VC Tuesday: Teenage Sky Valkyrie Wolves

The Month of Awesome (as we have unofficially dubbed April for its wealth of Virtual Console releases) has kicked off rather well in Japan, with a bunch of new games available to NTSC/J Wii owners. Surprisingly, only two of these games are scrolling shooters (Sky Kid and Musha Aleste), and of those, one is an absolute classic of the genre. If you like giant robots mashed up with Japanese mythology (and why wouldn't you?) Musha Aleste is right up your alley (and shooting glowing shurikens).

We're really hoping for a U.S. release of Legend of Valkyrie, as well. It's a totally great top-down action game in the vein of something like Pocky & Rocky -- with light RPG elements.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Famicom, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

• Sky Kid (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points)

• Cheetahmen II (Famicom, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)

• Musha Aleste (Mega Drive, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

• Crest of Wolf (Riot Zone) (PC Engine, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)

• Legend of Valkyrie (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)