In Memoriam: The 3DS and Wii U eShops (2011-23 and 2012-23)

The 3DS and Wii U eShops are dead at 8pm ET tonight. Long live the 3DS and Wii U eShops.

Things we missed last week: Taito's Bonze Adventure in the Archives and that's about it.

Ironically, there's a doubleheader of big games this week and one of them is a baseball game as MLB The Show 23 steps... Read more...

You can probably guess why that particular date was chosen.

It's Sonic's 30th anniversary, and his collection will be getting a lot bigger on the 32nd.

Sega have announced a "Plus" edition of Sonic Origins will release on June 23 to radically expand the June 2022-released classic Sonic compilation. The new additions will include:

Some of us haven't finished the base game yet!

The newest Fire Emblem's expansion pass is a brief engagement.

Nintendo have confirmed that the "Fell Xenologue" story expansion will launch on April 4 in North America and 5 April in Europe and Japan. The capper to the expansion pass for the January 20 release is a story similar to the Three Houses "Cindered Shadows" story.

As game developers prepare to confer, we have a serious case of thunder thighs.

T-7 days until the 3DS and Wii U eShops close; if you were waiting until the last minute to make your purchases it's coming. If you buy eShop codes and still have your Nintendo Network ID linked to your Switch, you can add them to the account here.

Things we missed last week: Namco's sequel Thunder Ceptor II in the Archives, Japan went from 29 games to 56 in one week of shadowdrops.

Let's face it though, you're just here for Kirby.

The basic Nintendo Switch Online libraries have received injections of new games tonight.

Two Game Boy games, alongside a Super Nintendo and an NES game, are now available via Switch Online app updates. The games are, in order of initial release:

The future remains cloudy.

Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, announced this morning that Microsoft have signed a ten year partnership with Ubitus to stream Xbox PC games. This deal would also include Activision Blizzard titles, pending the approval of Microsoft's acquisition. The acquisition is currently held up in courts, but Microsoft is confident the deal will go through.

Maybe the origins of Bayonetta will keep this week's Nintendo download press release from going into the spam folder.

T-14 days to eShop shutdown on Wii U and 3DS.

Things we missed last week: Turbo Force (1991 shooter) in the Archives, a canine-focused spinoff of the Metal Max series (Metal Dogs) which, if reviews are to be believed, can only improve on the last main series games, and a new Sherlock Holmes adventure from Frogwares (The Testament of Sherlock Holmes) now that the original ace detective is in the public domain.

Remember kids, always check your trademarks.

A game released on February 23 was recently removed from the North American eShop, and it turned out to be due to a name change.

Inti Creates have announced a new name for their action game that released on February 23. Previously known as "Grim Guardians: Demon Purge", it was quickly pulled from... Read more...

Now you can try the earliest adventures of the Umbral Witch.

Those on the fence about Bayonetta Origins now have the opportunity to try it without buying Bayonetta 3.

A demo is now available for the March 17 release in all regions; it is not yet known how much of the game is included in the demo, but progress in the demo can be brought into the final product.

Despite Dead Cells, Engage, Fusion, and Mario Kart - there are games coming out alongside the DLC this week.

Things we missed last week: Sky Kid DX was the Archives game, and the stupidest idea of the week - which actually requires a toilet roll if the description means anything - is Give Me Toilet Paper!

Despite all of the news of the week seemingly focusing on DLC (Dead Cells + Castlevania, Chrobin... Read more...

The old one was last seen doing a fair President Shinra impression.

There's about to be a change at the top of Square Enix.

The board of the company has announced a vote to install Takashi Kiryu as the company's president at the next meeting of shareholders, replacing Yosuke Matsuda. The meeting is scheduled for early May.

Kiryu was previously Square's director... Read more...

They weren't updating the games, so... down they go.

The main Wii U games affected by the security vulnerability disclosed in December have been taken offline, either for fixes or removal of the attack vector entirely.

Nintendo's network status page has updated with the below note for the 2014 and 2015 releases:

We have identified vulnerabilities... Read more...

For the record, your News Editor is an unrepentant Chrobin shipper. "Which one?" Yes.

Nintendo is apparently determined to get as much content out next week as possible, if a recent announcement from their home Twitter is any indication.

The Japanese-language account has announced that the third wave of Fire Emblem Engage's expansion content will be available on March 8 - this will... Read more...

The gang's... almost... all here.

Last month's six game drop of Game Boy Advance games for subscribers to the Switch Online expansion pack is about to become a lucky seven.

Nintendo have confirmed that Metroid Fusion will be the first game to be added of the announced Game Boy Advance games, and it will be available March 8. The 2002 sidescroller was the last original 2D Metroid for nearly two decades when it launched alongside Metroid Prime in 2002.

...surprising Flashback never came out on the Game Boy Color, but this may be the next best thing.

The end of March will see a unique take on the cinematic platformer hit the eShop.

Lunark, a previously Kickstarted game that began as mockups of a Game Boy Color version of the classic Flashback, was confirmed for launch on March 30. Details on the game were given in a developer video posted on GameXplain.

You don't need the Persona 5 or Phoenix Wright police when there's a paper trail.

Yuji Naka has pled guilty in his insider trading case.

The 57-year old veteran of Sega admitted during a hearing today "There is no doubt that I knew the facts about the game before it was made public and bought the stock", referring to the co-developers of the mobile games Dragon Quest Tact (Aiming)... Read more...

No games, but some new low prices on catalogue ones.

The day of the plumber is next Friday and Nintendo of America is going all out for it.

March 10 (MAR10) will be headlined by the launch of a new Switch bundle - standard screen - for US$299.99 that includes one of the "choose your game" options; the selectable games are Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super... Read more...

"Why then did they change the name?" "People liked it better that way."

The fourth wave of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe expansion pass is dropping just in time for Mario Day.

Wave 4, which adds Birdo as a character as well as eight more courses, will be available on March 9. The eight new courses are:

Along with everything else from the Pokemon Presents.

Other announcements from today's Pokemon Presents:

And your reward is clothes and a unique type combo.

The expansion pass for Scarlet and Violet is going to include a trip and a new exchange program.

Announced as part of the Pokemon Presents presentation, "The Secret Treasure of Area Zero" is an expansion pass for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet that will be available for pre-purchase later today. The... Read more...