Citizens of Earth will reportedly be removed from the Japanese 3DS eShop at the end of this month. At the time of writing, a reason for its removal has not been provided. The game was originally released in 2015 on both the 3DS and Wii U and draws inspiration from Nintendo's EarthBound / Mother series. Right now, it's unknown if the game will also be removed from the 3DS eShop in Europe and North America.
Interestingly, this is not the first time the game has been removed from Nintendo's digital storefront. You might recall how a homebrew exploit was discovered in the 3DS version in 2016. It resulted in Nintendo immediately pulling the game from the eShop and this followed with the local publisher Atlus re-releasing the game two and a half months later.
So, if you're eager to try this out on the 3DS after all these years, now might be a good time to download it, just in case it is removed from the local eShop as well.
What do you make of this removal? Share your thoughts below.
[source japanesenintendo.com]
Comments 26
Never got through it but I enjoyed it for about 4 hours or so. It's worth a cheap buy.
Another strong reason for me why i don't want digital download only games.
Once the games disappeared from eshop, it will be gone from eshop website forever and we cannot buy them anymore.
Here’s your chance, NL! Reach out to Nintendo or Atlus, and ask why!
"Digital is the way to go"
And yet you can easily find the game to install it on a 3Ds with CFW.
@607jf how dare you???!!!? this one of the reasons why modding is good and should be supported
@Anti-Matter It's taken down from the shop, not deleted from your system. Unless you delete it yourself or your system breaks, it is fine.
Though overall I understand your point. I prefer physical too, but physical games can break too, so...
One of the bigger issues with digital I think is how once it is down from a digital shop, it cannot be purchased again by anyone else as opposed to a physical game which can be bought used pretty easily in most cases.
This why I buy physical
I've still got it on my Wii U, so it's not an issue for me as long as I keep it backed up.
I guess I have to buy this before it's gone for good.
I liked it but I think I ran into some kind of bug or something and stopped playing.
@Quarth What? Actual journalism? You do know what site you're on, right?
Thank you Nintendo Life, I'm reminded I have this game and should find the time to play it. I bought the Wii U version a few years back when it was on sale.
The removal of digital games and closing storefronts is what makes me nervous of a digital only future. This is coming from someone who does play digital games in addition to physical ones.
@Sunsy At the end of the day, there is always a way to find old games. Digital only or not.
@Heavyarms55 True, but physical games can also be hard to find if they didn’t sell well initially. Try finding a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga for a reasonable price, for example. Heck, I’ve tried to find a copy of Skies of Arcadia Legends recently, and they’re all 70 or 80 bucks. But I suppose that buying an expensive copy of a game is still better than not being able to buy the game at all.
@LunarFlame17 Games like Panzer Dragoon Saga make me hopeful that Sega will do the right thing and make a Sega Saturn Mini.
@Emob Yeah! I've always wanted to play Sonic Jam, for example. And I don't think they've ever digitally re-released that one.
I was mildly curious about this game when it released but never have picked it up. Now might be the time.
Played this game back when Miiverse was still around. It was fun, but it got a little monotonous towards the end.
@Semudara Sega gives no love to the Saturn, you'll always see Genesis, Dreamcast, Master System, and Game Gear rereleases, but never any Saturn ones.
This game just really likes taking vacations.
I really enjoyed this game back in the day till I lost my save due to a game breaking bug lol (3DS)
Well the exploit was actually never fixed, all they did was a small tweak to make it not work. The person who made the original exploit released another one a few weeks later, but didn't make a lot of noise for it after to keep it from being taken down again.
@Quarth Just to let you know, I messaged the publisher last week asking why the game was removed and never received a reply.
@Liam_Doolan Good to know! Thumbs up! If you mention that in the article, it's even better. Then we know about your efforts.
I thought this was almost as good as Earthbound personally.
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