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This year's Club Nintendo elite rewards are all downloadable games
Marking a change from the calendars, posters and other Nintendoodads, the 2014 Club Nintendo elite rewards for North America are all downloadable games. While that'll disappoint some of you, as a European I have to note on our side of the ocean it's all physical - and personally, not the most appealing selection either. So if you want to swap places... well, we can't, but you get the drift. As before, qualifying Platinum members can have their pick of one Gold or one Platinum gift, while Gold members have to make do with the golden selection. If I were so lucky, I'd pick one of Game & Wario, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, Dr. Luigi and Earthbound from the Platinum games. On the Gold side, I'm totally in the mood for some Zelda 2. Sigh.
The Year of Luigi officially ends March 18
Luigi's time in the spotlight will conclude on March 18, when The Year of Luigi officially comes to a close. The clock's ticking on your "in this, The Year of Luigi" jokes! The Year of Luigi is Nintendo's marketing campaign celebrating the 30th anniversary of Mario's slender and squeamish brother. The promotion began in early 2013 and heralded the release of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Super Luigi U, a custom 3DS bundle and other Luigi-centric goods. In the announcement post on Miiverse, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto says The Year of Luigi Community and its Developers' Room will shut down next month, and no new posts will be accepted on Miiverse. "Thanks to everyone's kind support, we were able to release many Luigi games over the course of the year," Miyamoto writes. "I hope everyone continues to cheer for the green brother!" Regardless of your feelings toward gaming's under-appreciated bro, we can all agree The Year of Luigi was a success and has enriched all of our lives – if only for that time we watched Miyamoto try to vacuum up Iwata. [Image: Nintendo]
New Nintendo eShop releases: Bravely Default demo, Mega Man X2
This week's eShop content will look largely familiar to those who follow these posts on a regular basis. Some of this week's offerings have already been live on their respective eShops in between the holidays. Save for Mega Man X2 on the Wii U Virtual Console and a demo for upcoming 3DS RPG Bravely Default, this week's content dump is comprised largely of stuff Nintendo announced last week – like Dr. Luigi (which launched two days ago), Super Punch-Out!! and Mario Tennis. The full version of Bravely Default launches on the eShop and at retail on February 7. There is also a limited-time sale on Atlus games to consider. From now until January 6 at 12pm ET, select games in the Shin Megami Tensei and Etrian Odyssey series are on sale, as is 2D brawl-em-up Code of Princess. Hop on past the break for the full list of this week's eShop content.
Dr. Luigi announced for Wii U, hits eShop this month
Dr. Luigi, an other-sibling-themed spin on Dr. Mario, closes out the Year of Luigi with a bang when it hits the Wii U eShop on December 31 in North America - as for Europe, the doctor isn't in until January 15. Dr Luigi features an online mode for 2-player biological warfare, and traditional Dr. Mario-like modes that support online play. As revealed in this morning's Nintendo Direct, Dr. Luigi plays like the classic 90s puzzler, with players trying to align capsules with color-matching viruses. The most obvious twist is that Dr. Luigi's main mode, Operation L, features L-shaped blocks of two capsules fused together, with at least three matching-color blocks within the block. So, while players have to match four colors together, it's still easier than the original Dr. Mario; as Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata explained during the Direct broadcast, play will be swifter, but less punishing in terms of hitting a Game Over screen. If players prefer the traditional single-capsule, two-colors-matching mechanics of Dr. Mario, they can take up the Retro Remedy mode, which features button controls, or Germ Buster, which let you position capsules using the touchscreen and stylus.
