Every week Cyril Lachel comes down from his giant castle in the hills to provide the final word on all of the classic downloadable games and retro compilations. This is the Retro Round-Up, your official guide to the best (and worst) in classic gaming for the Nintendo Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Join us as we shed some light on what games are worth your five or ten dollars, and what games you should avoid at all costs. For more information about these games (and retro gaming in general) we invite you to check out Defunct Games. In this week`s episode we take a look at the two retro games released on the Virtual Console this week, including a Streets of Rage wannabe and a Pac-Man puzzler. Not enough for you? Then perhaps you should tune in to see what is new (and free) at GameTap! All this and more when you read the Retro Round-Up!

Pac-Attack (Namco)
What Is It?
Do you remember the good old days when Pac-Man would move around a brightly colored maze avoiding ghosts and gobbling up small pellets? Now imagine we made a few minor changes to the Pac-Man you knew and loved and called it Pac-Attack. What kind of changes, you may ask? Well, first let`s take away those little pellets. And while we`re at it, why not take away the brightly colored maze. And since there`s no maze we won`t need to worry about dodging ghosts. Oh, since we aren`t avoiding ghosts you can forget all about those power pellets that made you invincible. In fact, let`s just go ahead and scrap everything that made Pac-Man was he is today.

That`s exactly what Namco did when creating Pac-Attack, they decided to take out every element that defined Pac-Man and turn it into a Tetris clone. That`s right; Pac-Attack is a puzzle game where blocks fall from the sky. I only wish I was kidding. The concept is actually very simple, blocks fall from the sky and it`s your job to make a complete line from one side of the screen to the other, just like Tetris. The catch is that you will have to deal with ghosts, which are part of the blocks that fall from the sky. Thankfully you can match up a bunch of ghosts and unleash a miniature Pac-Man on them, which will allow you to connect the blocks and form lines. As a puzzle game Pac-Attack proves to be enjoyable for a short period of time. It`s nowhere near as addictive as some of the classic puzzlers its riffing on, but it in enjoyable for a short amount of time.

Does It Still Hold Up?
It`s a simple puzzle game that you`ll probably get bored of quickly. The game doesn`t feel dated, but it`s hard not to be reminded of the countless better puzzlers available on just about every console. Some may like it more than others, but I think everybody will agree that this will not replace classics like Tetris, Puyo Puyo and Lumines.

Is It Worth the Money?
The thing that annoys me the most is that this is nothing more than a Tetris clone that cynically uses the Pac-Man name to sell more copies. If the game was called something like "Stumped" or "Block Attack" nobody would buy it, but because it has the Pac-Man name on it there`s a chance it will sell better. But people expecting a Pac-Man game will feel cheated, because this game has absolutely nothing to do with the classic maze game. Eight dollars is a bit too much to ask for what is basically a generic puzzle game masquerading as a Pac-Man title. Don`t be fooled, there are too many better puzzle games on the market for you to waste your time with Pac-Attack.


Riot Zone (NEC)
What Is It?
We`ve had classic brawlers for the Sega Genesis (Streets of Rage). We`ve had classic brawlers for the Sup...