VC Tuesday: Much more of the same

Not only is Japan getting yet more shooters this week, they're actually getting a remake of a shooter that's already available on the Virtual Console. We never believed we'd be in a position to complain about too many scrolling shooters being released. We must say, in PC Engine Gradius's defense, that it is a gorgeous version of Konami's famous shooter. It's also important to note that Image Fight is pretty great, if really hard. Antarctic Adventure is not itself a shooter, but features a penguin protagonist whose son Pentarou would go on to fame in the Parodius series, as well as his own weight-loss-based platformer.

Adventure Island is pretty confusing. This is not the Adventure Island we know in the US, the one about a guy in a red hat and a grass skirt collecting fruit and throwing axes. That series is called Takashi Meijin no Boukenjima (Master Takahashi's Adventure Island). This game, which, in Japan, has the English title Adventure Island, is actually Dragon's Curse, also known as Wonderboy III: The Dragon's Trap. The Wonderboy series is one of the great messes of international game renaming, and is tied up with the other Adventure Island series. This article at Hardcore Gaming 101 should help clear up which game is which. This week's redundant/confusing Japanese Virtual Console releases:

• Antarctic Adventure (Famicom, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)

• Crack Down (Mega Drive, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

• Gradius (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

• Image Fight (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

• Adventure Island (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)