Welcome to VC Weekly, N-Europe’s guide to the wonderful world of Nintendo’s download service. Written by Sam C Gittins

If you're a fan of the portly plumber then this might pique your interest but it's fans of the run 'n gun genre that should really be rejoicing because there is a stone-cold Konami classic which has made its way to the Wii U VC in its complete original US 60Hz format! Anyway enough from me and on with the games!
 
Available for download this week we have...     

Mario Bros
Contra III: The Alien Wars

Price: GB £4.49, EU €4.99
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo R&D1
Released: 1983
System: NES

Its been thirty years since the release of the original release of Mario Bros, so having the NES port of the once classic Nintendo arcade game appeaing on the Wii VC certainly seems timely, this is indeed one game that both the living legend Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi - sadly no longer with us - should certainly be proud of. Starring both Mario & Luigi this quirky platform game has both brothers doing a spot of plumbing... of sorts; creatures including crabs along with turtles come through the green pipes, it's you job to get rid of them, sounds simple?

Jumping underneath the platform that the creature is walking across will stun the enemy, meaning that you can then simply run up to them which will automatically kick them out of the playing area, it's a strangely satisfying setup which is different again from what we now know as traditional Mario titles and shows just how far the brothers have come in the past few decades. Sometimes you'll need to hit creatures twice in order to properly stun them, others will jump making things a bit more interesting, don't leave them on their back though because if they get back up then they'll become stronger; couple this with the fireballs which randomly spawn and it's not hard to see how things can become rather challenging at times.

Controls are always responsive which is just as well seeing as you'll need them to be, especially in the later levels where you'll need to contend with icy platforms which will certainly try your patience if you're not quick with your reflexes. While you can play the entire game alone, it can actually be significantly more enjoyable to indulge in the two-player co-op mode which is always fun due to the fact that even though you're supposed to be working together; it can also be fun just to see who can survive the longest or even grab the most coins, all in the spirit of good fun though.

You may think that the game looks rather basic from a visual standpoint, of course you'd be right but when you take into consideration that this was one of the first NES titles, which provided a very accurate representation of the arcade game with very few things cut then it really doesn't seem so bad at all. Aurally everything has been ported across rather well indeed, while still lacking the same amount of impact that the original had it's still a rather decent soundtrack overall, which at least captures its spirit in addition to featuring some solid sound effects.

Aesthetically it's true that Mario Bros is looking decidedly dated by todays standards, but based on just how good the gameplay is even today to those who haven't played this title before, then you simply must as I would definitely implore you to play this piece of Nintendo history. If you've already been fortunate to have played this brilliant title then you could give it a miss if you feel like you've had your fill of it after perhaps playing it as the 'bonus game' on any of the Super Mario Advance titles, but if you're feeling nostalgic and want to play it on the big screen once more then you really can't go far wrong.  

Verdict : Mario Bros is still a strong Nintendo title some thirty years on.

Price: GB £5.49, EU €7.99
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Released: 1992
System: SNES

Forget the previously released Super Probotector:Alien Rebels for here in Europe we now have the original Contra III: The Alien Wars released on the Wii U VC in all its full 60Hz glory, while both games might be almost identical aside from the different refresh-rate plus a few palette swaps, this is the game in its untampered format how it probably should have been brought to us worldwide in the first place. Taking on the role of a special forces marine who has been tasked with ridding Earth - set in 2636 - of the evil alien Emperor Demon Gyaba along with his hostile army consisting of many creatures which come in varying sizes for you to run 'n gun your way through as you attempt to fight in the Alien Wars to ensure that the humans are victorious... of course this is all just a convenient excuse to kill everything in your path but it's nice to have a cause for mass destruction.

Right from the start things get pretty hectic as you wander your way down a war-torn street stage firing at enemies coming literally left, right and centre in addition to watching out for some rather evil-looking rabid dogs who seem to run from the background right at you, being on high alert the whole time is the only real way to get through this game as you really don't know what's going to happen next; mechanically you have a button for shooting, - which you'll be holding constantly - one for jumping plus a 'last resort' where your very limited bomb supply is mapped to. Additionally if you hold the right shoulder button then you can fire on the spot freely in eight directions plus if you then press the left shoulder button your character will jump on the spot sending out showers of bullets in a circular motion which can be useful in a small set of situations, thankfully though the second-to-none responsiveness of the d-pad controls should be enough to get you through most of the games six substantial stages even though it's still quite the challenge and will likely have you using many restore points which are more than welcome here.

Seemingly not afraid to mix things up, there's a plethora of power-ups available in Contra III including homing missiles, flame-throwers, lasers plus the good old spread shot all of which drop from floating pods in the sky so watch out for those as sometimes they'll even drop you an additional bomb which can prove ever so useful; the structure of the stages changes too from your more typical left to right affair, to more involving challenges which have you constantly clinging onto some part of the stage while you simultaneously shoot as if it's second nature plus even the odd Mode 7 overhead stage which you are dropped into - after picking a start point - and then have to control your movement by walking forward/backward while rotating your character using the shoulder buttons, though those stages are less fun. At least there's a decent selection of bosses evenly spread out throughout the entire onslaught ranging from a huge armoured skeleton tortoise, a mechanical spider on wheels, killer robots and everything inbetween... one of my favourite parts though is still part-way through the fourth stage where you're literally hanging onto/jumping between missiles in the sky that have been launched from a friendly chopper at a boss which you have to obliterate while being one false move away from losing a precious life.

Proving to be very capable indeed in its visuals, there really isn't much wrong with the presentation of the game today but back in the early nineties this would have looked simply spectacular, there is so much detail to behold across the varied stages ranging from industrial platforms, decimated streets, right through to the alien hive itself all the while including some nicely rendered backdrops which further enhance the experience; the perfect sprite animations are just the icing on the cake as are the inbetween stage story renders. As you'd expect from the series thesoundtrack is nothing short of a masterpiece featuring tracks which range from rather spirited gung-ho jaunts keeping up with the intense pace of shooting right through to tension building pieces which leave you with a feeling of uneasiness for brief periods, all wrapped up with some rather substantial sound effects that seem to have been expertly picked.

This should be a clear winner for anyone who is a fan of the side-scrolling run 'n gun genre as not only is it fun to play in both single and two-player modes but it is quite simply one of the finest examples you will find to date, thanks to Konami being rather bold with the Contra series they managed to create something which very much re-wrote the games dna from that point with excellent results. While the whole experience won't take you more that an hour or two to blast through at most this is very much to the advantage of Contra III as it is a rare title which begs to be played multiple times over as it is genuinely fun, never seeming to lose its charm on even your tenth or twentieth play-through.    

Verdict : Contra III is a true Konami classic which is never likely to be bettered.

That's it for another installment of VC Weekly which will return again soon. So until then, enjoy the rest of the week and Game On!