This week's a milestone of sorts in Virtual Console land. For the first time, there's a game released to the North American Virtual Console that has previously not been brought to the region. Battle Lode Runner, the first game we cover in this week's rundown, was a Japan-only TurboGrafx title until today. It's the Japanese version, too... but as it was originally, it's entirely in English. Seeing games of this type come to the U.S. is promising, but really means nothing until some company out there (cough, Nintendo, cough) gets around to actually translating and localizing a game that was originally all in Japanese.

With that, here are the releases three for this week that be.

Battle Lode Runner is the TG's 5-player multiplayer version of the gold collecting action/puzzle maze game. The premise is to run up and down a vertical level, dig through blocks and pick up the shiny loot, while avoiding enemies and trying to not get trapped in your own holes. The levels get challenging in a hurry, and there are quite a few of them to test you. The multiplayer mode feels similar to Bomberman (and it should, considering both games are made by Hudson), though the goal is to bury your buddies in ditches they can't get out of.

What Bomberman is to multiplayer, Lode Runner is to single player. Figuring out how to get through each puzzle level is really why this game is really fun. It'll take a lot of skill to do so, though, so unless you've got a lot of brain power and dexterity to pull off some necessary quick block running this one may not be for you. And despite three different game modes, the multiplayer is a tad on the weak side. As monumental as the release is, it's not for everyone. But a lot of people will definitely enjoy it.

The Virtual Console service is no stranger to shooters - it has already racked up an impressive roster. Even so, the Gradius series' pedigree makes it worth checking out, and Number III is no exception. If you're looking for a new shmup to own your soul for the next few days, look no further. Like the original (also on Virtual Console), you can collect power-ups to advance your power-up meter up to the desired level. Speed-ups and missiles only take a few, but you may want to save up for the really good stuff. A nice feature of Gradius III is the ability to customize each powerup to your liking, so if you like lasers instead of bombs, you can set that.

Let it be known that Gradius III is ridiculously difficult. It's likely that most players won't be able to get past the first stage without cursing their creator or throwing a controller at least a couple times... unless you put in the Konami code (the SNES modified version of it, that is). The funny thing is, as frustrating as the game can be, its impressive polish and break-neck gameplay will keep you pressing that continue button long after your ego's been shattered.

This game plays a lot like Dragon's Curse for the TG-16, which was a previous Virtual Console release. That's because DC is really a part of the Wonder Boy series, and Monster World is the first one to see a Wii re-issue. Monster World is actually the fifth Wonder Boy game, so with that many games in the series to improve the formula, it only makes sense that the gameplay is up to snuff. Wonder Boy lives up to his name, as the action RPG gameplay is pretty good in this one.

And so, let it be recommended to everyone. Though the game starts off rather slowly, as soon as you get your hands on a better weapon and better boots to run around faster, what you'll get is a gosh darn fun adventure. It looks really nice, too, which is great bonus on top of the already great game. Get it.

Thanks go out to VG Museum for help with some screens this week.