Topic: Japan eShop Round-Up (08/22/2012)

[the_dan_x]

After a week off, the eShop is back in Japan.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/31409

After a week off for the Obon holiday in Japan, Nintendo is now back to a regular stream of game releases and content. Here’s what arrived this week in Japan:

3DS Downloadable Titles

Dungeon RPG Pikudan 2 – 500 yen
Hyper Paddle Block Rusher – 500 yen

Virtual Console

Balloon Fight (Famicom) – 500 yen
Yoshi no Tamago (Yoshi’s Egg, Famicom) – 500 yen

Video Content

In terms of video content, there really isn’t a whole lot going on in the eShop this week. There’s a short trailer for the recently released Dungeon RPG Pikudan 2, which showcases some of the in-game visuals and battles. I haven’t played the first title in the series, but it was interesting to see that the dungeon crawling took place from a first-person perspective, as did the battles. It seems to be a straight-up, old-school RPG. The second video was a nearly two-minute long trailer for Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers for the 3DS. The trailer mainly showed off what I’m assuming is some in-game cut scenes, which look incredible. The trailer also introduced all the different characters from the game.

Software Impressions

Since I’m not really interested in any of the titles released this week, and since I’ve already touched (and wasn’t overly fond of) the Nintendo Ambassador games that were released this week, I went back to a game I picked up last month: Super Mario Bros. 2, also known as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. As many of you know, this is the direct sequel to the original Super Mario Bros. that wasn’t released in the West until it made an appearance on the Super Nintendo (and later the Wii Virtual Console) on Super Mario All-Stars. Although the past releases have offered the ability to save your game, it wasn’t until the release on the 3DS last month that players now have the ability to play the game with save states. Being a pretty freakin’ hard game, this addition is definitely welcome.

I haven’t gotten too terribly far in the game, even though I have the ability to save anywhere I need. When I was an elementary school student, this was the only game on the collection that I didn’t spend a whole lot of time with, and mainly just watched my older brother beat. It’s just as hard as I remember. What’s great about the game is that even though it is extremely familiar, the familiarity is only with the assets and enemies. As you know, the levels are all new and definitely a lot more challenging the original game. I’m going to keep pressing on, though. Outside of Super Mario Galaxy 2 (which I have yet to purchase), this is the only mainline Mario title I have never beaten. Thanks to the save states, I think if this game comes stateside, it would be a worthwhile purchase for those who have never managed to beat it. 

[dave.rodriguez]

I bought the  Super Mario All-Stars on wii (the 25th anniversary disc) and played super mario bros: lost levels for the first time and was able to beat it. Although it was indeed more difficult than the original super mario, I think in general everyone exaggerates on how hard the game is. There are way harder games than this one.

[MegaByte]

Sure, but the Famicom version is harder.