VC Tuesday: Things of Thunder

Two games this week involve things being thundery, at least in terms of title. Of course, neither Gate of Thunder nor Rolling Thunder 2 has much to do with actual thunder -- Rolling Thunder 2 is about dudes shooting guns at each other, and Gate of Thunder is about spaceships shooting space guns at each other. Pokémon Snap we've already discussed. It's really easy, but surprisingly fun for a Nintendo 64 gamePokémon spinoff game, and with added functionality that will let you bug the hell out of your Wii friends with annoying spam.

What should have been the biggest news on the list -- a Kunio game -- is instead not. When Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari came out, we feared we were mistaken and that it was actually Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku Daiundokai, a street-Olympics game that predated the game known as Crash 'n the Boys Street Challenge. Well, this week, it actually is Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku Daiundokai. So, uh, yeah.

• Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku Daiundokai (Famicom, 1-4 players, 500 Wii Points)
  

• Pokemon Snap (Nintendo 64, 1 player, 1000 Wii Points)

• Rolling Thunder 2 (Mega Drive, 1-2 players, 600 Wii Points)

• Gate of Thunder (PC Engine Super CD-ROM, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)