This Week in Defunct Games - June 1, 2012

What Is It? People give Capcom a lot of grief for churning out annual Mega Man sequels on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It's true that Capcom was a little overzealous with the war against Dr. Wily, but they are hardly the only examples of milking a franchise. SNK did this with Metal Slug, an incredibly likable 2D shooter series on the Neo Geo. Between 1996 and 2010, SNK has been releasing the same Metal Slug adventure over and over. Sure there's a different number and a few new backgrounds, but the games are virtually identical and nobody seems to mind. At least Capcom had the decency of making new robots for each Mega Man outing.

Believe it or not, Metal Slug 3 is my favorite game in the franchise. It features zombies, flying sharks and even aliens. It embraces its over-the-top nature and offers a goofy, old-fashioned Contra-style shooter. Even when the game devolves into little more than button mashing, Metal Slug 3 it's still fun to look at the amazing animations and incredible attention to detail.

But as compelling as the game looks, it's yet more of the same. If you've already played through Metal Slug 1, 2 or X, then you already know what to expect every beat of the way. Fans of the series will enjoy the new enemies, while everybody else plays it once and then forgets it's on their console.

Does It Still Hold Up? The gameplay is exactly what you would expect, right down to the weapons and vehicles. Players can't shoot diagonally, but that's something that still hasn't been addressed in recent Metal Slug incarnations. The sprite-based graphics are incredible, the animation and look is the most compelling reason to go through Metal Slug 3.

Is It Worth The Money? I'll make this very easy for you: If you are only looking for one Metal Slug game to own, this is the best of the lot. However, anybody who already owns multiple versions of Metal Slug should probably ignore this Virtual Console release. There's not enough new hear to warrant an additional eight dollars. What's more, for just a few bucks more you can get the Metal Slug Anthology, which features seven Metal Slug games. Either way, it's time for people to demand more from their Metal Slug sequels.

What Is It? Despite not being one of 2011's most popular games, Rayman Origins was widely considered one of the best by critics around the world. For the past eight months Ubisoft has been riding a wave of good press, slowly getting the game out to every system you can imagine (including Steam and the PS Vita). You would think that the Nintendo 3DS would be the perfect fit for Rayman and his crazy sidekicks. And yet, the Rayman Origins demo was universally panned, leaving fans of the series with little hope that they would get a quality version of the game on their favorite handheld system.

Good news: Even if Rayman Origins is the total mess the demo suggests, fans of the series will still have an incredible Rayman game to play through this summer. It may be old, but the original Rayman on the Game Boy Color is the very definition of a great portable platforming game. It has a strong character, an epic quest and color worlds to explore. Best of all, it's challenging enough to keep even seasoned veterans busy.

Loosely based on the console versions, Rayman is a 2D side-scrolling adventure starring a man with no arms or legs. His adventure takes him all over the world battling bad guys and opening locked cages. The level designs (which feature everything from spiked musical notes to haunted forests) are the real star, showing off what the Game Boy Color is capable of from a technical level. This well-timed Virtual Console release will (hopefully) make people forget about the horrible Rayman Origins demo.

Does It Still Hold Up? Although the 8-bit hardware can't come close to matching the look of the PlayStation, Saturn and even Jaguar versions of this game, it does an excellent job providing bright and colorful levels. Unfortunately, I found the handling in this Game Boy Color version to be a little floaty. Rayman acts like he weighs nothing at all, which can get in the way when traversing some of the platforming challenges which require precision jumping. He may have no arms or legs, but Ray man still has that gut; he should weigh more than nothing.

Is It Worth The Money? Like most Rayman games, this Game Boy Color title is simply delightful. Not even the simple graphics and floaty controls can mar the compelling level designs and daring platforming puzzles found in Rayman. Best of all, the price is right. Fans who were disappointed by the horribly received Rayman Origins demo will finally have a Rayman game worth owning on the Nintendo 3DS. Now with Mario, Kirby, Sonic and Rayman, Nintendo's 3DS Virtual Console is starting to become a platformer powerhouse.