Nintendo Download: 3rd April (Europe)

Man, the VC titles are the only interesting part this week. I wonder when PierSolar HD will finally release...

Advance wars all the way!

I already own all the two tribes games listed here, and they are a great buy at full price, even more so on sale.

Week after week of utter garbage... FINALLY!!! Something good to download! Metroid Fusion and Advance Wars are mine

Will definitely download AW but may wait until after the April Direct to see if there is any special announcements.

I'll definitely pick up RUSH for that price to complete my Wii U Two Tribes collection. Such a shame about the difficulties they are facing.

Jees, those prices leave a lot to be desired...

first week in ages that I've wanted to buy more than one game.

Out of the 3 GBA games I only want Advance Wars as I have both Mario & Luigi and Metroid Fusion (as well as on the 3DS) on cartridge but I rather wait and see if there is a "Buy on the Wii U and you will also get it on the 3DS for no additional cost when its released."

If they do release a system like that then they should give refunds to people who bought the same game (only vc games) on both the Wii U and 3DS for one of the game.

I want Advance Wars but ill be busy with Age of wonders 3 for a while so I'll pick it up later.

Great week thanks to GBA.

Actual Wii U and 3DS software is a desolate wasteland.

I'll get Advance Wars eventually. I have the other GBA titles already.

Sorry. but I don't even count VC titles as releases unless they are true "remasters" with new content or features.

Therefore there are no new releases for WiiU yet again.

All VC titles should be 'cross-buy' as I do not wish to have to buy them yet again for every subsequent system, especially as I still own carts for all the GBA games listed.

Not sure how I feel, want Advance wars and Fusion and probably will bite.

However a part of me is like £6.29 each, that is still £12.58 for two GBA games, is that really worth supporting, not sure!

The pricing structure is so bad it pains me, but these two games are just amazing in my opinion!

Oh man... I never did get many GBA games (sadly) so I'm pretty happy about some coming to Wii U. Getting Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for sure ;D I would get Metroid too if I didn't already have it on the 3DS.

Hmm.. Bubble Pop World seems pretty neat. But I'm low on the green, so probably nothing this time 'round.

Probably get Advance Wars but the price I feel is to high atm.

@Jazzer94 It is took high to be frank, thats why I'm not sure however if everyone buys then things won't change!

So its one of those situations where i need to figure out, if want to wait, but Nintendo have not done any deals on the VC stuff really, when we talk price.

@Frapp Agreed tooo Steep, only difference is I'm not brassic as I just got paid, however its a principal issue!!!!!!

Nothing new for me this week but I'll just catch up instead and maybe treat myself to earthbound or contra 3

Yep, that 3DS support keeps getting better and better as the weeks roll on

Mario & Luigi will go onto my wish list - saving my pennies for Kirby next week. Definitely going to be supporting the GBA VC, but have to take it one game at a time.

I love how everybody complained the WiiU VC was terrible, and as soon as it even has a hint if getting decent their arguments move elsewhere. >__>
I for one know I am happy to see these games, as I grew up on Superstar Saga and Advance Wars as my favorite GBA games this side of Rebelstar Tactical Command. But the saves corrupted, so I'm looking forward to gleefully shooting the mustard of your doom at the invaders~

The only GBA games I want are Yoshi's Island and Wario Ware

@Prof_Clayton For I just find it a rip that GBA isn't priced the same as SNES as £5.49 I'm not understanding why its more.

All three GBA games for me.

Hopefully they will bring Metroid Zero Mission to the Wii U. Fingers crossed

I want some of the gba titles but imo the price is a bit steep. If there was a 2 for £10 offer I'd be keen but I'll wait for a game to get me exited before I pay full whack.
No rush to get the two tribes games I need as the discount is permanent (pun not intended).
Also , just picked up metroid: other m for £1.50 the other day and I've got a major back log to play through so it's a good time for me to be fussy!!

@Jazzer94
Simple reason: GBA games are more expensive in the UK than SNES games, because the GBP lost much value since 2006, when prices for SNES games were announced. In mainland Europe GBA games are 6,99€ instead of the 7,99€ they are charging for SNES games.

The GBA games cost half as much for the cartridge, at least in NA. Nintendo is trying to make a profit and I think these games are fairly priced.

Well at least they bothered with a really good selection of games. Although I think the price is kind of steep, the one thing that bugs me more is that they haven't gone for a simultaneos launch of GBA games on WiiU and 3DS. Seems to me like they are making an almost conscious effort to somehow seperate these two platforms. Not only is that the direct opposite of what Sony is doing, but also I'm not sure what the big idea is. I'd assume deeper integration of both their dedicated gaming platforms should help either platform in the long run. Guess we just have to wait and see how the Ninty-way plays out. Hope it does at that

@Bluezealand Well then the UK should be paying £5.79 not £6.29, this may seem a minuscule difference but over a whole generation the amount saved won't be.

Would sooner play the gba games portable as was originally intended,thats just me though, its nice others can enjoy these great games after weeks of virtually non existent virtual console support.

Metroid Fusion for me.

I want more NES, SNES and Mega Drive titles....DANG IT!!! And to the people that are going to say that there is plenty of other good stuff to buy...NO!! We've been waiting an eternity already for the VC games that were(are) available on the Wii. And there are plenty more old titles that would sell like crazy if only Nintendo would release them! And because Nintendo isn't transparent about why they don't release these games...the waiting is driving me mad!!

"this is the beginning of a franchise"
@ThomasBW84 But I thought it began on the Family Computer (in Japan, at least).

Stop complaining about GBA digit prices. Most of you got income. Just the other day I bought Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga and Super Mario Advance 2 for 14.99$ each so compared to that those prices are good.

Nintendo need to seriously reconsider their value proposition. Sony offer at least one free game, currently including such minor curiosities as Borderlands, Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite. That's £3.33 per game, plus they include discounts and other offers.

What do Nintendo offer in order to tempt the masses away from their Playstation? A 12-year old handheld game for £6.29. They literally do not have a clue what they are doing.

I accept these are good games, but the development costs have long been recovered and the porting effort is minimal, since I can run a perfectly good emulator on my phone that can run any of these games. Basically the install base of WiiU is so small that Nintendo now feel they have to alienate even the few people who have supported them by gouging us repeatedly with ridiculous pricing.
Sorry but I'm just not buying it, literally or figuratively.

I can't believe that Nintendo are selling old ds games at £6.29 to play on the Wii u.

Why would anyone spend £250 on a Wii u with long awaited HD graphics only to download old ds games with poor graphics to play on the gamepad.

Is this what Nintendo mean by finding a use for the gamepad.

These old games are ok on a ds console if the price is right but the Wii u should be getting the old Gamecube and N64 games and not ds stuff.

The gamepad is NOT a handheld device it is an expensive part of the Wii u that now seems to be more or less redundant. DS games won't save it.

Aside the three - IMHO overpriced - GBA games, this week of updates in EU is even worser than the usual.

@TheWeird Offering free games doesn't help the developers or publisher at all. There are also the MANY ratings games have to go through in the UK area which cost a lot. Oh you use an emulator, thanks for sharing that you're cheap and departing 6 bucks blows a hole in your wallet.
@Zool these are Gameboy Advance games not DS.

@ThomasBW84 I thought so.

I cannot wait until Thursday. While people whine and cry about the GBA games being on the Wii U and constant raging how Nintendo is making a mistake, I'll be happily playing Metroid Fusion and Mario and Luigi. I may even come on to watch the rage with a bowl of Popcorn. Or better yet, read this all from my Wii U with Metroid fusion running with the popcorn.

Passing up on this week. Tried super star saga before and didn't finish it, that's all that would interest me. Besides, I'm still playing Layton V Wright, and want to SMK Time Trial this week, so really busy otherwise.

I really thought batman arkham origins blackgate deluxe edition would release this week on the eshop. (1st of april)

I'm waiting for Super Mario Advance 4. Wish me luck!

I wish eShop become available in Brazil...
And I wonder how many countries are in the same situation as us, without eShop. Little to no retail and no eShop.

@Mooj738 they were originally £29.99 each and go for more than £6.29 on eBay as a loose cart. You don't have to pay £6.29 for anything you don't want to, but yore alternatives seem to be more xpensive

@ikki5 http://you-win-the-internet.com/

@zool These Gameboy advance games (Not DS) are for current wii u owners who have already played everything out and have nothing to play until the next release. Nintendo have never given a reason for GBA games on Wii U outside of "Expanding the library", everything your hear on the subject is speculation and rumour.

While the blogosphere is not an acurate picture of all gamers but across the web most Wii U owners seem happy with these games being on Wii U, even if some don't agree with the price point.

"Metroid Fusion […] the last 2D portable Metroid that we've enjoyed."
Err, Zero Mission anyone?? That was released 2 years past Fusion.

The permanent price drop for the Two Tribes titles is nice. I got Edge and Toki Tori when they were cheap, and although not quite "amazed" by either of them, the good reviews for Rush (which I only missed during its initial discount due to having been on vacation) may make me buy it one day.

@WillhamBoyGeniu I was pointing merely that the technical aspects of emulating the GBA hardware are trivial, I didn't say anything about actually using emulators - I like real buttons and, frankly, real carts. Also if the price was 6 BUCKS that's about £3.60, which is a much more realistic price, so good idea! Your argument about "rating costs" is irrelevant as the ESRB offer a no-fee service for downloadable titles, including the eShop - http://kotaku.com/5954704/esrb-opens-no-cost-ratings-service-for-digitally-distributed-games/all
And if I was cheap, I would not have bought every Nintendo console since the SNES. I'm a Nintendo fan. I want them to win, I don't want them to screw up. They are screwing up.

I'd be downloading metroid if they said I could download it for free as I already have it on 3DS

@TheWeird the only thing not reasonable is your logic. GBA price lower than NES games? Hard to find reasonable. 6 bucks as I said, £6.29 I meant but why you gotta waste a sentence getting technical there? I'll echo @SahashraLA 's words, 5$ for 1 hour of content (NES) but stingly and cheap.to spend 6 on a digital copy of a GBA with more hours of content and when the cartridges are 15-50 USED.

As i suspected (feared) the GBA games will take up the weekly Virtual Console spots, for a while at least. This annoys me as I think there are a bunch of NES and SNES games that still needs releases, not to mention N64.

I might get Metroid Fusion though, depending on how well they port it. (Love me some Samus)

PSN offers PS1 games for $6 and PS2 games of $10. Nintendo can take their prices and cram them.

@whodatninja My sentiments exactly. I would like to think Nintendo would try to get a game out of each grouping (NES/SNES/GBA/Other), each week. It seems they are too focused on putting out the NES games just to make ready for NES Remix 2.

These games are between $10 - 20 on Amazon. Actually, Fusion is $25. And those are used prices plus shipping. Really these prices are not bad. I'm looking forward to finally playing the original Advance Wars. Never got around to playing it before.

@DESS-M-8 lol funny thought process and kinda blunt. If you actually read my comments its the cost structure thats the issue not the actual cost of each individually and its value add, years later trying to obtain from old tech.

I have them all on my GBA and I have a micro as well so your point is irrelevant so jog on with your basic simple minded approach.

It is a fact Nintendo are bleeding the customers of money, this VC service has amazing potential, with great games but the cost structure is a joke, that was all I was trying to get across.

Anyways guys Advance Wars and Metroid Fusion are the way to go for me as previously stated

Cross-buy as well as cross-save for emulated GBA games should be a no-brainer ... At least I can't come up with a good counter.argument neither from the consumer perspective nor from Ninty's perspective. Not saying that this would make me wanna buy a WiiU right now, but it would add some value in the long run. I recently got a Vita and aside from P4G which I (happily) bought of the psn for 20$, all the dozens of games I put on it came 4 free with PS+ over the years (and that includes most of the quality games on the platform as of right now). Even if there is not that much quality content on Vita as on 3DS (no argument there) it's just too good an proposition to pass up in the long run (esp. if you also own a ps3/ps4 which I do).
Not sure while Nintys seems unable to grasp such a simple concept or maybe they do but somehow disagree with the logic ... I just wish they would put as much effort into marketing and distributing their games as their put in the development itself ...

@Sidewaydriver

Why aren't GBA valued at $8? Because they are handheld games? Get over it. If you don't like it, then don't buy them. Metroid Fusion is better than most PS1 and PS2 games anyways, and M&L is a RPG filled with content.

Being a handheld title has nothing to do with their value.

@LUIGITORNADO Clearly I wasn't planning on buying them so your advice was not needed. If you want to pay those prices then more power to you. Then again, those who bought a Wii U in the first place would pay that much.

@Sidewaydriver
so.. because you don't want to pay that makes everyone a sucker? I enjoy my Wii U, it has some awesome games and it getting some awesome games. I am quite happy with my Wii U because of what I am able to play and I'll be playing GBA games on it Thursday.

@ikki5 Some how I'll find the will to move on with my life.
_{Knock it off with the insults, please — TBD}

Advance Wars is such a great game.I've never been a fan of turn based strategy games but this is just too good.It's worth every penny of what they're asking for it and more.Even the tutorial is fun and by the time it ends you know exactly what your doing.Some of the later battles can be really intense and go on for ages but it never gets frustrating.The Gamepad would be perfect for this game too,if only it made use of it.

So £6 for a game that I'll play for at least 20 hours? I don't see what's bad here. Saying you can download them for free from the internet doesn't suddenly make your piracy right. I don't mind buying Advance Wars because I know the money will go towards Intelligent Systems to make more fantastic games.
And Drill Dozer day one, because that masterpiece needs a sequel.

Any word on the price of Nintendo Pocket Football Club yet?

@LUIGITORNADO "Metroid Fusion is better than most PS1 and PS2 games anyways, and M&L is a RPG filled with content."

I own both games, and can tell you that both of these statement are false.

Fusion was great for a 2D Metroid. It's pure madness to say it trumps the best of what the PS1/2 have to offer, though.

M&L was good for what is clearly a beginner's RPG. Not much to do there apart from the main quest (which is about the length you'd expect from it, nothing huge).

This week belongs to Edge on Wii U.
Also Super Monkey Ball 3D seems a bit interesting since I've not tried the 3DS version yet.

Damn those GBA releases are overpriced as are all Virtual Console prices except for the 0,99€ upgrade prices on Wii U if you own a VC game already on Wii. Nintendo really needs to do something about the pricing and also really look into the cross platform purchase functionality.

@djcaetano I thought the eShop was available in Brazil on the 3DS but the prices were worse for retail (and similar for VC) so everyone just set their 3DS to Canada (or made a Canadian NNID on the Wii U). Maybe that was Mexico though. As for countries without eShops. Most of the list in European systems (which includes Africa, some of the 'stans and India)...here are all the ones it is available on:
UK, the Republic of Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Russia, South Africa, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Australia. Limited 3DS eShop in Turkey.

Limited means patches for games (except Pokemon), Nintendo video, Youtube and swapnote (you now need a Nintendo network ID to get these last 3 and lock yourself into Turkey eShop, which nobody will do). About a year ago South Africa and Czech Republic were also limited. If a country lacks an eShop it will may not even be capable of streetpass. At least both the eShop and Streetpass Mii plaza will refuse to open saying "this service is not available in your region".

It is quite annoying as this includes lots of places that are technically countries hut not really associated as such. For example; Guernsey, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Vatican City.

Yes! Another SEGA game on the eShop. Hopefully Shinobi 3DS is next.

@WillhamBoyGeniu The NES games are also ludicrously over-priced! By comparison to their direct competition, Nintendo do not offer good value. The point is that while a few game-starved WiiU owners may be satisfied these GBA offerings, they are not going attract new users, or do anything to rescue the WiiU from its current low ebb. The only thing that will do that is to release good, new games that sell the hardware. A few old GBA games will not.

Even though I would rank Advance Wars as one of my favourite handheld games of all time, I don't think its worth 6 quid to play a version of it that is not even portable. It would seem that I'm not the only one on here to think the same, and this is a Nintendo fansite. Assuming Gamecube games ever make to the WiiU, they will probably charge 30 quid each based on Nintendo's imaginary percieved value scale. The full price release of Wind Waker was bad enough, but at least they gave that some spit and polish.

Fantastic week! Can't wait to play Mario and Luigi: Super Star Saga!

wow at last nintendo are getting the idea !
Going to downed all 3 amazing games now all we need is gamecube games as well .

I've played all the games except Mario and Luigi. Actually I've never really played any games in that series. I'll give it a whirl based upon the retro review

@Sidewaydriver

Not really being suckered considering I don't have the game anymore, and if I wanted to play it, I'd be paying more than 8 bucks to do so.

@TheWeird batman black gate deluxe hd is coming on the second. It's a wii u remaster so count that then

with that being said, i wonder what bullcrap NOA will have to deal with this week

@TheWeird na I'm betting 12 ds and 15 game cube

@Goginho I got it... It's pretty cool. A decent use of the AR cards for once.

Advance Wars is the best Nintendo series of all time.

There I said it.

i love some people are never satisfied. for the longest many of us wanted GBA on the VC and now we have. I think it's great but people still complain

@Emblem Gameboy advance games my mistake. That in a way makes it worse, even older games.

Some Nintendo Wii u owners will be happy with anything to play on the gamepad, and wont mind being 'ripped off' price wise by Nintendo. But this does not make it right. And it will not sell anymore Wii u.

Its about time Nintendo found a better use for the gamepad or start selling Wii u without it, in the hope that a reduced price will sell a few more consoles and third party developers will come back to the Wii u knowing that they don't have to find a use for the gamepad.

Even Nintendo has not found a use for it, unless playing Gameboy advance games on it is their idea of keeping us happy until Mario Kart at the end of May........ and then what?

@darkswabber it's listed for the 2nd actualy

@TheWeird I agree. I refused to buy the Wind Waker, (even though I could easily afford it). I do not like being ripped off. It seems that Nintendo are trying to re-coup some of their losses at the expense off existing Wii u owners, with high prices for old games. There are better games in Google store and they are free or have a very modest price tag.

And after Mario Kart this May I am thinking of getting rid of the Wii u unless Nintendo can tell us what new games we will be getting during the second half of 2014. Or what plans they have for the Wii u.

As Wii u owner I think these Gameboy advance games are a bit of an insult to those of us who have purchased the Wii u. There may have been some logic in offering these games free to Wii u owners to keep them sweet for a while, although I would not want them.

In a way I would like to see Nintendo doing what it does best on the 3ds and release the 'big' games for the xbox or playstation. At least we would have other games to play between Mario games.

"SA-X remains one of the most intimidating enemies in the series..."

And it manages to be even with horrible AI!

@Starwolf_UK Yes, it is available on 3DS... but not on Wii U. I have used it a lot on 3DS (the prices may be insane at times, but usually they will follow US eShop prices) but on Wii U it just doesn't work.
I have an account registered as USA and I used it so I could download Wii Fit U, but I really do not like the idea of my own software being attached to an account which is not mine (or, at least, is not the one I use everyday). It is insane that Nintendo requires us to do "tricks" just so we can buy games!
Nintendo should decide if they want us to buy online or not; if there is no eShop on my own country, please, let me access the eShop on another country at the same region, at least. :/

Wiiiii..... Aria of sorrow and another fzero incoming!
http://m.ign.com/articles/2014/03/31/australian-rating-board-outs-castlevania-f-zero-gba-for-wii-u

@outburst
I knew F-zero was coming, Aria of Sorrow would be awesome , I have Dawn of Sorrow for the DS and love it

it amazes me, literally amazes me, that people are whinging about GBA releases, the more games the better and you aren't obliged to buy them. I cannot wait for these 3 games.

Not a home console release in sight on the Wii U, well i suppose that was to be expected this week with the hand held gamepad buzz but i'm really hoping that this is'nt going to be an ongoing trend. If i wanted an old hand held console i'd have bought one i was expecting more from the Wii U.

I can understand some fans enthusiasm for hand held games on the Wii U VC but do u really want the Wii U VC to become a glorified Game Boy Advance, is this what u bought a Wii U console for? would u prefer to download Gameboy Advance titles over say SNES, Megadrive or say lets if it were on option Dreamcast ones. The Wii U is a home console and i think their should be more of a demand for home console releases.

@Game-Over My main concern is the fact GameCube games were announced like 2 years ago before the system's release; and not a single word about them since. They announce GBA games just a few months ago and are already releasing them lol.
Not complaining though, any games on WiiU, at this point, is a good thing; even if they are a little pricey.

If Bubble Pop World ever gets a good discount i might take the plunge.
Not interested in GBA games on the Wii U atm, so i probably won't download anything this week.

hcfwesker...Yeah the arrival of GBA is'nt a bad thing but like that if this is the direction that Nintendo takes with Wii U VC we may never see home consoles like the Gamecube arriving on the VC which would be a serious disappointment. With the old Wii VC releasing so many home consoles and titles it was expected that Wii U VC would naturally improve on this service but i'm not seeing this yet.