Topic: This Week in Nintendo Downloads

[Nick DiMola]

Activision shores up support for both DSiWare and the Virtual Console.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=18198

 This week in Nintendo Downloads brings a total of four titles, two for DSiWare, one for the Virtual Console, and one for WiiWare. Activision shows its support of the Nintendo services with the first third party DSiWare title and their first title for the Virtual Console.    

Mixed Messages, Activision's DSiWare title, is a two to twenty-one player game. Developed by Vicarious Visions, it is a party game that revolves around mixed-up miscommunication. Players sketch a picture to capture a sentence while onlookers try to decipher the original message from the picture. The game is not focused on winning or losing, but rather enjoying the crazy guesses that result from the depictions. Mixed Messages is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB and is available now through the DSi Shop for 500 Nintendo DSi Points ($5).    

Master of Illusion Express: Shuffle Games features a selection of card shuffle tricks from the original 2007 Master of Illusion DS release. Players can perform and learn all of the tricks with the assistance of the title. Master of Illusion Express: Shuffle Games is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB and is available now through the DSi Shop for 200 Nintendo DSi Points ($2).    

Party Fun Pirate, this week's sole WiiWare title is based on the popular Pop-Up Pirate toy. Players take turns inserting swords into a barrel that holds your captain. The player who can manage to get the most swords in without hitting the captain wins the match. Up to four players can enjoy the madness, all while using their custom Mii characters. Party Fun Pirate is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB and is available now through the Wii Shop Channel for 500 Nintendo Wii Points ($5).    

Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure marks Activision's first contribution to Nintendo's popular Virtual Console service. Players take control of Pitfall Harry Jr. who must rescue his father, Pitfall Harry, from Zakelua, Lord of Evil. Players will use both Harry Jr.'s slingshot and his father's journal through environments such as Mayan jungles, waterfalls, and deserted mines. Players must conquer thirteen levels in this Genesis version of the title. Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure is rated T for Teen by the ESRB and is available now through the Wii Shop Channel for 800 Nintendo Wii Points ($8).    

NINTENDO DOWNLOAD: PIRATES AND PITFALLS SEND MASTERFUL MIXED MESSAGES    

April 13, 2009    

The new Nintendo DSi™ system has been on store shelves for just a week now. Today Activision's Mixed Messages™ becomes the first third-party downloadable game for the new system. Mixed Messages is a game of electronic telephone that can accommodate a whopping 21 players. On the WiiWare™ side, fans will find a game based on the popular Pop-Up Pirate™ toy that might have players sticking virtual swords into their Mii™ characters. And classic character Pitfall Harry Jr. makes his debut on the Virtual Console.    

Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo DSi Shop and the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Mondays. Users with a high-speed Internet connection 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 Nintendo Points from one Nintendo Points Card must be redeemed in either the Wii Shop Channel or the Nintendo DSi Shop. They are not transferable and cannot be divided between the two systems. This week's new games are:    

Nintendo DSiWare™    

Mixed Messages (Activision, 2-21 players, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Nintendo DSi Points): Mixed Messages is the hilarious party game of mixed-up miscommunication. Sketch a picture to capture your friends' sentence, or try to figure out what in the world they've drawn. You might start with, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" and end up with "A crazy surfer outruns flying sticks of dynamite while his fans cheer!" Two to 21 players take turns writing sentences and drawing pictures to pass along a message. This isn't a game about winning and losing - it's all about the funny miscommunications that happen along the way. You'll laugh when you see just how wacky things can get. Get together with your friends and mix it up.    

Master of Illusion™ Express: Shuffle Games (Nintendo, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 200 Nintendo DSi Points): Master of Illusion Express titles are mind-boggling magic tricks pulled from the popular Nintendo DS™ game. Learn the illusions, practice up and amaze your friends. Master of Illusion Express: Shuffle Games will boggle your audience members' minds as they try to figure out how you know exactly what they're thinking. Also included is the bonus Vanishing Card trick, which the Nintendo DSi system performs for your enjoyment.    

WiiWare    

Party Fun Pirate™ (TOMY Corporation, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone - Comic Mischief, 500 Wii Points): Based on the popular Pop-Up Pirate toy, players take turns thrusting swords into a barrel that holds your captain captive, trying to see who can insert the most swords into the barrel. Thrust a sword into the wrong hole and you'll send your captain flying, which means it's game over for you! Unique Wii features add to the excitement, making for a fun-filled party game. Try swapping out the captain and putting your custom Mii character in the barrel for some real laughs!    

Virtual Console    

Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure™ (Sega Genesis, 1 player, Rated T for Teen - Animated Violence, 800 Wii Points): Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure is a side-scrolling action game in which you play adventurer Pitfall Harry Jr. in search of his father, Pitfall Harry. Pitfall Harry has been taken captive by the dreaded warrior spirit Zakelua: Lord of Evil. Armed with only a trusty sling and his father's journal, young Harry Jr. must now venture into the unknown to rescue him Â… before it's too late! Bungee jump and boomerang your way to safety as you battle through treacherous Mayan jungles, waterfalls and deserted mines. With 13 levels of fast, gripping action, you will need to be attentive and quick - or prepare to die Â…    

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.

[NWR_Neal]

Mixed Messages is pretty awesome.

And I remember owning Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure as a kid. If I remember correctly, it's a decent platformer that was kind of hard after the first couple levels.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I am going to start a Bubble Bobble Wii hunger strike, who is with me?!?!?

[Nick DiMola]

YES. WHERE IS MY BUBBLE BOBBLE?

Oh also, sorry for being so late on writing this one this week guys...

[TJ Spyke]

Mixed Messages seems kind of lame actually. I remember a retail DS game based on this same concept came out a few years ago and got nothing but bad scores.

Glad to see Activision finally supporting the Virtual Console. They are only the second western publishers to do so (after Interplay). With Midway set to run out of cash in July, I would think they would want to get some games on the VC to help them get some money.

[NWR_insanolord]

The thing is, though, Activision didn't publish anything good on any VC systems unless you count the N64, although I haven't checked for any of the companies they merged with/bought.

[Jonnyboy117]

Mixed Messages was fun... when I played it for free with pencil and paper.  There is absolutely no reason to have a software version of it.

[TJ Spyke]

The thing is, though, Activision didn't publish anything good on any VC systems unless you count the N64, although I haven't checked for any of the companies they merged with/bought.

They made some decent NES games. The only problem is that at that point in time the company was mostly publishing licensed games, which of coarse makes them less likely to show up (I don't see them trying to get the Die Hard license again, for example).

[AV]

while i know the pirate game is 100% kiddy, i wonder about timing on Nintendo's part. Seems odd since the captain of the ship was just rescued by pirates yesterday. whatever

[broodwars]

while i know the pirate game is 100% kiddy, i wonder about timing on Nintendo's part. Seems odd since the captain of the ship was just rescued by pirates yesterday. whatever

You know, I was so caught up on the usual idiotic WiiWare name I hadn't even thought of that, but yeah Nintendo's timing is pretty unfortunate in this case.  You'd think out of the sake of good taste they would have bumped up another WiiWare release instead.

[GoldenPhoenix]

while i know the pirate game is 100% kiddy, i wonder about timing on Nintendo's part. Seems odd since the captain of the ship was just rescued by pirates yesterday. whatever

You know, I was so caught up on the usual idiotic WiiWare name I hadn't even thought of that, but yeah Nintendo's timing is pretty unfortunate in this case.  You'd think out of the sake of good taste they would have bumped up another WiiWare release instead.

Yeah but you stab a pirate in this game.

[Jonnyboy117]

I think the goal is to avoid stabbing him...

It actually looks fun from the Nintendo Channel video.  I might get it if I had a little kid.

[TJ Spyke]

while i know the pirate game is 100% kiddy, i wonder about timing on Nintendo's part. Seems odd since the captain of the ship was just rescued by pirates yesterday. whatever

Off topic, but did you send a letter to IGN last month? I was listening the a  podcast from a few weeks ago (either Game Scoops or Nintendo Voice Chat) and one of the letters was from a "Mr. Adolph Vega".

[Flames_of_chaos]

Mixed Messages was fun... when I played it for free with pencil and paper.  There is absolutely no reason to have a software version of it.

Playing telephone is also fun.

[NWR_Neal]

Eh...Mixed Messages could be done for free, but Vicarious Visions put together a nice package for a simple idea. Every game is recorded for one.

[KDR_11k]

How about we get Bit.Trip Beat before we give you guys Bubble Bobble?

BTW, BB+ is a botched conversion, the bubble behaviours changed, making some parts of the game fail. You can get stuck in three block wide shafts now because your bubbles pop as you shoot them, forcing you to wait for the skeleton thing to kill you. I heard you can escape if you keep jumping and shooting rapidly and get lucky, didn't try that yet.

Pop-Up Pirate is basically russian roulette, you stick knives into the barrel and hope you don't pick the wrong hole, there's no way to know which hole is the wrong one so it's completely random. There's a second mode (SP only) that tells you how many holes near the one you picked are bad and you have to stab all safe holes but that's basically a retarded version of Minesweeper.

[Jonnyboy117]

Hrm, I thought it was a spatial reasoning puzzle.  If success and failure are random, that really kills the appeal for me.