Another one bites the dust in Japan.

The Flare Red Nintendo 3DS is going to be discontinued in Japan shortly. No specific reason or date was given. The Flare Red 3DS was released on July 14, 2011, the same day that Star Fox 64 3D in Japan.

This marks the second color variation to be discontinued in Japan (outside of limited editions), with the first being the Aqua Blue 3DS which was phased out in late May and early June of this year. 

Spelunking and golden greed go well together, wouldn't you agree?

Platforming is alive and well on the eShop this week, with Cave Story, Samurai G,  and New Super Mario Bros. 2 Add-On content available for purchase. While not available until Sunday, Pokémon Dream Radar hits the eShop as well, bringing Pokémon from White and Black Version 2 into your living room! Also be sure to check out what is available on the DSiWare and WiiWare services.

The game is finally making its way to the downloadable store later this month.

NightSky, developed by Nicalis, is scheduled to release on the 3DS eShop on October 25 for $9.99, according to Nintendo's website.

NightSky, which was released on the PC last year, has been in development on the 3DS for some time. The game was initially scheduled to be released earlier this year but was pushed back to later in the year.

If you shop at certain stores, you may have a chance to get some exclusive Skylanders goodies.

Several Skylanders Giants exclusives are heading to various retail stores, according to an anonymous source.

Each of the stores appear to have their own exclusive content. The following retailers will have this Skylanders content available:

Club Nintendo is offering a prescription for fun.

Dr. Mario Online RX is this week’s new Club Nintendo download reward. The WiiWare title can be purchased for 100 coins and will be available until Oct. 14, 2012.

Dr. Mario Online RX replaces PictureBook Games: Pop-Up Pursuit. The DSiWare game Birds & Beans is also currently available as a reward for 100 coins until Oct. 7, 2012.

Box arts of three GBA games were uploaded to Nintendo's media servers, but they could just be in relation to the original releases.

Game Boy Advance games might be headed to the European eShop soon based on images uploaded to Nintendo's media server, as first reported by the German site 3DS-Online and confirmed by Nintendo World Report. However, the box arts were added to the Game Boy Advance pages for each game, meaning that this could just be baseless speculation.

Nicalis's DSiWare version absent in advance of Thursday's eShop release.

The DSi version of Cave Story has been removed from the eShop in advance of the release of the upgraded eShop version coming this Thursday. 

When announcing Cave Story's eShop port, Nicalis told Nintendo Power that they may remove the DSiWare version from the 3DS eShop. 

The original... Read more...

New Mario and Animal Crossing themed hardware units will arrive soon.

Four new 3DS LL hardware colors, and three bundles, have just been announced for Japan. 

A blue/black 3DS LL will be released in Japan on October 11 for 18,900 yen. An all black 3DS LL and will be released for the same price on November 1. The new black model 3DS LL hardware will also be sold... Read more...

After a few Chottos, we are getting a bigger one!

Nintendo will host an Animal Crossing-focused Nintendo Direct in Japan this Friday, coming on the heels of the Chotto Nintendo Directs that happened over the course of the last week.

The Animal Crossing, or Doubutsu no Mori, as the series is known over there, Nintendo Direct will be a full-sized live-streamed event focusing on the upcoming 3DS release, starting at 8 p.m. JST (see detailed times below).

Save data CAN be transferred from cartridge to an SD card for use with the eShop version...in spring 2013.

Past retail 3DS releases will be coming to the eShop in Japan on November 1, according to a recent Nintendo Direct. You can also transfer your save data from the cartridge to an SD card to work with your download version of the game if you double-dip. However, that function won't be available until the spring.

Lone players can still expect to be jumping and running most of the time.

Rayman Legends will still be mostly played as a 2D platformer in single player with the occasional use of GamePad controls, a recent Nintendo Power preview revealed.

This news comes as clarification to Ubisoft's announcement last month that the game would be split approximately 50/50 between GamePad-leveraged... Read more...

Who's excited?

The first pack of downloadable Coin Rush levels for New Super Mario Bros. 2 will be available in North America on October 4. The three-level set is the same as announced for Japan previously. Each pack costs $2.50, and names for the levels are below:

Three-Pack Set (1, 2, 3) 1: Gold Rush Pack 2: Coin Challenge Pack A 3: Nerve-Wrack Pack 

Polygonal Iwata tells us to expect the same as Japan in a five-minute Nintendo Direct Mini. 

The first set of downloadable coin rush levels for New Super Mario Bros. 2 will be available in Europe from October 2. The three-level sets are the same as announced for Japan previously and will be available from the same date. The pricing and names for the levels are below:

Three-Pack Set (1, 2, 3) £6/€7.501: Gold Rush Pack £2/€2.502: Coin Challenge Pack A £2/€2.503: Nerve-Wrack Pack £2/€2.50

Fans heading to New York Comic Con will be getting their first hands-on with the 3DS version of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. 

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the Nintendo 3DS will be playable on the show floor at this years New York Comic Con. A company employee revealed the upcoming title's presence via Capcom's community website, Capcom-Unity.  

He went on to say that Capcom will also have a seperate room available... Read more...

New Super Mario Bros. 2 add-on content will be discussed.

A Nintendo Direct "Mini" will be broadcast tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. PT (10:30 a.m. ET), as reported by Nintendo of America on Twitter. 

The brief video will focus on details regarding New Super Mario Bros. 2 add-on content in North America.

Expect to download this game on day one.

Little Inferno, from the creators of World of Goo, is expected to release on the Wii U's eShop on the systems launch day.

Tomorrow Corporation, the game's creators, did say that this is dependent on them figuring out a few last details. They also announced that the first gameplay trailer would soon be available.

If you buy certain retail games digitally, you can look forward to an added bonus.

Purchasing select Nintendo download games on the Nintendo eShop can earn you Donkey Kong: Original Edition for free.

As reported earlier today, purchasing Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone and Crosswords Plus grants buyers the game for free. Nintendo has now added Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, and Style Savvy to the list of games that work with the promotion.

How much is Square Enix earning on their new endeavor?

Dragon Quest X has shipped over 550,000 units so far, with 300,000 of them having an active subscription. The report comes from the Anime News Network, who translated the information from the Nihon Securities Journal.

While the game isn't shipping the usual amount of units when compared to other... Read more...

Australian gamers can look forward to Penny Arcade Expo next year!

The Penny Arcade Expo, otherwise known as PAX, will be making its way down under next year.

In attempt to emulate the success of the two popular gaming conventions in the States - PAX East and PAX Prime, president of Penny Arcade operations Robert Khoo states that the move to Australia is less about... Read more...

In what regard is the Wii U's eShop said to be an improvement over PSN and XBLA?

Pwnee Studios, the developers behind the Kickstarter project Cloudberry Kingdom, told NotEnoughShaders.com that the Wii U eShop allows a faster turnaround process for games and updates than its console competition.

In regards to the Wii U eShop, Pwnee Studios has made comparisons to Steam, a PC-based... Read more...