Nintendo of America seems to have spent the last few weeks compensating for all those two- and three-game release weeks in the rest of the year recently, but for the first update of the New Year we're back to only a handful, some of which have already been released in Europe and Japan -- hopefully not a sign of a return to the old ways!
WiiWare
Heron: Steam Machine (500pts - Triangle Studios) -- We quite enjoyed this variation on the classic 8-bit computer game Pipe Dream, so it's nice that folk in North America are finally getting a shot at it.
Pub Darts (500pts - Big Blue Bubble Inc.) -- Darts has been done before on the Wii, but this is the first pure-play darts game for WiiWare. We'll let you know if it hits the bulls-eye or misses the mark in an upcoming review!
Fast Draw Showdown (500pts - Digital Leisure Inc.) -- This seems to be a spinoff of Mad Dog McCree: rather than a rails shooter the players are tasked with shooting faster than their FMV opponent. Our reviewin' hombres will have to find out if this is one to leave buried at Boot Hill or not...
Virtual Console
Final Fight 3 (800pts SNES - Capcom) -- Released in Japan last month as Final Fight Tough, this is regarded by many as the best Final Fight game for the SNES.
DSiWare
Trajectile (500pts - Nintendo) -- This seems to be a localised version of Reflect Missile which was released in Europe back in November. Drake though it was a brilliant puzzler so we're sure many people will be happy to see this on the DSiWare shelves.
Animal Puzzle Adventure (500pts - Aksys Games) -- Originally published by Arc System Works in Japan as Chiria no Doobutsu Koya last June, this is a puzzler where you try to get farm animals back to their barns. Our resident animal experts will be sure to check this one out and confirm if it's a blue ribbon winner or a candidate for the glue factory.
Hell's Kitchen Vs. (800pts - Ludia) -- This was released last month in Europe and our own Jimmy "The Kitchen Witch" Newton put it through its paces and found it wanting. Best to stick with the TV show then!
As always you can feast your eyes on the full Nintendo of America press release below:
Should old acquaintance be forgot? We can't remember. But what we can remember is that this week's downloadable lineup from Nintendo asks a lot of questions. The Nintendo DSiWare™ service wonders if you can master missiles with Trajectile™, lead animals to their proper pens with Animal Puzzle Adventure or match wits with TV chef Gordon Ramsay in Hell's Kitchen Vs. The WiiWare™ service puts you in charge of maximizing your rubber duckie output with Heron: Steam Machine, asks you to aim for the bull's-eye with Pub Darts and wonders if you have an itchy trigger finger with Fast Draw Showdown. Finally, Final Fight™ 3 on the Virtual Console™ service makes you wonder if the fight is ever really final.
Nintendo DSiWare
Trajectile
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: Trajectile is a puzzle game that's as much about firepower as it is about brainpower, requiring you to line up your shot and launch a flurry of missiles at enemy targets. Three types of missiles are at your disposal, each one with its own characteristics - but all of them can bounce off walls on their path to smash, blast or drill through enemies and blocks. Along the way, you'll find item blocks just waiting to be destroyed so that you can obtain special power-ups ... and cause even more destruction. Be careful though, as missile type and position are predetermined and you get only a limited number of launches per stage. Complete multiple classes containing numerous individual stages, earning medals when you clear stages in fewer than the given number of turns. Are you ready to take aim at becoming a Trajectile master?
Animal Puzzle Adventure
Publisher: Aksys Games
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Mild Suggestive Themes
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Animal Puzzle Adventure is a simple puzzle game where you have to lead various animals to their respective barns placed on the map, while avoiding pitfalls and cliffs and using the objects on the field to your advantage. There are 10 stages per level with a total of five levels, creating 50 stages in all. After clearing a stage, you unlock a piece of a photo. Once you clear all 10 stages in a level, the wallpaper for that level becomes unlocked and you can then view it in the gallery. With so many puzzles to unravel, you'll find yourself immersed in the puzzle-riffic world of Animal Puzzle Adventure.Hell's Kitchen Vs.
Publisher: Ludia
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Hell's Kitchen Vs. is based on the U.S. TV phenomenon where world-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay puts aspiring chefs through rigorous culinary tests. The game recreates the show's pressure-cooker atmosphere as two players battle head-to-head in an arcade-style kitchen challenge. Try to conquer your opponent in each time-management test, while taking the heat of Gordon Ramsay judging and rating your performance at every stage of the game.
WiiWare
Heron: Steam Machine
Publisher: Triangle Studios
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points™
Description: Heron: Steam Machine is a game about a factory where rubber duckies are being produced by a large steam engine. On this steam engine, there are four different gauges which you will have to watch carefully. By connecting the pipes, you will earn points and relieve some of the pressure, keeping the machine running just a little bit longer. If one of the gauges reaches its maximum, the machine will eventually blow up, and the game is over. If you were lucky enough to achieve a high score, make sure you enter your name in the list so other players can compete with you. In Multiplayer, you are able to cooperate with friends in maintaining the steam machine. When you play with two, three or four players, the screen is divided into sections with different background colors. Each player is able to solve his or her own part of the puzzle. Players are restricted to their own section of the screen, so you will have to work together to make the pipes fit properly. (Additional accessories are required for multiplayer play and are sold separately.)
Pub Darts
Publisher: Big Blue Bubble Inc.
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Alcohol Reference
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: Pub Darts is a simple darts simulation which uses the Wii Remote™ controller's unique controls to mimic dart-throwing motion. The game is set in a local pub where the players will settle in to play some of their favorite dart games, including 501, Cricket, Around the Clock, Killers and Baseball. Controls function just like throwing a real dart. Players are able to create their own personal profiles, including selecting their avatar image from a collection of creative characters and the design they would like displayed on the dart flights.Fast Draw Showdown
Publisher: Digital Leisure Inc.
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) - Alcohol Reference, Violence
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: When it comes to fast draw there're only two types of people: the quick ... and the dead! Now you have the chance to find out where you stand, or lie, as the case may be. You'll go up against the best quick draws in the business, including one of the world's fastest, Wes Flowers. Unholster your Wii Remote controller and show 'em who the fastest draw really is, in this live-action shooter. You can even take on a friend in multiplayer modes, and see which of you has the quickest draw. You'll need some serious speed and awesome accuracy to take on these gunslingers ... so get ready for some real fast draw action.
Virtual Console
Final Fight 3
Original platform: Super NES™
Publisher: Capcom USA
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) - Animated Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: Following the defeat and subsequent disappearance of the Mad Gear Gang, a small group known only as "Skull Cross" is responsible for a new uprising of vandalism, terrorism and death. The government of Metro City is at a complete loss. Metro City's mayor, Mike Haggar, and Guy are prepared to take on the new gang, but before they can act, the door bursts open, revealing Lucia, Cody's old friend. "Metro City is under attack!" she shouts, "Skull Cross is loose, and they've got something up their sleeves." But before any of them can move, a mysterious man appears in the doorway. "My name is Dean," he says. "I know Skull Cross inside-and-out, and I hate them more than anything. I can help you, and you can help me. We must go!" All four fighters vow to bring Skull Cross down. It will be a tough assignment, and may even be their final fight!
Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo DSi Shop and the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Mondays. Users with broadband Internet access can redeem Wii Points or Nintendo DSi Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel. Nintendo DSi Points can be purchased in the Nintendo DSi Shop. A Nintendo Points Card™ can be purchased at retail locations. All points from one Nintendo Points Card must be redeemed in either the Nintendo DSi Shop or the Wii Shop Channel. They are not transferable and cannot be divided between the two systems.
Remember that both Wii and Nintendo DSi feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit Wii.com or NintendoDSi.com.
Comments 68
Yuck, I guess that's punishment for the previous week being so....decent.
Back to one game weeks eh? Normally I'd complain but with all the great games released in the past three months for the VC I actually think its a good move.....for now.
I am curious about Fast Draw Showdown and would like to try it. So is Trajectile also know as Reflect Missle or is it a different game?
Final Fight 3 is a good release but everything else is throw away. I expected things to slow down so I'm not really bothered by this update and I expect it to be this way for a while. It's cool though, now I can catch up on some of the games I missed in the onslaught of downloadables that were released during the holiday season.
Final Fight 3? YAY!!!!
Hurrah! Heron seeing the light in USA
Uninteresting release is uninteresting...to me, anyway. Well, whatever. I've yet to download either of the recent interesting releases, and I've got plenty of good stuff to play on other systems.
Only interested in Fast Draw Showdown if it ever reaches Holland.
@Tony: Good catch! If only these press releases came with screenshots of the games...
Reflect Missile/Trajectile is absolutely brilliant. Everybody buy it.
final fight 3 woo hooo and the steam engine game awesome
Glad Final Fight 3 is out, but I was hoping for Final Fantasy II as well.
Oh my gosh I give up, you win Gameloft and Nintendo! Ill spend my 500pts on Heron: Steam Machine instead of Uno Wiiware, happy!?
Oh no! Pub Darts is Published by Big Blue Bubble, creaters of The Allstar Hockey Wiiware "Cowards in conner"
I just looked at the screenshot next to Trajectile and assumed that that was the game. I admire my observation skills.
I think Reflect Missle is a better title than Trajectile.
For me, this week's update is the definition of the word, "meh."
was cave story just a hoax?...
Final Fight 3!! Been waiting too long!!
To me it seems that Nintendo would want this week to be an awesome week in terms of the shop channel. You had a lot of new potential customers get Wii's and DS's for Christmas and they've had a little over a week to get excited about the idea of getting classic and new games when they are released instead of having to play catch up and getting games that others downloaded two years ago. Sure the same games are available, but you want the new people to see how great it can be to look forward to monday and releasing darts, a light gun game and another puzzle game isn't the way to do it.
I know there was a Monday right after Christmas, but I'm willing to bet 80% of the new users didn't get points before then but probably half of them got at least one card since then. Personally it doesn't bother me since the game I was waiting for (and partially got a Wii for) was released last week, but just from a business standpoint it makes no sense why Nintendo doesn't stagger their releases so there's a "must have" title every week instead of having months of nothing and then a rapid fire month of must own games followed by more months of nothing.
@ Rowdy
If you release a must-have title every week, then all of the little guys will get overlooked.
And if you JUST got a Wii, there are so many amazing games to download already that you don't need an amazing new release to download.
Back to 1 game a week. That kinda sucks a little bit, but with all of the great games we got over the last few months, it's not a big deal at all. At least we got a VC game, which sadly our friends in Europe haven't seen for a few weeks.
Well, at least we get Heron: Steam Machine this week. Hopefully next week will turn out to be better.
Hooray for Final Fight 3 and Reflect Missile(I refuse to call it Trajectile). Everything else is meh to me.
Don't care about WiiWare or DSiWare, but from here, I can tell that we're having another great VC week, even if it's the unfourtunent return of the one-game week, although this is nothing to complain about.
@derk711: No, but it did get delayed.
Boring. I suppose we won't get much until a "special occasion" comes. Maybe the Monday after the summer solstice we'll finally get Tubin'.
An "Absolutely Nothing for Me" week, but, since I'm absolutely without points, I don't care .
Wow, what a lame way for Nintendo to start 2010.
Trajectile will be mine.
@Stargazer I know what you're saying, and I guess I'm looking at it like wrestling promoter (you'd be surprised at all the business lessons you can get from wrestling lol). Say you're in charge of the WWE. WrestleMania weekend comes around, you know you're going to get a lot of buys from people that don't normally watch wrestling every week. So you do something during the show to entice them them to watch the Monday night show. Then you set up something else for the next week so they'll watch again. By giving the people one BIG thing you actually help out the little guys by getting them noticed by people who wouldn't look at them before.
It just seems that (for NA at least), Nintendo is doing just the opposite. They release all the high profile games at one time and then lump the little guys together and hope they "get over" with the customers.
I'm not denying that there are plenty of amazing games on the service ready for people to download, but people like to be part of a happening. That's why so many people buy a game or go to a movie the day it comes out. That's also why they don't release an Avatar and a Dark Knight or a Final Fantasy and a Call of Duty on the same day.
I was just thinking that it would be in the best interests of all of the parties involved to start the year off with a bang to get people excited. But please, don't take this as me saying you're wrong and I'm right; I just wanted to explain my thought process better.
To be honest, the weeks we've been having over here recently, you lot CANNOT complain. You've been a damn sight more fortunate than we have.
Trajectile (Reflect Missile) is one of the best dsi games released so far.
I will wait to hear more info on Animal Puzzle Adventure.
Hmmm not really sure what to say about this update. I guess it's OKAY.
Hey, it's something, and something is always better than nothing. I am only upset that I waited to use my points until this morning. I always hold out hope for a surprise. Like Final Fantasy II or Earthbound. So this morning I got Breath of Fire II, but I was going to get it last night. I am satisfied.
@ Rowdy
Totally get what you're saying. Nintendo does what Nintendo does....more often than not lately it's been working for them (profit-wise), but I always try to remember that they are a business first. And a very stubborn Japanese-controlled business at that. Lord knows if I was in charge of NoA I would've released a "Yoshi's Island"-caliber game today and screamed it to the heavens.
http://wiiware.nintendolife.com/news/2010/01/time_split_chronos_twins_dx_gets_a_date
Hey, at least next week we get a decent-looking Wiiware title! And Cave Story and La Mulana should follow shortly.
Final Fight 3 is good. Best out of the three I say. That's all I have to say about this release day.
Yes! Trajectile! I'm kinda glad not much was released for DSiware this week, cause a couple days ago I bought Phantasy Star 0 and Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Which I know will keep me busy for a while.
I'm actually surprised by the number of disappointed people today. You obviously should have seen this coming from a mile. We shouldn't be complaining anyway. Now Europe, they have great reasons to complain about Nintendo Download's.
Trajectile makes me happy! Hopefully Tomena Sanner will come out later this month.
Final Fight 3!!!!!
I think it's the weakest of them, but that's my opinion. Still glad to see it hit.
trajectile sounds good but with the 2 retro games I picked up for christmas, think Ill past....
Heron, Trajectile and Final Fight 3 are good or great games. You lot should be happy. I'd love an update of equivalent quality soon please. Darts may even be decent too. However, why call it "Pub" darts for North America? You guys have bars and cafes? We have Pubs in Britain!
Nothing for me, but that doesn't matter. I've got enough games to last me for quite awhile.
Only (at least) nine more weeks until the VC hits the big Three-Five-Oh! My guess is it'll be Final Fantasy II/IV. EDIT: Actually, now that I think about it, Kirby Super Star might have a slightly higher chance of being released, but I really have no idea.
Trajectile for me!
Meh, decent week in my opinion. For some reason, that one screenshot where it says "Yuh got me...", reminds of the stage 2 boss from Sunset Riders when you defeat him, "You got me!".
awww only three dsiwares this week...
im getting a point card soon and i think im gonna get trajectile and some other good dsiware game
@ Tony
i think trajectile is a better name because it is fun to say
@RowdyRodimus: I understand and fully agree with your logic, but Nintendo is Nintendo. Good luck convincing THEM to do things sensibly like that.
This is what I hate about retro whores: it's automatically a terrible week if only one VC game is released. Complainers: BE HAPPY YOU GOT SOMETHING GOOD. Actually, we got something good on all fronts. So shut your mouths already.
final fight 3 is tempting, but i'll have to get the 2nd one first, I already have FF1 though
Looks like the wii-kly update drought is back again. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
Doesn't really bother me that much, though. I got a crap-ton of games to play already, and my router isn't working so I can't get online. May get Heron, since I loved Pipe Dream as a kid.
@ch405k1n6- No need to be rude. If you don't like their griping just ignore it or at least comment in a way that's not so rude.
Also probably shouldn't be using that sort of language here or calling the "W" word towards others. There are kids here too and others who may be affended by that.
YES! Heron Steam Engine at long last! Downloading tonight along with the Shining Force game since its still on sale. About time NOA.
Well, all of you who are complaining about the VC games, you have to keep in mind that there aren't too many classics left. There's not an unlimited supply of these things. They all had to have been made on old consoles. Just be patient, you'll get all your fav games eventually. Except maybe Goldeneye 007.
Shining force would be nice, but its on compilations. That's whats stopping me.
@54.WAM2: And EarthBound.
But I have to download Final Fight 2 first.
I need to connect my Wii to the internet again.
Animal Puzzle Adventure looks cute...
I'm getting tired of all the shovelware-wiiware. A lot of them look awful, and get horrible reviews. FF3 looks okay I guess.
Trajectile is possibly one of the best DSiware on the service. It may be one game, but its the greatest way to start out 2010. Q-Games+DSiware=win. Can't wait till Starship Patrol in 2 weeks.
Decent week overall.
I wonder where Capcom goes from here. All the SNES Final Fights and as far as I know all the console Street Fighters have been released. I guess they will finish up the Mega Man games.
On a slightly related note, where has Namco been? I don't think they have released a VC game (other than in Japan) since the launch of the VCA. Konami has been quiet on the VC front as well, but as far as I'm concerned as soon as they release Rondo of Blood they don't have to release another VC game ever again.
Most of Capcom's console games are Disney related. Which they won't be able to release. So yeah, I think we'll see a flood of Mega Man games (which I wouldn't complain about) and whatever else they can give us; the few games that aren't Megaman or Disney related. Although their other scrolling beat 'em ups aren't that great (Knights of the Round, King of Dragons)
@Bass X0: I can't even think of one Capcom product related to Disney...
@CH405K1N6: Oh, there's a TON of them from the NES/SNES era. Ducktales, Goof Troop, a bunch of Mickey games, Chip n' Dale, various movie games...you get the idea. Also, see here for more info.
DuckTales was a good game. I remember watching the animated series, and having played the NES game when I bought it way back in 2004. I loved it back then.
Oh, and SNES Aladdin, that game was a memorable experience. I miss it so much. ='{
hit me up i want to play.
one good game final fight 3
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