Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars Due in March and Will be Cross-Buy on Wii U and 3DS

Lets hope this is the beginning of Cross Buy with Nintendo games

We need more cross buy (is that what we're calling it?) games!

Cross-buy for download titles is okay in cases like this, where both platforms can also communicate with each other through the game.
But the concept of cross-buy is just dumb: you have the game already, why do you want it twice? And at the same time, developers use it as a marketing tool to make people believe they're offered a good deal.

I was interested in it before now a free version for my 3ds what's not to like

Cross buy was a huge surprise. Though since Mario vs DK: Minis March Again was $7.99 on DSiWare and this is $20 I guess we can think of it as $10 for each

http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/qusAr1yYWSwy6mt8LwFo1z6kOISzKRrf

What I don't get is why put out a X-buy $20 2D Mario game that includes a level editor in March when Mario Maker is supposed to be out sometime in the spring? MM will presumably cost more, be Wii U only, and so far all we've seen is a level editor, no other game levels. Seems odd, though almost everything abut the ND today was odd. Like were was Mario Maker and Yoshi's Wooly World, both supposedly first half of 2015 games?

Not really into these games anymore, but I agree on the cross-buy front. Hats off to Nintendo for that.

Nice, loving the cross buy. Would buy the Wii U version for myself and give my friend the 3ds code. Makes no sense having two copies of a game on Wii U and 3ds for myself (hides MH3U and SSB copies).

Nice cross buy. I will get so Nintendo maybe gets the message.

Sweet. Hopefully more title will use this cross buy in the future.

@ultraraichu - I'ld bet they will be NNID locked. I think Sony does the same thing on PSN (never had a PS4 or Vita so can't check though, sorry)

My wife and 2 kids each have their own 3DS, and I'll presumably buy a new 3DS XL soon, but probably only one of us will be able to DL the 3DS version. Heck I'm not even sure it will be me w/ all the 3DS currently liked to my Club Nintendo account.

You do bring up a good question though, hopefully Nintendo will address it soon.

Wow! Crossbuy?!!! And yes I'm glad this is 2D, didn't like the 3DS game.

I want a disc version.

Cross buy really interested me on this game. Having both the Wii U and 3DS version of a download is a huge thing for me.

Yeah, that's a great move from Nintendo. So they listen.

The cross-buy is very good, but ultimately highlights that they don't have cross-buy for so many other games, notably VC titles. What the hell?

Furthermore, when you download one, you get a code for the other? Great Cthulhu's ghost, Nintendo! Just make a damn account-based system already! You know how cross-buy works on Playstation systems? "Hey, you bought this PS3 game that's also available on Vita and PS4? Your account can be used to download the other versions simply by going to the store on those consoles and downloading them at no extra cost because we have a modern account-based system!"

Frustrating. What stops me from downloading this on the Wii U and giving the 3DS code to someone else?

@ZenTurtle

Wouldn't work for retail games? That's odd. Works just fine for Sony. I got PS All-Stars Battle Royale for PS3, and I can download it for free on the PS Vita.

Every time I read the title, I think it says "tripping stars".

This is excellent news. When they announced it was coming on both, my first thought was 'but which one would I prefer it on?', but within a few seconds they'd made it a non-issue.

I bet someone has already said this but it isn't cross-buy. They said if you buy one version you get a download code for the other version... might mean that if I buy the Wii U version I can give my brother the 3DS download code.

Yeah they did say that in the direct

Thank god this might finally be the beginning of cross buy for Nintendo. Hope that they end up doing this for virtual console games.

Good Nintendo. Now, two request:

1) Make ALL of VC cross-buy already
2) Please, please, please, come out with a Mario vs Donkey Kong that is in like Donkey Kong '94 again! PLEASE.

$20 is actually quite high. I feel the value of MvDK franchise is $10 tops, so it's like purchasing both games anyway IMO.

19.99USD is around £15.

I am actually looking forward to this.

i should have been the first to reply to this thread.. i was the crazy mario vs dk 2 march of the mini's player back in the day.. go here to see what type of levels that game made.. so many glitches too.
https://www.youtube.com/user/mrmushroomer/videos

but then as they made more iterations of the game, the user had less and less control over the game.. eitherway, im totally glad for this cross buy option which begs to question:

Can Mario Maker eventually head over to 3DS? I truely do not see a reason why not.. people may point out that its CPU intensive but, i throw out the option to scale back with real time editing if that is the reason we can't have it on 3ds. just give us a mario maker on the go!!!! with cross buy!! why not.

@ZenTurtle Yeah, and that's what boggles me. If a person has a VC title on 3DS, for example, what's the point in wanting the same game on WiiU? The person already has the game, end of story. If there was a genuine difference between them, or exclusive features that are tied to the platform, I'd understand (which seems to be the case with Mario Vs. DK, since the 3DS version likely uses Streetpass), but in the case of VC, there's truly no difference, except for maybe a persons preferences.

The is definitely on my not going to buy list.

Too bad the release date wasnt one day earlier. March Fourth!!! get it? a very commanding day..

Ryno This is possibly on my list that gets me to get a wii u... honestly!!! alongside with mario maker. im so excited.. but im also curious what the play mechanics are for this game.

@DefHalan but what if its connected to your eshop account? then you wouldnt be able to give the other copy away.. would that effect your decision?

@Kaze_Memaryu

Depends on the individual, but also on how profiles are used. I have a couple games on the PS3 or PS4 and the Vita. I can play the portable one anywhere and the console one when I feel like relaxing with a big screen. In Sony's set-up, however, the games share Trophies and saved data can also be shared.

This is a fine option for a variety of gamers, though I don't use it myself a whole lot. Limited memory card space has me mostly using the Vita for Vita-only games, although I do have Titan Attacks on both the Vita and PS4. But that game is pretty awesome.

You may want to play a game mostly on your TV, but also be able to take it with you. Nintendo's solution to this was to just resell Majora's Mask for full price again, but you can't share the saves from there to the Wii VC. There are so many Nintendo fans that constantly beg for portable versions of games released on the Wii or Wii U. This would be a solution to that.

If only Nintendo would modernize their asinine account system.

@mushroomer I am buying the game no matter what, I know my brother might not and I think he would enjoy it.

This is why I love nintendo

Pretty excited for this

Not interested. Go back to the Donkey Kong '94 style, please.

I love me some Lemmings type of games and have enjoyed 2 of the past entries in the series so i'll be getting this for sure.The price seems a little steep for what it is,makes me think they've added at least a 25% on it to cover themselves for the Cross Buy incentive but never mind.

@SparkOfSpirit Got it on my phone,surprisingly playable

I feel that at $19.99, you're essentially paying for the game twice or at least close to twice as I thought this would be about $10-$15 just for the Wii U version. I'm taking into consideration that its a download only title and the fact that the past two M&DK downloads are around $10 each... My opinion though as my experience with the DSiware game (similar to this new game) wasn't that fun for me (at least recently)...

@SuperMikey I completely agree.

While I commend Nintendo for acknowledging and trying cross-buy, they are effectively missing the point by charging twice the price for the game in the first place! But this is typical Nintendo behaviour.

The fact you get a code for the second game only highlights the poor structure of their online service (i.e. no proper account system). As someone mentioned before, when I buy a PS3 game on PSN then that game is automatically available on my account instantly to download on PS4 and Vita (if available of course). Also Sony don't charge twice the price for it in the first place!

As usual with Nintendo I feel it's one step forward, two steps back...

Neat, about time too though. They should implement this with VC too, which will make everyone happy. Not sure if I will pick this up yet with so much stuff coming out and amiibo

Love seeing Nintendo doing this. There have been many games I bought on the PSN store for the reason that I could play it on my ps3/ps4 and on my vita as well at no extra cost.

@dandantheman100
I agree and anyone who has bought a vc game on the 3ds and the Wii u should be reimbursed with the cost of which ever game they bought second. I wouldn't count it if you have the game on your 3ds because of the Ambassador program and the bought it on the Wii U or got the game for 30c on the wii u with the sales and then bought the game on the 3ds later.

This is a game that I had little interest in, but with the cross-buy and the low price it's definitely on my radar.

Better late than never I guess* but cross-buy should have been here sooner rather than later.

Not to worry though. Nintendo will probably have it all sorted out and embraced fully by...next gen...

*Now we just need to see a LOT more games support this feature and especially all the Virtual Console titles.

@Kaze_Memaryu
Eh...

Why wouldn't any sane person want to be able to play their game on both their handheld and home consoles interchangeably and for the cost of a single copy if they had the choice?

I'm pretty sure many gamers don't always want to play on a tiny little screen and at the same time they're obviously not always sitting in front of a TV either.

Your comment kinda explains why sometimes Nintendo just doesn't bother with certain potentially very cool and sometimes even pretty standard current-gen stuff. With apparently crazy fanboys like you, who basically defend some of its more backwards decisions, why the hell should it I guess.

@Kirk I don't see how criticizing the idea behind cross-buy makes me a fanboy, but suit yourself.
But what I'm talking about is that people decide which platform they want a game on. And if they're suddenly not satisfied with their own decision anymore, it's their own problem.
Why should any developer be obligated to take the indecisiveness of people into consideration? Why should they care about greedy demands like this? Well, they do, but that doesn't make it any more logical.
Cross-buy is one of these convenience factors that people just want because somebody started doing it, not because they actually deserve it. If anything, a cross-buy should be limited to discounts, at best. If you don't wanna pay twice for a game, don't buy it twice, simple as that.

@Kaze_Memaryu

You see...regarding stuff like this; Nintendo probably thinks exactly like you, which is imo one of the reasons why it's in third place this generation and is looking at possibly its lowest selling home console ever. You have to give the consumers what they want, want they've come to expect, or you lose customers and leave a lot of your current user base disappointed and frustrated. Good businessmen actually understand that and deliver products and services that aim to fully satisfy their customers. Maybe Wii U would actually be in first place and have great third party support right now too if Nintendo got that, the whole/bigger picture, like I think it used to once upon a time.

@Kirk In all honesty, that's nonsense. Nintendo never dealt with cross-buy before, so simply expecting them to jump the bandwagon is delusional to begin with. Also, greedy customer = bad customer. Supporting bad practices only leads to them becoming a bad standard (see paid online on consoles).

Besides, cross-buy features definitely won't help the WiiU in terms of sales figures; going by that logic, VITA would be selling like hotcakes (hint: it isn't).

@Kaze_Memaryu

Clearly we interpret information very differently.

I'm glad the cross buy is set up in such a way because I want this on my 3DS, but my 3DS isn't linked to the same NNID as my Wii U, as it's technically my girlfriend's Wii U.
This way I can get the game, and seem super nice by gifting her a DL code. (that I'll play too, hehe)
Otherwise, I'd have to download it onto her 3DS to get the game on her Wii U... I'd feel ripped off if I got it for 3DS and had no Wii U.

@Kaze_Memaryu
Buying something in the Google Play Store and being able to download and use it on ANY Android device of mine is great. I can play a game on my phone or tablet. And only buy it once. I've been wanting to buy Virtual Console games and be able to play them on my 3DS or my Wii U. It makes most sense for games that are identical, games that have a different game on different platforms should be sold separately. And if they added Cloud saves that would also make it great so that I could start playing when I'm not home on my 3DS and when I get home continue where I left off on my Wii U.

Not a fan of it. And at 20 Dollar/Euro I most likely wait for a huge discount...wich will probably never happen!

Cross-buy is the way to go, as it is on Sony's Store. I think that next Nintendo home console and handheld will have the same titles available and be cross-buy. €20 is a bit too much though, I paid €8 for the DSi version.

@rjejr Shibata said during the announcement of this game "or why don't you give the second copy to a friend?" confirming that the codes will not be NNID locked.

I just remembered: Bring on the code beggars

@seb5049 - I'm going to have to file that one under - I'll believe it when I see it. I suppose it would actually be easier to just email out a code than link it to a NNID though. Makes me wonder if the code will be console specific, or just buy 1, get 1 free code. I'm sure somebody will try to redeem a code o the wrong console just to see if it works. Guess we'll see.