
For those of you in the US celebrating it today, here we have the Thanksgiving edition of the Nintendo Download Update, while for everyone else in North America it's simply the 'wow look at all the discounts' edition. Alongside more price reductions than you could shake a stick at we have a major RPG retail release on 3DS, Wii U retail DLC, Thomas Was Alone and much more besides. There's lots to cover, so let's get to it.
Missed the European Nintendo Download Update earlier in the week? Don't fret, the details are right here
Wii U eShop
Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell / Curve Studios, $10.99) — This is a puzzle platformer with a focus on storytelling, as UK comedian and actor Danny Wallace narrates a tale of exploration, friendship and survival. A simple art style is a unique foil to a touching soundtrack and plot; we were a big fan of this in our review, while we've also interviewed Curve Studios to chat about the game.
Shiny The Firefly (Padaone Games, $6.99) — This sounds like a rather colourful puzzle adventure that may suit younger gamers, as you help a firefly find and rescue his babies within a crowded and dangerous garden. We'll see if it lights up the eShop in our review.
GetClose: A Game for RIVALS (Wombat Source, $4.99) — This is a party game in which two players share a GamePad or Pro Controller to control a single character, with teams fighting it out in a series of maps while trying to hold onto the crown. We'll gather some friends and see whether it's chaotic fun or just, well, chaotic.
Heptrix (Jose Varela, $1.99) — Another budget release, this is basically Tetris, but with seven blocks per piece; seven is the theme, with seven lines to clear a level, seven points for each block landed etc. We'll see if the pieces truly fall into place with this in a review.
Wii U Virtual Console
Mario Pinball Land (Nintendo, $6.99) — The Game Boy Advance attracted its share of quirky projects, and this pinball spin-off for the Mario brand has some enjoyable moments; we awarded this 7/10 in our review.
Mighty Final Fight (Capcom, $4.99) — A rather cute but rock-hard arcade beat 'em up spin-off that graced the NES, this applied a quirky art-style to familiar Final Fight mechanics. It's certainly fun for those that fancy a challenge, as we explain in our Mighty Final Fight review
Wii U DLC
Hyrule Warriors Twilight Princess Pack (Koei Tecmo):
- A new Adventure Mode map (Twilight-covered Hyrule) with six new 8-bit weapons and sixteen new alternatively-coloured costumes as rewards
- A new playable character (Midna in her true Twili form)
- A new weapon type for Zelda (Dominion Rod)
- Two new costumes (Ilia's Clothes for Zelda and Postman Uniform for Link)
Wii U eShop Temporary Discounts
The Wonderful 101 (Nintendo, $20.99 until 2nd December, normally $29.99)
Wii Party U (Nintendo, $27.99 until 2nd December, normally $39.99)
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (Nintendo, $5.99 until 2nd December, normally $7.99)
Wario Land 4 (Nintendo, $5.59 until 2nd December, normally $7.99)
Metroid Fusion (Nintendo, $5.59 until 2nd December, normally $7.99)
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (Warner Bros. Interactive, $9.99 until 1st December)
Rock Zombie (EnjoyUp Games, $5.99 until 4th December, normally $6.99)
ZaciSa's Last Stand (ZeNfA Productions, $1.49 until 7th January, normally $1.99)
3DS eShop
Mighty Gunvolt (Inti Creates, $3.99) — Available from 28th November. Until this point a free extra with Azure Striker Gunvolt, this neat little action platformer, with an 8-bit style and inspiration from that aforementioned title and Mighty No. 9, is now available as an individual purchase. An update and DLC content are also on the way.
My First Songs (Ringzero Games, $4.99) — A singing game for toddlers that includes 15 songs; this seems to be a re-release of the Wii U entry, which didn't impress us at all.
Chat-A-Lot (Teyon, $7.99) — We're not sure why this is being listed for a second consecutive week, but here goes: Chat-A-Lot is a voice and text application for the Nintendo 3DS system. A first of its kind, the application will bring the Nintendo 3DS community much closer, easily connecting Nintendo 3DS owners with each other, whether it be locally and internationally. Overall we felt this was a below-part effort in our Chat-A-Lot review.
My Life on a Farm 3D (TREVA Entertainment, $19.99) — Yet another sim title to add to the growing list on 3DS, this is all about managing your farm, crops and animals to ensure animal well-being while making some profit. We'll muck out and see whether this is any good in a review.
3DS Virtual Console
Mighty Final Fight (Capcom, $4.99) — As per the Wii U entry above, but available on the go.
3DS Retail Downloads
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (Atlus, $49.99) — The first Persona title on Nintendo hardware, this blends the cast of the third and fourth games into a new art style and Etrian Odyssey-style gameplay. A lengthy and relatively complex RPG, we were full of praise as we awarded 9/10 in our Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth review.
3DS eShop Temporary Discounts
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: Universe in Peril (Warner Bros. Interactive, $9.99 until 1st December)
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (Nintendo, $27.99 until 2nd December, normally $39.99)
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (Nintendo, $27.99 until 2nd December, normally $39.99)
Wario Land 2 (Nintendo, $3.49 until 2nd December, normally $4.99)
Wario Land 3 (Nintendo, $3.49 until 2nd December, normally $4.99)
Metroid II: Return of Samus (Nintendo, $2.79 until 2nd December, normally $3.99)
Code of Princess (Atlus, $14.99 from 1st December to 15th December, normally $29.99)
Conception II: Children of the Stars (Atlus, $24.99 from 1st December to 15th December, normally $39.99)
Azure Striker Gunvolt (Inti Creates, $9.99 from 28th November to 15th December, normally $14.99)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies (Capcom, $14.99 until 2nd December, normally $29.99)
Parking Star 3D (CIRCLE Entertainment, $1.99 until 18th December, normally $2.99)
Farming Simulator 14 (Focus Home Interactive, $19.99 until 11th December, normally $29.99)
Farming Simulator 3D (Focus Home Interactive, $4.99 until 11th December, normally $9.99)
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked (Atlus, $14.99 from 1st December to 8th December, normally $29.99)
Chain Blaster (G-STYLE, discounted until 31st December)
Crazy Construction (G-STYLE, discounted until 31st December)
3DS Demos
AiRace Xeno (QubicGames, free)
Ohno Odyssey (Big John Games, free)
That's the line-up for this week in North America. Let us know what you're planning to download in the poll and comments below.
What will you be downloading first this week? (192 votes)
- Thomas Was Alone (Wii U eShop)
- Shiny The Firefly (Wii U eShop)0.5%
- GetClose: A Game for RIVALS (Wii U eShop)0%
- Heptrix (Wii U eShop)
- Mario Pinball Land (Wii U Virtual Console)
- Mighty Final Fight (Wii U Virtual Console)
- Hyrule Warriors Twilight Princess Pack (Wii U DLC)
- The Wonderful 101 (Wii U eShop temporary discount)
- Wii Party U (Wii U eShop temporary discount)0%
- Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (Wii U eShop temporary discount)
- Wario Land 4 (Wii U eShop temporary discount)
- Metroid Fusion (Wii U eShop temporary discount)
- LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (Wii U eShop temporary discount)
- ZaciSa's Last Stand (Wii U eShop temporary discount)0.5%
- Rock Zombie (Wii U eShop temporary discount)0.5%
- Mighty Gunvolt (3DS eShop)
- My First Songs (3DS eShop)0.5%
- Chat-A-Lot (3DS eShop)0%
- My Life on a Farm 3D (3DS eShop)0%
- Mighty Final Fight (3DS Virtual Console)
- Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (3DS retail download)
- LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: Universe in Peril (3DS eShop temporary discount)0%
- Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (3DS eShop temporary discount)
- Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS eShop temporary discount)
- Wario Land 2 (3DS eShop temporary discount)0.5%
- Wario Land 3 (3DS eShop temporary discount)0.5%
- Metroid II: Return of Samus (3DS eShop temporary discount)
- Code of Princess (3DS eShop temporary discount)0%
- Conception II: Children of the Stars (3DS eShop temporary discount)0%
- Azure Striker Gunvolt (3DS eShop temporary discount)
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies (3DS eShop temporary discount)
- Parking Star 3D (3DS eShop temporary discount)0%
- Farming Simulator 14 (3DS eShop temporary discount)0.5%
- Farming Simulator 3D (3DS eShop temporary discount)0.5%
- Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS eShop temporary discount)0.5%
- Chain Blaster (3DS eShop temporary discount)0%
- Crazy Construction (3DS eShop temporary discount)0%
- AiRace Xeno (3DS demo)
- Ohno Odyssey (3DS demo)0.5%
- Nothing for me this week
Please login to vote in this poll.
Comments 77
Hyrule Warriors DLC for me
To anyone considering Phoenix Wright.
Do it.
It's incredible.
Wasn't there also a discount on Yumi's Odd Odyssey? Buy it!
Is Code of Princess ever full price? Lol
Dual Destinies for me. $14.99 is too hard to pass up.
I guess we won't have DKC in NA, that's sad 😕
As it has been mentioned in the forums, Darksiders 2 is available in North America for $9.99 until December 2nd. Size is 9.6GB.
Of the promotions I will be getting Mario & Luigi SS and possibly Thomas was Alone. I will also check the prices on Lego Marvel Wii U and W101.
Edit: forgot about Wario Land 2 and 3 and I just noticed Azure Striker finally went on sale. Since I have a code for Mighty Gunvolt I won't miss that either.
As far as I know (from Mobot's twitter), Paper Monsters is also discounted. You guys might want to look into that!
Yeah, it seems some discounts weren't in the NA update, weirdly, so I'll round up the stragglers (I'd been holding off to put them all together) in another article to round out the full picture.
Mostly looking forward to what other Nintendo sales will start today. Hopefully no shenanigans on their part.
Jumping on dual destinies even though I still gotta play Apollo justice
I was hoping nintendo was wanting my money this week but with crappy VC again, nothing.
If I wasn't already paying off a Captain Falcon amiibo figure, I'd pick up something; there's some neat discounts here, and I've been putting off Wario Land 2 and onward for a while.
Thomas for $10.99. It's been on sale for 99 cents on Steam and PSN. These developers really need to learn to be more competitive with their pricing.
Wonderful 101 seems like a good deal to me. I'll definitely check that out. Might be some other deals worth looking at too.
Persona has got to be the first $50.00 3DS eShop/retail game that I've seen. Also to those interested in Luigis Mansion: Dark Moon: GET IT! My favorite 3DS game.
@Hero-of-WiiU Shin Megami Tensei IV was $50.
Leaving this weekend for a business trip until Christmas, so Dream Team seems like a good deal for the road.... and I've been waiting for W101 to go on sale, so I'll pick that up to have on tap for my Christmas vacation. Done and done.
I already downloaded the HW DLC earlier, I might check out Heptrix for $1.99 because it seems like the only Tetris like game the Wii U has at moment, I'll also check out the sales like Wario Land 4 and Superstar Saga and maybe Rocck Zombie.
Hmm, do I use my eshop card now or wait and see if there's a Black Friday sale?
Thank goodness Code of Princess is FINALLY on sale!
I kid.
Waiting for the eShop update to see what these discounts actually are. Up to 30% is vague city.
Nothing for me this week...Gobble Gobble
Hey I don't know how long it's been like this, and for how long it will be at that price, but Darksiders II is at 9.99! Just bought it two days ago.
Completely unrelated but I just pre ordered that Wii U bundle from Amazon that comes with MK8,SM3DW,Wii Party U,Nintendo Land and a remote.It was supposed to be £199.99 but it came through as £166.66 It has cost me nearly £100 with import duty to get it shipped to Thailand in 2-4 days but not bothered about that. I actually had my doubts about that offer as it didn't have a release day and it said it came with SM3DW but in the description it actually had NSMBU instead.Now it seems to have been corrected.
I'm going to remain sceptical about the included games until I see them in my hands but if real then that is bargain of the century
Sweet, been waiting for Azure Striker Gunvolt to go down!
@sinalefa
I never got around to getting Darksiders II, so I'll get it now. I kept forgetting about it.
@SFR79
Darksiders II is on sale until December 2nd.
I've wanted the Wonderful 101 for a while so I'm going to take advantage of it.
No love for Mario Pinball Land? That's a fun game IMO. Will download later...
Disappointed there is no Donkey Kong Country or Donkey Kong Land this week for North America. It would have been great timing with its 20th Anniversary for DKC just recently. I still have DKC on my Wii Virtual Console though, but I would love to give DKL another shot. I haven't played that since it first came out on Game Boy.
Gonna try to get Superstar Saga and Chain blaster. People, Chain Blaster is an awesome shmup! Give it a chance with this discount!
Ace Attorney 50% off? Now that's tempting...
Still waiting for a sale on Steel Empire
Why the heck is the digital version of Persona Q $50? The same could be said of SMTIV. I understand the physical copies being more expensive since they probably come with special edition type stuff, but digital, too?
It makes no sense to do price the digital copy this way, especially when you look at the Vita's PSN library of home console style games and lengthy JRPGs. I don't see any games being priced at $50 there.
On a sidenote, it's nice that Azure Gunvolt is on sale. Now you but it and Mighty Gunvolt and still pay $1 less than early adopters.
Bummed out, was hoping that when that cyber deals announcement said "plus more deals" or whatever it'd be more Nintendo deals. Nothing calling to me again.
nothing for me too , waiting for DKC and sword and soldiers 2 . i hope they arrive soon
Wonderful 101 is $21 on the eShop. I'm definitely getting that
I can finally access the eshop!So i'll get thomas was alone i never tried it and darksiders 2 is on sale for 10 bucks!Oh my god that's a deal right there,too bad i already bought on the eshop for 20 bucks.
@ThomasBW84
Lego Marvel is also for ten dollars. I got that and Darksiders 2 even though I already have darksiders 2 on PS3. It's a good excuse to beat it again.
It'll be a little hard to choose between all these sales, maybe Darksiders 2 would be great since I haven't played any game of that series yet. Mario & Luigi too!
@AVahne You notice just now, that Nintendo - more often than not - comes at premium price? Oo This is true for Nintendo games, but not just those. Still, Persona Q being $50 was surprising, I thought it would be $40. Then again Atlus does sales on the e-shop all the time, 2 months from now it'll be $30-35 ..
At last! That ASG discount's been a long time comin! I would have predicted the Shovel Knight discount would happen before ASG since it came out two months before GUNVOLT. Also getting M&L Superstar Saga.
I got Wonderful 101. Is the Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon sale worth the price?
I was going to get Azure Gunvolt today and get Mighty Gunvolt for free... but it turns out is cheaper to wait until tomorrow and get both of them separately!
I'll also be getting Metroid II.
Picked up Wonderful101 , Darksiders 2, and Mario Pinball Land
Got the Hyrule Warriors DLC! Still considering Mario Pinball Land, but I don't know if it's good. W101 deal seems great as well.
@Bones00 LM DM is amazing. you should definitely pick it up.
Lego Batman 2, Scribblenauts: Unmasked, and Scribblenauts: Unlimited are rumored to be going on-sale for $10 each tomorrow only as a special Black Friday deal, but right now it's just hearsay so I'd take the information with a grain of salt.
By the way I decided to download Lego Marvel: Super Heroes because at $10 why not? Besides I enjoyed Lego Indiana Jones on my XBox 360 quite a bit before the console RRoD'd several years ago!
final fight for me
SHAKE HARDER, EUROPE AND AUSTRALIA!

I downloaded Persona Q yesterday. Having been a SMT fan for a long time, and consistently replaying P3P and P4, this is a dream game for me. The game so far does not disappoint.
"This is a puzzle platformer with a focus on storytelling"
a.k.a indie games in a nutshell. rolls eyes
Mysteriously not on this list, but almost done downloading Darksiders 2 for 9.99. Can't beat that at all. Wonderful 101 is next
Got LEGO for $9.99 and Paper Monsters Recut for $3.99!
darksiders 2 and lego marvel for $10 each? sold. $10 each for jeapardy or wheel of fortune? hmm...
@ericwithcheese2 Yeah, I've got the DKC trilogy on my Wii also, but I'm craving the games in high definition with virtual saves (sometimes I just don't feel like paying Funky to take me back to Wrinkley's College), not to mention gamepad play (all VC games look and play extremely well on the gamepad) and customizable controls. Which brings to mind, Pro Controller support rather than the old Wii pro controller plugged in to a Wiimote, which is so clumsy and awkward it just pisses me off thinking about it.
So ya, we need DKC on the Wii U.
@Bones00 Well, I can tell you Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon is an excellent game, much better than I thought it would be. What makes it even better is the fact there's really nothing like it on Nintendo's systems. It's a very unique experience.
I say go for it.
Anyone notice the new Sonic the Hedgehog 3DS themes??? There's four! And two new Pikman themes! And a Shovel Knight theme!!!
Note: Thomas Was Alone is a great game but goes on steam for 4$ (or less) quite a lot. Also, Persona Q will probably drop in price as Atlus drops prices quite a lot (Ex Shin Megami Tensei 15$).
i think i will pick up Lego marvel heroes for the wii u. The price is right.
@millarrp great game.
@Mr_Trill281 The real game is about to start!
@enderboy221, @JaxonH Thanks for sharing.
I recommend ZaciSa's Last Stand and Chain Blaster.
Oh and try that Ohno Odyssey demo, then buy the game. LOVE that game.
I might look at Mario Pinball. Otherwise most games on discount that i want, i already own.
@bbve ATLUS does eventually drop prices, but I'd rather support a quality production like Persona Q day one. It was the game I certainly did not regret buying when it released, even if it's $10 more than the average. It's worth it.
I bought Wario Land 4 since that's a game I really wanted in a long time. Might get Metroid Fusion if I get the Mario Kart 8 DLC this weekend since I only need to buy something that's around $10 for another $5 dollar code.
@Ralek85
Uhm, no.
And this has nothing to do with Nintendo or premium pricing. Third parties are the ones who set the prices for their games on eShop, not Nintendo, so the eShop prices for SMT4 and Persona Q are due to Atlus' choices.
@AVahne So? I said this does apply to Nintendo games, but not only.
Of course it is their choice, but are you saying then, the system they publish on is not being accounted for when setting the price? You said it yourself, they did the same for SMT4. P4G on the Vita on the other hand was $39,99.
Atlus opted to ask for a premium on the Nintendo handheld once again ... because they could and it made sense to them.
If I had the eShop funds, I would definitely get Dual Destinies or Wonderful 101. I actually never tried out W101's demo until today, and it's a lot more fun than I'd expected! The only issue would be the 12GB of space it takes up...
@Ralek85
No, but the wording in your previous comment implied that you think that Nintendo controls pricing on the eShop. I know Atlus can pricee however they want, but the question is why they decided to price these two games this way.
I was seeking an answer or at least a theory, not some kind of random, long-winded debate or rebuttal.
@AVahne I didn't mean to imply that. My bad then, but I gave you an answer to your question - or my opinion on the matter: Because they can.
Nintendo games come at premium, it doesn't matter if it's at retail or at digital. So why shouldn't other publishers, publishing a title exclusively to a Nintendo system, take advantage of the situation and also sell at a premium?
I assume people still bought SMTV (at least I did, since there was actually a cool cross-promotion with FE:A), so they probably thought, that since it's the same system and basically a very similar niche and therefore similar customerbase, they just go ahead and keep at it.
Maybe there is a completely different reason behind it, I dunno. Sounds reasonably enough to me though, why would anyone sell at a cheaper price than they absolutely have to without loosing any significant number of customers (which they'll catch anyways down the line when the price drops). Maybe there is simply a number of Day1 customers, totally fine with $49,99, so they sell at $49,99.
Is that theory enough for you, or still too "random [and] long-winded"?
@Hero-of-WiiU Shin Megami Tensei IV was $50 at retail as well.... SMT games don't sell very well so Atlus bumps up their prices to try and make some money back from their loyal fans.... which I don't mind the $10 extra, Atlus makes some extremely great JRPGs.
@GloryQuestor Awesome glad to hear it. I'm picking it up soon for sure. SMT IV was such a blast that I need more of this series in my veins... yesterday. Persona Q has piqued my interest for quite a while now, still not crazy about the art style, though.
I did pick up SMT I on iPad, quite fun, but controls are a bit wonky.
Where's the Azure Striker Gunvolt discount? Checked this morning and it's still $14.99....
@JaxonH Do you think Luigi's Mansion on 3DS is better than the first installment on GC?
@MC808 I'm really not qualified to answer that to be perfectly honest. I own both games, and while I have played a decent chunk of Dark Moon on 3DS, the truth is I've played very little of Luigi's Mansion on GameCube. From what I have played, I'm leaning towards saying the 3DS version is considerably better. And not to say Luigi's Mansion GC is a bad game, I just think there's a lot more to like in the 3DS sequel. It's almost as if they took that winning formula and expanded on it.
As far as recommending games, if you own a 3DS, I think fire Emblem Awakening very well might be the funnest handheld game I've played in recent years. DKC Returns 3D and Zelda Link Between Worlds are also very highly esteemed in my eyes. And if you really want a meaty experience, something you can sink your teeth into and be absorbed by, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is your game.
@JaxonH Of course you're qualified! You're a hardcore (seemingly) gamer, that's enough qualification for me.
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