A rare occurrence in this week's Nintendo Download for our North American chums: all the games in the line-up are already available in Europe, so you'll likely already know if you're after any of the new titles or not. Let's delve in and see what's available.
Virtual Console
Natsume Championship Wrestling (SNES, 800pts) — Step into the ring with Natsume's take on the sweaty sport, a game for those who love the squared circle. You can read our Natsume Championship Wrestling review to see if you should submit to this one.
WiiWare
Arcade Essentials (Nordcurrent, 500pts) — A collection of minigames from Nordcurrent? Yes, it's a release in line with the Pope's continued Catholicism and the toilet habits of bears, but it bucks the trend by being not bad. Read our Arcade Essentials review for more.
WiiWare Demo
Dive: The Medes Islands Secret (Cosmonaut Games, full game: 1000pts) — An aquatic adventure that shares certain similarities with Super Metroid, this is worth a go in this free trial. Our Dive: The Medes Islands Secret review should prepare you for taking the plunge.
DSiWare
Shapo (TiK Games LLC, 500pts) — Almost as unbelievable an event as Nordcurrent's minigame compendium, here's a puzzle game on DSiWare. A combination of three puzzle concepts, our Shapo review explains all in detail.
G.G Series D-Tank (Gamebridge, 200pts) — Another cheap and cheerful G.G Series release, this is like tower defence but with tanks. If it sounds like your idea of a good time, our G.G Series D-Tank review has all the answers.
NINTENDO DOWNLOAD: NEW DOWNLOADS TRANSPORT YOU TO THE WRESTLING RING, THE BATTLEFIELD AND BEYOND
March 21, 2011
Forget about tan lines and beach towels. This spring break, you can download the ingredients for a fun-filled getaway on your Wii™ or Nintendo DSi™ system. Fans of classic 16-bit action can launch themselves into the wrestling ring as Natsume Championship Wrestling™ - a brawny favorite from the Super NES™ era - makes a fresh appearance on the Virtual Console™ service. Other adventuresome offerings include G.G Series D-TANK for the Nintendo DSiWare™ service, which places players on the front lines of a fierce tank battle. Visit the Wii Shop Channel and Nintendo DSi Shop today to browse hundreds of downloadable games, no sunscreen required.
Virtual Console
Natsume Championship Wrestling
Original platform: Super NES
Publisher: Natsume Inc.
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Mild Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points™
Description: Step into the ring. Choose from 12 outrageous wrestlers and bring the pain. Wield the massive power of Asteroid, the lightning-fast strikes of Viper, the underhanded attacks of Phantom and many more madmen of the ring. With its robust grappling system and more than 50 moves to master, Natsume Championship Wrestling delivers the deepest and most realistic wrestling action of the 16-bit era. Test your might against the crafty AI, or up to four players can compete in exhibition, tag team and round-robin matches. (Additional accessories are required for multiplayer mode and are sold separately.)
WiiWare™
Arcade Essentials
Publisher: Nordcurrent
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: Arcade Essentials is a collection of five classic arcade games. All are presented in a modern reincarnation with enhanced game play, stylish graphics and sound effects. Jump right in, enjoy the nonstop game play and immerse yourself in these popular games as you did many years ago. Discover lots of levels to unlock, plus high score tables and other cool stuff to keep you entertained.Dive: The Medes Islands Secret (demo version)
Publisher: Cosmonaut Games
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Mild Violence
Price: 0 Wii Points; full version available for 1,000 Wii Points
Description: Over the past five centuries, hundreds of ships flying every ensign have succumbed to the power of the ocean. Merchant boats, pirate ships, navy vessels - all of them have ended up covered in coral at the bottom of the ocean. They all guarded secrets that remained hidden over the years, secrets that have always been a mystery...until now. In Dive: The Medes Islands Secret, you are John Sanders, a treasure hunter and experienced diver who spends months planning and documenting a major expedition to locate and recover several ships of different ensigns around the world.
Note: Some demo versions do not support all game features, and players cannot save their in-game progress in demo versions.
Nintendo DSiWare
G.G Series D-TANK
Publisher: Genterprise Inc.
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Mild Cartoon Violence
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: You control a tank that can respawn any number of times. The focus of this shooting game is to put your life on the line to successfully carry out a variety of defensive and offensive missions. In defensive missions, you must take out the enemy tanks targeting your base before it is destroyed. In offensive missions, you must capture the enemy's stronghold within the time limit. The key to success in these missions is the strategic use of items such as bombs and special ammo.
Shapo™
Publisher: Tik Games, LLC.
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Shapo is a challenge that will keep you on the edge. Balance the scales as you place shapes made of different materials. Play more than 150 levels in Classic or Puzzle mode to unlock the greatest wonders of the world. Stunning art brings 15 wonders of the world to life. Enjoy exciting power-ups such as the material bomb and line bomb. Each ball and shape has a different weight, so be careful when placing your pieces. In Classic mode, create lines to remove balls. Match sequential lines and watch the combo multiplier grow. In Puzzle mode, complete increasingly complicated levels by filling the grid with the given balls.
Comments 40
...Figures...nothing. T_T
Meh.
[goes back into hibernation until Final Fantasy VI is released]
I like this update. Finally an old-school wrestling game hits the Virtual Console! Its been a long wait. In addition, Dive is an awesome game.
Looks like the review squad can sit back and relax this week.
Darn it Bass! Stop being right! D=<
I predict Final Fantasy III will be released in America 04/04.
Hmmmm.....very tame week. Its ok though, I don't really have the money for this kind of stuff with the 3ds 6 DAYS AWAY!!! Good to see a Dive demo though. I have been very curious about that game since it came out!
WTF, wheres is FF3?
@Bass "Looks like the review squad can sit back and relax this week"
You realise 3DS is out this week, right?
Bah, no FF3? >:/
@9 Yeah but there's no games I want till June.
The Learning with the Pooyoos: Episode 1 and Max & the Magic Marker demos have been removed as well.
It's been a couple of months since I've purchased any VC/WiiWare titles. I don't expect to be running out and getting a points card any time soon, sadly.
@Kevin Good for you
I meant Bass's comment our reviewers could relax when there are at least 16 games out this week that need reviewing
Is that Kevin? VC-F Kevin? Didn't realize he still came here. Neat.
@Bass - Now that's a prediction I'd love to be right
Nottin for me, so happy that my 3DS come out next week(8 more days for me)!
@Αlexneon its here in Europe
Frankly, I'm not surprised
Natsume Wrestling 800pts? Was it originally released over there? Thought it was a JP ONLY game.
@Kevin: Well, they've got to review them whether you personally want them or not, now don't they?
Dive demo, good! May actually have to download that one. I was interested in the game, but I absolutely refuse to spend money on a WiiWare game without a demo nowadays unless I'm 1000% SURE I want it.
Meeeeh. I'm getting Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth as a gift soon so whatever :3
I'll probably get D-Tank on the 3DS eventually.
@stuffgamer1 - I feel the same way about Wiiware games. I hate taking a chance on a $10 game. At least with a disc game, I can sell it if I hate it and get some or all of my money back.
I'll be downloading this demo. I skipped Soccer Bashi, but maybe I'll grab that demo too, while I have the shop open.
Nice irken!
I don't know ANYTHING about NCW so I'll be reading the review on that, otherwise, I don't really see anything I need to download.
Damn I really wanted FFIII out this week that I'm actually using the Wii, although I guess it doesn't matter. I can wait, Nintendo. I'll just be playing the other systems by then. Also,woot,3DS.
I knew it that they wouldnt release FF3 this week since they said about a week ago that this Monday was Natsume Championship Wrestling. I mean when was the last time Nintendo released 2 VC games on the same day?
I dont understand why you all thought that FF3 was coming out today.
BECAUSE WE WANTED IT TO.
Ooh, a Dive demo! Gotta try that out.
seems the DSIWERE downloads are starting to dry up... only 2 games this week.. rumor is by summer 80% of the downloads will be 3ds only
I'm still waiting for Cosmonaut Games to patch the glitches in Dive. They said they were working on it a few of months ago but I guess they gave up on it and decided to put out this demo instead.
The fact that D-Tank FINALLY reached American shores today more than makes up for the rest of the meh-worthy download update today.
So much to choose from this week......
Patience RPG fanatics. I suspect FF3 will come next Monday or the Monday after.
Another Monday, another batch of hot garbage, straight from the landfill of tears and sadness.
@WolfRamHeart: Glitches? Aww, man! I didn't notice any problems in the demo, and was all ready to buy the full game. What's wrong with it, exactly?
HAHAHAHAHA NO FFIII FO U!
@Stuffgamer1: Yeah, there are a few problems with the game. It probably doesn't show up in the demo. The biggest issue that I had was the game freezing up on me and losing my progress. I would have to unplug my Wii and start over from my last save. It happened numerous times and I could never tell when it was going to happen again. I was afraid that it could brick my Wii so I stopped playing it. There are some other issues too regarding some of the medals not unlocking but the freezing issue was my biggest concern. Check out the comments in the Nintendo Life Dive review for more details.
@#2 Well, it already has. It's called Final Fantasy Anthology, contains FF5 and 6, can be played on a psx/ps2/ps3 and can be bought brand new still for around $15. http://www.estarland.com/Playstation.cat..product.6465.html
@#6 It was released for DS as Final Fantasy 3. Unless you mean the NA SNES FF3, which was actually FFVI, then see above.
@WolfRamHeart: Damn, that sucks. I would've hoped for better from a developer than to release a demo of a known buggy product without patching the game as well, especially so long after the game's initial release. But then, it's probably more Nintendo's fault if it hasn't been properly updated by now than the developer's. They're not exactly known for making that easy to do.
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