This week’s Virtual Console update is a three-system sampler: one from the NES, one from its big brother, the SNES, and one from the step-cousin that nobody likes to invite to the barbecue but kind of has to because technically it’s family, the TurboGrafx16.
From the NES, we get Mighty Bomb Jack, which sounds like some horrible comedy starring an aging Australian and his zany kangaroo sidekick, but is in fact an arcade game that was ported to the NES by Tecmo. Jack must work his way through 16 levels of a pyramid to save the royal Pamera family, collecting Mighty Coins and quaffing Mighty Drinks as he does so. Find hidden passages, open treasure chests, collect powerups, you know the basic drill.
For the SNES we have the classic side-scrolling beat-em-up, Final Fight. You walk from left to right, beating the snot out of any idiot stupid enough to get in your way as you try to rescue Jessica from the evil clutches of Mad Gear. Ah, simplicity. It’s really very liberating, don’t you think? Wear a bandanna and/or some L.A. Gear sneakers while playing for full authenticity.
Lastly we get Ordyne for the TurboGrafx 16, your basic 2D shooter that was also released on Volume 4 of the Namco Museum collection. If you’re a fan of the side-scrolling shooter, you know what to expect; pattern memorization, twitch control, and ridiculously enormous bosses. Good stuff.