VC Monday Madness: post-game wrap-up 3/5/07
This week's games have been downloaded and we've given each of them a lengthy play, ready to make a verdict on which games are worth your money and which ones aren't. This week saw us receiving one well-known title, along with two less-known games. For you Turbografx16 fans out there, no luck as the Virtual Console didn't get any games for that system. So, without further ado, read on and see what we thought!
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts - SNES - 1 player - 800 Wii Points
Wii Fanboy says: download it!
This game is an absolute blast and just as fun as we remember. A side-scrolling action game, the player takes the role of the noble knight Arthur and traverses a variety of locales, dispatching enemies such as vampires with a variety of weaponry, ranging from the starting weapon the lance on down to torches that lay down a line of fiery death in front of you. This is by far one of the best titles available on the Virtual Console to date.
Elevator Action - NES - 1-2 players - 500 Wii Points
Wii Fanboy says: do not download
Elevator Action suffers due to the game's constant monotony of riding elevators. You start on the roof of a building and ride various elevators down to the basement, all the while shooting at bad guys dressed in all black who pop out of the building's various doors. They'll even ride on other elevators as they constantly swarm toward you. However, due to the nature of the gameplay, it's easy to catch bad guys just popping out of doorways and, because of that, easy to clear each level. It's novel fun that wears off fairly quickly.
Sword of Vermilion - Sega Genesis - 1 player - 800 Wii Points
Wii Fanboy says: do not download
With some old-school RPG mechanics, at first sight Sword of Vermilion is a treat. It has a kickass story involving a kingdom being overrun and a baby heir being whisked away until he comes of age and must take up the sword against the conquering Cartahenians responsible for taking over his family's kingdom and killing his true father. But once you get into battle and see how clumsy it is, you'll understand why we don't think this game is worth the $8 US it costs to download. See, once in battle you control your character much like those SNES-era Squaresoft games like Secret of Evermore (see: real-time), but fighting multiple foes is often a death sentence and movement is very slow and awkward, meaning dodging enemy attacks is almost impossible.
Another week of Virtual Console releases brings us one worthwhile game and two that aren't very much up to par. Shame, really, as we would've liked some more RPG goodness in our life. As always, if you have any tips or rumors regarding Nintendo's Virtual Console service, be sure to let us know and come back next week when we take a look at the latest titles available on the Nintendo Wii.
