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. This week we`re given yet another Sega Master System game, only this time around it`s actually one worth owning. On top of that we have another entry in the Turrican universe; this time around it`s the Genesis version of Turrican 3. Over on the Xbox Live Arcade we`re given an updated version of Battlezone, the less we say about that the better. All this can be yours when you read this week`s episode of This Week in Defunct Games!

Fantasy Zone
What Is It?
Finally, a Sega Master System game that isn`t already available on the Virtual Console. This is Fantasy Zone, the colorful 2D shooter that combines the fun of Defender with Timothy Leary`s daily dose of acid. In Fantasy Zone you play a small egg-shaped spaceship that flies left and right shooting plants, bugs, trees and other psychedelic creatures. It starts out simple enough, but before long you`re fighting off dozens of characters all trying to take you down, all while dealing with backgrounds that are full of contrasting colors and strange shapes. Believe it or not, Fantasy Zone is still a lot of fun. The graphics, while simple, have held up remarkably well and the game is still exciting. Best of all, this colorful title doesn`t feel like any of the 2D shoot-em-ups currently available on the Virtual Console, which is really saying something considering colossal amount of shooters on the console. Some may complain about the bright (and often annoying) colors, but Fantasy Zone is definitely the first must-buy Sega Master System game on the Virtual Console.

Does It Still Hold Up?
Fantasy Zone is a strange, strange game. After playing dozens and dozens of me-too shooters on the Virtual Console, it`s genuinely shocking to find one that is so radically different. It`s not just the graphic scheme (which often reminds me of that Beatles cartoon, Yellow Submarine), but just the way the game plays. At its core this is nothing more than a fancy version of Defender, but that`s not one of those games that has been beamed up to the Virtual Console. But even if you`re sick of William`s 1980 arcade game, Fantasy Zone more than holds up on its merits.

Is It Worth The Money?
This may not be the big Master System game everybody has been waiting for, but it`s certainly a fun action game that is worth five dollars. You`ll be surprised how well this action game has held up, especially when compared to all of the other shooters on the Virtual Console. The graphics aren`t great, but this one is definitely worth the money.


Mega Turrican
What Is It?
Just in case you missed Super Turrican when it was uploaded a few weeks ago, Nintendo has decided to offer Mega Turrican. This Genesis game is essentially a port of Turrican 3 for the Amiga, a European masterpiece that is still regarded as one of the best action games of the early 1990s. While not wildly different from Super Turrican, Mega Turrican is still a fantastic game full of well designed levels, cool power-ups and plenty of balls-to-the-wall action. Some will argue that this game isn`t different enough from its Super NES counterpart, but if you liked that game then ...