Nintendo Download: 1st January (Europe)

Looking at F-Zero: GP Legend , why is it so Nintendo does still nor release GBA games for the 3DS? Will they ever? Did they ever state their view on this? It's certainly technically possible as some ambassador games are GBA ones. I'm beginning to think it's deliberate to create an additional incentive to own a WiiU.

Luckily, I own a F-Zero: GP Legend physical copy in pristine condition.

Haha, Slowpoke is after the other Pokémon themes, because he is slow.

So four to six months until Sacred Stones hits Wii U VC in the States.

F-Zero GP Legend and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones for sure! I have so many memories regarding the former, how about moving onto N64/GCN soon Nintendo and releasing the remaining 2 games (X and GX)?

oh hey shovel knight for 10€. that's exactly the minimum amount of sale i wanted for that game. tempting...

Darn, it was worth it to wait a little before jumping on the Shovel Knight bandwagon. Rushing to get it as soon as the eShop is updated.

@Reverandjames I'd beg to differ. I'm getting Shovel Knight and Fire Emblem. And the retail version of Captain Toad.

Limited quantity, great quality.
Nice to see Fire Emblem SS arriving rather soon after its predecessor. If the latter succeeds in re-igniting my interest following a period of boredom (which I never experienced when playing the Wii U version; I am around mission 25 or so now), then I'll surely get the sequel too.
Having played F-Zero MV already back in the days, I was already waiting for Grand Prix Legend to turn up on the VC, as it's totally new to me. I don't feel in the mood for it now, but it's nice seeing such a lot of GBA titles arriving in the past weeks.

*Captain Toad except Italy (January 9)

I wish Sacred Stones would get proper support on 3DS, with standard VC features

@SeVok I remember that when the ambassador titles became available, Nintendo said that gba games will stay exclusive for ambassadors, and they wouldn't release them to the general public.
They can of course always change their mind, but for now, they don't seem they have.

@DrkBndr I hope they do. I myself am an ambassador user but I would love for these games to become available to everyone.

Unless they found porting the games to the 3ds very difficult and porting the to the wii u a much easier task.

Man... I bought shovel knight 3 days ago...

@Reverandjames Yea, I agree with the N64 remark. They're way overdue...

There was a reason why those are released for Wii U and not 3DS. I am sure I read about it last summer or so. Was it that 3DS could not emulate those and the ambassador games were just something unique they created.

Bit disappointed that Shovel Knight is on sale already But it has been totally worth the money.

Anyways, FE for me. I just managed to transfer funds and I am downloading the Xmas offers so enough for me to play...

Okay week. Shovel Knight is good, Monster Hunter is tempting but what's up with NSMBU? What a weird way to make a discount! Of course i got NSMBU with the MK8 deal, so i'm not qualified for New Super Luigi U. Dangit!

Also, more GBA games... Yay?

Was expecting Gunvolt to finally show up but I guess not :

And I just bought Shovel Knight... Oh well, it went towards my last Premium Code I guess.

I will double post again because Captain Toad is delayed by one week in Italy and because I'm frustrated and getting it digitally so no work around unlike getting it physically. Nintendo Italia is effing POS.

Anyway, I'm getting Fire Emblem this week.

This is a shame because I've got about £50 on my eShop account just waiting. What are Ninty playing at? It's the holiday season, so where are the first party discounts? Can they really not afford to pull some of their older games' prices down?
Shovel Knight ALREADY on offer? And they've been selling Captain Toad here on store shelves for about 2 weeks already.

Really not liking the look of captain toad, it looks like one of those games that you get really far then you just get stuck and cant finish it.

Im getting pissed off with wiiu. When I got my 3ds I got the impression that gba would continue to be available on 3ds. Now they are all on wiiu.

Another lacking week for 3ds

@SeVok I agree. The wiiu has been selling poorly so lets reward the few who have got one rathet that the multitude that own a 3ds/2ds.

If you don't own monster hunter wii u then get it! Other than that shovel knight is now the correct price for the this type of title to sell shed loads!

Can anyone tell me if I pre order toad through the EShop does the credit qualify for my premium points? Or does it only credit once downloaded which would be outside of the cut off?

Nothing looks really interesting this week.

I don't really see the appeal of Treasure Tracker, although I'm not someone who gets motivated by puzzle games so I would probably get bored really quickly.

I got shovel knight 2 days ago

@Lord
I don't think you can preorder it. But if you can before January then yes it'll count on your digital deluxe promo points

I guess Nintendo doesn't want my money this holiday season. Still nothing worthwhile for the 3DS...

Got my disc copy of treasure tracker on Saturday, great little game so far

Guess I'll start the new year without buying any game.

Then again this year is ending while leaving me a backlog as I never had in years XD

@BensonUii @Lord You are correct, there is no preorder for Captain Toad meaning that game, F-Zero GP Legend and Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones will not count towards the digital deluxe promotion.

I'm thinking of buying GP Legend, one of two F-Zero games I've never played (the other one being F-Zero X).

Meh. Bit of a crappy week for me personally. Had Cap'n Toad for days and I'm not buying another Fire Emblem til I finish the other one. Not interested in anything else (or already have them).

Still waiting on the Castelvania games tbh...

@BakaKnight
Who's in charge on Nintendo Italia anyway? He's incompetent POS. I'm mad!

Wish they would make a new fzero

@SanderEvers There's 2 GBA F-Zero games, the bad one is Maximum Velocity! GP Legend is good

Toad's on my wish list, along with 33 other games!

Toad

Well the Super Mario Bros U + Luigi U offer is not as great as it looks, you can buy Super Mario Bros U for under £20 new in most places now and Super Luigi U can be downloaded to add on to the game from eshop for £17.99 (or 18.99 can't remember) so even then it's over £10 less than this offer. Bought Super Luigi U last week from eshop as it's much cheaper than buying the disc if you already have Super Mario Bros U.

Got Treasure Tracker preordered from Amazon so that will arrive at the weekend, can't wait for that game.
Tempted by Shovel Knight at that sale price aswell.
Nothing concrete at this point though.

Sho-sho-sho-shovel Knight!

Nothing much interesting there.

Interesting. I wonder if Shovel Knight will be on sale in the US as well.

FINALLY! Monster Hunter at an ok price, I might bite.

As a longtime fan of fire emblem i can say that you should really just get the seventh game as it's way better.

the reason i said nothing is because you can bye captain toad in game right now.

Was going to buy Shovel Knight tonight, glad I read this before hand! With the £6 I'll save I may look into a few of the other games on offer.

@Grumblevolcano 3 actually, the 3rd, Climax, is Japan only.

Nowt

I really hope the Slowpoke theme is based on the "Donaiyanen Yadon!" music video that was released a few months ago. It'll definitely be my first theme purchase if it includes the song.

@Angelic_Lapras_King I was only counting ones you can get outside Japan, it's not like Nintendo will consider to do that VC Hanabi festival thing they did with Wii again with this time adding games like F-Zero Climax and Mother 3

The Slowpoke theme? Really?! Awesome, I must get that. XD

It must be said, this is a terrible week and a horrible way to end/start the year. So frustrating having to sit on your eShop credit for months on end waiting for something half decent. I guess I should just wait for Majora's Mask...

I would urge anyone looking at the super Mario U and Luigi U deal to think twice. Great games but that is NOT a good deal. Mario U can be picked up for as little as £10 from HotUkDeals.com and I'm betting Luigi U be picked up for around the same if not a bit more.

I guess I'll go for Shovel Knight, I was about to buy it but spend that money on Shin migami tensei Devil Survivor overclocked guess it was a good choice

@Grumblevolcano I understand I just assumed you could pre order like smash. I thought I had read they were rolling pre order out. Or is it download codes from Nintendo store. Co.uk

@Lord Smash was an exception because of the large file size, I guess preorder from the eshop will only be present for those larger size games (Captain Toad is less than 2GB so very small). As for download codes, you won't be able to redeem them until 2nd January which would be too late for the digital deluxe promotion.

That's a disappointing selection for the 3ds. I've already got shovel knight and monster hunter.

I've had a physical PAL copy of Captain Toad for a week now (thanks, shopto.net ) so just Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones for me.

You guys in Europe should totally pick up Toad. I didn't know it was gonna be that good, but it is. You will be surprised how Fun it is too. The music, level design, and quirky sound effects are just the icing on the cake. There is a rich puzzle game with a style and charm all on its own. If you didn't care for those levels in 3d world (I know I didnt), I don't blame you. This takes that design puts it on steroids, gives it tons of replay value, and pizzazz. Which gives the game it's own feel. It is different from those levels in 3d world. This is Toad's game and this is a good one.

@Grumblevolcano Aye but who's handling the GBA games? M2, who actually put extras like pixel filters and manuals and went above and beyond with SEGA's 3D Classics line. And considering Nintendo's ecxhausting the NES line to high heaven even getting a Zapper game on there, I wouldnt completely rule it out, especially how well received Earthbound was (A translator for one of the Mother 3 ROMs even offered his translation for free and asked for nothing in return just so long as it got a release.)

@DrkBndr

I understood that the 3DS games on the ambassador program did not run that well and that they run a lot better on the Wii U. Something about the emulation of them. Plus I do remember there also being challenges when porting them to the 3DS.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones ?? That better be on the U.S. e-shop come thursday, too, or I'm gonna go ballistic. Coming to think of it where da hell is Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising ...
Also, they should think about finally bringing FE:Fūin no Tsurugi west officially. FE:Awakening, the whole Marth/Ike amiibo situation and the (hopefully still) upcoming SMTxFE should have created more buzz for the series outside of the Japan than .... probably ever.
I know quite a few people who were introduced to the series by FE:A and are clamoring for more, unfortunately besides the rather mediocre FE:Shadow Dragon there is little available to them on 3DS. Even those who own a WiiU are limited to "Fire Emblem" and Radiant Dawn, which is 1) not as good as Path of Radiance, 2) also a bit pointless without having played PoR first and 3) not easy or cheap to come by in most places in think.
I think Nintendo should capitalize on the rising popularity (at least relative to the past) of FE and bring titles like FE:Fūin no Tsurugi as well as the SNES games west. Fantranslation are available and could be used, could they not? I doubt anyone would be anything short of delighted by that.
A Path of Radiance/ Radiant Dawn "HD" collection (+ extras maybe, e.g. incl. a previously unrealsed GBA/SNES FE game) would also be absolutely splendid, I'd be happy to pay $60 for that, and I already own both games.
No idea how well the WiiU would deal with a ported GC game, but I imagine it can be done, it would just be a shame otherwise .... with Nintendo's only capitalization of the FE:A success being SMTxFE (2-3 years later) and two GBA VC releases. I mean .... that's just sad.

Definitely getting Shovel Knight!
Not sure which platform though...

Buying Shovel Knight, probably on 3DS.

@Deanster101 You'd be surprised at how expensive NSLU is now.
Regardless, this is still a terrible deal.

@Reverandjames what about fire emblem????? captain toad???????
f zero??????

Wow, Shovel Knight is finally getting a discount, I may get it soon.

@Webby-sama I would say even longer then that. We're still waiting for Donkey Kong Land while the rest of the world already has the rest of the series. I love Nintendo, but NOA sucks when it comes to getting VC games over here in a timely manner.

It took us almost a year to get Super Mario Bros 3 after everyone else.

Fire Emblem for me. Love those games. I just wish we'd get some kind of digital release of the Cube version now as I've never played it and it's impossible to get unless you're willing to pay over £100.

As I've already got Cap'n Toad, nothing this week.

@Ralek85 The Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn soundtracks are coming out in Japan in early March so I'm thinking something may be revealed regarding those 2 games soon (New 3DS "exclusive" maybe?)

Shovel knight for me, was waiting for a sale

Captain Toad is so awesome Enjoy my bros in Europe!

I hope NA will get a Luigi U sale.

I hope Nintendo moves the North American download day up to the 31st, so I can take advantage of a discount or two before the DDP ends.

New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U are and have both been under £15 each from multiple retailers and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is between £28-£30 from several retailers, The Shovel Knights are tempting though.

@Grumblevolcano I stumpled upon the soundtracks on amiami just yesterday. At first I thought the 2015 release date had to be some kind of mistake, but apparently it's not.
I hope you're right and there might be something more to it.
If there were to be a N3DS exclusive, I'd finally have a definite reason to get one. I just hope it's not a port of PoR and/or RD. From the looks of the few snippets of video we got for Xenoblade N3DS, it seems to be quite a bit of a visual downgrade.
RD and especially PoR might fare better, since neither seemed overly taxing in terms of visuals but still, I'd rathr have a) a new one or b) a port/ localization of older ones in some kind of collection on the 3DS, or on the WiiU side of things, a) a new one or b) the aforementioned collection of PoR and RD.
Most importanly, I just want Nintendo to take advantage of the great reception of Awakening. I'm still horrified by the fact, that if FE:A had failed, FE might have ended forever (probably even making the subsequent VC releases unlikely). I think quite a few FE:A buyers are in the market for more quality FE experiences, and this is also a great opportunity to introduce those same players to Advance Wars. If they just let this opportunity slipp-by completely, I'd hold it against them forever.

@Grumblevolcano I would hope they have them on the older 3DS models as well. One is a Gamecube game, the other is a Wii game that I don't think pushed the limits of the system that much.

No real reason to cut off older 3DS owners.

I can understand Xenoblade since that game pushed the Wii to its limits, but if DKCR can make it onto the 3DS with no problems, then POR and RD should have no issue either.

At the least, they are much smaller games then Awakening is.

And yet another week without Azure Striker Gunvolt or a "Pay 20 Euros, get a region-free mode for your 3DS" function.

It's like Nintendo is allergic to moneys or something.

If the Shovel Knight deal becomes applicable to North America this Thursday, I might just pick it up.

@stanleecroup Maybe that's your problem- treating VC games a if they are "rewards" from daddy Nintendo to the favorite children.

It's ok to be upset about wanting GBA games on 3DS, but not to hate on Wii U owners out of envy. GBA on Wii U has nothing to do with 3DS at all. They are separate systems and the games being on Wii U are not what's keeping you from playing them. Neither are they "rewards". Wii U has Virtual Console as a system feature and can easily emulate GBA so there's no reason the games shouldn't be on Wii U, and like the Wii before it, the goal is to provide a diverse offering. We'd all like GBA on 3DS, but that doesn't mean getting mad because Wii U has them.

Sometimes I think people would rather see NO ONE get to play GBA games, just because they can't.

@Scary_Old_Lady Does it really matter? I got pikachu and all the AC ones but now I want slowpoke badly thought it wasn't gonna come across the pond or w/e

I'd even pay $10 for the slowpoke theme its THAT GOOD.

Was so close to ordering Shovel Knight in order to top up my premium points before the cut off. Thought I'd wait it out in the hope of a discount and use my voucher for a future purchase. Alas, a week later and I'll be able to pick it up for much cheapness.

@Caryslan It depends how it would be implemented, sure if the 2 games are on separate cartridges/downloads like Bayonetta 1+2 the standard 3DS and XL could work as shown by DKCR3D (that even includes an extra world onto the main game). But if they combine the 2 games into one package like Metroid Prime Trilogy then I'm not sure the standard 3DS and XL could cope with it of which New 3DS only may be the sensible option.

@OneBagTravel Captain Toad is really good!

@Uberchu I don't think you get the joke.

@SeVok I've been asking the same question... If they wanted it that way, they could have at least done a"buy on your wii u and play anywhere on your DS" so we could play on both for one great price!

@Platypus101 @SeVok Wait for the NEW 3DS. Word of mouth said, that there were a few hicups when it came to emulation.
The thing is, Nintendo is very keep about games running pretty much like the original game did. Thats why the SNES version of Yoshis Island never saw the light of day on any VC, since its almost impossible to emulate 100% accurate.
And i know that many people say "well, a few errors are better than not having the game at all" which is fine for free emulators, but not for sold products. That would open up a whole other can of worms.

With the N3DS being a tad stronger hardware wise, its quite possible that this might be the push that was needed, to get emulation of GBA games running properly on the system.
Dont hold your breath about it, but its possible. As of now, like i said, its "rumored" that many games simply refused to run at the needed quality threshold.
The Ambassador games for example arent run in the normal VC enviroment. They block out the VC menu and seem to run in their own, dedicated "faux GBA" mode. It might be a leftover of the built in DS architecture that is used here, which is more of a workaround than anything else (much like a slot 2 flash card, that temporary writes the whole rom into the cards ram bank)

@Einherjar
Yes and they can't go into sleep mode either, if you close the system the battery drain is the same.

If my 3DS hadn't been stolen, and it was coming to NA, I'd love to get that NES Bowser theme (I love Bowser), although it also depends on what the theme actually looks like first. The music would probably be Bowser's castle.

I have Fire Emblem Sacred Stones already on my 3DS. It's where the GBA games should be.

@ZenTurtle Not really, if you think about it the Gamepad is pretty much a larger GBA with extra buttons in terms of appearance so on Wii U is perfectly justifiable.

@Einherjar
It's run in DS mode, but it is should be possible to run the GBA games native or semi-native on 3DS hardware, as both are variations of ARM architecture. If they can emulate the GBA games on Wii U, then they could of course get it to work on the 3DS 'properly'. It might be slightly difficult, but it can be done, and even releasing some of the other GBA games running in the GBA user mode that the Ambassador games use would be something. Usually, for emulation, the console needs to be 10 times more powerful, and the 3DS is more than sufficient in that aspect, however you may be correct about the New 3DS and rumours surrounding GBA games...

@Grumblevolcano
Just to clarify what I meant was that they should be on 3DS too, as a handheld is a more natural player of handheld games, although playing them on the controller is no doubt quite comfortable. I just think that they ought to be on the 3DS too, just as the GameCube and N64 games should be on Wii U.

@ZenTurtle Oh, my bad. I thought you were saying it should only be on 3DS

Toad is awesome. Contemplating getting it right away, but probably waiting as there's too much to play as it is:)

I have my fingers crossed every Monday reading this and hoping to see Castlevania GBA games sniff Maybe next week sniff

@BensonUii
If you are talking of the delay of Captain Toad, I don't think Nintendo Italy have any fault; our delay is been caused by a problem with retailers and (right or wrong) they have huge rights in having their sales protected.

In this situation it really feel wrong to my modest advice, but I doubt Nintendo Italy could do anything; I'm afraid it was basically forced to delay both phisical and digital release.

@Caryslan I know it may have felt like "almost a year" but NA got Super Mario Bros 3 less than four months after Europe. I think we'll see at least the first Donkey Kong Land game before the end of January, which would put it around the same wait time.

Physical copy of Super Luigi U £9.99 at Smyths Toys in UK.

Probably Captain Toad, but retail. I wish Cube Creator 3D's demo would come out in Europe though

Monster hunter 3 Ultimate for £20 is a killer deal. Still the most content-packed game you can get on both systems and the value for money is excellent.

I was just about to get shovel knight,might as well wait now

"Maybe next week" is a common phrase we've been saying every week since 2007.

Now this is more like it Nintendo, more classic titles next week please!

I want a Slowpoke theme!

THEY NEED TO PUT THE AMBASSADOR PROGRAM ON THE ESHOP!

goodnight

@ZenTurtle Thats exactly what i meant.
"Even running like the ambassador games would be something"
Again, for a free product, yes, but not for a paid one.
If these games are not up to par, Nintendo cant charge you with the full price. And if they cant charge the full price, they are simply not worth it.
Everything else would just get them "i payed for this ?" territory.

What most people dont get is Nintendos approach towards emulation and the difference between "homebrew" emulators.
First off, Nintendos VC games are pretty much perfect compared to their original forms. Thats why the PAL VC games used to run at slower speeds, something, most PC emulators correct by default.
Next, just look at their file sice. The average WiiU VC GBA game is about 100MB while ROM dumps average at about 10MB.
So you have 90MB of emulation software catered specifically towards this one game +buffer reserves for sleep mode.
That means, that we are not dealing with an all purpose emulator build into the systems OS (like the abyssmal PS1 emulation on the PSP) but with stand alone applications.

This takes a lot of work to put together, ensuring the best emulation quality. Everything less just doesnt cut it.
Hacking together a few barely running GBA titles on the 3DS that might or might not work flawless means they need a hefty price cut.
That brings two problems with it: It offsets the WiiU VC prices and they are simply not profitable for the amount of manpower it takes to get them to work decently.

So i personally can perfectly understand their standpoint of "it either reaches a certain standard or it doesnt get considered at all"
Half affed software is Ubis expertise.

And compared to PC emulation: If youre not paying for something, you can live with certain "problems" much more easily.
Lets pick Golden Sun for instance. Would you pay full price (7€ for us) for a version, that may stutter during fights ? If you play it on your cellphone, no big deal. You didnt pay, you cant argue about issues.
But as soon as money is involved, the game better runs as its supposed to be.

looks good

Hm...
I got Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on my 3DS, but was allways annoyed by the not-functioning onlinemode. At the moment I live in a flat, where it is really not quite possible to connect via lan cable.
When Monster Hunter 4 was announced I was hoping it would come to Wii U and that I could buy the new version instead.
Now this really is a difficult decision. The offer is tempting, the price is nice, my backlog enormous...so many other things to do and play.....aaaargh!

@JaxonH I don't hate wii u owners I don't like the fact that all the gba games are only released on wii u.
I have the ambassador games and they work perfectly fine uf not better than on an actual gba.
I wish that nintendo would share and they might make a bit of money as well.
Im not out to spite anyone and I dont tjink that no one should beable to own gba games if I can't. They should be available to all.

@stanleecroup

I completely understand. And I agree.

Bugger. Just shelled out for shovel knight 🙀

Cool. Enjoy the DKC Trilogy, Golden Sun: Lost Age and early access to another Fire Emblem.. while complaining that the sky is blue and that, after dozens of indies decided to swarm the eShop, the first truly inconsequential week of the new year still gives a quality retail release. But yeah, there's NOTHING. I voted nothing, because I'm in NA, where we're still getting jobbed to the Euro crowd.
Nice Club Nintendo gear. Guess I'll try and save enough coins for a grossly overpriced t-shirt..

I find Nintendo takes Marvelous AQL's approach to porting and 'emulation'.
What I mean is, when Muramasa was being carted over to the Vita, the devs didn't want it on another console, as they felt like it was wasting resources. They chose portable because they considered that any game they had should be able to be experienced both on a TV and on the go. They chose the Vita for the screen (OLED) and for the improved resolution.
The game could have sold ten times the copies on the PS3, but they argued that, if you wanted the home console version, you would own the console it came out on.
It's the same with Sony and Microsoft. They have many different platforms, but certain titles are platform exclusive. They try and feed as many channels as possible, and the quality of the ports have suffered tremendously in the past (PS1 emulation on the PS3 and PSP, PS2 emulation on the PS3, Xbox emulation on the 360), so much so that Sony and Microsoft have foregone those avenues entirely, instead re-rolling them out with their PS Now and Live services.
Really, everyone's doing it. It's just more noticeable with Nintendo, as there isn't a sea of crappy retail discs to wade through before settling on VC.

It seems F-Zero GP Legend is missing, this is rather annoying!

@Grumblevolcano The Miiverse community seems to be up though. Odd. I was really looking forward to it to. Hopefully it will be up soon.

@SanderEvers Thanks for the heads up!