Good to see a couple of games launching at a "sale" price to reward early adopters. I've pretty much stopped buying any eShop title at full price because they always end up at bargain basement prices once initial sales have dropped off. That isn't a great way to treat your customers.

I was wondering about this update just this morning. I bought the game last year and only played it for a short while.

I has RCR. I has New 3DS. I has a happy for this news.

@unrandomsam - It is possible that one region finds issues repeatedly that the other never found (or never considered serious enough to prevent publication).

It is also possible that EU versions take longer to develop waiting for localisations ( I'm assuming GC2 doesn't have too much text in it. I don't remember any in the original ).

It is possible that EU versions get held up in the age ratings process. The US process is done instantly online. The EU processes involve sending final versions off and waiting for results.

It is possible that publishers hold back releases in EU until they are sure the additional financial investment will pay off.

There is no simple reason why EU versions are delayed/never appear, but many valid reasons.

I've turned off the dynamic brightness on mine, it drove me mad. Bye bye improved battery life.

@RupeeClock - The textures for the original were about 4x4, 16 colours. Let that sink in!

But, yeah. 600MB seems pretty big compared to the original. Download of games like this is not for me. I have to give my shiny new New 3DS to my son so he can play? I don't think so. Takes ages to clean the screen after his grubby mitts have been near it.

The real reason is simple:
They ran out of the smaller model because Nintendo of Europe used them all up in the New 3DS Ambassador Offer.

Ok, that was a deliberate troll post. I think it's a crazy decision. I personally prefer the small New 3DS over the XL and I was previously using the 3DS XL prior to getting the Ambassador one. I feel for you, Nintendo of America customers.

Love this art style.

Watched a few of these videos. The thing I was impressed with most (well, after the amazing video games feats) was the lack of profanity (I assume there may be some on some older rated games, I didn't watch any of those).

It meant I was able to watch a few of them with my 8 year old son. Nice work guys, next time the event is on I'll be making a donation.

Add me to the list of "how much for Angry Birds Star Wars" on Wii U camp!

I wouldn't pay that for AAA Nintendo titles.

First impressions:
Screen colours seem more vibrant than my XL.
Screen smaller than XL but bigger than orig.
Individual pixels not noticable like they are on the XL.
Feels heavy and solid. Hinge especially.
Eye tracking doesn't like my glasses.
Return to home menu is a lot snappier.
Stylus is very short, but locks place a lot better than previous models.
Edit:
Don't like the volume slider on the screen, can't adjust it mid-game without letting go of the controls.

@RupeeClock Me too. According to courier, they are on delivery number 33 and I am number 36.

@defdef666 I got confirmation mails of shipping and estimated delivery (today for me).

I now have estimated delivery time, which is in about 3 hours.

@GrizzlyArctos It sounds like you are going through all the pain I went through. Mine is ordered and shipping today.

You are probably using the link for the EU store. That is no good for UK customers. You need this one:
https://store.nintendo.co.uk/ninint/nintendoLogin.account?returnTo=http%3A%2F%2Fstore.nintendo.co.uk%2Fninint%2Fnew-nintendo-3ds-console%2Fnew-nintendo-3ds-ambassador-edition-bundle%2F11054445.html

Tips:
Don't use a mobile browser. Once you enter your Club Ninty details it takes you to the storefront, not the Ambassador Offer page.

The first Club Ninty "login" is not really logging you in, it is just verifying that you are eligible. When you go to checkout, it asks you to login again, but this is a login for the Nintendo UK Store, if you've never created an account, you'll have to create one now - no other logins with Nintendo work here.

@Bigtime try the links posted above. If you are eligible, they will work - regardless of whether you received the email or not. I got no email but have just ordered mine.

@RupeeClock that works, thanks! Now I need to decide if I want one yet...

@RupeeClock Thanks for the info. Do you have the UK link, by chance?

Can someone from the UK who got an invite please post the store link for me? I'm eligible - the EU link above lets me log in - but it locks me to Euros/Ireland.

@Yosher - It is listed above several times. Here:
https://new-nintendo-3ds-ambassador-offer.nintendo-europe.com/user/login
If it works for you, let me know if you are in the £zone and if you can order in UK £.

@yosher @connicron - I didn't get the email but I am eligible. However, it seems to think I am in Ireland so I can't put my proper address in (or pay in UK currency).

Is the link for UK customers different to the one posted above?

Well, I'm eligible, I can log in, but it shows me prices in Euros (I'm in England) and the checkout page won't let me change my delivery country from Ireland.

If I log in to my Club Ninty account, I see my country as "UK/Ireland" but I cannot change it. Not sure if either is related.

@lebad - I've been able to log in! Thanks for posting the link. I've not had an email, but I've had trouble getting emails from Nintendo recently.

@Morph It isn't about paying a member of staff to do the work, it's about localisation costs and paying the different ratings bodies in Europe quite a lot of money to rate the game. Then there's the Australian ratings system. That is in a league of its own as far as cost.
Seriously - it can easily cost more money than you'll get back to release the games in Europe and particularly Australia. It makes financial sense for Indies to release in North America first, where ratings cost nothing and localisation is not required, see if it sells a reasonable amount, project the potential profits for releasing in Europe, decide if you are actually likely to not lose money doing so.

Nice interview, Jools. All the best for 2015. I can't wait to find out about the planned surprises. Deodrifter was my favourite surprise of 2014 - I'd been praying for a 2D Metroid-like game.

@everyone_who_mentions_remaining_moon_episodes:
They are in submission with Nintendo, according to a tweet from RK. They are finished, they are coming.
@everyone_who_mentions_europe:
It costs a serious sum of money to publish games in Europe. It is free in America. Devs have to weigh up the number of sales in America to estimate if they'll actually make any money releasing in Europe. Sucks to be in Europe, but that's business.

@RedDevilAde
Not checked out today's Euro releases, I'm guessing?
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/11/nintendo_download_13th_november_europe

@Nintendian Maybe so, but it has not been designed around touch controls, so the experience will be worth about $1 on iOS.

I actually worked on the PlayStation conversion of this. I think they renamed it as Evo's Space Adventures. I preferred the N64 version even with the bug.

"However, this all changed with the 3DS". Not quite right. This changed with the DSi when running DSi only games. Original DS games were not region locked.

The introduction of region locking in Nintendo handhelds arrived at the same time as parental controls/games with ratings built in. There is your reason for the introduction of region locking. How do you determine whether a game that is acceptable for all audiences in one territory is the same for all others?

Cross buy really would make a lot of sense. There's little point to people paying for an additional copy on another system, but more sales may be encouraged if people knew that they could get two copies for the price of one.

@Windy & others.

I'm pretty certain the 3DS does not display 3D visuals. Two clues - the banner on the eShop is 2D, I'm pretty certain Nintendo now require games with 3D visuals to have a 3D banner and the more info section for the game doesn't mention 3D visuals, other games do mention it.

For me, this means a Wii U purchase. Easier to share with the family and there is otherwise no advantage to having the game on 3DS. Sad to say, I consider it a cheap port to 3DS if they haven't added stereoscopic to a game that would look absolutely fantastic with it.

@StarDust4Ever Yep, they are encrypted.

@World
Really glad to hear you are enjoying the game. I always like to hear feedback, good or bad.

I just wish I could have got the 3DS version out by now. It's pretty much finished, but we're just not happy with the art.

@Captain_Balko - Can battle again and again and win their entire army again and again. This means you will very quickly end up unbeatable by your brother (or vice versa) making the game a little annoying to the loser.

In my case, my army is 6000+, my son's is about 1500.

@baba_944 - in System Settings, but it is a slow process. You do it game by game.

3 3DS systems in my house. 3 special visitors in 1 week = 9 pink pieces for moi.

@oddworldinc Nice to know. Day 1 purchase for me. Loved the original.

I want to know if "New N Tasty" is the same as the original game in terms of content - ie a reboot, or a new game "inspired" by the mechanics of the first game.

I intend to find out...

They really should have shown this.

I really shouldn't have just watched that. I need to stop eating for a few months to pay for all the 3DS games I now want...

@Omega - The game itself or the reward?

Personally love the game and suggest anyone who doesn't own it to take advantage of this offer. Assuming you are in a position to...

Entered with my son today. If we win, which we won't, I'll have to declare our entry void as I lied about my son's age. For some inexplicable reason, the minimum age is 7.

Wot? No Digger Dan? Again?

@TheHunter - Yep, it's exactly the same 3DS -> 3DS and even 3DS XL -> 3DS if you ever want to switch back.

I would advise this additional first step:
Use the 3DS to move any DSiWare to the SD Card first.

This will prevent the system transfer process re-downloading them again which takes ages and also may well eat up the data allowance for those planning to do it over a mobile connection.

You could delete them and re-download them later, but this will cause you to lose any saved games.

Shell trophy ordered.

PURILE JOKE WARNING

Does the tagline "cursed by blood" hint at a female lead character?

2D or I'm not interested.