
Another week begins with the Nintendo Download Update details for Europe, and this batch is certainly promising. We have major retail releases on Wii U and 3DS leading the way, while there are also some highly promising download-only options to consider along with DLC, discounts and even a surprise LEGO season pass; let's get to it.
Wii U eShop
Shadow Puppeteer (Sarepta Studio, €14.99/ £13.49) - This is a platform puzzler designed for intricate solo play or co-op, as both a boy (in a 3D environment) and his shadow (limited to left / right movement) both navigate tricky puzzle areas. With a charming aesthetic and soundtrack this certainly aims to immerse players, and we'll have an interview and review with you before its release.
Level 22 (Moving Player, €6.99 / £6.29) - This sounds like a quirky title, as you play a worker that's a bit rough after a night out but needs to get to his work desk on time to avoid getting the sack. You manoeuvre 22 floors of a building, while avoiding being seen, all the while experiencing a "zany little universe". We'll try to take it easy tonight before getting started on a review.
Word Puzzles by POWGI (Lightwood Games, €8.99/ £7.99) - The latest word game arrival from this studio, this time around there are six core pen-and-paper style games with hundreds of puzzles between them, all designed to give your brain a workout. This also support all amiibo figures and cards, as scanning them will create puzzles using the name data stored within; we'll get working on a review.
PictoParty (Retroid Interactive, €7.99 / £7.00) - This provides a virtual equivalent to Pictionary, naturally utilising the Wii U GamePad for drawing while team members look at the TV to guess the image. Though simple and streamlined this is fun with a crowd, as we explain in our PictoParty review.
Sense by Play.me (d-mobilelab, free) - This is a subscription based "interactive web radio by Play.me which offers you the right music for the emotions you are living, promising a range of genres in its library.
Wii U Virtual Console
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Square Enix, €6.99/ £6.29) - A relatively early spin-off in the Final Fantasy franchise for the Game Boy Advance, for which Square and Nintendo co-operated. As the title suggests this is a tactical RPG, and we'll figure out a battle plan for a review.
Wii U Retail Download
LEGO Marvel's Avengers (Warner Bros., €49.99 / £39.99) - This one's going to cover six films in total - Avengers (which was called Avengers Assemble in the UK to avoid confusion with the cult TV show of the same name), Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World and Iron Man 3. The Wii U version will serve up HD visuals and co-op, and we'll assemble for a review. Available from 29th January.
Wii U DLC
LEGO Marvel's Avengers Season Pass (Warner Bros., €9.99 / £7.99) - It's a season pass! On Wii U!
Skylanders SuperChargers - Boost Kit (Activision, €1.99/ £1.59)
Skylanders SuperChargers - Super Kit (Activision, €4.99/ £3.99)
Skylanders SuperChargers - Mega Kit (Activision, €9.99/ £7.99)
Wii U eShop Temporary Discounts
Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations (Little Orbit, €19.99/ £15.99 until 27th February, normally €29.99 / £24.99)
Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends (Little Orbit, €19.99/ £15.99 until 27th February, normally €29.99 / £24.99)
Affordable Space Adventures (KnapNok Games, €13.20/ £11.80 until 4th February, normally €18.99 / £16.99)
Cube Life: Island Survival (Cypronia, €7.99/ £6.39 until 28th February, normally €9.99 / £7.99)
Wii U eShop Permanent Discount
TABLETOP GALLERY (RCMADIAX, €2.99/ £2.69, was €4.49 / £4.09)
Wii U Demo
Cube Life: Island Survival (Cypronia, free)
3DS eShop
Family Fishing (Aksys Games, €5.48 / £3.98) - This includes various locations and opportunities to upgrade gear and generally to "fish like a boss!". Naturally larger fish pose a challenge, though rather disturbingly you can "throw smoke bombs to disrupt your opponents and seize the advantage". We had fun with this one in our Family Fishing review.
Runny Egg (Tom Create, €1.99 / £1.79) - This is about an egg that runs, which explains why it's called Runny Egg. A fast-paced runner / platformer, you dash through stages as fast as possible while levelling up your egg, grabbing chicks for a power-up and even tackling the occasional boss. It's been perfectly poached, too, as we gave this a recommendation in our Runny Egg review.
Word Puzzles by POWGI (Lightwood Games, €8.99/ £7.99) - We expect this to be effectively identical to the Wii U version, and will also utilise amiibo on New Nintendo 3DS models or using the NFC portal on older systems. We'll think of the right words for a review.
Epic Word Search Collection (Lightwood Games, €7.99) - Previously released in 2015, this entry is likely to be an update for a release in Germany; we gave it a recommendation in our review.
3DS Retail Downloads
Final Fantasy Explorers (Square Enix, €39.99 / £29.99) - This spin-off arrival on the 3DS includes a number of legends from the franchises' history, as you tackle the adventure alone or in co-op with others. The focus is very much on basic exploration and combat, it seems, with some aspects of this one trying to tap into the Monster Hunter craze. We'll have a review with you very soon.
LEGO Marvel's Avengers (Warner Bros., €39.99 / £29.99) - The portable version of this latest LEGO title; a review is on the way. Available from 29th January.
3DS eShop Temporary Discounts
Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations(Little Orbit, €19.99/ £15.99 until 27th February, normally €29.99 / £24.99)
Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends (Little Orbit, €19.99/ £15.99 until 27th February, normally €29.99 / £24.99)
Barbie and her Sisters Puppy Rescue (Little Orbit, €19.99/ £15.99 until 27th February, normally €29.99 / £24.99)
Monster High: New Ghoul in School (Little Orbit, €19.99/ £15.99 until 27th February, normally €29.99 / £24.99)
Art of Balance TOUCH! (Shin'en Multimedia, €5.20/ £4.70 until 18th February, normally €6.99 / £6.29)
3DS HOME Themes
Etrian Odyssey Untold 2: Café Theme (NIS America, €0.99 / £0.89)
The Legend of Legacy: The Seven Adventurers Theme (NIS America, €0.99 / £0.89)
That's the lot for this week's update in Europe; let us know what you plan to download in the poll and comments below.
Comments 95
Still not sure on FF Explorers, but if I do get it will be physical.
Woah... a Final Fantasy game on the Wii U Virtual Console outside of Japan? There must be some mistake...
@kupocake
In that case there were several mistakes on the virtual console for the Wii.
Where is Minecraft story mode???????
My past experiences with the Final Fantasy franchise has been bad but from what I've heard the Tactics sub series is like Fire Emblem so I'll give Advance it a try.
Nice, I really love buying the lego games on the wii u for my kid, but when WB didn't bother to put the dlc content out for Batman 3, I felt kind of guilty. Season Pass for Lego Avengers though, much better.
Although, I guess Arkham Knight proves that until the content is actually out, I shouldn't hold my breath haha.
final fantasy tactics advance is amazing! i loooooved the game on the gba - definitely getting it here again
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance!? Instant download!
Affordable Space Adventures on sale again, this time better than before Xmas... I shouldn't have bought it then and I would have saved £2. Or rather, I should have played it after buying it.
@Grumblevolcano
FF Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift is my favourite game for the DS. If you can track a copy down, I can't recommend it enough 😍
Yes, FF Tactics Advance is a very nice game. I will buy it (again)
(Game Boy Advance Titles work really great on the GamePad. I am really glad, Nintendo releases them for the WiiU since I don't like them on the 3DS. The ambassador program showed me that GBA games don't fit for the 3DS since the position of the D-Pad is bad and the using of one screen is boring ; )
I hope we are getting more GBA games in this way! The price is very nice since even a used copy of the game is more than twice as much.
@Aneira No - the Wii had a lot of them - but the Wii U hasn't had ANY yet - so the poster made a valid point. We're all waiting for the onslaught of Square Enix Games on the Wii U VC - but so far - in North America - Nothing yet.
The discounts are weak again. FF Explorers looks potentially interesting but I can't see why I won't get that on a card. Still haven't played more than 10% into FF Tactics on the iPad, but I suppose that's a nice one too.
"Shadow Puppeteer" is the third Norwegian game on Wii U now. Previous ones were Teslagrad and Shiftlings.
That is a quiet shout for Final Fantasy Tactics. In terms of Square Enix releasing their games on western VC it's massive!!
You are right to expect Word Puzzles by POWGI to be identical on both platforms. It's so identical, it comes with a cross-buy deal, which wasn't included in this announcement. Buy it on Wii U and get the 3DS version (on a linked NNID) for free! Or vice versa!
Was hoping for Legend of Dark Witch 2. Can't please 'em all! I guess they did say 'February'.
Buy Affordable Space Adventures! I cannot emphasize this enough, it is one of the best eshop games available!
Can't recommend enough Affordable Space Adventures and Cube Life, particularly at this price; awesome games.
Final Fantasy Explorers is a must download for me!
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a tough one for me. I didn't really enjoy it back then, nor di I have much time to play it now. But if this game's seccuss or failure decids wether Square-Enix releases more Virtual Console games in Europe, I feel like I have to get it...
No demo for FFE huh? I'll be skipping it then, unless it gets rave reviews.
@kupocake A Final Fantasy spin-off. Even on VC Square-Enix can't give us mainline FF games.
No way am I paying €13.20 for Affordable Space Adventures. It needs to go well south of €10 before I'll consider buying it. Its regular price of €19 is ridiculous.
@vitalemrecords We already have Super Mario RPG in Europe.
Mine craft story mode is USA this week
Without voice chat FFE is not getting my cash.
@dethmart Not sure, frustratingly it's taking a while to reach Europe on Wii U.
Holy crap, Squenix publishing a Virtual Console game OUTSIDE of Japan? Dang, Cloud getting into Smash must have opened up lines of communication again.
Pretty disgraceful that LEGO Marvel's Avengers isn't even out and Warner Bros. have a Season Pass on day 1 at €10/£8.
@ThomasBW84 hmm hopefully next week then..
Forgive my ignorance but what is the season pass all about? Does it just give you access to all the DLC that'll become available?
FF week for me and Shadow Puppeteer but no Minecraft story or Space Hulk tho .
A FF game crossed with MH?
Sounds like my least favorite game of all time.
7, 8 and 9 were all pretty good games, but 10 isn't really that great, 11 is ok, 12 is unplayable, 13 is cutscenes and garbage, 14 is half decent and 15 (until it releases) is just vaporware.
And the MH games?
No offense to Capcom, but after like, 20 MH games (and 60% are Japanese exclusive) you'd think they'd have the cash for some better games. Like Dragon's Dogma or a new, not retro, Megaman.
I have faith SFV will be incredible when completed, but little faith in much else they do.
So when Squenix, a company whose own ideas are hit and miss, swings for another game's fences, I'm expecting them to strike out. Doesn't hurt it's on portable, but still. I'm doubtful it'll be much more than a (not so cheap) knockoff of an overrated, bloated franchise.
Pre order'd my Final Fantasy Explorers copy yesterday and the hype is real 😍
I could not get into Final Fantasy Tactics for some reason. I just wasn't into tactical games back them, but now I have seen the light. This looks promising that SquareEnix has release a game on VC. I just hope NA will be privy to there great library of the past. I am excited about Explorers. There does seem to be quite a bit of fan service.
Yaaay, Square Enix VC!!!
Roll on Secret of Mana and the SNES Final Fantasy titles!!
@Ventilator Finally Shadow Puppeteer has come to the Wii U. It's awsome that the Norwegian game developers supports the Wii U. Teslagrad apparently has done very well in sales too. Rightfully so I'll say I've resisted playing Shadow Puppeteer on PC in order for it to come on the Wii U, so looking forward to play it this weekend!
FF Tactics Advance is a great game. I'd recommend it to fans of the Fire Emblem series
Final Fantasy Explorers for me. Retail Copy thank you very much.
@Grumblevolcano Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is easily one of my favourite GBA games and I'd highly recommend it. I think Fire Emblem is a bit better but both games are awesome and I'm usually not into strategy games.
I know I'm in the minority but I really want Runny Egg.
So many people have the wrong idea about Final Fantasy Explorers. There are so many many things in the game that are not in MOnster Hunter. It will be its own game with a couple of similarities. It's online, and it has quests. Oh wait world of Warcraft is online and it has quests. It must be just like Monster Hunter too. Oh wait! Monster Hunter is online and it has quests, it must be just like Phantasy Star Online. Etc etc etc. Games have similarities but in the end they are there own beast good or bad.
@Chandlero I agree with you on the positioning of the 3DS d-pad. It's just really awkward to use.
i want the e-Reader Mario Advance levels to come out here.
@wazlon: Yes. And the WiiU GamePad D-Pad is just great. It is perfectly sized and the position is the best. I love it
FFE soinds enticing, but I'm too broke and too backlogged on games to get it now. Next New Year's, maybe.
@Chandlero If you've small hands the D pad is fine. I find it awkward for my thumb.
Nothing interests me this week, though I'll need to read the review of Final Fantasy Explorers.
About time Final Fantasy games started coming to Wii U VC. Seriously Square Enix why did it take you so long to localize vc games for the west? Most of them have been out in Japan for years now.
For anyone wondering about Level 22, I put the trailer here.
@kupocake Square Enix has not supported VC on Europe until now, right? I hope that means North America starts also to see some games from them
@Ventilator Great! Norwegian developers are about on par with Finland (Trine, Trine 2, The Swapper) I believe.
But still a bit remaining to the Swedish Wii U indie titles (Minecraft, SteamWorld Dig, BADLAND: GOTY Edition, Gunman Clive HD Collection, Human Resource Machine, Ittle Dew, Knytt Underground, Little Inferno, Stick it to the Man!, Year Walk).
If we count the Danish development as well (Affordable Space Adventure and Spin the Bottle), the Nordic lineup of Wii U indie games is pretty impressive!
Has anything been confirmed on Download Play for Final Fantasy Explorers?
I want several multiplayer-games for 3DS to play with my two boys, but I always end up not buying the ones without Download Play as 3 copies is a bit extreme for my wallet.
Buy the ones with a strong single-player part though!
FF TACTICS ADVANCE YESSSSSSSS
Good to hear that Square-Enix is finally appearing in the Wii U Virtual Console shop outside of Japan. Hopefully this will be followed by Final Fantasy I & II (GBA), Final Fantasy III (DS), Final Fantasy IV (DS or GBA), Final Fantasy V (GBA) and Final Fantasy VI (GBA). I will buy these in a heartbeat if they dropped on the eShop in North America and probably buy FFTA even though I prefer to original PS game over it.
Tactics Advance! Nice.
This pretty much guarantees North America wont be getting that game.
Idc tho cuz i already have it. Great game! FFTA is a better game to play than its original counterpart, which was on the Playstation.
Sweet Fanny Adams.
Here is hoping that since Final Fantasy Tactics is being released in Europe this week, Nintendo of America will up it's game and give us Mario Kart 64 or Super Mario RPG, though I would be happy if we also got Tactics here this week.
Regarding "Sense by play.me" look here:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/07/nintendo_download_16th_july_europe
Not for the first time available. It was taken down very soon after without any reason named. Do you have any more information on this?
Btw. this title exists on Google Play Store and Blackberry's Appworld without being available there for Germany. So I guess this Wii U version won't be available in Germany, either. Not that it matters as I'm not interested in this title itself. But to get to know the circumstances would be interesting.
When I read "VC game" in the headline, for some reason I thought for 3DS. What an absurd idea that was.
Definitely getting Tactics.
Slightly interested in Explorers but the gameplay I've seen looked a bit... boring... to me anyway. It's a rental then I'll decide if it's for me.
Runny Egg 😄😄😄😄😄
@nintendomasterr they have some on the 3ds but Nintendo forgets the 3ds now.
Everyone needs to get FF Tactics Advanced if they've never played it before. It's one of my favorite GBA games ever. FFTA2 on the DS is also among my top 5, so like someone above mentioned you should pick it up should you ever track a copy down.
Final fantasy Tactics is a must for me! Looking forward to final fantasy explorers as well! More games to add to my increasing back log...
Final Fantasy Explorers physical for me.
Are we getting Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy Tactics in US?
@Juma009 HAhahahah haha haaaa..aaaa..oooo. Good one
I've not played FF Tactics but I've played Suikoden Tactics and loved that game, and of course Fire Emblem I loved Gladius for the GC but couldn't get on with Disgaea. This may or may not be a game I'd love but I'm gona find out
What I was really hoping for tho was FF7.... especially after the inclusion of Cloud on SSB!
congrats and best of luck on the launch looks like a busy season for Nintendo.
It took Square Enix this long to support the Wii U's VC...
I'm still waiting for Chrono Trigger DS on it.
FF Explorers for me this week, physical that is, though.
I still have a physical copy of FFTA, though my DS lite no longer works, so I can't play it. Might have to download it at some point.
Hmmm I get paid shortly and I am stuck Lego Avengers and a season pass or Lego Dimensions, north of £60 is quite a bit of money to spend on a game.
I've had that music streaming app on my Wii U for months. It must've been removed from the Wii U eShop shortly after its original release.
Let's hope we get Final Fantasy Tactic in NA soon!
Nice that Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is coming to VC but still I probably won't download it as I already had the cartridge version and the original and love the original more. Just not a fan of the restricted law system in the game.
@kupocake you stole my thunder!! Lol
Nice ^^. Finally an aurally Final Fantasy/Square Enix and hopefully there will come a lot more to both the European and the American eShop .
(A goldmine right there you could say).
All this is supposed to come with the "season pass":
"The Season Pass provides over 40 new characters, 5 exciting new levels and, as an added bonus, exclusive access to The Avengers Explorer Character Pack."
It is quite a lot for ten euros, but all that should be included in the main game and not as day one dumb highway robbery dlc. One big reason why I strongly dislike modern game industry.
@Sligeach it's worth more than the regular price of 19 euros. One of the best eShop games in the whole Wii U line up. A true hardcore Nifflas game.
That current discount is a steal for a price and everyone should jump and get it. I hope Nifflas continues to support Nintendo platforms in the future also. This was his third Nintendo game.
@Kolzig Nope! No indie game on the eShop is worth €19. Especially not this one. Shovel Knight even with its massive publicity, support, promised future DLC and rave reviews had the nerve to charge €19. And its review average of 80% says it's nowhere near one of the best eShop games nevermind one of the best indie games.
I'm not downloading it but I'm buying Final Fantasy Explorers tomorrow physically. It's been a while since I've had a PSO-type game so I'll give it a whirl. It doesn't look like Monster Hunter from what I've seen so no idea why that comparison is made. It's definitely more of a standard MMO-style game
I am tempted on Tactics Advance but A2's gameplay is so much better and it doesn't suffer from the horrible law system Advance had. Too bad the story sucks in A2 so... yeah. There's that. I'll just continue to play A2
@EarthboundBenjy I want the e-reader levels too, I was so excited when I first read about them and suddenly realised it was for the US and not confirmed for Europe yet
@Grumblevolcano Tactics Advance is an amazing game with one BIG sour point: The Laws mechanic. Besides that and a meh story, it is one of the better strategy RPG's I've ever played.
I remember when Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was first released and damn now I feel old.
@jariw : Its quite a big bunch of games from "Scandinavia" on Wii U overall then. As for high rated quality Indies, Scandinavia is almost dominating on the console. Trine x, Teslagrad, Steamworld, Badland, Minecraft etc. and several others is among the biggest ones on Wii U.
@icebear80 : Teslagrad was even released in Retail in Norway, but probably a bunch of other countries too.
Which reminds me of Fast Racing Neo which should have been for retail too.
Anyway. The newest Dreamfall games by Norwegians was originally for Wii U too.. until Sony stopped that.
@scamander yeah - that is my point precisely. I'm waiting for the Square Enix games to come over here. on the eshop. Those DS remasters look pretty good right about now!! Or Final Fantasy Tactics advanced. Anything. Secret of Mana?
Shadow Puppeteer and taking a chance on FFE retail £22 from Tesco. Lego will go on the list too for when it eventually drops in price. I'm sure the cost of Dimensions sets can keep them afloat till then.
Where is minecraft story mode in EUROPE?
@dethmart I don't know. I'm also waiting!!!!
well I guess my point is moot at this point - Cool!!
Hey, one of the devs of Shadow Puppeteer here. Thank you for the kind comments on our game.
Just wanted to say that I'll be here to answer any questions you may have about Shadow Puppeteer (oh and I really reccomend FFTA :3 )
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