Streets of Rage 2 heads VC
ToeJam and Earl close behind.
This week's European Virtual Console additions nearly all stem from the black-flaps of the Mega Drive, and are lead by the rather excellent Streets of Rage II, which I've actually completed, don't you know.
It's a side-scrolling fighting game, for those that honestly didn't know, and there's two new characters in Max Thunder and Eddie "Skate" Hunter. This second Streets of Rage outing has men on motorbikes to batter, more moves to pull-off, more baddies in general, more special attacks - more everything. It's fist-slamming action at its 16-bit best.
The next blast from the Mega Drive past is another second in a series; ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. It's back to two dimensions for this sequel, but all the wacky platform fun of the first is still here. Simply save the planet Funkotron from evil invading earthlings to win, flinging rotten tomatoes and gathering power-ups along the way.
Then there's the shape-shifting Kid Chameleon, a game based around an evil arcade machine that's kidnapping children who can't beat the end boss. Sounds like a fair punishment to us. Anyway, it bites off more than it can chew when it swallows Kid Chameleon, who can morph into different forms using masks. There's 100 levels of platform madness to get through, and unlike the original version, the Virtual Console game will let you save your progress.
But if you don't want to celebrate the glory days of the Mega Drive, there's always the World Sports Competition from the TurboGrafx-16 to get stuck into. Simply stretch your button mashing skills across track events, rowing, archery and shooting to take home the gold, or grab four friends and immerse yourself in the multiplayer mode.
Mega Drive mayhem will cost 800 Wii points a title, whilst a tickle from the TurboGrafx-16 will set you back just 600.