It's set to be quite a busy week this week across Nintendo's downloadable stores, with a load of discounted retail downloads on the Wii U (perhaps because no-one's buying them), a demo of a most-anticipated rhythm action game, and more Monster Hunter than you can shake a Bruünhilde Great Sword at. So without further ado:
3DS
Of most interest on the 3DS eShop this week is a demo for the Pokemon developer's new game, Harmoknight - a musical adventure in which you leap, dodge and whack enemies with a giant quaver (of the musical variety, not the crisp), all in time with the song that's playing in the background. While the game itself doesn't hit the store until next week, the demo that hits the eShop today will at least give us a chance to give it a spin before we cough up the cash - which considering it cost a whopping 1800 yen when it launched in Japan six months ago, looks likely to set us back over £12.50ish in proper money. Ouch.
There's Pokemon songs included too.
While we're on the subject of extortionately priced eShop games, Pokedex 3D Pro is having it's price cut until the 4th of April, from an eye-watering £13.49 to a still rather painful £10.79. As a virtual Pokemon encyclopaedia that you, somewhat disappointingly, can't access while playing the DS games, thus rendering it almost useless, it looks set to remain the folly of the eShop. Other bits and bobs include the full retail download of My Foal 3D for £24.99, The Beet Party: Call Me Aneek Neek an 89p edutainment video featuring some musical beets rapping about the new vegetables that end up in their fridge, and a £4.50 tower defence game, Bloons TD 4, in which you're defending yourself from an onslaught of colourful balloons.
Wii U
Today marks the third entry in the NES 30th Anniversary promotion, which sees the release of a classic NES or SNES game on the eShop every month, for the bargain price of 30p. This month's instalment is Punch Out!!, a light-hearted boxing game that pits your pint-sized rookie fighter Little Mac against a whole host of colourful rivals - from fragile Frenchman Glass Joe to drunken Russian brawler Soda Popinski, and the mysterious title holder, Mr. Dream.
In other news: although it's not as much of a bargain, or even really a bargain at all, you'll be able to download the retail version of high-octane racer Need for Speed: Most Wanted U for £44.99 a whole day before it hits stores, bringing with it a whole host of Wii U exclusive features including a brand new co-op mode for two players.
Continuing the pattern of recent weeks, another two Wii U sales also kick off today, the first featuring games from Ubisoft. Seemingly, we're not the only people who think paying £45+ for a download of a game you can find much cheaper in stores is a bit of a silly idea, as Nintendo, and other publishers, seem to be doing everything they can to get their downloads to shift. From today, until the 4th of April, you'll be able to pick up the following games at a newly discounted price:
- ZombiU - Was: £54.99, Now: £29.99
- Assassin's Creed III - Was: £54.99, Now: £29.99
- Just Dance 4 - Was: £39.99 , Now: £19.99
- Marvel Avengers: Battle For Earth - Was: £39.99 , Now: £19.99
- Rabbids Land - Was: £39.99 , Now: £19.99
- Sports Connection - Was: £39.99 , Now: £19.99
- Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013 - Was: £39.99 , Now: £19.99
But that's not all the discounts front - downloadable indie game Little Inferno, in which your only goal is to torch items to keep yourself warm in the perpetual winter is down from £8.99 to a perfectly reasonable £4.49 - we for one think it should have been this price originally, but still. Unlike the other offers though, you'll have to be quick if you want this one, as it returns to it's usual price after just three days, on the 24th of March.
Yay! It's the Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace! All the cool kids have them.
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
While 2013 may have been declared the 'Year of Luigi', this week may as well be called the 'Week of Monster Hunter', with downloadable versions of the Wii U and 3DS games available for download at £49.99 and £39.99 respectively alongside their cartridge and disc based cousins. Somewhat strangely, one of the most lauded features of the game - the ability to hop from 3DS to Wii U and back again without losing your progress - doesn't actually come built into the game, so you'll need to download a separate application, cunningly called the Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Data Transfer Program, to shift your save between devices. Which sounds like more faff than it really should be.
Talking of more faff than it should be, the Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Pocket Relay Tool is a free app that lets you play your 3DS version of Monster Hunter online. Basically working by tricking your 3DS into connecting to your Wii U, you'll then be able to play against other Wii U (or 3DS) players over the internet - but as it, by definition, requires you to already own a Wii U, we're not sure why you wouldn't just buy the Wii U version instead?
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So that's your lot then. Quite a bumper week, all things considered - we don't know about you, but we'll be downloading the Harmoknight Demo and discounted Little Inferno at least.
