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This Week in Nintendo Downloads

by Neal Ronaghan - December 7, 2009, 9:48 am EST
Total comments: 19 Source: Press Release

It's another robust week as Rayman and four other titles hit DSiWare, four games launch on WiiWare, and Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Shinobi brighten up Virtual Console.

DSiWare is front and center in this latest week of downloads with five titles, including the original Rayman. WiiWare has four new titles, while Virtual Console has two retro hits, one from the arcades and one from the Super Nintendo.

Rayman is the headline title on DSiWare, and is a port of the original game from 1995 with a few DS additions. In addition to the classic platforming, you can also use the DSi Camera, select levels with the touch screen, and compete in time trials. Rayman is available for 800 Nintendo Points ($8) and is rated E for Everyone.

Next up is Ball Fighter, from Polish developer Teyon, who also released Robot Rescue on DSiWare in November. This puzzle game involves dropping spheres to create matches, destroying other spheres in the process. There are a variety of game modes, ranging from Survival to a multiplayer mode that can be played on one DSi. Ball Fighter is available for 500 Nintendo Points ($5) and is rated E for Everyone.

The third DSiWare title, Pop Island, is a capture-the-flag game that is playable with up to seven other players thanks to DS Download Play. You can play as different characters, such as a surfing penguin or a waterskiing crocodile, as you collect power-ups and search for flags. Pop Island is 500 Nintendo Points ($5) and is rated E for Everyone.

The fourth game is Army Defender, which is a tower defense game in a war setting. Players start with a simple turret and upgrade their troops as the enemy gets tougher. Army Defender is 200 Nintendo Points ($2) and is rated E10+.

The final entry for DSiWare this week is myNotebook: Red, the follow-up to myNotebook: Blue. With five different ink colors and unlockable grid styles, myNotebook: Red is a note-taking application with a little personality. It is available for 200 Nintendo Points ($2).

WiiWare allows players to try to conquer stress this week with Abylight's Stop Stress: A Day of Fury. Players take control of Jack as he goes around his stressed-out life with a baseball bat, stopping traffic and suffering hallucinations. Stop Stress: A Day of Fury is 800 Nintendo Points ($8) and is rated T for Teen.

Dolphin training hits WiiWare with My Dolphin. Using the "magic stick" (also known as the Wii Remote and Nunchuk), players will be able to play with a dolphin and teach it tricks. They can also hop online and buy new dolphin types and toys to play with. My Dolphin is 500 Nintendo Points ($5) and is rated E for Everyone.

The next WiiWare game is Magnetis, a magnet-based puzzle game from Horse Life 2 developer Yullaby. The goal is to create large chains of similarly colored magnets, with the ability to play with four people in a variety of cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes. Magnetis is 500 Nintendo Points ($5) and is rated E for Everyone.

The last entry for WiiWare is Flowerworks from Nocturnal Entertainment. Promising a 20-hour adventure, Flowerworks is about a young girl who must recover seeds that will rejuvenate the world around her. The single-player game offers three difficulty settings for the main adventure, a tutorial, and a free play mode. Flowerworks is 1,000 Nintendo Points ($10) and is rated E for Everyone.

Street Fighter returns to Virtual Console again, but this time the Alpha series gets some time to shine. Street Fighter Alpha 2, for SNES, features advanced counters and reversals and adds five new characters, including Gen, Rolento, and Sakura. It is available for 800 Nintendo Points ($8).

Finally, Virtual Console Arcade gets another entry with Sega's Shinobi. Play as Joe Musashi as he beats up thugs and saves children in his own quest to rescue his kid. Shinobi is available for 800 Nintendo Points ($8).

NINTENDO DOWNLOAD: CLASSIC RAYMAN AND STREET FIGHTER GAMES LEAD A LUMINOUS DECEMBER LINEUP

Dec. 7, 2009

Maybe the holiday season has you grinning from ear to ear, or maybe you're already stressing out about choosing the right gifts for everyone on your list. Either way, you'd be wise to take a look at this week's new downloadable games from Nintendo. The latest Nintendo DSiWare™ releases include the original Rayman® - perfect for prolonging your jubilant mood or providing a respite from the season's hustle and bustle. Speaking of stress relief, this week's new WiiWare™ games include Stop Stress: A Day of Fury, which offers a truly unusual way for players to unwind. And Virtual Console™ fans now have two more classic titles to liven up their game libraries: the Super NES™ gem Street Fighter® Alpha 2 and the legendary SEGA arcade title Shinobi. All told, you'll find 11 new games added to the already stellar selection on the Wii™ Shop Channel and Nintendo DSi™ Shop. Whether you're browsing for yourself or a loved one, don't forget that you can also use the Wii Shop Channel to download five free game demos and try before you buy.

Nintendo DSiWare

Rayman

Publisher: Ubisoft

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points™

Description: The legendary first Rayman adventure is now available from the Nintendo DSiWare service. Play as Rayman and try to save his amazing world from the evil Mr. Dark. Discover a charming universe with colorful landscapes and meet funny characters who'll help Rayman through his quest. Experiment with his abilities as you punch, hang or fly in the air and choose between two difficulty levels. Take advantage of new features in the Nintendo DSi version, such as the Nintendo DSi Camera, map selection on the touch screen and the ability to play against time to win bonuses.

Ball Fighter

Publisher: Teyon

Players: 1-2

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: Ball Fighter is a puzzle game in which you take aim and blast groups of dropping spheres to create matches and clear the board. You can make chains to earn additional points or to make the game more difficult for an opponent. When you destroy spheres in a multiplayer mode, they will be added to the opponent's board, making his or her task more difficult. You can find special bonuses like a Brush, a Rocket Launcher or a Bomb, which can be used to destroy spheres or to paint a line of them with the same color. You'll find a variety of single-player modes, including Arcade, Survival, Brain Breaker and Player vs CPU, plus the unique multiplayer mode, all playable on one Nintendo DSi system.

Pop Island

Publisher: odenis studio

Players: 1-8

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Comic Mischief

Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: Discover a joyful universe where playing is always a pleasure with Pop Island. Colorful and fun, Pop Island is an action-packed capture-the-flag game. Pick a team to join, then run, jump and spin your way around the island in an attempt to collect the priceless flags hidden throughout it. Become a surfing penguin, a flying fish or a waterskiing crocodile as you go all out for victory, unlocking 12 more joyful animals as you rack up points across eight different planets. You might even end up competing as a skateboarding mammoth. Playing alone is plenty of fun, but the madcap action reaches a new level when your friends get involved. By sharing the demo of the game via DS Download Play, up to seven more people with their own Nintendo DSi systems can use a local wireless connection to join you for some head-to-head or cooperative action. With plenty of power-ups, you'll need to concentrate on capturing more than just the rival team's flag to claim victory.

ARMY DEFENDER

Publisher: MINDSCAPE

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Cartoon Violence

Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: Army Defender is an action shooter in which players must defend their base against enemy attacks by controlling a machine gun tower designed to eradicate enemy waves. As the player levels up, the enemy becomes more and more numerous and well-equipped. Attackers include soldiers, tanks, paratroopers, helicopters, jet fighters, bombers and elite commandos. Depending on the enemy type (red or green), players must switch between ammunition colors. The machine gun tower will fire where the player taps the touch screen. Power-ups are made available on a regular basis when a super bomber delivers them onto the base. When a power-up is retrieved, players will be able to upgrade their tower for a limited amount of time. Upgrades include flamethrowers, rocket launchers or concussion grenades that will help contain enemy progression.

myNotebook: Red™

Publisher: Nnooo

Players: 1

Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: myNotebook allows you to take notes wherever you are. Just pop open your Nintendo DSi system and jot down your thoughts. Make a list and cross it off, or even play your favorite pen-and-paper games (games not included). You can even personalize your notebook by drawing on the cover and changing the paper type with 18 unlockable squared and lined paper styles. Use the pen or pencil to make your notes or doodles, then erase the bits you don't like. With five ink colors, you'll always be able to make your notes and doodles look stylish.

WiiWare™

My Dolphin

Publisher: T&S Ltd.

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Price: 500 Wii Points™

Description: You are a dolphin trainer. Use the magical stick (Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ controllers) to perform in lifelike dolphin shows. Teach your dolphin tricks and have fun watching your dolphin swim and play elegantly with different scenes, music and angles. This game lets you train your dolphin, compete in dolphin shows and watch your dolphin swim freely. Using Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection Pay & Play, you can become friends with other dolphins that have different colors and personalities. You can also buy new toys such as rings and balls for your dolphin to play with.

MAGNETIS™

Publisher: YULLABY

Players: 1-4

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Price: 500 Wii Points

Description: MAGNETIS is all about attraction. Connect the magnets to create electric explosions. Solving this frantic puzzle will require quick thinking and foresight. Anticipate connections in order to generate massive chain reactions to win the highest number of points. To get rid of blocks and score points, you must create lines by connecting left and right magnets of the same color by using conductor blocks. The longer the line, the more points you'll get. Team up with as many as three friends in cooperative mode or play against them in battle mode and compete for the highest score.

Stop Stress: A Day of Fury

Publisher: Abylight

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen) - Animated Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

Price: 800 Wii Points

Description: Jack's dreams have become a nightmare, and only you can help him to get out. Climb into the skin of the most stressed-out man in the world, grab the baseball bat and prepare to let off more steam than ever before. Destroy everything around you, beat a path through traffic or at the office, and face off against incredible hallucinations. How far will a day of fury take you?

Flowerworks®

Publisher: Nocturnal Entertainment

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Price: 1,000 Wii Points

Description: While our heroine Follie is traveling to meet her auntie with a cargo of mystical Flowerworks seeds, her ship is pulled off course and crash-lands in a particularly dull area of the planet Elilia. Explore with Follie and help her recover her seeds to transform the world from drab to fab. You'll encounter strange inhabitants, some of whom will help Follie in her quest. Others, such as naughty garden gnomes, will hinder it. Flowerworks is a single-player adventure which combines blooming flowers, colorful fireworks, exploration and a whole lot of fun. The game will have the whole family immersed in no time, but be warned: Becoming a Flowerworks master is not for the faint of heart. Flowerworks includes Adventure, FreePlay and Tutorial game modes, with three difficulty settings in a 20-hour adventure.

Virtual Console

Street Fighter Alpha 2

Original platform: Super NES

Publisher: Capcom USA

Players: 1-2

ESRB Rating: T (Teen) - Animated Violence

Price: 800 Wii Points

Description: Street Fighter Alpha 2 explodes with lightning-fast game play and amazing innovations. Quick Move Reversals, Alpha Counters and the incredible Custom Combo System create a new standard for all games to fight by. Push your talents to the limit as you discover new hidden moves and reversals for every character. Neutralize opponents' attacks with high and low Alpha Counters and execute incredible Custom Combos to create your own rapid-fire assaults. All your favorite warriors are back for more. Previously hidden characters Dan, Akuma and Bison are joined by five new fighters: Rolento, Gen and Sakura, plus classic favorites Dhalsim and Zangief.

Shinobi™

Publisher: SEGA

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Mild Violence

Price: 800 Wii Points

Description: Here's a bit of helpful advice to all you criminal organizations out there: If you're going to hatch an elaborate plot that involves kidnapping children, don't kidnap children who have ninjas for parents. That was the big mistake that a group called Zeed made when it went after the offspring of the Oboro clan. Now Joe Musashi is on the hunt to rescue the young hostages and take out Zeed's leaders, the Ring of Five. As you scour each stage, leave no children behind - Joe can't proceed to the next level without freeing them all. With an unlimited supply of shuriken, his sharpened katana and his deadly fists and feet, Joe will show Zeed why you don't mess with family.

Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo DSi Shop and the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Mondays. Users with broadband Internet access can redeem Wii Points or Nintendo DSi Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel. Nintendo DSi Points can be purchased in the Nintendo DSi Shop. A Nintendo Points Card™ can be purchased at retail locations. All points from one Nintendo Points Card must be redeemed in either the Nintendo DSi Shop or the Wii Shop Channel. They are not transferable and cannot be divided between the two systems.

Remember that both Wii and Nintendo DSi feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit Wii.com or NintendoDSi.com.

Talkback

I never played the original Rayman. Is it worth $8?

And I'm still a bit incredulous at the "20-hour adventure" comment about Flowerworks. If that's true, that's a fantastic value proposition.

KDR_11kDecember 07, 2009

Rayman is a solid platformer but to win it you have to find EVERY SINGLE SECRET in the entire game. I remember it being fucking hard when I played it as a kid.

Maybe that 20 hour number is reached with grinding but then again SNES era RPGs can get that number easily.

Army Defender is a great timewaster, the price may seem low at first but it's actually very simple so a higher price wouldn't be warranted. The only drawback would be how long it takes to play a full match until you run out of lives (for a proper highscore), it's a bit too long for a commute.

Pop Island is from the guy(s?) who made Glory Days 2. The trailer was confusing but people said they liked it at the Eurogamer expo.

TJ SpykeDecember 07, 2009

Wasn't Street Fighter Alpha 2 notorious for being one of the only SNES games to actually have load times?

Luigi DudeDecember 07, 2009

Quote from: TJ

Wasn't Street Fighter Alpha 2 notorious for being one of the only SNES games to actually have load times?

Yep, in order to actually port the game to the SNES they used the S-DD1 chip for graphic decompression.  This is why the game has load times.

Of course this now means there's no excuse for any SNES games to not appear on the Virtual Console anymore.  The S-DD1 chip was considered the hardest SNES chip to emulate right and so now that Nintendo has successfully managed to emulate it, this means games that used the FX chip will hopefully start appearing to.

Mop it upDecember 07, 2009

Quote from: Luigi

this means games that used the FX chip will hopefully start appearing to.

The only one I would want to see is Star Fox 2 since it was never released. All of the others are practically unplayable.

BlackNMild2k1December 07, 2009

Is Street Fighter Alpha 2 the last SNES street fighter?

is there a SuperSF2A to follow?

I ask because I want to get a SF game but I don't want to buy one and then see the next and  superior version follow it a month or so later.

Luigi DudeDecember 07, 2009

Quote from: BlackNMild2k1

Is Street Fighter Alpha 2 the last SNES street fighter?

is there a SuperSF2A to follow?

I ask because I want to get a SF game but I don't want to buy one and then see the next and  superior version follow it a month or so later.

Actually there is a superior version of the game called Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, but it's only playable through the Street Fighter Collection which is only for the Playstation and Saturn.  So you wont have to worry about the superior version of the game coming to the Virtual Console because it can't.

Wait, actually it could.  SFA2 Gold was released in the arcades in Japan so there is an arcade version of the game.  If Capcom was to start putting the arcade versions of all the different Street Fighters on the Virtual Console, then there is a chance this version of the game could appear.

Of course considering that Capcom hasn't even released the arcade version of the first version of Street Fighter 2 yet, if Alpha 2 Gold was to ever hit the Virtual Console, it wouldn't be for another 2 years at the very least.

TJ SpykeDecember 07, 2009

IMO, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers was the best SNES Street Fighter anyways.

I wish Rayman had been released on WiiWare instead, i've never played the original.

Mop it upDecember 07, 2009

Was there ever a Street Fighter 1?

Michael8983December 07, 2009

Come on Nintendo make my Christmas by releasing either Mario All Stars or Yoshi's Island before the holiday season ends. I get the feeling the big virtual console release for Christmas may end up being Super Smash Bros though.

BeautifulShyDecember 07, 2009

Quote from: Mop_it_up

Was there ever a Street Fighter 1?

Yes there was but it was only in the arcades and I think you could be Ryu for Player 1 and Player 2 was Ken. I think Sagat was the boss in Street Fighter.

TJ SpykeDecember 07, 2009

The original Street Fighter is pure crap. Other than Ryu, Ken, and Sagat (who was drastically changed after); it has almost nothing to do with the rest of the series. The game is part of "Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed" for the PSP if you want to play it. The game was in fact ported to the TurboGrax-16 as "Fighting Street" (probably because Street Fightr II was at the height of its popularity and Capcom didn't want to taint the franchise name). Fighting Street is on the Virtual Console already.

EasyCureDecember 07, 2009

Quote from: TJ

The original Street Fighter is pure crap. Other than Ryu, Ken, and Sagat (who was drastically changed after); it has almost nothing to do with the rest of the series. The game is part of "Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed" for the PSP if you want to play it. The game was in fact ported to the TurboGrax-16 as "Fighting Street" (probably because Street Fightr II was at the height of its popularity and Capcom didn't want to taint the franchise name). Fighting Street is on the Virtual Console already.

i was fortunate (?) enough once to have come across an original Street Fighter cabinet at an arcade, i was excited to see what the original was like and... it was a beat em up? It controlled  horribly (probably not the games fault, it was an old worn out cabinet obviously) so i lost to the first boss which looked like Sagat and never went back for more. The only street fighter i can play is SFII:T

BlackNMild2k1December 07, 2009

No, the first one did play horribly. It was a shock to even realize that that was the game that started it all(the franchise that is). I played it once or twice and didn't look back to it again. I'd rather wait in line to play SSFIITCE across the street at the 7-11 or comic book store.

KDR_11kDecember 08, 2009

I heard of a SF arcade cabinet with punch pads, you had to punch them with varying strength to trigger light, medium and heavy attacks. Supposedly had shoddy detection and broke pretty fast.

The original Street Fighter was released on VC in the last few weeks as "Fighting Street" for Turbo CD.

Mop it upDecember 08, 2009

If the Street Fighter series was actually sequential instead of all being spin-offs of Street Fighter 2, what number would it be up to?

Really, there were only a handful of SF2 spinoffs.  The Alpha games were not spin-offs of Street Fighter 2.

TJ SpykeDecember 09, 2009

Quote from: Mop_it_up

If the Street Fighter series was actually sequential instead of all being spin-offs of Street Fighter 2, what number would it be up to?

Counting all the different versions, including compilations, there have been (this is kind tough because some have been released under more than one name, like Street Fighter being released on TG16 as Fighting Street), a ton: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Street_Fighter_games

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