It's Monday, so it's time to see what we have lined up for this week's Nintendo Download update in Europe, minus any E3 surprises, of course. One of the year's most anticipated 3DS retail titles finally lands, along with the latest Famicom Anniversary Promotion game and a lot of Game Gear retro throwbacks. Let's get right to it.
Wii U Famicom Anniversary Promotion
Mario & Yoshi (Nintendo, €0.30 / £0.30) — This next part of the Famicom Anniversary monthly promotion will be available from 13th June, leaving you with just a few days to grab Super Metroid with some spare change. Although name-dropping two iconic mascots, this is at its core a decent if unspectacular puzzle game, enjoyable but not overly compulsive. We'll cast fresh eyes over this version, but until then you can check out our 3DS Virtual Console Yoshi review.
3DS Virtual Console
Sonic the Hedgehog (SEGA, €4.99 / £4.49) — Quite likely the highest profile of today's Game Gear blitz, the SEGA mascot made his portable debut in this title. Although outgunned by the Game Boy commercially, the Game Gear pushed impressive visuals for its time, and we'll see how this stacks up against its home console contemporaries in our upcoming review.
Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (SEGA, €2.99 / £2.69) — Puzzle games were a mainstay of retro portable systems, and this one brings Sonic's nemesis to the fore before he was named after poultry products. This Puyo Puyo title has you matching four coloured beans at a time, so we'll get own brains into gear to bring you a review.
Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya (SEGA, €3.99 / £3.59) — Shining Force is a fondly remembered franchise on SEGA systems, and now this portable entry makes its debut on the 3DS. Turn-based strategy is all the rage, making this one's timing ideal; we'll take to the battlefield and let you know what we think.
Columns (SEGA, €3.99 / £3.59) — This match-three puzzle title will be familiar to some that received it as part of a Mega Drive hardware bundle, and was fast-paced and compulsive on the 16-bit machine. It's hard to see where the Game Gear version could go wrong, but we'll jump in for a review soon.
3DS Retail Download
Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo, €39.99 / £34.99) — What can we say about this one? It's been high on the hype charts for a number of weeks now, and will be available to download from midnight on 14th June; this may be a title perfectly suited to being easily accessible on your SD card. It's more of what fans have come to love in the franchise, with plenty of online fun and Mayoral duties to freshen up the experience. It's been critically acclaimed, and you can check out our Animal Crossing: New Leaf review for our glowing recommendation.
Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns (Rising Star Games, €29.99 / £24.99)
4 Elements (MSL, €12.00 / £10.79)
Luxor (MSL, €11.99 / £10.79)
PETZ Fantasy 3D (Ubisoft, €19.99 / £17.99)
Wii Virtual Console
The Path of the Warrior Art of Fighting 3 (D4 Enterprise, 900 Nintendo Points) — It's a Neo Geo fighting game, and another example of an intuitive experience with some depth for those that fancy themselves to be pros in the genre. It perhaps lacks the bombast of other franchises and isn't a notable step-up over its predecessors, but had enough in its favour to earn a solid recommendation in our The Path of the Warrior Art of Fighting 3 review.
So that's your lot, though previous form suggest that we might get one or two surprise downloads in the coming days of E3. As always you can let us know what you plan to download in the poll and comments below.
What will you be downloading first this week? (201 votes)
- Mario & Yoshi (Wii U Virtual Console Famicom Anniversary Promotion)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (3DS Virtual Console)
- Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (3DS Virtual Console)
- Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya (3DS Virtual Console)
- Columns (3DS Virtual Console)
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS retail download)
- Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns (3DS retail download)
- 4 Elements (3DS retail download)
- Luxor (3DS retail download)
- The Path of the Warrior Art of Fighting (Wii Virtual Console)0%
- Nothing for me this week
Please login to vote in this poll.
Comments 78
Game Gear HELL YEAHS!
I'm purretty sure there will be a certain Earthbound coming tomorrow, don't know why, just a feeling I have :3
I do want the Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit) 3D Classics version. Wonder when that is going to be released.
I'm going to get AC once I get some money (and that should be the third game for the 'So Many Games!' promotion!) and I'll get Harvest Moon later on. The last HM I've played was A Wonderful Life on GameCube, so I'm interested to jump back in now!
Will be getting Sonic 1, definitely. The 8-bit one is far superior to the Mega Drive one and I can't say no to some help from save states!
Animal Crossing!
My free So Many Games code.
Remember the code is on your Club Nintendo account at midnight!
Animal Crossing. You WILL be mine!
Shining Force is a nice inclusion, but I'll get that at a later point.
...and Cave Story+ is still M.I.A. for Europe. Spring release? That was a load of bollocks.
Other then Animal Crossing I think I will pick up shining force. I love 1 & 2 (one being my favorite) but never got the game gear ones.
Fantastic week. Thank you Sega.
Unfortunate for Harvest Moon, that release was very poorly timed.
I want to play another Harvest Moon game at some point....but I'm more interested in New Leaf right now.
Nice price on Mean Bean Machine. I hope we get it in NA this week too.
First, I'll just the obligatory "Where's my Cave Story" comment out of the way.
Okay then, FINALLY, some Animal Crossing 3DS goodness.
Even better yet, I'm getting it completely free thanks to that So Many Game promotion, best freebie ever!
@RupeeClock - Same here! Free ACNL here I come!
Midnight tooooo. :3
i think there will be some unexpected DL after tomorrow's ninty direct! at least i hope so!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awuwsci8YAM
Just my free AC. That is all.
Awesome week, and this is before anything gets announced tomorrow!
Saw Sonic and got excited, but I was really after Tails Adventure. Oh well. Columns is nice too and I'll have a look at Shining Force.
Oh...and my free Animal Crossing, of course.
NL, could you not make a difference in poll of Wii U and 3DS ?
I'm getting Cave Story+ this week, yay!
Oh, wait...
I'm getting Animal Crossing (and without spending a single dime, courtesy of Nintendo)
Downloading Animal Crossing: New Leaf, since I got it with that 'buy 3 games get 1 free' action Nintendo is doing.
EDIT: Hehe, so basically the same as the post above me. ^^
I love 8-bit Sonic 1. I've got the Game Gear version already on the GameCube (Sonic Adventure DX) and on PS2 (Sonic Mega Collection Plus), and I have the Master System version on Wii Virtual Console. Maybe I should get it on 3DS because it's the first time I'll have it portable?
@SuperSah
At midnight??? In the confirmation mail they only wrote "briefly after release", which could mean anything... Where did you get this information? Because I would certainly like it that way. : D
@KongFu My friends who got DKCR3D as their free code said the code appeared on a banner at midnight.
@SuperSah
I see. Hopefully they will keep it that way... ^^
Please let these Game Gear games come to the US as well!
I'm hoping they do indeed.
Let's see!
Hoping they add ALTTP during E3, as a sort of "We are releasing ALTTP 2 on such and such a date. In the meantime, you can enjoy the original on Wii U to buy time till release of the sequel, right now!" hype thingy.
Wow. They're still adding games to the Wii VC?
I hope we in NA get the game gear games as well!, also columns got online play don't it?
Let's hope the sound is a little louder on this round of GG titles!
Animal Crossing,and that's about it for me.
Game Gear games? Hopefully that'll be hitting the North American shop this week. But what am I kidding? We'll probably get two games tops.
Yeah.. I voted for Shining Force even though I'm from the U.S. Here's hoping that it gets released here this week.. I must play that game.
Please.. I really want sonic here in NA on thursday!
I'll get Sonic and eventually Shining Force.
Shining Force for sure
Columns! Finally! I've been waiting forever.
Anyone have previous experience with getting their free Extra Games copy on the day of the title's release?
I'm wishfully hoping Nintendo will send my Animal Crossing code the exact moment it's released, hah.
Alright, Mean Bean Machine! Here's hoping it comes to the U.S. this week.
SHINING FORCE! I also bought 2 copies of Animal Crossing on Cartridge
The 8-bit Sonic 1 is one of my favourite platformers of all time. Will definitely get even though I already have the Master System version the Wii VC.
I hope the US gets 4 Game Gear games this Thursday as well.
When I saw the Sonic image I got all excited thinking we were finally getting the 3D remake of the Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog, only to find that it's just a port of the crappy Game Gear version which suffered heavily due to the Game Gear's low screen resolution. I think it's disgusting that Sega's holding back their excellent 3D remakes from us.
How many Neo Geo fighting games can there possibly be?
I'm mad I had to choose between sonic and columns! I want both!
@knightrider666: I second that motion!
no VC news for Wii U.. hmm... they could announce N64 games at E3
@KnightRider666 I know this is getting old but, I'm still waiting for alien chaos 3d
@undead_terror: Just buy it retail already and be done with it man.
@KnightRider666 Can't find it at the store or on ebay.
@undead_terror: I just found it on amazon for just under $19 w/s&h. Here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B005XO9EP0/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=1370878752&sr=8-1
@KnightRider666 Don't have a amazon account, and 19 bucks is a little steep.
@undead_terror: Get one. I did, and I've found so many deals on there. When i look for something online I check both amazon and ebay. Sometimes ebay beats amazon, and sometimes amazon beats ebay. It's good to have accounts with both sites so you can comparison shop. If $19 is a bit steep, keep your eyes on both sites and wait for a price drop. Have you tried Best Buy? I bet you could order it directly from them too.
Animal Crossing and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. I'm really surprised to see the latter appear on the eShop!
@accc I thought of the same thing when I saw the image. But maybe SEGA is going to announce them during E3... ; )
While the Wii U is turning into the Xbox 360 and PS3, seems like the original Wii is turning into a cheaper version of the Neo Geo AES. I'm glad too cuz damn those fighting games were great but the carts were expensive, glad SNK still had support for the original.
I want KoF99 soon.
If I lived in Europe and had money, I'd get Columns.
Is 4 Elements the same as Gem Quest 4 Elements a DS game from 2011?
@Philip_J_Reed They will Phillip.
@KnightRider666 Yep amazon is rockin the deals right now. I picked up Tale of 2 towns for 12.50 last week
@Windy;
Hope you like it, Windy, 'cause it seems to be pretty unpopular. I love it though.
I can't wait to download Animal Crossing (FINALY!).
I can't also wait for the E3 news tomorrow
@Donjwolf I do like it alot. To be honest I like the Graphic look better than New Begining and it seems to run smoother. Both games are good I prefer the Tale of Two Towns
More Game Gear games
Yoshi for 30p
Fantastic week
@Windy
I am glad someone else likes it! I haven't played AnB (and probably won't for a long time) so I can't say which is a better game, but I think ToTT is pretty underrated. I especially love the Trench system which saves a ton of time so you can spend more time with other chores, and I do like the villagers a lot.
Still disappointed no megaman X. 3DS virtual console has 4 titles though which is good.
FINGERS CROSSED
Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya comes out in the USA THURSDAY but i highly doubt we see it at all
EDIT on nintendo page USA DOES GET THEM THURSDAY FOR 4 bucks WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoo
cant find the other games listed
I flipped out when I saw Game Gear games in the headline!
...but bummed out when I saw neither of the two I'd like made the list.
So excited for Shining Force GG. Apparently it's listed on Nintendo's website as coming out in the US on Thursday. That'll be a midnight purchase for me! Shining Force is one of my favorite games of all time.
@Windy and @Donwolf Nice to see more TToTT supporters!
It's a pretty special game, I like it more than ANB too.
Lol @ Mario & Yoshi costing 30p more than Animal Crossing for some this week...
Newbie question, what time does the eShop normally update on a Thursday?
I'm in the UK.
Thanks,
@DavidHolliss anytime during thursday, usually early afternoon. Only games that are already listed on the eShop can have a midnight launch.
#71
Pastry said:
So excited for Shining Force GG. Apparently it's listed on Nintendo's website as coming out in the US on Thursday. That'll be a midnight purchase for me! Shining Force is one of my favorite games of all time.
i DONT THINK that is going to be a midnight release is it ?????
i hope it is but i doubt it will come up before noon est
Anyone know what time zone Animal Crossing will be released in europe? Don't think it's swedens midnight haha...
@accc They only just released it in Japan. Give them time to localize it for America and then get it to Europe!
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