Console: Nintendo 64
Cost: 1200 Wii Points
Previously unreleased outside of Japan, this cult classic from the king of shoot 'em ups Treasure (also responsible for games like Gunstar Heroes and Ikaruga) was largely unheard of among many gamers in the West. Now thanks to the Virtual Console we can finally play this game here without having to import it, albeit at rather pricey 1200 points. Fortunately, there's no need to bring along a Japanese translation guide, as the menus and end sequence have now been translated into English, and the dialogue was already in English.
In the future, some scientist's experiment has gone wrong and now evil mutants known as Rufians are out to conquer the world. Naturally, it's up to two teenage kids to stop them (yep, two kids are going to stop an army of mutants). The main character is Saki, who together with Airan are members of a resistance movement fighting the Rufian. You spend most of the game playing as Saki, although you do control Airan for a little while. The plot is surprisingly complicated for a shooter, but unfortunately it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and it's rather difficult to care about it due to the terrible voice acting.
Basically you just have to shoot everything that moves. And some things that don't move. Forward motion is automatically controlled by the CPU, but you are free to jump and strafe left and right, which is essential to avoid certain dangers. Also, if an enemy gets close you can slash them with your sword. There are three control schemes on offer, which is a relief as the default one feels unnatural and awkward (L as the attack button?). Be warned- you'll probably want a Gamecube controller to play this game, as this game was originally designed with the Nintendo 64 controller in mind, and it doesn't feel comfortable playing with the Classic Controller.
Graphically it's quite respectable, if a little rough around the edges. Due to a lack of polygons everything looks a little blocky, although this argument can be said for most Nintendo 64 games. During gameplay everything is pretty fast and hectic, so it's fortunate the game runs fine even with plenty of enemies on screen. The techno music soundtrack is fairly good, but somewhat repetitive and forgettable. As mentioned previously, the voice acting was already in English even in the original Japanese release, but unfortunately it's almost completely terrible, and will probably have you pressing the start button to skip every cutscene.
This game is a blast, but unfortunately it's all over too soon. A decent gamer can finish in about an hour without much difficulty. Of course, being a shooter there's always the challenge of getting high scores, and you can always try it on a harder difficulty to make things more interesting. The game is fun enough that you'll probably end up coming back to it a few times. There's also a feature that lets you replay any level you've already gotten to, which is neat if you want to skip to the better levels.
If you don't mind shoot 'em ups and are willing to pay the hefty price, this is one of the best choices on the Virtual Console. It's a shame this game never originally made it to the West (although it's not unusual for Treasure games- see Radiant Silvergun for another example), as it is loads of fun and probably one of the best Nintendo 64 games to have been released.
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 6/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Lifespan: 4/10
Overall: 8/10
