After such a long period with a very sketchy Virtual Console schedule, it’s nice to actually see a good title arrive, even if it is on its own. Sonic & Knuckles is the fourth main series entry on the Megadrive for the blue hedgehog, for the standard 800 points. What’s great about this release is the original lock-on functionality from the cart for Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, and 3 still works; it’s very rare to see a VC port altered to make sure it doesn’t lose functionality.

If you’re after new games instead on the Wii, Frogger Returns (500 points) and Overturn: Mecha Wars (800 points) are now available on WiiWare. Apart from the cel-shaded graphics, the Frogger remake is quite true to the original, with just the addition of multiplayer with up to four people. Overturn: Mecha Wars is a very Japanese mech-based game, which features both 2 player splitscreen and four player online modes. For those wanting something a bit different, Balance Board support is offered on top of the standard Wii Remote and Nunchuk controls.

We have three games for DSiWare this time, although two of them are more 200 point Electroplankton games - Lumiloop and Rec-Rec. The other is Let’s Golf from Gameloft for 800 points, a golf game already available on the iPhone under the same title. There are some changes in this version, like camera and microphone utilization, but apart from that it’s pretty much the same.


Virtual Console
Sonic & Knuckles (Megadrive, SEGA) - 800 Points

WiiWare
Frogger Returns (Konami) - 500 Points
Overturn: Mecha Wars (Gamebridge) - 800 Points

DSiWare
Electroplankton Lumiloop (Nintendo) - 200 Points;
Electroplankton Rec-Rec (Nintendo) - 200 Points
Let’s Golf (Gameloft) – 800 Points