VC Tuesday: Bullet Heaven

The Virtual Console is home to a lot of scrolling shooters. It seems like every week, at least one of the releases in every region is a shmup. This week, three of the four games coming out in Japan are shooters. But after years of seeing the once-prominent genre fall into obscurity, we really don't mind having a download service full of the things.

For that matter, the same goes for side-scrolling brawlers, one of which is the other Japanese release this week. The VC is a great system for that genre, Renegade notwithstanding.

• Axelay (Super Famicom, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)

• Super Fantasy Zone (Mega Drive, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

• Star Parodier (PC Engine, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)

• Burning Fight (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points)