VC and WiiWare are going head to head this week with both of them releasing two games for our downloading pleasure. I can’t say I’m as overly excited for these games as I was for the past few week’s, but not every week can be gold, can it? This week we receive Midnight Bowling (Gameloft, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points), MadStone (Riverman Media, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points), Mario Golf (Nintendo 64™, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points), Shining Force II (Sega Genesis, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone—Mild Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points.

Let’s start with the VC where an elusive N64 game pokes up its wild head to pop onto the Virtual Console along with a Genesis classic. I’m all for Mario Golf but with the Wii’s controls there just doesn’t seem to be much point to playing a golf game when you can’t swing the controller. Shining Force II is a tactical RPG that is well worth your time if you like those sort of things. I don’t, but that’s just me and my wallet could use a break anyway.

WiiWare wise (I think I’ll copyright that saying) we’ve got bowling and another puzzle game based around falling pieces. If you’re wondering why you would pay for bowling when Wii Bowling is still amazingly fun, the answer is because this bowling has an “immersive career mode, where you will play in the trendiest bowling spots on the planet against charismatic characters that will give you a run for your money.” Oooooo, ahhhhhh.