August 1, 2013 - The next big Wii U release is finally here! Pikmin 3 arrives in the Wii U eShop at midnight on Sunday, so be sure to have your wallets ready! Cloudberry Kingdom also arrives in the Wii U eShop this week, as well as Harvest Moon on the Virtual Console. Three 3DS eShop titles hit, as does the long anticipated Kirby's Dream Land 2. Disney Planes also arrives on the Wii U and 3DS eShops. Be sure to check out all of this week's updates at noon today in your favorite Nintendo digital storefront!

Wii U eShop

Retail Games

Disney Planes (available August 6) - Disney Interactive

Pikmin 3 (available August 4 at midnight) - Nintendo

eShop Games

Cloudberry Kingdom - Ubisoft, $9.99

Virtual Console

Harvest Moon (Super Nintendo) - Natsume, $7.99

3DS eShop

Retail Games

Disney Planes (available August 6) - Disney Interactive

eShop Games

Bike Rider DX - Spicysoft, $5.99

Family Kart 3D - Arc System Works, $4.99

My Farm 3D - Bigben Interactive, $7.99

Virtual Console

Kirby's Dream Land 2 - Nintendo, $3.99

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My favorite game of all time hits the Wii U VC huh? Dang. ... Dang.

I don't need it, I already bought it like three times, but... favorite game of all time! How can I say no to Harvest Moon SNES?

EDIT: If it's on the Wii U VC that means you can play off-screen, right? Is that in every Wii U VC title?

Posted by

-JKR-

on: 08/01/13, 16:35

Edited:

08/01/13, 16:36

Nice to see another Wii U eShop game up. Hopefully we start getting a steady stream.

Also, the Harvest Moon Miiverse page will give people a place to lobby for Harvest Moon 64.

Posted by

Jargon

on: 08/01/13, 16:36

Edited:

08/01/13, 16:53

@-JKR-

I believe it's a requirement for all Wii U VC games to have off-screen.

Posted by

missypissy

on: 08/01/13, 16:42

@-JKR-
Yes, every Wii U VC game can be played on just the gamepad.

Posted by

DeputyVanHalen

on: 08/01/13, 16:53

@-JKR-

Yes, it's off-screen, and has save states! It's only a $1.50 upgrade if you had it on Wii.

It's sat on my Wii and has not been played...might as well bite the bullet.

Posted by

ludist210

on: 08/01/13, 17:27

@-JKR-

If you have HM on the Wii, you can "upgrade" to the Wii U version for 1.50. This lets you play on the GamePad (and customize the controls!), and you get the benefit of posting screenshots etc to the Miiverse community.

However, you do lose your save files. So I'm a little conflicted on whether I should upgrade.

Normally I'd get KDL2, but I have it on the Kirby Collection already.

Posted by

TriforceBun

on: 08/01/13, 17:28

I'm thinking about getting Kirby's Dreamland 2 (since it's supposed to be far better than the original, but I'm wondering if/hoping that it'll be a Club Nintendo Reward sometime in the future.

Posted by

GameDadGrant

on: 08/01/13, 17:47

I'd like to get KDL2, but like TBun I have it on the Kirby Collection already. Also I generally don't like Kirby games all that much, so maybe I'll get it if it comes to Club Nintendo as a reward.

Posted by

rebonack

on: 08/01/13, 17:52

@GameDadGrant

It's longer, although I personally prefer the Sakurai Kirby games (DL1, Adventure, Super Star). The games directed by the other guy (DL2, 3, and 64) all felt a little slow and basic to me. But they're still pretty good.

Posted by

TriforceBun

on: 08/01/13, 17:55

@ludist210@TriforceBun

I'd do that in a second, but sadly my Wii died and it would cost much more to repair it than to just rebuy the games I actually played that I had on the VC. :(

The one time I do indeed wish Nintendo had a "Gamertag" kind of system instead of a lock-to-your-console system. Oh well, life goes on.

Posted by

-JKR-

on: 08/01/13, 18:04

-JKR- said:

My favorite game of all time hits the Wii U VC huh? Dang. ... Dang.

I don't need it, I already bought it like three times, but... favorite game of all time! How can I say no to Harvest Moon SNES?

EDIT: If it's on the Wii U VC that means you can play off-screen, right? Is that in every Wii U VC title?

We did a RGC on it a few months ago. I was actually disappointed by it. You're taking about Harvest Moon, right?

Posted by

sirmastersephiroth

on: 08/01/13, 18:06

By the way, all Shin'en games on the 3DS eShop are on sale right now. Great prices for Nano Assault EX and Art of Balance TOUCH!. ($7 and $5, respectively) Jump on 'em if you don't already have them!

Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! is also on sale, but I don't know how good that game is....never played it. Anyone have impressions?

Posted by

GameDadGrant

on: 08/01/13, 19:35

@sirmastersephiroth

It's understandable that people who didn't play it when it came out (as opposed to now, when so many other games have copied from it, and expanded on the format) wouldn't enjoy it as much as I do. For me the simplistic charm of it all defines the series and is the highest point. I know for many that point came with Harvest Moon 64. Not a bad game at all, but the SNES original will always take top billing in my heart. It wasn't as overly complex as future ones tended to be, and I liked that about it.

Posted by

-JKR-

on: 08/01/13, 20:44

I'll get Kirby, but I just got Shantae actually, so it will have to wait.

HM snes is good but I'd pay double for HM64.

Posted by

anon_mastermind

on: 08/01/13, 22:24

Just bought and played the crap outta Cloudberry Kingdom. It's... so good. I made it through 110 levels of Story mode before I made myself stop. IIRC, people had some similar complaints/concerns about Super Meat Boy, i.e. 'flash game' & 'masochistic', but IMO you'd be robbing yourself of one of the best platformers of the year if you didn't buy it based only on such reasons. The difficulty slowly ramps up in Story & Arcade Mode, and you can adjust it to your liking in Free Play. I will admit the art style is kind of plain or bland, though. But i don't think you'll notice or care once you start playing.
/rant

I almost got Harvest Moon, too, but there's just too much stuff coming in the next few weeks. HM would probably just get pushed aside.

Posted by

vinniebrock

on: 08/02/13, 01:16

I played Kirby's Adventure after KDL2....and remember having a way better time with KDL2. Am I alone in this? I think I enjoyed finding the rainbow cones or whatever they were called in KDL2. And the Super Gameboy support (which this won't support :( )

Posted by

PogueSquadron

on: 08/02/13, 06:17

@vinniebrock
Thanks for the impressions! I'm pretty intrigued by this game. It seems from this thread that not many others are.

Posted by

Anand

on: 08/02/13, 06:22

@PogueSquadron

I never played Kirby's Dreamland 2, but I've been intrigued by it. I'm not even a big Kirby fan, but this game always seemed like something I should experience.

Only problem is, Kirby's Dreamland 3 is an SNES game, so I won't be able to play it on my 3DS. Which is something I'm kind of upset about.

Posted by

GameDadGrant

on: 08/02/13, 16:42

@anon_mastermind

HM64 never released on the VC for whatever reason. Maybe if enough people ask for it on Miiverse (ala Earthbound)...

Posted by

ludist210

on: 08/02/13, 17:13

So I played the Cloudberry Kingdom (randomized platforming) demo on the 360 a couple of times.

It's... interesting. I'll give it that for sure. And it's smooth, playable, and even somewhat addictive. That said, I'm not sure if that addiction would ultimately be an empty one. There are definitely a finite amount of level elements that they're playing around with. The random levels would be perfect to waste time on the train, but I'm not sure that I want to run through 100 ten-second randomly generated levels on my television. Even though I just did.

I remember hearing that there is a campaign, which is... NOT randomly generated? But the platforming mechanics seems pretty generic (though competent and smooth). Granted, I could be proven wrong by the level design.

I love the concept (and details like customizable move sets (like, say, a jetpack) which the level generator then accounts for), but it feels emptier and less charming than something like Spelunky.

Keep in mind, though, that the bare, functional platforming challenges of Super Meat Boy also left me a bit dry. And everyone else seemed to love that. So maybe everyone will love this. Or maybe they'll just keep the demo installed and play that for their randomly generated fix.

One thing that I realized only at the end of my time with Cloudberry was how accustomed we are to the rhythm of a good platformer level. Like, we're used to being able to run through a level and have it respond perfectly, like clockwork. And watching the AI play through some of the trickier random challenges in Cloudberry shows a discontinuity that feels disquieting for those of us raised on a steady diet of Mario. But the easier levels almost DO feel like they have a rhythm. I wonder if that was intentional.

Posted by

Anand

on: 08/07/13, 00:53