Tons of original releases, Virtual Console titles, and demos are on the way.
Nintendo is known for many things, and chief among them would be their amazingly popular library of games. While that has kept the company firmly in the hearts and minds of millions of gamers, most hardcore fans would admit that the Big N hasn’t quite leveraged the digital space as well as they could. Nintendo is hoping to turn that sentiment around when it comes to the 3DS eShop. The eShop has seen some impressive original releases and some classics on the Virtual Console, but Nintendo is coming strong with a lineup of titles and content from October through the end of the year.
First off is a whole volley of original titles for the 3DS, with Crashmo standing out from the pack. This sequel to PixlBit favorite Pushmo adds new gravity mechanics to the mix, and also allows players to create and share their own levels.
Three games from some Japanese development superstars including Level-5, Suda 51, and Yasumi Matsuno are on the way by the end of the year. The first game set to release is Liberation Maiden from the Grasshopper Manufacture head himself. After that you can look forward to Aero Porter and Crimson Shroud. These three games were part of a compilation in Japan known as Guild 01, which was a collaboration of some of the biggest names in Japanese game development. The final game in the Guild 01 set was Rental Bukiya de Omasse (Omasse’s Rental Weapon Shop), an RPG similar to the PC game Recettear.
In addition to original digital titles Nintendo will be releasing more of the full 3DS library for download. New Super Mario Bros. 2 was their first foray into digital distribution of retail games, and soon you will be able to purchase The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Super Mario Land 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, and Mario Kart 7 on the eShop. Nintendo promises that even more titles are coming.
The Virtual Console gets a shot in the arm as well, beginning on October 11 with Mario Golf. That’s followed biweekly by Castlevania: The Adventure (Game Boy), Ninja Gaiden, Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, Wario Land 2, and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.
Lastly, Nintendo is increasing the number of demos in the pipeline, with notable releases like Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, Adventure Time, and Lego Lord of the Rings soon available to try out.
It looks like gamers will have a ton of stuff to download to their 3DS systems. What are you looking forward to on the 3DS for the rest of the year?
Press Release
Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS Heats up for the Holidays
More Original Games, Classic Games and Recent Nintendo 3DS Hits Will Be Available Digitally in 2012
REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Nintendo 3DS owners are getting an amazing lineup of downloadable games for the holidays and beyond. Original games, classic games and demos will all be making an appearance in the Nintendo eShop. Fans also will soon find downloadable versions of select Nintendo 3DS hits that have already launched as packaged goods.
Nintendo 3DS owners will see a sequel to fan-favorite Pushmo, classics like Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania: The Adventure, plus a series of three original games developed by LEVEL-5 and several well-known Japanese collaborators.
“The Nintendo eShop demonstrates Nintendo’s commitment to providing consumers with unique digital content through a combination of creativity and convenience,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “The variety and quality of games coming this year is unmatched, from new entries in established franchises to original properties.”
The following content is scheduled to launch in the Nintendo eShop in 2012:
ORIGINAL GAMES
NightSky launches Oct. 25. NightSky is an action-puzzle game that offers an ambient game-play experience with cerebral challenges that fill uniquely designed, picturesque worlds. Each of these worlds is broken into different areas in which the player must maneuver a sphere by using realistic physics to advance.
Crashmo launches Nov. 22. Players can embrace the laws of gravity and challenge themselves with a whole new kind of action-puzzle play in this exciting sequel to the critically acclaimed Pushmo. New gravity mechanics and gadgets like floating blocks, doors and move switches await, testing players’ skills as they push, pull and slide each puzzle’s colorful blocks in order to climb to the top. Just be careful where those blocks are moved—unsupported blocks will come crashing down. Crashmo contains lots of puzzles to test your brains, and enhanced puzzle-creation and -sharing features mean that even when all the puzzles are cleared, the fun never has to stop.
Fluidity: Spin Cycle arrives on Dec. 27, letting players tilt, turn and even rotate their Nintendo 3DS system 360 degrees to maneuver a puddle of water named Eddy through a maze-like, magical world. Change from liquid to a block of ice or a steam cloud to solve fun, gravity-defying puzzles and defeat Goop monsters. Fluidity: Spin Cycle features a new storybook setting to explore that spans the ages, from a lost world full of dinosaurs to the modern world and beyond.
Three original games from LEVEL-5 and several well-known Japanese collaborators will launch in the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS before this holiday season. The first of these games, SUDA 51’s LIBERATION MAIDEN, is set 100 years in the future, when the president of Japan boards her Liberator, Kamui, and fights to free her country one region at a time. AERO PORTER by Yoot Saito and Yasumi Matsuno’s CRIMSON SHROUD are also slated for release by the end of the year.
Get ready to unleash pedestrian-tossing pandemonium with Grace and Savannah in Tokyo Crash Mobs, a fast-paced action-puzzle game coming to the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS in early 2013. Players will need lightning-fast reflexes and an eye for strategy to survive the three chaotic weeks that lie ahead for our heroines, as they take on anyone and anything that gets in their way.
RECENT NINTENDO 3DS HITS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD
Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D and Mario Kart 7 will become available for purchase from the Nintendo eShop on Oct. 18 at a price of $39.99 each. Additional Nintendo 3DS software currently only available at retail stores will become available in the Nintendo eShop in the future.
VIRTUAL CONSOLE
Mario Golf (launches Oct. 11)
Castlevania: The Adventure (launches Oct. 25)
Ninja Gaiden (launches Nov. 8)
Zelda II – The Adventure of Link (launches Nov. 22)
Wario Land II (launches Dec. 20)
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (launches Dec. 27)
GAME DEMOS
Two demo versions of Style Savvy: Trendsetters will be available for download from the Nintendo eShop. The first demo is available today and lets players participate in a fashion contest, create an outfit based on the contest theme, style their model’s hair and makeup and send her down the runway. The second demo will be available on Nov. 1, and lets players style their clothes and makeup, and then connect to the Internet via Nintendo Network to visit the online Fashion Plaza where they can check out ensembles that actual Style Savvy: Trendsetters players have created. Any items purchased using in-game currency in this demo version can be transferred to the full game. Style Savvy: Trendsetters will launch in stores and in the Nintendo eShop on Oct. 22.
Additional game demos coming soon include:
Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d you steal our garbage?!! from D3Publisher
Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion from Disney Interactive
LEGO The Lord of the Rings from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Moshi Monsters: Moshlings Theme Park from Activision
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed from SEGA
Remember that Nintendo 3DS features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/3ds. For more information about Nintendo, visit http://www.nintendo.com.
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