
Usually we start with Virtual Console downloads, but this week has brought a flood of WiiWare titles, so we’ll cover this first. Most exciting out of the four is LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias. The game again follows Toku, and this time sees him traversing Mistralis on a quest to save his mother, along the way dealing with an ancient curse and the vile Balasar. Adding to the powers available through Enril the Wind Spirit in the original, the protagonist can now freely change between summer and winter to get through the game’s puzzles, environments, and enemies. A mapping system has also been included to help remove some of the confusion expressed by players of the first title. At 1000 Points, the sequel is definitely worth checking out if you liked the original, or platformers in general.
Next is Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathan for the usual price of 1000 Points. Daniel gave some high praise of this third episode in his recent review, so be sure to check that out if you’re considering a purchase.
Manic Monkey Mayhem makes for the next release. Originally planned for last month, some last minute issues pushed it back a week till now. As the name suggests, you play as monkeys on little podiums who fling bananas at the up-to 7 other monkeys to knock them off. Four-player local multiplayer is included, and you can even take the battles online with friends. The title will set you back 1000 Points.
The final WiiWare release this week is UNO, the ever-popular card game, for 500 Points. Obviously 4-player multiplayer is included, along with online play, as you battle it out to place your last card. You’d think they couldn’t really stuff up a game like this, so if you’re into the normal card variety then you should certainly give this a look.

Just the one Virtual Console game this week, which unfortunately seems to be the trend of late, and it isn’t a very good one. Fighting Street (for 800 Points) is the TurboGrafx-CD port of the original arcade Street Fighter. Unlike the later entries in the series, players can only control two characters—Ryu for Player 1 and Ken for Player 2—as they fight the 10 CPU-controlled opponents from around the world. For the price of this game you could get one of the more superior Street Fighter 2 titles on the Virtual Console, so you could probably give this one a miss.

Today we get three DSiWare releases, although only one is of particular interest. Bomberman has finally arrived on the downloadable service with Bomberman Blitz for 500 Points. The DSi’s dual screens will be put to good use with arenas spreading over both, and 8-player local and online multiplayer via WFC are supported. A training mode has also been introduced in this version for those new to the series.
The rest of the games are catch-up titles from the US service. Sudoku is, as you’d expect, a pretty much standard Sudoku game for a measly 200 Points. A Little Bit of... All Time Classics: Family Favorites is a mini version of said retail DS game for 500 Points, with Hearts, Contract Bridge, Dominoes, Dots & Boxes, and Ludo available to play.






