In a move that's sure to tempt those yet to pick up all of the hottest titles on 3DS, Nintendo of America has announced a price cut — starting on 22nd April — on five major retail games; these include the three biggest-selling games of all-time for the system in the region.
All five games will drop to $29.99 on the 3DS eShop, with the same recommended price at retail. In total the five games on offer have sold over nine million copies (physical and retail) in the U.S. alone, and the list includes the three highest selling games on the system; we would add that this appears to be the case only when counting Pokémon X & Pokémon Y separately.
The five games to be reduced are below, in order of highest sales so far.
- Mario Kart 7
- Super Mario 3D Land
- New Super Mario Bros. 2
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf
- Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
Are any of these still on your wishlist, and if so are you tempted at the lower price on the way? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments 87
hmm... I take it it's only in America and not happening in Europe. I've yet to get DK Returns, and I'm currently on a tight budget, so this discount might justify a purchase in the near future. DK Returns has been on my list ever since, but I never got around to it, so hopefully the price drops in Europe too.
Already have them all. Try again Nintendo.
Edit: I'm glad Nintendo is finally reducing their prices in eShop tho
Now they must reduce those ridiculous prices of Pilotwings Resort and Star Fox 64 3D.
No Starfox 64 3D though? Fail.
I'd like to have MK7 digitally but $30 is way too much to double dip. Probably won't play it much after 8 comes out anyway. DK is the only game on the list I don't have, but I've played the Wii one enough that I don't feel like double dipping on that either.
Im........shocked! They usually won't do any price cuts for years! Good to see this though.
This could mean another wave of games? That would be cool
The only one on there I don't have is Animal Crossing. I might go ahead and get it after this, though.
I've been thinking about getting Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D for a while now, so this is great news!
That's cool. But wasn't DK 3D already $30 when it released?
I'm hoping this means Nintendo will be more willing to put their games on discount more often. I think with the rising popularity of Playstation Plus; more sales and special offers may really benefit the 3DS and Wii U.
Never did buy Super Mario 3D Land, despite being interested in playing the game. A price cut might finally get me to jump on board.
I own them all, but also have friends who just now got a 3DS. It will be great for them!
Never underestimate the power of Mario Karting.....
@MrWalkieTalkie I think it was $35.
I've been converting my earlier 3DS retail games into digital copies lately, so I'd be kinda annoyed if price cuts came to Australia just after I bought them!
As it stands currently Starfox is £10 and Pilotwings Resort is £7 for the cartridge brand new. Especially Starfox I would rather have digitally but not at £40. (It is the only game I know of other than Mario Party with a proper download play mode).
Cool. I already have 3D Land, MK7 and DKCR3D, though. I'll probably pick up ACNL at some point now, though. And i have zero interest in any Nintendo game that uses the word 'New' in its title. By 'New' they seem to mean 'uninspired, incredibly derivative, easy to develop, quick cash in sequel." I'd only buy NSMB2 if they dropped it to under $10.
Is this a 20$ discount or a 10$ discount ? (Or 50%).
(If they go on at £14.99 or £19.99 that might make things interesting - good ones at £19.99 the ones that the carts are under £10 at £14.99).
I always get much more out of digital games. (I change carts when I finish something and that is all normally).
Please, for the love of God, follow suit Nintendo of Europe. I still wanna buy Mario Kart 7, New SMB 2 and DK Country Returns 3D. Especially Mario Kart 7 is high on my wishlist right now.
I am wondering, though. Is this going to be one of those 'greatest hits' lines. That'd make perfect sense to me.
Aw. I just purchased AC:NL on the eShop yesterday. @_@; Oh well, at least it was only a $5 difference... Haha.
Put a poll up asking if people will buy 1 of them. Missed opportunity guys!
I'll pick up NSMB2, been waiting for a price drop.
I was about to go buy MK7 today…kinda still want it though. That way I have time to play it before MK8 comes out.
Good discount don't understand all the complaining going on.
Only haven't played Animal Crossing and I'm not sure I plan to pick it up at this point.
@Rosebud
I had never played Animal Crossing, and I love New Leaf. It only requires a quick time investment every day, though I do miss some days. That being said it may not be your kind of title.
Just curious - are these price cuts getting new "Players Choice" or "Nintendo Selects" branding? MK7 and NSMB2 should be down to $20 by now, they are really old by video game standards.
If they are going to do these price cuts across the board they should rebrand them and throw a few marketing $ behind it. Almost every game I bought on Gamecube was a Players Choice when they first came out, and Wii Selects let me purchase a bunch of games I had previously rented.
If it comes to Europe, I'll probably get NSMB2, but I'm still shocked to see that here in Portugal TLoZ: Ocarina of Time 3D, a remastered launch title, is still € 39.99 on retail and a whooping €44,99 on the eShop.
This should be a more common practice for Nintendo across the 3DS and Wii U. Time to get "Nintendo Selects" back in full force. And yes, on Europe too.
Double bummer - already got them all and live in the UK
Starfox 64 has been cheap on Amazon for a long time. I bought a new copy a year ago for about $25. It's $28 right now (obviously this is US only).
Starfox 64 an ocarina of time also please. £40 for these games still is ridiculous,
Also bring this to Europe haha
Starfox is still full price anywhere in Brazil. An eShop discount would be great. Oh, well...
Man, I already own all of those except Animal Crossing. >_<
This is a little frustrating - I just got 3D Land and New Mario 2 and New Leaf from Target. They had a 'buy two, get one free' promo on all video games. So I paid $80 ($40 each for the Marios) and got New Leaf ($35) for free. I still ended up with a good deal ($26.67 each, averaged), but I always fear a better deal will come along after I buy games.
Sweet. I have none of them. Late adopter FTW!
Already have em all except for DK, which I already completed on the Wii version
@bizcuthammer You know Animal Crossing New Leaf has the word "new" in it right...? Do you mean you have no interest in any Mario game with the word "new" in the the title?
@rjejr I don't really see the point of rebranding digital downloads
any news on canadian prices?
Ocarina of Time 3D is what I was hoping for. Game's been out since June or July of 2011, still $40 for eShop copy OR physical used copy. I want an eShop copy because that'll mean that I have literally every Zelda game available on the eShop on my Zelda 3DS XL. But $40 has been hard to do. $30 would've been terrific! But alas. I may still get DKC Returns.
I've been wanting Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64, MarioKart 7, New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Mario Tennis since I got the 3DS, but at £200 for 5 old games is utterly ridiculous, try need to reel in the prices the longer a game is out. I've spent nothing on all these 5.
If they'd have sensibly dropped the prices to half by now, that's £100 of my money they could have had from me for these old games.
This is slack Nintendo. Get your house in order.
The Wii U is already on its way out. Manage te 3DS better.
Having only bought a 3DS a few months ago, I don't have Super Mario 3D Land yet. This price drop might cause that to change in the near future.
@DESS-M-8 oh please. The wiiuisnt going away until at least smash is releases. So its got another year ahead of it. Nintendo games never drop prices this early, so what are you complaining about? Theor high quality and are nintendo. The nintendo seal is enough to make last gen games still be 50. For them to be dropung the price on some of their most popular games.... my god ppl love to complaon about being thrown a bone, huh.
@GalacticMario28 Great game, truly. I'd consider it a must own, but once you've done everything you can do in it, the replay value is pitiful. I'd have loved a Coin Rush mode or something similar.
Well I won't get MK 7. 8 is just around the corner. I have DKR on my wii and the Wii U sequel so no to that. I might get the 3D Mario as I was planning to at some point and I have the rest.
@Unca_Lz - "I don't really see the point of rebranding digital downloads"
The title said - "All for $29.99 on the eShop and in stores" - so I was referring to the in store part, which I'm assuming meant on disc in boxes though I suppose it could just mean was of those digital code cards.
Oh, and the point for digital rebranding would be to advertise them together on the eShop under it's own banner - "Nintendo Select" games. People would see the games on the list and might buy ones they don't already own. Not that the 3DS eShop needs anymore icons, it's already overloaded w/ redundancy, but Ild OK one for Player's Choice or Nintendo Select games.
have 4 out of the 5 so and I'm not interested in animal crossing
& in Eu we await not holding breath as we would probally die
I wish they would lower the price of Kid Icarus. I really want to play the game but the polarizing controls definitely don't want to make me pay 35 dollars.
Ocarina of Time would have been great. Like someone from before said, I'd like to have all of the LoZ games available on my LoZ XL but I can't get myself to pick up OoT for 40 bucks.
Still, it's good to see this is happening.
It's tempting to get Mario Kart 7 from eShop with the price of 29.99$, but I'll simply pass because I already own the physical version of it and Mario Kart 8 is coming quite soon.
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D doesn't even interest me, especially because I already own the Wii version. A few extra levels, easy mode and waggle-free controls weren't enough to justify a double-dip.
For the rest of the games, they are already downloaded to my system.
I own all of these, but it's a great deal for any who have missed out thus far.
@HMNIM AAA titles on any other format regularly end up below £20. So do nintendo titles. Why the eshop still has games that are listed at £40 which are 3 years old is ridiculous, especially if they are wanting to garner momentum in the eshop.
Sorry, but neither MarioKart nor Smash are system savers or system sellers. They are nintendo gamer games, fan service games.
Nintendos system sellers are their flagship titles Metroid, Mario, Zelda F-Zero, Star Fox. Not one of these will have been released in the consoles first 2 YEARS. At max, that is a third of its lifespan gone and no flagship first party title and massive lack of AAA third party support.
Wii U has now been removed from ALL UK supermarkets. Last console to do that? Dreamcast.
Iwata has so crucially misjudged the gen it's untrue. They have an amazing piece of hardware and ultimately Zero software in two years.
Don't get me wrong, I support it. I paid £350 for my Wii U two days before release. I've bought all my 30+ games for it at full price from the eshop, I couldn't have supported it anymore. But it's saddening to see the state that the Wii U situation had been allowed to fester beyond repair. It will now be a distant third till it is pulled, whenever that is. I just hope the redeem themselves to a point so we at least see some consistent quality on it and we FINALLy get gamecube and Saturn on virtual console.
Awesomeeee ~ getting new leaf and mk7 to holde over till ssb3DS
@HMNIM
Thats really not a good thing. For starters, their old games still being almost as much as the newer ones means they'll compete with each other, rather than have people going back to pick up the ones they missed.
Why would someone buy OOT for $40 when the newest Zelda is the same price? What if for the price of a home console game they could get both instead? Their games still have a ton of clout even at low prices, marketing them as "select" games would be even better.
Of course I remember when handheld games were regularly $20-$30, so what do I know. I also remember it was Nintendo that caused the price creep with Pokemon too. They're not innocent when it comes to squeezing every penny possible ya know.
@MuchoMochi
I bought Kid Icarus:Uprising on eShop for $35(probably could have got a physical copy for the same price but it was a bit of an impulse buy), one of the best 3DS purchases I have ever made as it will offer you dozens of hours of gameplay and I have heard upwards of 100 hours for some. Super Mario Land 3D for $30 however, for a game that is a few years old and I have heard is very short, still seems over priced.
@DESS-M-8 Wii has not been removed from any UK Supermarkets that are close to where I live. Asda has as much Wii as DS and 3DS combined (And zero Wii U). Tesco has a bit of Wii / Wii U / 3DS / DS (Not much of any). Sainsbury's has just a clearance balanced board / Wii fit bundle on clearance. (No DS or 3DS whatsoever).
If you mean Wii U Tesco still stocks it.
@Zombie_Barioth All that seems to happen these days with the select games is when it comes to Retail the used places (Who these days is basically everyone on the High Street who stocks games at all) sell it for a tiny bit less (And still only stock used). That didn't used to be a problem. (Used was separate from new and most people bought new). At least that is how it is in the UK. Amazon is the only one who tries to keep new stock.
These price cuts are nice, but I already own all the Mario games on that list and as much as I enjoyed them, I feel that NSMB2 should be at $19.99 or lower. Not that I'm calling it a bad game or a cash cow, but in terms of content and replayability, Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 fills in that void more.
I'd have a more likely chance of diving in to Animal Crossing now, since I enjoyed both games in the series (except for Wild World).
Even with new levels and the Crash Guard, getting my #1 favorite Wii game again on 3DS is still not a possibility since motion controls are what made DKCR and TF playable for me.
For Retro's DKC series: No waggle = No buy
A Mario game that's still somewhat current getting a price drop out of nowhere? Nintendo, keep this up. Good for people who are digital downloaders.
This is what I think almost all games should be priced at. $40 is way too much in my opinion, especially remakes and sequels that are similar al a New super mario bros. 2.
Only games with peripherals or extra content like Smash Bros should cost $40. I find myself buying eshop games as they're much better value, even if I'm more hyped about 3ds games like 3d land or Pilotwings.
That's a great price for MK7 and SM3DL, but the rest of the list should have been discounted long ago, and NSMB2 really should be around 50% instead of 25% discounted. The 3D remakes should have been $29.99 to begin with IMO, so it's surprising to me that they aren't on this either.
Meh, $19.99 is the magical number for me and that is what they used to discount to years ago. $5-$10 off 2+ year old handheld games is not a very good deal to be honest.
Thanks but no thanks, Nintendo but I pay those "generous/late discounted prices" when i preorder your games from Newegg or Amazon.
Besides, I already have these games already. Meh......
Hell, just purchased two copies of Mario Golf:WT for a gran total of $55+free shipping. I got my discount 3 years early! Wooooooo!
@unrandomsam
I haven't seen the select versions used around here very much, so I couldn't tell you how much they usually are. I think for Amazon though they're only a little cheaper than the original.
The only reason I said "selects" though is it just makes the discounted games sound better, and the illusion of quality is what Nintendo proclaims as the reason why they keep their prices up.
@AshFoxX I find it interesting that people are saying this about the pricing for 3D Land and New Mario 2, considering 3D Land is a 2011 game and New Mario 2 is 2012. Not that I disagree, but it's just interesting that this has come to be the common perception of these titles' values.
I was going to buy AC today, I'm glad I talked myself out of it because I didn't see this until just now.
@shane1228 I'd love to think I'll enjoy that game as much as you did, but being left handed I don't think the stylus controls will be as great for me. I don't want to get the circle pad pro either. I may set the controls without the touch screen but I heard that's not nearly as great.
I have 4 of those games (and I wouldn't touch AC with a 3 mile pole), so meh. It will be interesting to see how those discounts translate in my country though.
Nintendo's online pricing sucks here in Mexico. They insist on using the same prices as the biggest department stores, which have to pay tons of taxes to get the games to begin with. There is no way I am going to pay about $54 USD for StarFox 3D on the eshop, I understand why the stores have those prices but Nintendo is just being greedy, after all, downloadable only games' prices are the same as in USA. Also, ALL prices on the PSN store are the same as in USA. Sony store > Nintendo eshop.
Look, all five games are in the order that I bought them in. Although, I did buy Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land at the same time.
@unrandomsam
Also, Luigi's Mansion has an excellent download only play option (you hunt ghosts thru a 5-, 10- or 25 stories tower). If everyone owns a cartridge then there are several other modes.
Also, Mario tennis and Mario Kart 7 have Ok download play options (less customizing, less tracks, and so on), but definitely enjoyable.
@MrWalkieTalkie $35
got them all and in that order! Nice to see the discounts, but like someone else said go to Amazon or some other site and there is a pretty good chance you'll find a decent discount even on newish games. I tend to buy more from Amazon now, getting $10-15 discounts. However, games such as Smash Bros and Mario Kart warrant a day one purchase at retail since those types won't be lowered in value for awhile (and probably deservedly so!)
@Corleonis88 do not see any official post for canada. although I sincerely, sincerely hopes that canada gets the same deal, the paranerds site reports only 5 dollar cuts for the mario games in canada. acnl and dk have been 35 for a while so ~
Sweet! The wait was worth it.
Well out of those games the only two I dont have is Animal Crossing and DKCR3D. At that price I might pick them up some time down the road.
@DESS-M-8 Umm, I'd like to point out that Zelda Skyward Sword, on a system that had an install base of 100 million, barely sold over a million. It completely FLOPPED in Japan big time.
For Zelda, that's absolutely pitiful. I don't think Zelda U is gonna sell Wii U consoles. Zelda is not a system seller anymore when it comes to home consoles.
@unrandomsam if course I meant Wii U, my whole post is about te state of the Wii U. I've edited now, but the Original post said "Wii I" was it too much of a stretch to connect that a type-o was an I for a U??? But sorry, it has been pulled from all.
Nintendo have just sacked most of the sales Reps Nationally who are employed by Reach. And that is because it is being pulled from ALL supermarkets.
If there still some in some supermarkets it is because that is the remainder of stock they have to sell. They have some Wii U sky lander giants starter packs in Asda but t was pulled from there last year.
Wii U has been pulled from ALL UK supermarkets. FACT and that is a bell signalling a death toll in the UK market. It always has been. Iwata has screwed what is probably the greatest console ever made.
@IceClimbers are you kidding me? Skyward sword was released onthe Wii when it was virtually dead. A million is high for the user base. 2.5 years ago you'll find the actual user base of the Wii was signicantly lower than the install base. Relatively nobody was playing wii for the two years of its life.
@bizcuthammer @cbkummer Just for a $5+tax savings?
@MrWalkieTalkie $35
@ejamer
Me too! Looking at the forum, we are definitely in the minority.
Hope something similar comes to Europe. Would get nsm2 and sm3dl maybe as I prefer digital for 3ds but Tbh the eshop prices are ridiculous and should be lower to begin with but I guess if people pay then nintendo jave zero reason to lower it.
@Uberchu No, for $10 + tax savings. Savings are savings.
Can anyone give this prices to mexican stores like Gameplanet or Sears? they think this games are 80 dollars each one. (So this don´t apply to America, only to USA).
Pleasantly surprised this happen so early (or are we really have way through the 3DSes life?????) either way its good to see!! Already own all 5 so.............
Looks like I'm getting Super Mario 3D World.
I haven´t seen the price drop on the canadian eshop. What about the american one?
Should I get MK7?
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