4.0
Nintendo Reveals Final Five NES Titles for 3DS Ambassador Program
Nintendo announced the final five FREE NES games. Metroid, NES Open Tournament Golf, Wrecking Crew, Yoshi, and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link join the five previously revealed titles of Super Mario Bros, Balloon Fight, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong Jr, and Ice Climber. The NES games will be available for download on September 1, 2011.
I have a confession to make. I don’t really think I got cheated. No, I’m not thrilled the price dropped drastically so soon after I bought my 3DS but this wasn’t my first tech purchase. I know very well if you wait a little bit to buy you can usually get a better price and seriously, no one made me rush out and snag it. As for the 3D problems, I bought mine knowing that 3D can make me a little queasy and have been pleasantly surprised that it has not. The 3DS has this nifty slider bar so you can control the amount of 3D on the screen. I slide mine down a bit and have no trouble playing what few 3D games are available.
That (IMHO) brings us to the real problem with the 3DS. Flat sales were not caused by a design flaw issue or a pricing problem. While those factors may have had an effect, the slow sales and disappointing numbers are a result of releasing a gaming system with no software to highlight it. Why pay for 3D if you can’t play any games in 3D? Months after the handheld premiered we still have very few 3D capable games and the ones we do have are mostly retreads of previous titles.
Pokemon Black and White released a short time before the 3DS. Why didn’t Nintendo outfit Pokemon for 3D and release them as a package? Why didn’t they release Ocarina of Time with the gaming system? Did Nintendo truly think their customer base would be happy walking around collecting friend Miis and playing Face Raiders?
So they are giving away yet more old games to placate customers. Although no power in the ‘verse could prompt me to replay Zelda II, I’ll probably pick up Metroid, Yoshi and Legend of Zelda. Maybe Super Mario Cart for the ‘Bit. This is cool with me but there are always going to be people upset at the price drop. With rumors of a new handheld in 2012 customers are going to be even more upset if Nintendo decides to just toss the 3DS as a failed project and move on to the next new thing.
So how about you guys? Are you excited about playing your free games or so frustrated with your 3DS you feel like driving over it with your car?
Not too bad. Metroid and some Zelda never hurts any gaming promotion!
Metroid and Zelda are big in our household so I was glad they were part of the games package. Once the kid is done with Ocarina of Time 3D I’ll probably give the original Zelda a play thru.