Free GBA games for 3DS Ambassadors out

If you bought and registered your 3DS with the special Ambassador Program before August 11, you should now be able to download the Game Boy Advance titles that Nintendo promised to early adopters.

Those 10 free GBA titles include: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, Kirby and The Amazing Mirror, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario vs Donkey Kong, Metroid Fusion, Wario Land 4, WarioWare Inc:, and Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3.

To download the games, sign into the eShop, scroll to the left and jump into the Settings/Other category, tap the “Your Downloads” button under History, scroll down to find the GBA titles, and hit Redownload for each of them.

If you don’t have time or patience to watch all of them download, now would be a good time to try out the recently introduced Download Later option, which will grab all the games you’ve selected after you close the eShop and put your 3DS in sleep mode.

Buy: Nintendo 3DS console (Flame Red, Black, & Blue)

Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more

See also: More 3DS Ambassador posts

[Image via SSITU]

tags / ambassador / gba / gaming / nintendo 3ds / 3ds / eshop

3DS Ambassadors’ games, Friday release

Nintendo will release its GBA games for 3DS Ambassadors in Japan this Friday (a day before the Japanese PS Vita launch), fulfilling its promise to reward early 3DS buyers with a total of 20 free NES/GBA titles before the end of the year. The company hasn’t said if it will put out the same games in the U.S. on Friday, but it’s expected to, and has announced identical plans in Europe and Australia.

The ten free first-party GBA releases include the following (newly revealed titles are in bold): 

• Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones 
• F-Zero: Maximum Velocity 
• Kirby and The Amazing Mirror 
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap 
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit 
• Mario vs Donkey Kong 
• Metroid Fusion 
• Wario Land 4 
• WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgame$
• Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 

While it’s unfortunate that we won’t get an Advance Wars, we will receive a Fire Emblem, and it’s not like the rest of the lineup doesn’t include some of the best titles on the system. Minish Cap? Wario Land 4? All quality.

If you remember the Famicom/NES releases, we had to go through a strangely convoluted process to redeem those, so you might want to read up on how to do it again.

Buy: Nintendo 3DS console (Flame Red, Black, & Blue)

Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more

See also: More 3DS Ambassador posts

[Via Duckroll, VOOK]

tags / nintendo 3ds / 3ds / gba / ambassador / gaming / eshop / ec

Risks & limits of 3DS’s free NES/GBA games

Nintendo’s announcement that it’s giving out 20 free NES and GBA games to early 3DS buyers took the edge off its extreme hardware price cut — it’s hard to stay angry at someone offering you Yoshi’s Island: SMA 3, The Legend of Zelda, and more at no extra charge.

WoSblog’s Stuart Campbell, though, looked back at console makers’ previous attempts to win consumers with a flood of free games. Atari ran similar promotions for the ST many years ago, handing out two free packs of 22 titles, many of which were top-notch releases:

“It’s now conventional wisdom that the two packs gave new owners so many quality games to play that they didn’t buy any more for months (if ever), thereby starving the ST’s software market of sales and driving developers and publishers towards the Amiga and sealing the ST’s fate as the loser of the format war. …

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tags / eshop / nes / gba / nintendo 3ds / gaming / stuart campbell / 3ds / ec

3DS price cut to $169, NES/GBA VC games for early adopters, & more prayers answered

Four months after the 3DS’s launch, the system has sold only 830,000 units, Nintendo posted its first ever quarterly operating loss and cut its full-year profit forecast, and there’s a feeling of dissatisfaction amongst the general public around the DS successor. With PS Vita on the way, it’s time for a competitive 3DS price.

Starting August 12, the 3DS will sell for $169 in the U.S., 32%/$80 less than its launch price. Other markdowns:

• EU/UK - Unspecified price drop from €249/£229
• Australia - From $349 AUD to $249 AUD
• Japan - From ¥25,000 to ¥15,000

Those of you who bought a 3DS need not feel totally screwed, as Nintendo is rolling out early adopter benefits — 20 free NES/GBA games on the 3DS Virtual Console. This is the first time I’ve heard NES/GBA titles formally announced for the eShop!

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tags / nintendo 3ds / 3ds / virtual console / eshop / nes / gba / gaming / ec

Three GBA imports (not Mother 3/Rhythm Tengoku) that should hit the eShop

I know Nintendo has yet to reveal that GameBoy Advance titles will eventually be sold via the 3DS’s soon-to-be-launched (June 6 in the U.S.) eShop, but you know the company will do so at some point. 

When they do, I think they’d do well to throw North Americans a bone by giving us a few first-party GBA games — like the three below — that have never seen the light of day (officially, at least) in our neck of the woods.

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tags / bit generations / ec / eshop / f-zero climax / gaming / gba / imports / kurukuru kururin / nintendo 3ds / bryan ochalla / guest posts

Super Robot Wars J translation released

Did you know that every time a Super Robot Wars translation patch is completed, a Gundam gets its Wing? It’s true, just like all the other lies that grace this page.

Romhacking Aerie, which also helped translate Tales of Innocence in June, has released an English patch for Super Robot Wars J, which was never going to come out in the States for a number of reasons:

• It released in Japan way back in 2005, which seems like a century ago in internet/gaming years
• It’s a GBA title — you might have noticed that publishers haven’t localized many of these lately
• All the licenses would be a nightmare to negotiate for anyone who’d try to release it in the States

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tags / super robot wars / super robot wars j / romhacking aerie / imports / gba / banpresto / ec