It's Monday morning and as usual, our inboxes contain an email from Nintendo championing the new Virtual Console releases. Today is a special case though, as NES mega-classic Ninja Gaiden (500 points) has finally appeared. If you've never taken an 8-bit Ryu Hayabusa through level after level of missile-toting thugs and dive-bombing birds, now's the time. It may be one of the toughest games around (a precedent that the Xbox and PS3 versions seem content to follow), but that doesn't affect our opinion at all. Well worth the download.

If Ryu isn't enough to satiate your ninja desires, then you can also give TG-16 kinda-classic Ninja Spirit (600 points) a run too. More insane bosses, more impossible ninja powers, but a lot less personality and nifty cutscenes. Still, ninjas.

Oh and the NES conversion of Pac-Man (500 points) showed up too. Like anyone needs to tell you about Pac-Man again.

May 14, 2007