Today sees the much-anticipated downloadable demos hit the 3DS eShop, so we've put together a very handy guide to help you get the most from your free demo experience.
What Demos Are Available?
New demos will be announced throughout the year but here are the ones we know about so far:
19th January 2012
Resident Evil Revelations
Available in Europe now. Available in North America at 9am PST/12pm EST.
Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic
Available in Europe only.
Future Demos
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Release Date: North America: 26th January. Europe: TBC.
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D
Release Date: TBC.
Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure
Confirmed for Europe. Release Date: TBC.
Rayman Origins
Confirmed for North America. Release Date: TBC.
How To Download Your Demos
1. While it's not compulsory, we'd advise you to update your 3DS to the most recent system software. If you're not sure how to update, read our 3DS firmware update guide.
2. Open up the Nintendo 3DS eShop โ the orange bag icon.
3. The demo section is clearly visible โ in Europe it's the third bag along โ but you can always search "demo" in the search bar at the bottom of the page.
4. Don't forget you can use the 3DS's Sleep Mode to download the demos all in one go: select "Sleep Mode Download" to queue up your demo downloads, ready to start downloading once you close your system.
The next page has an FAQ and chance for you to get your demo questions answered.
Comments 89
no update to be done. i could download them without the update.
will start playing them now hehe
Just noticed them, need 65 more open blocks to download RE demo... Time to delete some videos.
Man, the limited play count thing is still here? Laaaame
Will the demos stay up on the eshop or will nintendo eventually remove them like the WIiware ones?
@Angelic_Lapras_King You know, that's a really good question. Let me check.
@Lohengriehn Nope, not that I can see.
you dont have to update because there is no update...
I enjoyed the demos already!
WHOA! 1153 Blocks?! That's a lot of blocks! That will take up quite a bit of room on my SD card.
I've already played the Resident Evil demo at a game expo last year so I'll leave that. But I might download Cooking Mama for something to do!
@B-Ray: The update was last month
Knew I should've gotten a bigger SD card. Gaddangit.
Will you be reviewing demos?
@CowLaunch Nope.
With more demos on the way, it might be wise for those that didn't, to upgrade the size of their SD cards.
I've got a nice 16gb card in mine
so i have a question. If i get a new SD card how do i get the old info off the old to the new card?
Okay, I have a question. How do you upgrade SD card size? Do you buy a different one? Or do you download something onto the old one? (I'm guessing it is buying a new one, just making sure.)
So for the US the demos expire at 12 est??
Do 32GB SD Cards work on the 3DS?
1153 blocks!!!!! I don't think I have that much and if I'm gonna have to buy a $10 SD card to try the demo I might as well go ahead and buy the game.
All u have to do is copy all file contents to the new sd card its that simple.
However it can take a while coz theres lots of small files
And to everyone who needs a new memory card i got a 16gb one and i have barely scratched the surface of it and it cost me ยฃ7.99. You should be thankfull that nintendo are not greedy like sony and charge you some ridiculous price for a glorified sd card in a new fancy shell. SD cards are so cheap these days.
@waveboy have u tried changing your region to uk? That may work
@WaveBoy Is it 9am PST/12pm EST as stated in the article?
Thank goodness I upgraded. The Resi demo is really nice, except for those nasty textures, especially on the blood... :/
But this is only a demo, hopefully the textures look a little less jagged on the actual game.
Hi James,
So I take it that the demo play count will be tracked in the activity log, like all other software (and all those E3 movies). "New Software Added" indeed.
@onlyaman correct
@waveboy: don't feel badly: i did the same thing. (it's all in the details, pesky wee things!)
Unfortunately these demos won't remain on your system perminantly as it only has 30 tries on each demo sadly.
You can get around the use count by not closing the demo off after you beat it / died. I played Resident Evil twice on my first go then came out of it and it showed I had 29 uses left.
Already downloaded it yesssss 1149 blocks
Clever, Bass_X0, very clever. So you can get your fill of the demo in "one play". I think 30 plays will be pleeenty.
QUESTION: If there is a limited gameplay use of 30 plays, then if the game it's paused, it's not closed nor suspended and the 3DS it's not turned off, the counter will not be subtracted one play ever?? Or it also has a time limit per play??
Also, if the 3DS it's closed, it counts as a "complete play"? Or can we close our 3DS without subtracting a play???
I think those are good questions, if you can answer them we'll thank you so much =)
Where is my Animal Crossing 3DS demo? Come on Nintendo let me in on the fun.
You can boot up the demo for 30 times. When you died or beat the game you can go back to the title screen without closing the demo. You can play it as many consecutive times as you want on a single use. There's no problem with that. But if you boot the demo up and close it down immediately, it counts as a use.
just because people were bringing up sd cards i have a question. if i purchase a new sd card can i move my current files onto he larger sd card? i'm not technically savvy so to speak so use lamens terms please >_<
@Bass_X0 I thought that would be the most possible behavior, however I wanted to ask anyway =P Yes that sounds "playsible" (plausible hehe). THANKS =D
Another good question can be: How long is the demo? 30 minutes? 15? One stage? =)
Would be nice to have a Tekken demo
@vvaluigi Yes, copy all your files from the old SD card to your PC, then to your new SD card. Insert the new SD card into your 3DS and everything should work exactly like before.
This is all in the 3DS manual, BTW.
No games I'm really interested in are getting Demo's unfortuntely. The Resident Evil one looks pretty good though. Dont even bother with the Cooking Mama 4 one...just dont.
makes me mad that no cooking mama showed up so i'm becoming british so i can play it! by going to settings and changing the region lol trick the Eshop
Glad I upped to an 8GB SD.
On a side note, I nearly crapped myself while playing the RE demo. (I'm not good at playing horror games.) The graphics really surprised me though. I saw the screenshots but actually playing the game blew me away.
Wish more games would take advantage of the 3DS like this.
awwwww it didn't work it seems you can't change where you live T/T
@crazyj2312 I agree. The graphics are amazing. I nearly dropped my 3DS in fear when those monsters fell from the ceiling. o.O
My demo is downloading as I type this! I cannot wait to try the demo out before I get the game. I didn't want to buy RE Mercenaries to try the game out. I just hope it's a new demo instead of a months old.
thx jave! it was easier just to ask and go about cleaning the house to come back and check then to dig out my manual ;D
Resident Evil: Revelations is soooo cool!
I can't wait for the game to release Februrary 7th!
my 3ds parental controls have it set so that i cant play "+M" games! stupid esrb people > I freaking forgot my pin.
Mario and sonic?metal gear solid 3d?rayman origins?im freaking downloading them!
@carson I can't wait either
Does anyone know which file it'd be in on the memory card? And the name of it? I want to save it to play another time, but I don't want to keep it on my 3ds because I've only got a 4gb.
oh wow RE: rev looks a lot better than i expected, nice and crisp visuals, 30 plays is ok since one play was enough for me to make up my mind and i'll definitely buy it when it comes out next month.
does anyone know what class SD card the 3DS works best with?
Those two monsters made me jump the first time but not the second time. That monster that appears after you get the scanner killed me on both occasions.
@med088: I've seen people complaining about larger cards at class 4 and below so far for sure, so i'd shoot for class 6 or above. :3
How lush is the 3D on Strong setting!!! Cool!
I managed to die twice on the RE:R demo on the last monster. Third time round I managed to kill it - although the process involved a desperate grenade throw and many pistol shots. :3
After the 30 tries are up does the demo automatically delete itself (seems unlikely) or does it just refuse to open (ie. only shows eShop details)? None the less I deleted Cooking Mama 4 myself.
@Tonnie_gAmEr25 What makes you think it will EXPIRE at 12 est? Read it again. It simply means 9 pst = 12 est.
@Geonjaha Refuse to open.
And here's a trick, since "30 times" means "30 accesses", you can keep the game in sleep mode and replay as many times as you like in one go. Normally you'd get tired of it after only 3 accesses if you do it this way.
G0 RAYMAN.
The demo was pretty good. Resident Evil will be my next 3DS games
I hate to be a jerk, but why are there features like this on here? It's like making a guide to constructing a sandwich. These things are literally designed so that children can do them without instructions (though, arguably Nintendo isn't great at doing that for anything online most of the time). If you have eyeballs and can read this shouldn't need instruction.
@Ren: you'd be surprised how many e-mails we get with people asking us how to go about these things which are so simple to the rest of us! With a feature like this in place, we don't have to waste time replying personally to everyone who asks, as we've already answered their question(s) right here and can just point them to the feature. :3
That was weird I just changed the language setting to Japanese. Did not realise that would be an option as I thought resident evil games were always dubbed in English.
@Hyperstar96 Doesn't it say "30 PLAYS" right in the article?
Resident Evil Revelations: 30 plays
Cooking Mama 4: 30 plays.
And we were just talking about how "things are so simple to the rest of us"...
Why are there play limitations? Demo or not I should be able to play it as many times as I want.
If I delete the demo before I use up all 30 plays can I redownload it later and I'll get 30 more times to play the demo again?
lol @ 69
yes you can retro
Hey, after my 30 times are over, how can I free that space?
@hyperstar96: Yeah but lots of people in comments said that it was 30 PLAYS and the next page button is fairly large.
And hey there's two ways to cheat for extra play time! either play a few times without turning it off or get 59 plays then delete it and redownload indefinitely!
@Retro on the Go:
Q: Can I not just delete them and redownload to get more plays?
A: No, you can't: your play count is at system level, not kept in the file itself.
@Luisesteban
Just go to the 3DS Configuration menu and delete it (Gestion de Datos)
**
Limited or not, I like having the option of playing a demo. The game is released in around two weeks, so 30 plays are more than enough. And I guess the demo works, since I was not really that interested in this game, and now it smells like a must buy.
@Hyperstar96 How were you able to ask about "30 plays/minutes" if you hadn't seen the second page? You were somehow aware of the number "30", which is not even on the first page. Even the comments like @5 and mine mentioned "30 plays/times".
@fpssoviet @Nilkad_Naquada Like what sinalefa and this article said, the play count is stored with your eshop account, so the number of plays will not go back to 30 even if you redownload. The only way to "cheat" is not to turn it off.
The Res. Evil demo is creepy but pretty fun
Oh, and am I the only one who noticed that the slot count on the 3DS Menu has been increased by quite a bit? Maybe a sign that Nintendo is going to release lot's of demos, so we need more space on our menu
me playing resident evil demo: oh crap.... oh crap!....OH CRAP!!!!
The current limit for the home menu slots is 120 and unfortunately its been like that for a while now. You have the option manual increase and decrease this number by clicking on either of the boxs located in the home menu on the top left part of the bottom screen.
: Resident evil looks easy. But I suck at it... I prefer first person shooters. (I don't play games hardcore{not counting mario kart DS :3})
Additional observation (might worth putting in the FAQ):
Once you start the game, if you are inactive for two minutes, even at the pause screen, the game will automatically end. I found out the hard way when I paused my game (but left my 3DS open) to answer the phone. If you want to pause, CLOSE THE LID.
Huh... Resident Evil 6 has just been confirmed for the consoles. More Resident Evil goodness
What happens after you play 30 times?
@25thquarterking. If you have still not got the demo change your region to U.K I can Change my region to NZ so u should be able to change yours to U.K.
this game is beast! fun... when you set the appropriate controls. fricken hard when you just plunge straight in without setting the controls.
@cheapogamer4life: My 3DS menu expanded from 60 to 120 shortly after the June update. Someone else told me in the forum section that the menu will expand automatically to 180 when you fill it up. I have 100 slots used on my 3DS home menu, and so far it has not expanded, nor have I seen any hardcore proof (screenshots) online that it will or won't expand itself. NOA's website makes no mention of this issue. I'm curious to see what happens though when I try to stuff that last item. If they simply won't fit, you could probably keep more items without deleting/redownloading by swapping SD cards, kinda like the old-fashioned memory cards of old, but you're supposed to shut down the system before swapping cards. Game carts with extra data stored on the SD card, like the MK7 channel, would probably get screwed up by the swap, though.
Is Cooking mama 4 really available in Europe? No, come back! I only want to download it because it is free!
Anyway, I downloaded the Resident evil demo. It was very big, more then 1000 blocks! I have yet to try it, though.
@Henmii: I downloaded it yesterday.
can someone one recommend me an sd card for 3ds
Good advice on keeping the software open and just using sleep mode.
Also, after you beat the demo level you can select 'Hell' mode in the difficulty settings! Making for a whole new experience; that ain't no standard zombie that pops out of the wardrobe from Hell!?!
p.s. Has anyone managed to get their zombie scan count to 100%, if so what happens?
> Cooking Mama demo only available in EU? FFFFUUUUUUU >:[
@36 4 GB (thats what i have) a new one will get you 17000 Blocks 8 Gb ... more i guess ?
cant wait for the metal gear solid Demo
i think there will be a kid icarus uprising demo.i cant wait!
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