Ambassadors in Gaming
At the end of July, Nintendo decided to try and stimulate the slow-moving 3DS market by introducing a hefty price cut to bring the console out of the range of second-hand XBox 360s and PS3. This was accompanied by many executives taking voluntary salary cuts, and promises of a loyalty reward scheme for those customers who had already bought a 3DS at its initial retail price. (A news article can be found on Videogamer.com.)
As of the 1st of September 2011, UK Nintendo 3DS owners that had previously registered with the eShop were entered into the Nintendo Ambassador scheme.
If you had bought a 3DS before the big price cut, you're rewarded by being given free copies of various NES and GB/GBA game releases through the Virtual Console. Naturally as soon as I got wind of this scheme (it was sent as a streetpass notification to my 3DS some time in early august) I visited the eShop to sign up.
20 free games over the course of September and October as compensation? Yes please!
Over the weekend, I visited the eShop to claim the first half of my games: the NES Virtual Console releases. The 10 games released so far are as follows:
On the one hand it means you do get the full classic retrogaming experience, and the games will suspend properly, but on the other it means that games without save files still don't have them. Metroid uses a password system for example, and whilst the 3DS does have an inbuilt notepad for scribbling down bits and pieces it gets clunky to do this. I'd have preferred it if they'd added a proper save system as well, personally.
The nitty gritty
The way it works is as follows: connecting to the eShop before the end of August meant that your 3DS had been flagged as an Ambassador machine and your account noted for Ambassadorship. As of September 1st, the flagged accounts connecting to the eShop will be able to view and download the Ambassador Certificate, that also allows Ambassador program streetpass notifications. The 10 NES games are registered as having already been 'bought' by that account and so you "re-download" them to the SD card that came with the console. The games aren't too heavy and so they download and install quickly, appearing as unwrapped gifts on the Home menu.
No word as yet on the release dates of the GB/GBA games half; even the titles in the release are not fully known yet. So far Nintendo has listed Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, Mario vs. Donkey Kong and WarioWare, Inc. They have been promised for release later in the year.
What's next?
Given that we've just had 10 new games landing, however, I don't think there's a huge rush to get the remaining 10. I'm certainly rusty enough at the NES games I did play (which wasn't many - I'm a SNES generation gamer) not to remember much and I envision plenty of hours of gaming ahead of me.
As of the 1st of September 2011, UK Nintendo 3DS owners that had previously registered with the eShop were entered into the Nintendo Ambassador scheme.
If you had bought a 3DS before the big price cut, you're rewarded by being given free copies of various NES and GB/GBA game releases through the Virtual Console. Naturally as soon as I got wind of this scheme (it was sent as a streetpass notification to my 3DS some time in early august) I visited the eShop to sign up.
20 free games over the course of September and October as compensation? Yes please!
Over the weekend, I visited the eShop to claim the first half of my games: the NES Virtual Console releases. The 10 games released so far are as follows:
- The Legend of Zelda
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
- Metroid
- Super Mario Bros.
- Wrecking Crew
- Ice Climbers
- Mario and Yoshi
- Donkey Kong JR.
- NES Open Tournament Golf
- Balloon Fight
On the one hand it means you do get the full classic retrogaming experience, and the games will suspend properly, but on the other it means that games without save files still don't have them. Metroid uses a password system for example, and whilst the 3DS does have an inbuilt notepad for scribbling down bits and pieces it gets clunky to do this. I'd have preferred it if they'd added a proper save system as well, personally.
The nitty gritty
The way it works is as follows: connecting to the eShop before the end of August meant that your 3DS had been flagged as an Ambassador machine and your account noted for Ambassadorship. As of September 1st, the flagged accounts connecting to the eShop will be able to view and download the Ambassador Certificate, that also allows Ambassador program streetpass notifications. The 10 NES games are registered as having already been 'bought' by that account and so you "re-download" them to the SD card that came with the console. The games aren't too heavy and so they download and install quickly, appearing as unwrapped gifts on the Home menu.
No word as yet on the release dates of the GB/GBA games half; even the titles in the release are not fully known yet. So far Nintendo has listed Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, Mario vs. Donkey Kong and WarioWare, Inc. They have been promised for release later in the year.
What's next?
Given that we've just had 10 new games landing, however, I don't think there's a huge rush to get the remaining 10. I'm certainly rusty enough at the NES games I did play (which wasn't many - I'm a SNES generation gamer) not to remember much and I envision plenty of hours of gaming ahead of me.