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Nintendo Direct trailers: Monster Hunter Tri-G, Kingdom Hearts 3D, more
Nintendo's inaugural "Nintendo Direct" presentation in Japan also came with a host of new trailers for 3DS games. Above, new footage of Kingdom Hearts 3D, which we regret to inform you, continues to be called Dream Drop Distance. After the break, you can see two videos for Monster Hunter Tri-G, and a couple of new games. The first is a retail game from Banpresto called Lost Heroes, which puts Ultraman, Gundam, and Kamen Rider characters in the same dungeon-crawler world, and is thus super unlikely to see release outside of Japan. The second is an eShop game called Nimble Sakura Samurai, a simple action game in which you dodge and slice enemies. There are even more videos than that on Nintendo's site, if you want to see trailers for Dillon's Rolling Western or Koei's fashion game FabStyle.
NintendoWare Weekly: Nintendo Videos for sale, Double Dragon
Do you like the short clips available on Nintendo Video, but wish they wouldn't randomly disappear from your system when new ones come along? Starting today, Nintendo is offering a selection of previous Nintendo Video shows from DreamWorks, downloadable from the eShop for $2 each. It's sort of like buying an episode of your favorite TV show on iTunes, we suppose, if that episode was five minutes long and only viewable on a 3DS. Kind of weird, but at least it's an additional option. In other news, Double Dragon! The ... Game Boy version!%Gallery-137124%
NintendoWare Weekly: Catrap, 101-in-1
Deceptively big numbers abound (as big numbers tend to do) on Nintendo's download services this week. 101-in-1 Explosive Megamix collects entirely too many games in a single pack on WiiWare, and 1001 Blockbusters provides a similarly excessive number of block-breaking levels on DSiWare. On 3DS, there's an obscure, but interesting Game Boy puzzle called Catrap, which is actually about puzzles that you can accidentally trap yourself in -- and not rapping cats. If you're looking for something more passive to do with your 3DS, there's a new "Night of the Living Carrots" short starring characters from Monsters vs. Aliens on the Nintendo Video service.%Gallery-136465%
NintendoWare Weekly: Horizon Riders, Side Pocket, Simply Minesweeper
The Game Boy collection on the 3DS continues to grow ever so gradually with the addition of Data East's Side Pocket, a pool game. That's "pool" as in the game about hitting numbered balls with a cue, not swimming. Nintendo also informs us that Pokedex 3D has been updated -- but not how it's been updated -- so if you're still working to fill your virtual compendium, check for that addition. On DSiWare, there's another House MD episode and Simply Minesweeper, a version of the classic timewaster. And on WiiWare: Horizon Riders, a new rail shooter that gives you the option of controlling movement with the Balance Board.%Gallery-135947%
NintendoWare Weekly: 3D Classics: Twinbee, Aya and the Cubes of Light
Another "3D Classic" is added to the 3DS lineup today -- and, thus, another entry in the small group of 3DS-exclusive downloadable games. 3D Classics: Twinbee is an update of Konami's vintage vertical-scrolling shooter. Expect bright colors and cute music, but not, for some reason, a widescreen presentation. Conversely, WiiWare has a very 3D-oriented game displayed in 2D. It's a neat-looking platformer, Aya and the Cubes of Light, in which you explore all six sides of free-floating, cubic levels.%Gallery-134637%
NintendoWare Weekly: MotoHeroz, Mega Man
RedLynx flips out onto WiiWare with its long-awaited party stunt game, MotoHeroz. It's the sole WiiWare release for the week, and the anchor of a week that is similarly light across all Nintendo platforms. The single eShop release is also pretty cool: Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge. We've been waiting for another chance to buy this, ever since the GBA collection was canceled years ago.
Nintendo 3DS to add 3D video capture, upgraded eShop and more
Satoru Iwata came on stage at Nintendo's pre-Tokyo Game Show shindig and announced the 3DS will be getting a few upgrades soon. No word on any hardware changes -- yet -- but owners can expect 3D video capture as well as upgrades to the Street Pass Mii Plaza and eShop. The press conference is still ongoing, so check back for more details as they're announced or watch the live video stream (in Japanese) embedded after the break. Update: And it's all over! Nothing else new to speak of on the hardware front, and we didn't catch any more news about those software changes either. We're just getting our TGS team on the ground in Japan now, so expect more news in the days to come.
NintendoWare Weekly: Golf, DotMan
It would be hard to overshadow this week's most prominent 3DS news, and Nintendo doesn't even come close to it with today's digital releases. If you're on 3DS, you'll have access to the Game Boy version of Golf -- and, if you check out Nintendo Video, Blue Man Group will teach you how to Dougie. On Wii you'll find a couple of color-matching puzzlers, including a demo for this year's intriguing Liight. On DSiWare, Agetec brings us DotMan, a low-cost download that looks to us like a modern update of the old Atari game, Dodge'Em. Maybe you were looking for something like that.
NintendoWare Weekly: Pac-Man, Trenches Generals
In case you missed it yesterday, the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program has officially launched. Those who signed up to the eShop before August 11 can now download ten NES games from the eShop, though it's an annoying process. If you can't get into the 3DS Embassy, it's a much less exciting week. The Game Boy version of Pac-Man awaits 3DS owners, and a House, MD game is up on DSiWare. There's a bit of intrigue, however, in a WiiWare tower defense game called Trenches Generals.
PSA: Get your 3DS Ambassador NES games today
3DS Ambassadors: Clear your schedules. Remember how you planned to spend all day tomorrow indulging in your free copies of Metroid, Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, Yoshi's Egg, Mario Open Golf, Wrecking Crew, Super Mario Bros., Balloon Fight, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong Jr. and Ice Climber? Well, go tell your daughter that plans have changed and you can, in fact, make it to her Thursday ballet recital. Those games are available today for some unknown reason and, yes, you still have to go through that crazy method to get them, with one tweak: You'll find the game in "Your Downloads" not "Activity History." Also, by "spend all day indulging," did you mean "play Zelda for five minutes and promptly return your system to the 3DS-shaped imprint on a dusty shelf"? Because that's what we meant.
PSA: the 3DS Ambassador game download process is ... complicated
Keep in mind that we're talking about the process by which you receive 20 free games (and thus temper your rage), but you're kind of not going to believe the process through which qualified 3DS owners will acquire the "Ambassador Program" games starting September 1. Nintendo posted a how-to on its support page, and ... a lot of people are going to need it. In order to get your free games, you'll have to open up the eShop (cool so far), then ... go into the "Settings/Other" menu there, scroll to "Your Downloads," and then click to "redownload" each game, even though you're actually downloading them for the first time. Sounds kind of crazy, but our guess is that Nintendo has opted to add the games to everyone's accounts as already having been purchased, rather than generate codes for specific games. We're not even sure it's possible to distribute a download code for a 3DS game. But it gets crazier! In order to keep up with news related to the program, Nintendo will offer the "Ambassador Certificate" for download -- which is actually a video. You'll be able to tap icons during the video for updates about when games will be available. Alternatively, read Joystiq!
NintendoWare Weekly: Gargoyle's Quest, The Ignition Factor
Once again, to our delight, Virtual Console games grace two separate Nintendo platforms today, and both are "fire" themed to a degree. On the 3DS eShop, Capcom's excellent RPG-ish Ghosts 'n Goblins spinoff, Gargoyle's Quest, is now available. The somewhat more obscure SNES firefighting game, The Ignition Factor, is on Wii. DSiWare sees a very cute Bubble Bobble-esque game, and ... Calculator. Which is a calculator.
Nicalis bringing NightSky to 3DS eShop, in 2D
Cave Story developer Nicalis revealed on Twitter that it's working on a 3DS port of NightSky, the puzzle platform game it released on PC and Mac earlier this year. Later, the developer followed up with a note that it'll be on eShop, making the 3DS version of Nifflas's game one of the rare non-Game Boy, non-DSiWare downloadable games on 3DS. "We literally just started working on it last week," Nicalis "Producer and Janitor" Tyrone Rodriguez told Joystiq in an interview today. "I'd like to have it done before Christmas and out." Even though work is still early, "it looks perfect on the 3DS." As if the status as an eShop game didn't confer enough novelty status, NightSky on 3DS will not display in 3D. "I feel that it would distract from the game," he explained. NightSky is flat silhouettes against sky, so we aren't even sure how 3D would work there. Nicalis is still deciding whether to implement motion controls. "We'll probably add that as an option," Rodriguez said. "If it feels right, then we'll definitely do it." Nicalis has another eShop game planned, which it's not ready to announce just yet.
Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program: now you can find out if you made the cut
Remember the Nintendo "Ambassador Program" for 3DS owners with the price drop blues? Early adopters were offered 20 free games if they signed in to the Nintendo eShop before August 11th, but the software didn't confirm if they'd successfully joined or not. Now they can check for themselves by heading to Nintendo's support page via our easy-to-click source link, enter their 11 digit serial number and see if they're due some freebies courtesy of delicious corporate guilt.
NintendoWare Weekly: Urban Champion, Flight Control
During a convention like Gamescom, with news flying out in all directions, you have to bring your A-game if you want to get attention. Nintendo of America has brought ... Urban Champion. Specifically, the 3D Classics remake of Urban Champion, available today on the 3DS eShop. Nintendo also mentioned that a new Jason Derulo video will premiere on Nintendo Video today, if that's something you want to see and hear. WiiWare finally gets its port of air-traffic control puzzler Flight Control, so if you don't own any smartphone or a DSi, you can now see what all the fuss was about.%Gallery-131006%
NintendoWare Weekly: Super Adventure Island 2, Go! Go! Kokopolo
The Wii Virtual Console continues to expand at a glacial pace, with one more classic making an appearance today: Super Adventure Island II. In this SNES adventure, Master Higgins ventures across Waku-Waku Island to save his amnesiac wife from the king, by throwing hammers at birds and jumping over fire pits. The wildcat protagonist of Go! Go! Kokopolo on DSiWare handles his conflicts in a different way: he scratches his enemies in order to enrage them into chasing him through maze-like levels, and then leads them into the jaws of a carnivorous plant.
NintendoWare Weekly: Mario's Picross, Monochrome Racing
If you've never tested your brain for picross compatibility, you can do so today with the latest Virtual Console game on eShop. Try Mario's Picross and you'll either have an awesome time making little pixel pictures out of number puzzles, or throw your 3DS down the stairs. Good thing the price for replacements is going down! WiiWare offers a novel take on the racing genre: Monochrome Racing (also out on PS Minis), a game that takes place in a fully monochrome environment, in which you must keep your car "charged" and moving with color by picking up items.
TwinBee goes '3D Classic' on 3DS, mostly
Next week, Nintendo of Japan will release a 3DS "3D Classics" version of Twinbee -- which, if you're not familiar with the 3D Classics line, means a remake of the game, using the original graphics, with added 3D effects. And, uh, if you're not familiar with Twinbee, it's the first in a series of "cute-em-ups" from Konami in which a bulbous little ship shoots at enemies and collects power-ups in the form of bells. The reason Nintendo would pick Konami's NES version of Twinbee for 3D Classics treatment is pretty easy to guess: like Xevious, it features both aerial shooting and bombs that can be shot at the ground, and having the action on these two planes is a good showpiece for 3D effects. What's a little harder to understand is that, while every other 3D Classics game has been updated for the 3DS's widescreen display, Twinbee is in the original NES aspect ratio, with a border of red curtains. Maybe this is some kind of emulation with added 3D, instead of a full remake like the other games. Maybe the enemy patterns would have had to be moved around too much. Or maybe somebody got lazy.
Iwata apologizes to early Nintendo 3DS adopters
If the angrier half of the comments on our post about the Nintendo 3DS' massive, uncharacteristically early price drop was any indication, those who bought the handheld at its original $250 price point are miffed. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata understands these frustrations, which he addressed in an apologetic statement yesterday, as translated by Giant Bomb. "If the software creators and those on the retail side are not confident that the Nintendo 3DS is a worthy successor to the DS and will achieve a similarly broad (user) base," Iwata explained, "it will be impossible for the 3DS to gain popularity, acquire a wide range of software, and eventually create the product cycle necessary for everyone to be satisfied with the system." Iwata added, "Those customers who purchased the 3DS at the very beginning are extremely important to us." He further said, "We know that there is nothing we can do to completely make up for the feeling that you are being punished for buying the system early." Perhaps Iwata is right on this account, though twenty free games is certainly a step in the right direction. Almost as good as thirty free games!
3DS NES Ambassador Program games will add multiplayer, other features
Nintendo really wants to make it up to those of you who already shelled out $250 for the 3DS, in light of the looming $80 price drop. You probably already knew that you'd be getting a pile of free NES games on September 1st, but you can also expect them to be updated and improved going forward. These aren't going to be half-hearted ports that get pushed out to early adopters, riddled with bugs, and forgotten. Sometime later this year, they'll be offered as payed versions through the eShop with features like multiplayer simultaneous play. The best part? Those eligible for the Ambassador Program will get free upgrades to retail version. One feature we can tell you wont be added though, is 3D -- the classic titles like Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. will remain blissfully two-dimensional.
