Countdown: 3DS eShop Spotlight - Butterfly: Inchworm Animation II / KORG M01D

For the month before the 3DS and Wii U eShops close for new purchases on 27th March, each day we're going to highlight a specific eShop game for one of those consoles and give a short pitch as to why we think it deserves your love and attention — before it's too late. The chance to add these to your library will be gone for good soon and, for one reason or another, these eShop-exclusives are close to our hearts.

Today, Gavin squeezes two tools into one non-game post...

Another combo!? Oh, go on then, what are they?

Butterfly: Inchworm Animation II and KORG M01D. We didn't review Butterfly, but here are our thoughts on M01D from 2013:

Who made them?

Flat Black Films made Butterfly, and Detune was behind KORG M01D.

What's the premise?

Starting with Butterfly, this is a portable animation tool that goes above and beyond Nintendo's own Flipnote Studio 3D and delivers a much more fully-featured piece of software. It allows you to shoot video, record audio, draw, edit, import, export, and create all manner of effects, all from your 3DS (or 2DS).

KORG M01D was an eShop exclusive in the West, an app that emulates the KORG M1, a synth released back in 1988 that featured in many a late-'80s, early-'90s dance tune.

Why should you get them?

Well, we knew that the KORG app was a winner — most of the KORG software is (KORG DS-10, KORG DSN-12, KORG Gadget), and this particular example that emulates the M1 synthesizer is a favourite. We've got some serious Seinfeld and Madonna enthusiasts on staff.

Butterfly: Inchworm was admittedly a new one on us, so why include it? Well, we were recently contacted by Wayne Unten who expressed his love and admiration for both these programs. Wayne is a big Nintendo fan and also an animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and has created some brilliant shorts on his 2DS over the years that really showcase the power of both pieces of portable software (as well as Colors! 3D, which we highlighted a couple of weeks back).

You can find some impressive examples of Butterfly's power in the article above, or head to Wayne's website to check out more, including several 'How To'-style animation tutorials. Looking at the short clip below, though, the potential of this particular animation app speaks for itself:

You'll need some serious art skills to achieve results like that, of course, but the fact that those are possible to produce on nothing but a modest Nintendo 3DS means we'll be heading to the eShop to get this downloaded pronto.

How much is it?

$7.99 / £7.09 / €7,99 for the Butterfly: Inchworm Animation II. (The original DSiWare Inchworm Animation is also still available if you wanted that for some reason.)

KORB M01D would normally set you back $34.00 / £19.99 / €24,99, BUT, it is currently on sale until the eShop's demise with a 50% discount, bringing it down to $17.00 / £9.99 / €12,49. Bargainous!

We'll be back soon with another 3DS or Wii U eShop recommendation as part of this 'Countdown' series. Let us know below if you've already got these in your collection and share your thoughts. Not long to go now!