If American teenagers during the Cold War ever stopped to consider how their Eastern bloc counterparts spent the weekend, they probably imagined dreary groups of Red Youth robotically singing hymns to Soviet wheat production and discussing the glories of socialist brotherhood from Hanoi to Havana.

They likely would have been surprised to know that in movie theaters, train stations and recreation centers across the U.S.S.R., packs of Soviet youth huddled around upright video games with coins lined up along the edge of the screen, same as at any mall in Jersey.

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Sega of America has announced the next four games to hit the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console over the coming weeks, bringing back classics like Shining in the Darkness and cult platformer Kid Chameleon.

I just started playing with my girlfriend last night and I have to say I'm very impressed with the graphics, sounds and overall polish. You can actually use the stylus and touchscreen the whole time rather than using the pad and buttons. Very slick. The ability to connect to other people's Nintendo DS locally or over the internet through wifi is also quite a feature.  If you like cutesy videogames Animal Crossing is definitely the tops.

Animal Crossing (Nintendo DS) at Amazon.com

People credit games like Dune, Warcraft and Command and Conquer as being the first real time strategy (RTS) games, but Herzog Zwei's got em all beat. It is such an incredibly well thought out and sophisticated game that some of the innovative features have yet to be replicated effectively in a single game even today.

• You were able to give your units a variety of orders including patrol so you didn't have to babysit every unit.  AI pathfinding was still in its infancy in this game, but it wasn't too bad.  
• A series of permanent "neutral" bases had to be captured to gain more money. Battlefield 1942/Day of Defeat both used this to great effect a decade later.   
• Possibly the most inspired design decision is that you could partipate in the battle as a super unit -- a giant tank-like robot that could fight enemies on the ground and could also transform into a plane that could shuttle units all over the map. 

It's hard to describe just how damn good this game is.  If you still have a Sega Genesis handy and you enjoy a good RTS you have got to try this game.

• Herzog Zwei at Amazon.com
• Battlefied 2 (PC) at Amazon.com
• Day of Defeat: Source (PC) at Amazon.com
• Warcraft III (PC) at Amazon.com