Hey, remember the Commodore 64? If your reply to that is, “That thing there are only 6 games for on the VC?” you would be right. It appears Nintendo has remembered the C64, as they’ve released a game for it for the first time in a month: Boulder Dash. I happen to like the NES version, but how does this version stack up?

Boulder Dash
Publisher: Commodore
Original Release Date: 1984
Cost: 500 Wii Points.

Nathan Birch: A classic action-puzzler that essentially plays like Dig Dug mixed with the intelligent level design of something like Lode Runner. Boulder Dash, like a lot of old games that relied on a puzzle element rather than pure action, still holds up pretty damn well today.

What doesn’t hold up as well are the visuals. If you’re mostly familiar with the later NES version you’re in for a shock. While later Commodore 64 games could be almost NES quality, this game is closer to Atari 2600 territory. Your character is a non-descript little stickman, the enemies are just flashing squares, and so on. It’s perhaps the most primitive looking game on the VC so far, but if you can overlook that there’s still some addictive gameplay hiding underneath the ugly exterior.

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And your Wii Ware games of the week are Final Fantasy IV: The After Years at 800 points and Texas Hold’em Tournament at 500 points for you card enthusiasts. I never got how people could watch other people play cards on TV, much less play a game about it, but if it’s your thing, go for it.