Nintendo Download: 23rd June 2011 (North America)

Haha. Ha. Hahaha.

Bleh, I was hoping for Double Dragon, maybe I'll download Tennis, not sure yet. I don't see why Nintendo is making us wait a week for one game one the e-Shop though.... eh, better than nothing, I suppose.

PAL 3DS VC is ahead by one title! (Has this happened before?)

Oh well I have 2 legend of Zelda games and Donkey Kong 94 play right now.

Lame

No Sonic? None?

BLECK.

"Anyone for Tennis?"

Now that you mention it, still no.

@3- Actually the US got radar mission at launch, so the two 3DS VC software libraries are identical. Hopefully things will stay this way now!

EDIT: Didn't realise we were getting double dragon as well! Never mind.

Still waiting for Final Fantasy VI. Gosh Nintendo what's the hold-up?

...Reminds me of the Mario Tennis games, anyways yeah...where's Sonic? It was one of the very few games I had for Game Gear, would love to own it again.

Not interested in this week at all. Plus Zelda 3d is keeping me occupied.

@Homer_Simpson: It'd be best if all regions got the same content, but it's an utopian ideal.

Boring. ):

And we're already beginning to go downhill with the 3DS Virtual Console.

Stop the whining. Don't tell me you all already finished up Ocarina of Time, Link's Awakening, Donkey Kong '94 and Super Mario Land.

The eShop still hasn't "started" in my mind, so I'm okay with this. I'm sure we'll see a few more weeks (perhaps a month or two) of these sorts of releases until we finally get some new content on the store or multiple VC games.

Things sure are looking lonely on the Wii front, though...

Well that turn crappy sooner then I thought. I wonder how long before we have a month long VC drought like the Wii.

:/

Remind me again why I keep getting excited for Thursdays?

16. Yasume 23 Jun 2011, 16:38 BST
Stop the whining. Don't tell me you all already finished up Ocarina of Time, Link's Awakening, Donkey Kong '94 and Super Mario Land.

Can the people whine if they dont have a 3DS?

I haven't played Stratego in a long time...

@Yasume: I won't, because that would, in fact, be a lie. HOWEVER, Japan was ALREADY ahead with Mega Man in Dr. Wily's Revenge and Kirby's Dream Land, and now they've also got Game and Watch Gallery along with the Double Dragon Europe's getting! This is total bullcrap! Seriously, I can be angry about the principle of the thing if I darned well want to, and this sucks big time.

@16. Yes I have.. Mario Land is only 4 worlds long, Link's Awakening short, beaten ocarina time and time again and plowed through donkey kong on a plane ride..

Japan very far ahead.. and since every region has their own manager, it looks like this could be a trend :/

Might buy Shantae since I bought an eshop card

@22. With other titles (and 3D xevious too right?) out, that's poor reasoning. The shop has been out for a few weeks after being months late and the pace is slow. I think everyone has a right to be upset.

I want the tennis game from Camelot.

What about all tje Sonic games being on the eShop?

In an Iwata asks interview, it was said that he was hoping that each region's shop would try to compete with each other...
Noa;
"Ha, take that Noe, we to have Tennis now!"

Anyone expecting more from the 3DS Virtual Console is out of their mind. Look at the slow release pattern of retro games on Wii right now. There is no reason to expect any different from the 3DS, so I'm not disappointed by it. I'm willing to bet Nintendo will eventually end up just alternating between console and portable VC titles each week, assuming they keep supporting the console side of things that is.

Also I would be willing to bet that Square Enix will send out a press release regarding Final Fantasy III before it's Virtual Console release, so we'll likely know ahead of time on that particular game. Next week I'm willing to bet it'll be Earth Defence Force as the VC game, then maybe two weeks after that, we'll get FFIII. A full four months after Europe... bravo NOA, bravo.

@Rapadash6: I don't think we should expect the 3DS VC to fizzle out like the Wii VC. Nintendo learned from the Wii. Sure it was great the first couple years having 2, 3, or even 4 games released in a week but that ultimately leads to drought. The release schedule for 3DS VC may be slow but I don't think that's a sign that it will fizzle even sooner than Wii. I think its a sign that they're going to be much more liberal with how many games are released each week. Yeah that kind of sucks but it will likely ensure that the 3DS VC has content regularly flowing for many years to come!

Huzzah... Tennis maybe :/

I feel betrayed! Where the hell is Monster World IV?!

Let's see...wikipedia says there were 691 Game Boy games, 502 Game Boy Color games, and 949 Game Boy Advance titles. At our current pace of one game per week, that means the 3DS VC will be complete on June 27, 2052. Something to look forward to!

I went outto find some street pass peoples and got home to fire up the eshop. no double dragon — ok. but tennis? I was really hoping for kirby. but I do need to finish zelda first ..

I demand the Virtual Boy Mario's Tennis. That game was actually damn good.

@niner: Exactly! Obviously though we can't expect that everysingle game from each system will make it on there. So even if we took a tenth of all the games from those 3 platforms, at the current rate, the 3DS VC would go for about 214 more weeks or a little more than 4 years. Plus we know the GameGear and TurboGrafx are coming so that's even more titles to add to the pool. Plus there may be other systems added in the future. I think the 3DS VC will be just fine. A complete handheld generations lasts WAY longer than a console generation so Nintendo knows it needs to pace itself with releases.

Yasume we have a right to complain and you make quite a judgement that, that is all people are interested in. The update is pretty fail in my opinion. And where the hell is the 3DSware?

Nintendo better pull a surprise "5 VC games a week". I'm guessing the reason why they are doing it this way is because of license issues.

I'm hoping Dragon Warrior III comes out in time for DQ's 25th Anniversary

@niner: So that means, eventually, Nintendo will be able to offer at least 1000 high quality Game Boy Line Games for under Ten Dollars each, games which will be exclusive to the Nintendo eshop and can therefore not be sold on apple's app store....

This update is full of fail and I will certainly complain about it as much as I want to. I definitely will pass on this. We still have not gotten Xevious 3D, Kirby's Dream Land, Double Dragon, Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge, or Mega Man Legends 3: Prototype, or Sonic Triple Trouble.

It baffles me on how Sega did not release any Sonic games on the eShop when it is Sonic's 20th Anniversary. The eShop just launched, and yet we are already having medicore weeks, which is not a good sign of things to come.

Awful week. Im very very dissapointed...

The thing is, it feels like the Virtual Console for the Wii should still have life left in it. How many of us have favorite games on multiple consoles that still haven't seen release? Sure, part of it is licensing and ownership issues (I know we'll never seen Banjo-Kazooie N64 on the VC), but there are plenty of other great games just languishing. Nintendo has pretty much abandoned the VC in favor of DSiWare and WiiWare.

I don't think the same thing will happen to the handheld VC but...we need stronger releases than this. I'm still enjoying Donkey Kong '94 but there are way too many generic sports games that Nintendo could pad each week out with. Instead, let's see some good games - and how about more than one a week? I can understand that something like Link's Awakening might deserve its own week to shine but, come on. Last week could have easily been Donkey Kong '94, Tennis, and Double Dragon. All three different genres, all appeal to different consumers.

Japan got the Nintendo 3DS a month before the rest of the world so they've had to wait a month longer for eShop - I expect that's got something to do with the number of games they're getting.

To be honest, I much prefer the rate we're getting games at than the rate they're getting games at. As Yasume said, I've got Ocarina, Link's Awakening DX and Donkey Kong, which are keeping me going nicely. The Japanese eShop might have three or four other games that I want, but I certainly don't want them yet. If Nintendo gives me time with the titles I've downloaded, then I'm happy - as long as they don't throw too many in my face too quikckly like they did with Wii VC and WiiWare.

@BelmontHeir: If Nintendo did it in a way that you describe, the 3DS VC would flounder in 2-3 years and then everyone would be complaining about the lack of releases and jumping down Nintendo's throat like they do now with the Wii VC. Nintendo simply cannot win.

Although I am plenty busy with the games I have now, it's always nice to get something new to add to the queue. I do feel like the games are pouring in far too slowly to 3DS VC. Two games per week would be a vast improvement.

And so it begins. 3DS VC finally gets it's first stinker. I knew the streak of good releases couldn't last. I think for my tennis fix I'll just download Mario tennis on N64.

What a lame week. We get absolutely nothing Sonic-wise and a mediocre Tennis game for the 3DS VC. They could've at least given us Double Dragon like Europe but then again this is NOA we're talking about so you've got to set your expectations as low as you can possibly go when it comes to either of the VC's.

Next week's gonna be the week, I can feel it!

Nothing for me today, but can't wait for GBC Mario Tennis to come out, I will buy that for sure.

aaaaand Nintendo drops the ball again. Guess I'll be waiting for mercs 3D on tuesday...

@bboy: And you continue to act as though the only reason the Wii VC gets so few releases now is that they dried up the pool with many releases before, when that's simply not the case. They just pissed off publishers to the point where nobody bothered to play with them anymore. There's no chance that the same damn thing won't happen at the current rate of releases unless Nintendo is being honest with the third parties behind the scenes for a change. If Capcom has already paid what was necessary for Dr. Wily's Revenge to release on VC (and the ESRB rating already being up confirms that they have), and it's not being released, that means that every week Dr. Wily's Revenge doesn't release on the eShop, Capcom gets more and more angry with Nintendo, thus decreasing the odds of further Capcom VC releases in the future. It's all about return on investment, and six-month waits to get some are NOT popular.

It's also absurd to think that it's really preferable for games to trickle out painfully slowly instead of them just being up and available for purchase at will. If somebody goes out and buys their very first Wii today, they've got LOADS of options for games to download. It's a retro geek's paradise...except for all the great games that are STILL missing from the available list. Even so, it's more preferable to have all those options than to be spoon-fed one lousy game a week like this. There's no logical reason to complain that nothing new is releasing when everything has already been released! Just download and play it! Win/win, really. But it takes good business practices, which Nintendo continues to show an extreme aversion to.

Like this "different regions competing with each other for releases" bullcrap. Seriously? That's a completely mental way to handle things, and it makes absolutely no sense if you know anything about Nintendo's history. Nintendo of Japan is overly controlling of its other branches, always has been. It's really up to them what releases where, even though they don't have a freaking clue what we actually want, so there's no real competition to be had! He says that just so it can look like Japan's winning, like we didn't already know that would happen. Total bullcrap through-and-through.

Amazed at comments saying "we still haven't got X Y Z" on the eShop. It's been two weeks! Patience is a virtue guys

@bboy2970
Yeah, yeah, I know, I was being facetious. I could have said that one a week isn't NEAR enough to satisfy the gamer's demands but where's the fun in that?!

This isn't directed at you, so don't take this as a rebuttal, but I just don't understand Nintendo's strategy with the incremental releases. What's the downside to making a massive catalog available all at once? There's no technical consideration - these are digital assets that have existed for 10-20 years. Anyone with a search engine can find emulators and ROM dumps of every game that will ever be released on the VC. It's just their business model. But again I don't understand it. Doesn't it stand to reason that having a massive catalog would expand the number of purchases made every day? Every gamer who wants to buy Metroid II must wait until the day it launches and if they still own their 3DS and still use it, they might buy the game. If it were on the VC right now they might buy it...today.
I personally would have bought a handful of games already but I've bought nothing and may not reach 5 or 6 in the next year. It all depends on what NOA randomly chooses to release week by week.

I get that they want the VC content to stay "fresh" and having a regular release accomplishes that. But is that really the usage model for the VC? DSiWare I understand, but that's all fresh IP. Again we're talking about 10-20 year old stuff. Nothing is new. It may be new to a new audience but the new recommendation lists (Essentials, Games for the car, etc.) should help guide noobs through an expansive catalog.

Bottom-line for me is that this slow trickle of releases is the equivalent of releasing WiiU and only allowing backwards compatibility on a few Wii games each week until they are all compatible. Lame, I say. Give me everything!

@Stuffgamer1 Hear hear dude! Your comment didn't show until after I submitted mine so now I'll second everything you said.

Thanks for making my Thursday a disappointing one Nintendo.

Already got Tennis, and maybe I'll get the Guilty Gear Towel game.

Are there any stong wiiware titles still in the pipes? Lost Winds 3, right? But are titlles winding down or completely spent?

aw come on I was hoping they'd keep the VC releases on 3DS strong for a little while longer before they started throwing out trash releases Then again, it might be smarter for Nintendo to promotionally release VC games (e.g. release Metroid 2 once a new Metroid comes out, release 6 Golden Coins when Super Mario 3D comes out, etc.).

Still--Gameboy Megaman games would be nice

No Sonic? Not even Double Dragon? ARGH

Oh well, I don't even have a 3DS so I guess it's no big deal.

Gotta get down on Thursday!

I can smell the mob of angry fanboys e-mailing Nintendo about this

What the hell Nintendo? I have lost all faith in you. Nintendo has abandoned us. All hope is lost.

Nintendo has betrayed me for the last time. I am going to join Microsoft while playing Halo and Disney Kinect games.

And the patient waiting begins for what I'm REALLY waiting for. Metroid II and KI:oMaM, I shall wait for thee...

Ok I had enough. Just threw my Wii in the burning barrel.

Meh I just want megaman Xtreme, kirby, metroid, kid icarus and mario so the next few weeks will suck for me. I still have A LOT to do in Ocarina though so I don't care.

Its a shame, I really dont now why I even bother to look "whats new" this week.

Wow, no Qix or Double Dragon....

Yep, didn't take long for people to start whining about the 3DS VC releases. Jeez.

Tempted to get Tennis, as i spent LOADS of time with it way back when. Plus, with Wimbleton going, i'm in a bit of a tennis mood.

@niner: Don't get me wrong. I would LOVE for them to just release every single game all at once. The thing is though, they won't. I heard years ago (can't remember where) that Nintendo said the reason they won't do that is because that would make some titles go majorly overlooked. By releasing them in a trickle, they give each game, bad or good, time to shine. Although I do agree with stuffgamer (snooty as he may have come off) that there should be more than one game per week and they should work with 3rd parties better. I think 2-3 games a week would be a fair compromise throwing in a true gem every couple weeks.

Whatever happened to 3DSWare? And where's WiiWare games like EscapeVektor and Descent? What about Amoebattle on DSiWare and FFVI on VC? Seriously, what's the point of making us wait for all this?

@WaveBoy: Who cares if they space it out or not? I'm still not going to spend my money on crap I don't want. This way they just get there money later instead of all pretty much up-front. I never understood this argument. Why does it matter if they don't have games to release later when they are releasing crap right now?

@bboy: Yeah, sorry about that. It's basically because I presented my info last week, and you turned around and said pretty much the same stuff this week. I have a low tolerance for what I view as repeated misstatements when the poster has been informed otherwise. But yeah, exactly, 2-3 games would be fine...y'know, like what Japan is already getting, which is why I'm complaining in the first place.

EDIT: Oh, I also agree completely with MrDanger88. Giving crap "time to shine" is nothing more than a waste of time. If a game is good, people will find it. Or they could simply release everything at once and put up a "highlights" section of the eShop and show stuff off there. We know from experience that when Nintendo tries, they can put some pretty crappy games in the spotlight on their download shops. All depends on how they try to market them.

Well, another week of updates, another week I have to wait for La Mulana...

Thanks for the awesome games, Nintendo download service.

I don't own a 3DS (yet?), but if I did, I would refuse to buy multiplayer VC games until Nintendo implements a way to use the multiplayer function. It shouldn't be that hard to do.

@Stuffgamer1 Exactly what 3rd parties have supported the VC in the past and don't yet have most of their elgible (not licensed nor suffering from other legal or technical issues) games already on the VC, indicating that they feel snubbed by Nintendo?

@stuffgamer: Oh, sorry. I don't think I ever came back to the comments section of last week's update article so I must have not seen your post. I was likely too busy playing Donkey Kong This week it looks like I have nothing better to do than sit here at Nintendo Life commenting

@Stuffgamer1 Hang on, wasn't a common complaint of previous Nintendo download stores that games were difficult to find and so good titles sank without trace?

I think Capcom is still upset over Bionic Commando not being a Wii VC Download, even though it is leagues better than Rearmed or BC 2009.

Another dull week. i really hope they put more effort into releasing games. i would have thought that with all the time the 3ds was in development Nintendo would use that time to get games ready for the e-shop.

Also to the people saying "be patient and finish X games remember that not everyone plays the same games as you do. i currently only have 2 3ds games (Super Street Fighter 4 & Samurai Warrior) that i have already completed and just finished Link's Awakening. i have no plans in buying OoT since i played that game on N64/wii vc. so about the only thing i can look forward too is upcoming vc for 3ds, and RE: Merc.