These very different but mostly rewarding downloads remind of us the joys of fresh, new Virtual Console content in the near future. River City Ransom was the real gem of last month. It features street gangs, urban settings, and as much violence as could be rendered on the NES. The recently-launched Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 features a lot of the same elements, but with the benefit of modern technology. That makes River City Ransom's release quite timely, don't you think?

Yoshi’s Cookie started life as a generic puzzle game by the name of Hermetica. After the release of Super Mario World, Nintendo scooped up the title and branded it Yoshi’s Cookie to capitalize on the new character's success.

In this offering you are charged with the duty of lining up similar cookies both vertically and horizontally in an effort to clear all the cookies from the screen. Once the screen is cleared, you will proceed to the next level where your task remains the same. The game places you in control of the cursor that navigates the cookies on screen, which are always organized in a neat block. With the cursor you can change the order of the cookies in either the column or row the cursor is centered on. The cookies will wrap around as you hold the action button and hit left, right, up, or down. Aside from the Single Player mode described above, the only other inclusion in the game is a Versus Mode where you can square off against a second player.

What’s included in Yoshi’s Cookie isn’t bad, just skimpy. The controls work fine and the graphics are decent for the NES game, however, there is a clearly superior SNES version of the game. Unless you absolutely need your fix of Yoshi’s Cookie, or for some odd reason prefer the NES version to the superior SNES version, waiting for the latter release would be in your best interest.

Bases Loaded is the first in a line of eight baseball titles made by Japanese developer Jaleco. A port of an arcade game, it is one of the earliest baseball games to add much needed depth to the genre. Since it was released before video games used the MLB license, you play as one of twelve generic teams with player names like Paste, Kwaz and Fendy.

This game features a unique over-the-pitcher’s-shoulder viewpoint that works very well. Gameplay mechanics are very simple, but it is that simplicity that makes it a good NES baseball game. Batting and pitching have a solid depth to them because you have a lot more control over where you swing and pitch the ball. While games occasionally go on for too long (9 innings is the standard), the only other sour points come from a lack of customization. There is only a simple versus mode and a password-supported “Pennant Race” that consists of nothing more than you playing a series of games while the computer keeps track of your wins.

If you like baseball and hold the NES in high nostalgic regard, then Bases Loaded is well worth the five dollars. However, Baseball Stars 2 for Neo Geo is already out for Virtual Console, and it’s a much more advanced baseball title for your money. I can only recommend this game to baseball fans who don’t want to shell out more than $5, or have fond memories of this series from their youth.

Throw out what you know about side-scrolling shooters: Fantasy Zone exceeds most games of the genre. To begin with, stages in Fantasy Zone wrap around, meaning you can fly left or right and you'll soon find yourself where you started. You can even land on the bottom of the stage and your ship will sprout legs for walking. In order to advance you must destroy all the enemy producing structures that are floating in the stage. Once they are gone the stage stops scrolling and you get to confront that stage's boss.

In addition, every enemy or structure that you defeat will drop bouncing coins. Collect enough money and you can purchase upgrades by touching a shop icon that periodically flies onto the screen. By purchasing extra ships, unique weapons, special bombs, and greater speed, players can upgrade their ship and develop strategies to quickly defeat specific bosses and challenges.

Because of its colorful and thankfully non-futuristic stylings, Fantasy Zone is sometimes referred to as a "cute-em-up." Certainly, Fantasy Zone approaches the genre with a refreshingly original take on gameplay, upgrades, strategies, and style. Paired with the 500 Wii point asking price, this game is surprisingly worthwhile.

Mega Turrican is the second of the Turrican series to land on the Virtual Console. Super Turrican (SNES) was recently released for the Virtual Console, offering a very similar experience to the one found in this Genesis release. In Mega Turrican, you are a member of the USS Freedom Forces, geared with the turrican suit and charged with ridding the world of the Dark Forces, a powerful alien species.

As mentioned in our Super Turrican recommendation, the turrican suit provides you with equipment similar to that found in Super Metroid, including a grappling hook and the ability to roll in a ball to attack and shield. Of course these similarities are quite shallow, and aren’t used in the same capacity they are in the Metroid universe. Mega Turrican is simply a no-joke shoot ‘em up that doesn’t stray far from early concepts introduced in the Contra universe. The difficulty level is fairly high, but you don’t die in one hit and you do have the ability to continue, both of which are vital to your enjoyment of the game. Mega Turrican also encourages exploration, something Contra doesn’t do very much of.

If you enjoyed Super Turrican, Mega Turrican is nearly identical in all facets with the exception of the level design. If you are a fan of the Turrican series, or old school shooters in general, you will feel right at home with Mega Turrican.

Mild Violence)

River City Ransom combined Double Dragon style fighting with character building elements and added a healthy pinch of Japanese cultural quirk. It's got a strong niche following, with good reason. The goal of the game is to take River City back from several gangs who have infested it, the biggest one having captured the girlfriend of Ryan, the second of the game's two heroes. RCR's character shows through in its simple but effective story, art style and the catch phrases spouted by your opponents as you fight them ("BARF!" the most memorable).

Each gang is distinguished by a characteristic level of fighting skill, weapon types, the amount of cash they drop upon defeat, and a unique shirt color. You'll spend a lot of time beating the hell out of these enemies in order to steal their pocket change and weapons. It's necessary since you start the game as a weakling only able to do basic punches, kicks, and jumping versions of each (with all stats beginning at 15/63 to boot). As you gain status points from eating consumables and learn new techniques by equipping instructional books you purchase, you can increase your fighting ability greatly.

The game can be repetitive at times due to some necessary backtracking, saving up cash for big purchases, and the relative similarity of all your enemies, but this is offset by the game's character, its co-op mode, and good music. The game should hold up well today for anyone who remembers it fondly, anyone who likes a good co-op beat 'em up, or anyone who just wants to know what all the fuss is about.

This traditional console RPG is the third installment of the Phantasy Star series (unless you count the Japan-only text-based adventures, making it the 11th game in the series). You play as Prince Orakian who is preparing to wed Maia, a woman from a rival tribe. Her kidnapping sets the game's action into motion. You must build your strength and stats through turn-based battles in order to find your missing bride and deliver justice to her kidnappers. The game introduces characters from the previous installments and who you interact with and how will determine one of the game's various endings.

Phantasy Star has become an epic RPG series with several successful games spanning over a decade. But Generations of Doom is the usual, clunky, early console RPG. Phantasy Star III clearly did not set the standard for the series' success. The game is surprisingly shallow for this early franchise, which often placed emphasis on a more linear story within a single universe (there were eight point-and-click text-based adventures on the short-lived Sega Meganet online service). Even the intro capture of the bride during her wedding was anticlimactic, especially for the generation graphics and the expectations of RPGs at that time. So why make the worst game in the series available on the Virtual Console? Well, we have further proof standard-bearer franchises can produce real duds, but hopefully this is just a brutal tease before a proper Phantasy Star Wii game.