boasting some interesting narrative offshoots, but the impact isn't all that noticeable in real gameplay terms. You'd have to be a pretty dedicated fan to play through multiple times to see the variations in the story.

With its rather drab little figures and amusingly inappropriate Laurel and Hardy music, Phantasy Star III is decent enough as an RPG when judged in its own merits. It's when you stack it up against the competition - the Zelda games that are already available, the Final Fantasy games that really should be, the slinky majesty of Chrono Trigger that better turn up soon or I'll cry until I vomit - that the appeal of this game dims considerably.

6/10

Double Dragon

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

Designed by Yoshihisa Kishimoto, the creator of Renegade, it's no surprise to find that Double Dragon follows in much the same urban groin-kicking vein. What it did add, at least in the arcade, was a simultaneous two-player mode. Hence Double Dragon, you see.

Which is something of a problem for this NES conversion, since it's that two-player mode that got the chop in order for it to fit on a cartridge. There is a two-player option, but it simply involves a winner-stays-on system with players taking over when the other player dies. Rather awkwardly, for this VC version, you'll need two controllers since the game won't let you pass the same controller over. There's also a bonus one-on-one fighting mode, but it's so hilariously awful that we'll spare the game some dignity and leave it alone.

Judged as a single-player experience, Double Dragon is a surprisingly decent scrolling brawler given the limits of the hardware. It's no Streets of Rage 2 but it does include the ability to pick up and use enemy weapons, ladders and elevated areas, and a range of attacks including headbutts, knees to the face and spinning roundhouse kicks. There are a few sudden death moments - such as a water trap that spells instant game over, regardless of how many lives you have - but it's a solid little fighter that has aged rather well.

6/10

World Games

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

Two weeks ago, California Games graced the C64 channel, and it must have done rather well since here comes its even more bizarre sequel. Based around a series of events culled from the traditional pastimes of various nations, you get to take part in such offbeat exercises as weightlifting, barrel jumping, cliff diving, slalom skiing, log rolling, bull riding, caber toss and sumo wrestling.

As with California Games, the execution varies from one event to another. Weightlifting, cliff-diving and barrel-jumping are all immediately appealing and good fun, relying on good timing rather than mindless mashing. The others, however, suffer from sluggish responses or poor animations that leave unable to react in time. Log-rolling and bull-riding both require you to instantly respond to minor changes in a rudimentary animation cycle, but modern gamers will find it far too clumsy. Slalom-skiing is virtually unplayable - a jerky sloth-like experience that doesn't even hold a candle to the blue blobby wonder of Horace Goes Skiing.

While the presentation is top notch, with chirpy renditions of national anthems and optional info screens offering background history on each event, the hit-to-miss ratio is still skewed too far in the wrong direction.

4/10

The Last Ninja

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

This was one of those 8-bit games that I've always meant to revisit. Back in 1987 it was covered in sexy kisses by every reviewer, and went on to become the best-selling Commodore 64 game ever made. But...I never really liked it all that much.

Yes, the isometric 3D was impressive and it had a ninja and you could use throwing stars and stuff. But it always had a rather fussy control system, and that's what really trips it up fatally on the Virtual Console. I can accept that my tepid reaction at the age of 14 was down to personal taste, but playing it today on both the Wiimote and Classic Controller, I found it pretty much unplayable.

Your ninja moves in whatever direction you press, but he'll stay facing in the same direction unless you rotate him through all the directions manually. A sort of rudimentary strafe mode, if you like, but one that translates horribly from the joysticks of old to today's tiny d-pad. Selecting weapons and inventory items means calling up the keyboard, flipping the remote around to point and click on the relevant key, then flipping it horizontally again to continue playing. The game doesn't pause while you're doing this, so not only is it an enormous fiddle to pull off, it can be fatal if you need to change weapons mid-fight.

Even basic functions such as picking things up and hand-to-hand combat are bollocksed up by the change in control method, with diagonals and directions very hard to find with any consistent accuracy. Regardless of my first teenage reaction, I'm happy to accept that The Last Ninja was one of the greats - at least when played in 1987 with a joystick. Played on a console, with all the control concessions required, it's something of a horror show.

3/10