Fantasy Life Art

It's time to brighten our Mondays with the European Nintendo Download Update, once again, and this week serves up a lot of options across the Wii U, 3DS and even DSi. There's a major retail arrival on 3DS, new titles on both eShop platforms along with Virtual Console entries, plenty of discounts and even a DSiWare release. There's a lot to get through, so let's get to it.

Wii U eShop

Art of Balance (Shin'en Multimedia, €8.99 / £7.15) — This expanded and improved version of the previous entries in the series includes a variety of new features, in particular new modes that support online play, along with more accurate physics, improved visuals and a host of control options. We'll try not to fall over as we tackle this for a review.

Angry Bunnies: Colossal Carrot Crusade (Cypronia, €6.99 / £5.99) — The transition of 3DS games to Wii U continues with this one, a physics-based game that's basically Angry Birds with bunnies. This promises 150 levels, and although we were thoroughly unimpressed with the portable entry we'll give this one a fresh look on Wii U.

Wii U Virtual Console

Nobunaga's Ambition (Koei, €7.99 / £5.49) — This is an ambitious strategy Super NES title, with a name that may be familiar to those that enjoyed cross-over title Pokémon Conquest on DS. The depth of this title could be daunting or provide countless hours of entertainment, and we gave it a reasonable recommendation in our Wii Virtual Console Nobunaga's Ambition review.

Wii U eShop Promotion

Art of Balance (Shin'en Multimedia, €6.70 / £5.35) — A lower price if you own Art of Balance TOUCH! on the same Nintendo Network ID on 3DS.

Wii U eShop Temporary Discounts

Armillo (Fuzzy Wuzzy Games, €3.69 / £2.99 until 5th October, normally €6.00 / £5.50)

Swords & Soldiers (Two Tribes, €1.99 / £1.77 until 9th October, normally €2.99 / £2.69)

Spin The Bottle: Bumpie's Party (KnapNok Games, €5.99 / £5.60 until 12th October, normally €8.99 / £8.00)

Wii U eShop Demo

Spin The Bottle: Bumpie's Party (KnapNok Games, free)

3DS eShop

Demon King Box (CIRCLE Entertainment, €3.99 / £2.99) — Pitched as an intriguing title, with RPG elements as you gather and level-up demons; the minor twist being that it incorporates real-time strategy in its battles. Despite its efforts at depth and story-driven play, we were left disappointed with this game, describing it as "a mediocre, modified tower defense game dressed up in a gorgeous art style" — check out our full Demon King Box review for the lowdown.

KORG DSN-12 (Detune, €29.99 / £24.99) — A follow-up to its incredibly detailed predecessor, once again this app will recreate the sounds of the iconic source instrument to allow you to create, record and perform tracks. One for music enthusiasts to consider.

3DS Virtual Console

Game & Watch Gallery 3 (Nintendo, €4.99 / £4.49) — Retro fans will no doubt be pleased to see another one of these enhanced collections of the LCD games make it to the Virtual Console; this gallery includes Egg, Turtle Bridge, Greenhouse, Donkey Kong Jr. and Mario Bros., with unlockable surprises also thrown in. We'll jump into a review soon.

3DS Retail Download

Fantasy Life (Nintendo, €39.99 / £34.99) — One of a few key 3DS releases in the next few months, this Level-5 and Brownie Brown collaboration blends an RPG adventure with life-sim elements. Seamless switching between 12 'Lives' and heavy doses of charm do much for this title, which we gave a strong recommendation in our Fantasy Life review. Be sure to also check our working 9 to 5 diary series to learn about some of the available class-types.

Tenkai Knights: Brave Battle (Bandai Namco, €34.99 / £24.99) — This is one to surely tempt devotes fans of the toys and animated show, with a 2D action approach in which you control a customisable robot to fight evil shape-shifting robots. It sounds fun, but it's a licensed game, so we'll see how it shapes up.

FIFA 15 (EA, €34.99 / £24.99) — It's an EA game on Nintendo hardware, which is only slightly rarer than hen's teeth or a total solar eclipse. We're being facetious, as the company often churns out kit updates for FIFA on an annual basis for 3DS and Wii, so we expect this will do much the same thing. Available from 26th September.

Violetta: Rhythm and Music (Little Orbit, €29.99 / £24.99) — Based on a Disney Channel show, this is a mix of mini-games where you show off your rhythm and performing skills.

3DS Retail DLC

Fantasy Life — Origin Island Expansion Pack (Nintendo, €7.99 / £7.19) — An additional island with plenty of resources and challenges to undertake either on your own or with others.

3DS eShop Temporary Discounts

Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return (Avanquest, £9.99 until 9th October, normally £19.99)

3D MahJongg (Joindots, €3.99 / £3.29 until 16th October, normally €4.99 / £4.49)

Murder on the Titanic (Joindots, €5.99 / £4.99 until 16th October, normally €14.99 / £14.99)

Secret Agent Files: Miami (Joindots, €6.99 / £5.79 until 16th October, normally €7.99 / £6.99)

Atlantic Quest (Joindots, €5.99 / £4.99 until 16th October, normally €6.99 / £5.99)

3DS eShop Permanent Discounts

Ben 10 Omniverse 2 (Bandai Namco, €19.99 / £19.99, was €34.99 / £28.49)

Turbo: Super Stunt Squad (Bandai Namco, €19.99 / £19.99, was €34.99 / £28.49)

Farming Simulator 2014 (Focus Home Interactive, €29.99 / £19.99, was €34.99 / £29.99)

DSiWare

Sokomania 2: Cool Job (Cinemax, 200 Nintendo Points) — This provides plenty of Sokoban-style challenges, which basically involves pushing and moving blocks to solve puzzles. Though this is a competent puzzler it's entirely one-note and underwhelming, as we explained in our Sokomania 2: Cool Job review.


Quite a selection this week for European gamers. Let us know what you plan to download in the poll and comments below.

What will you be downloading first this week? (172 votes)

  1. Art of Balance (Wii U eShop)12%
  2. Angry Bunnies: Colossal Carrot Crusade (Wii U eShop)  0%
  3. Nobunaga's Ambition (Wii U Virtual Console)1%
  4. Armillo (Wii U eShop temporary discount)6%
  5. Swords & Soldiers (Wii U eShop temporary discount)4%
  6. Spin The Bottle: Bumpie's Party (Wii U eShop temporary discount)  0%
  7. Spin The Bottle: Bumpie's Party (Wii U eShop demo)3%
  8. Demon King Box (3DS eShop)3%
  9. KORG DSN-12 (3DS eShop)5%
  10. Game & Watch Gallery 3 (3DS Virtual Console)7%
  11. Fantasy Life (3DS retail download)17%
  12. Tenkai Knights: Brave Battle (3DS retail download)  0%
  13. Tenkai Knights: Brave Battle (3DS retail download)1%
  14. FIFA 15 (3DS retail download)  0%
  15. Violetta: Rhythm and Music (3DS retail download)  0%
  16. Fantasy Life — Origin Island Expansion Pack (3DS DLC)4%
  17. Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return (3DS eShop temporary discount)  0%
  18. 3D MahJongg (3DS eShop temporary discount)  0%
  19. Murder on the Titanic (3DS eShop temporary discount)1%
  20. Secret Agent Files: Miami (3DS eShop temporary discount)  0%
  21. Atlantic Quest (3DS eShop temporary discount)  0%
  22. Ben 10 Omniverse 2 (3DS eShop permanent discount)  0%
  23. Turbo: Super Stunt Squad (3DS eShop permanent discount)  0%
  24. Farming Simulator 2014 (3DS eShop permanent discount)  0%
  25. Sokomania 2: Cool Job (DSiWare)1%
  26. Nothing for me this week35%

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