News Article

Nintendo Download: 11th June 2010 (Europe)

Posted by Marcel van Duyn

Plenty of puzzling, some strategy and racing, and an import

Despite the release of Super Mario Galaxy 2 today, Nintendo of Europe isn't neglecting their download services. The Virtual Console gets a new one-off import game while WiiWare and DSiWare get a whole bunch of catchup titles, plus one completely new game.

WiiWare

NEVES Plus: Pantheon of Tangrams (500pts - Abylight) -- It took almost a year for it to be released here, but at least it's finally available! In this fairly simple puzzle game, you're presented with a number of fragments which you must assemble into a specific shape. With tons of puzzles on offer and a slightly lower price of just 500 Wii Points rather than 600, it's a pretty good buy. Check out our NEVES Plus review to see more reasons.

Mister Bumblebee Racing Champion (500pts - h2f Games) -- The only release this week not already previously released elsewhere, this seems to be a racing game in which you play as bees, ladybugs and other garden insects. We'll have a review soon.

Virtual Console

Final Fantasy II (900pts - Square Enix) -- This is really Final Fantasy IV, but as the second and third games were not originally released in North America, the game was retitled to make more sense. Europe never got any Final Fantasy games until VII, so it's even weirder for us, but nevertheless, you can now play the original North American translation of IV, confusingly known as II, as an import! Read our Final Fantasy II review to find out more.

DSiWare

Fieldrunners (500pts - Subatomic Studios) -- Another tower defense title, in which the objective is, as usual, to strategically place towers that will take out the incoming enemy forces, gaining resources for more towers in the process. Read our Fieldrunners review to see why this is one of the better DSiWare tower defense games.

Advanced Circuits (200pts - BiP Media) -- A puzzler in which you have to correctly assemble a road in order to let certain vehicles move around with no problems. More simple fun, and for only 200 DSi Points it's a solid buy. Check out our Advanced Circuits review for the low-down.

Puffins: Let's Roll (500pts - Other Ocean Interactive) -- Another puzzler of sorts, in which you must roll puffin eggs towards the exit in each level using the touch screen. Sadly, however, the controls don't seem to function quite as well as intended, read our Puffins: Let's Roll review to find out why!

A Topsy Turvy Life: The Turvys Strike Back (200pts - Tecmo) -- Another game in which things are totally turned upside down. In this one, you're playing shoot 'em ups as the bad guys. Sounds fun, but it gets repetitive rather fast, as our A Topsy Turvy Life: The Turvys Strike Back review will gladly inform you.

Tales in a Box: Hidden shapes in perspective! (500pts - Nintendo) -- It's got a different title in every region, but this is indeed that 3D diorama game in which you can look around using the DSi's camera. It's pretty neat, but our Looksley's Line Up review will tell you why it's not really great.

No press release to accompany today's releases, so you'll have to make do with this! Will you be getting anything or will you be too busy with a certain Wii retail game today?

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User Comments (32)

Bankai

#4

Bankai said:

That's a heck of an update - awesome stuff!

However, the bit about Final Fantasy II (or IV, if you're being correct), is wrong. It has been available in PAL territories previously, as part of the Final Fantasy Anthology release on the Playstaion - that had both Final Fantasy IV and V in it.

Kimiko

#7

Kimiko said:

Meh. Europe doesn't get a lot of games, so we just import the NAmerican ones. I've had both FF II (for GBA) and FF IV (for DS) for quite a while already.

FonistofCruxis

#8

FonistofCruxis said:

I won't be downloading any of these but SMG2 is out today anyway so even if there was something I wanted, it would have to wait.

mecoy

#10

mecoy said:

at first i thought it was final fantasy 2 for the nes i was gonna say luckys that 7,8,9,11,12 are the ones i dont have OR BEAT

abe8812

#13

abe8812 said:

I'm curious if the Wii Shop Channel description of Final Fantasy II(IV) also mentions how it it really Final Fantasy IV like in the US description.

Mayhem

#15

Mayhem said:

@WaltzElf - true, but the announcement text is still correct. The first FF game to be released in Europe was number seven, which is what the text says...

KDR_11k

#17

KDR_11k said:

abe: Yep.

Mr. Bumblebee looks pretty good graphics-wise. Just looking at the manual the only downside that's apparent is that there are only six tracks and four players. As the name suggests it's a flying racing game like AiRace or Slipstream 5000. Of course there's still the concern that it may be a badly made game.

Also funny: The programmer is called Christian Köhler. And the background music in the trailer is "Flight of the bumblebees".

JGMR

#18

JGMR said:

Give me an old Final Fantasy over a Super Mario Galaxy 2 any day! :D

cr00mz

#20

cr00mz said:

How does FF II compare to BoF II?

i bought BoF II a couple of years ago on the VC, but since then i've only played about 12 h (accodring to my "play-records") i find it quite slow and tedious, and i always get lost because there is no map and no one ever tells you where to go, i also find the game to be quite grind-y.

So how does it compare to FF II?
I have never played these old jrpgs so to me both of the games look very much the same. Same 16 bit graphics, art style etc.
Is there anything gameplay wise that sets it apart?

Homer_Simpson

#21

Homer_Simpson said:

Argggh, Tales in a Box didn't come out in Australia. I even loaded up 1000 points this morning to get it! Definitely should've checked if it had actually come out here first, lesson learned.
I wonder if there's any chance of it coming to Australia in the future..

That_Guy_from_Faxana

#25

That_Guy_from_Faxana said:

@cr00mz: Final Fantasy II has a better battlesystem too. It was the first game with "active time battle", so it´s less tedious than BoFII´s take-turns-battle. FFII is actually more fastpaced than FFVII, VIII & IX (no loading, quick animations).

And yeah, the story is decent, music awesome. Highly recommended. Kain rocks... Golbez too^^

Amorous_Badger

#26

Amorous_Badger said:

Hmmmmmm.....I'm a big fan of Final Fantasy Legends on the Game Boy, I might get this if I can rustle up the points.

Mahe

#30

Mahe said:

Interested in "The Turvys Strike Back", despite your review for it. The concept is so fun, and it's only 200 pts, so what the hey.

Sean_Aaron

#31

Sean_Aaron said:

FFII may well be my first foray into Final Fantasy since an abortive play of FFVII on the Playstation when I was turned off by the random encounters and turn-based battling. Now that I enjoy the latter, it will hopefully be better received.

I do feel like I should finish Ogre Battle first though...

cheapogamer4life

#32

cheapogamer4life said:

@ homer:
Looksley sold pretty well in the states so I would expect it to make it to make it down to you guys any time now based on the fact that it stayed in the top 20 DL's for some time.

All around nice update EU. Hopefully we will get a good one this Monday as well....

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