Cross-Buy is Now a Thing on Nintendo Platforms

Since the Wii U's NNID (Nintendo Network ID) was added to the 3DS in late 2013 we've been yearning for eShop games, not to mention Virtual Console games, to offer cross-buy so you can play on both the Wii U and 3DS at no extra cost. This is par for the course on PlayStation systems, with Another World being one recent example of a game which can be bought once and played on PS4, PS3 and PS Vita.

We did a talking point back in March expressing our wishes to see cross-buy on Nintendo systems. Up until recently, however, the closest we have got to this was through a 30% discount off Pushmo World on the Wii U which would be automatically applied if you had already purchased Pushmo or Crashmo on a 3DS which shares the same NNID.

This week's Nintendo Download, however, brought news of the first true Cross-Buy opportunity on Nintendo systems. If you buy Squids Odyssey on the 3DS, you'll be able to play at no extra cost on the Wii U (you cannot buy the Wii U version and get the 3DS version free as of yet however). We appreciate that on the surface this does not appear to be massive news, but to our knowledge it is the first time that this has been implemented across Nintendo systems. It's worth noting, however, that this is only the case in Europe with this title, initially, but will likely be included in North America in the future.

With more and more games appearing on both the Wii U and 3DS eShop, this is certainly a step in the right direction. What are your thoughts on this development?