NINTENDO DOWNLOAD: CAVE STORY NOW AVAILABLE ON DSIWARE AND AS A WIIWARE DEMO

Nov. 29, 2010

While the rest of your home might be cluttered with leftovers from a weekend of Thanksgiving revelry, this week's downloadable games from Nintendo provide a palate-cleansing mix of fun puzzles and challenges to start your week off right. The popular Cave Story™ makes its debut on the Nintendo DSiWare™ service, while a demo version of the game becomes available for the WiiWare™ service. Other Nintendo DSiWare games include the frenzied Frenzic puzzler and Spot It! Challenge, which tests players' ability to locate various objects. On the WiiWare service, travelers this holiday season will want to check out Airport Mania®: First Flight for a different perspective on the travel industry, while HB Arcade Disc Golf brings the popular outdoor sport into your living room. Finally, the cIassic 1996 NEOGEO game MAGICAL DROP II brings its balloon-bursting action to the Virtual Console™ service.

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WiiWare

Airport Mania: First Flight (Lemon Games/500 Wii Points)

Pack your bags for a trip through the skies in Airport Mania. Travel through eight amusing airports while you land a variety of planes, purchase upgrades and avoid delays. Stay on your toes, as some planes carry precious cargo and will need to land in a hurry, while others might need a trip to the repair shop. But, with good planning, you're sure to make it to the gate on time. With unique challenges, whimsical characters and fun that'll put a smile on your face, Airport Mania is one flight you can't miss.

1-4 players, rated E (Everyone)

HB Arcade Disc Golf (HB Studios Multimedia/1,000 Wii Points)

HB Arcade Disc Golf re-creates the popular disc-flinging sport in the comfort of your own living room. Playing the game is as easy as tossing a disc around on a beautiful day. The goal of the game is to put the disc in the basket in the fewest throws possible. Disc golfers have three different types of discs at their disposal when out on the course: a driver, a mid-range disc and a putter. Also, there are three different types of throws available: forehand, backhand and the hammer throw. The forehand and backhand throws change based on the handedness of the player, and can be used to draw or fade a shot, while the hammer throw is less about distance and more about height. At the end of the round, scores are tallied and the player with the lowest score is the winner.

1-4 players, rated E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief

Cave Story (demo version) (Nicalis/ 0 Wii Points; full version available for 1,200 Wii Points)

Cave Story takes you into a rare world where a curious race of innocent rabbit-like creatures, called Mimiga, run free. You wake up in a dark cave with no memory of who you are, where you came from or why you're in such a place. Uncovering Mimiga Village you discover that the once-carefree Mimiga are in danger at the hands of a maniacal scientist. Their only hope rests squarely on the shoulders of a quiet, amnesiac boy who can't remember his own name. Take control and learn the origins of this world's power, stop the delusional villain and save the Mimiga.

1 player, rated E 10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Mild Cartoon Violence, Mild Language

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Nintendo DSiWare

Cave Story (Nicalis/1,000 Nintendo DSi Points)

Cave Story takes you into a rare world where a curious race of innocent rabbit-like creatures, called Mimiga, run free. You wake up in a dark cave with no memory of who you are, where you came from or why you're in such a place. Uncovering Mimiga Village you discover that the once-carefree Mimiga are in danger at the hands of a maniacal scientist. Their only hope rests squarely on the shoulders of a quiet, amnesiac boy who can't remember his own name. Take control and learn the origins of this world's power, stop the delusional villain and save the Mimiga.

1 player, rated E 10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Mild Cartoon Violence, Mild Language

Frenzic (Two Tribes/ 200 Nintendo DSi Points)

Frenzic is a unique puzzle game that dazzles the eye, teases the brain and keeps you coming back for more. It takes only minutes to learn, but months to master as you devise new, impressive play strategies to push your brain to its limit. Compete against your personal best and climb through seven levels of Devotion from Newbie all the way to Frenzic Master. Frenzic is a must-have for puzzle enthusiasts of all ages.

1 player, rated E (Everyone)

Spot It! Challenge (Big John Games/200 Nintendo DSi Points)

In Spot It! Challenge, players race the clock to find the hidden objects in cleverly arranged scenes. The puzzles are based on the popular Spot-It book series published by Capstone Press. See how many objects you can spot in 10 different puzzles. Vibrant graphics make spotting objects fun and challenging. Players use the stylus to tap on the hidden objects and also to navigate the extra-large play areas. Spot hundreds of hidden objects in 10 themed puzzles, including Outdoor Sports, Board Games and Fun with Food. Players can compete against their friends using the "Pass Around Play" feature. Up to four players can race to find 10 objects hidden within a puzzle. Each player has to spot the objects and then pass it on to the next player. See who can get the best score! Find objects fast to score the most points. Three levels of difficulty (Easy, Medium and Insane) provide lots of replay value.

1-4 players, rated E (Everyone)

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Virtual Console

Magical Drop II (NEOGEO/ D4 Enterprise/900 Wii Points)

MAGICAL DROP II is a puzzle action game released by Data East in 1996. The rules are simple. Control the clown to pull in and throw back the balloons that appear on the screen. If you line up three or more balloons of the same color in a row vertically, they will burst. Some balloons feature unique characteristics. Special balloons, which come in all four colors, pop every balloon of the same color. Arrow balloons burst everything in the direction the arrow is facing. Rainbow balloons have the same effect as special balloons, but can be thrown against a balloon of any color. And then there are bubble balloons, which simply get in your way. Together, these provide you with great chains and combos that make a puzzle game so much fun. Choose between VS CPU Mode, full of battles with a host of comical characters, and Puzzle Mode, where you'll enjoy a one-player challenge. Both modes support player-versus-player action, meaning you can have a great time together with friends.

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Airport Mania pics so you can get your blood boiling on a Monday morning:

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phantom_leo said:

You know what? I've been looking for reviews for Airport Mania... Apparently, it's been around for a while as a PC download and App Store game. The general consensus is: It's a fun but hectic game with lots of little discoverable easter-eggs. Most casual reviews have been 4 out of 5 and up!

I saw that too. My wife loves these kinds of games - Cake Mania, Sally's Spa, etc. - but she will only play them on her iPhone.  She would never sit in front of the Wii and play it. Part of the appeal of them is  that you can just pick it up and play for a few minutes and then be done. That's not something that really works on a console.  So I don't really see the handheld audience getting into these kinds of games on the Wii.

1,000 pts for Cave Story!?

I'd like to have that on my DSi though.

robio said:

I'd prefer to have it on the DSi than on the Wii anyway. Plus, it's cheaper on the DSi. That's a win all the way around.

But until I'm done with Epic Mickey, no more game buying for me.

Yeah, I feel the same. It feels perfect as a portable game.

But I want to know how the port is. If it's a good port of the Wii version, than I'll pick it up. If it's not that great, I'll just stick with my Wii version.

Why would you say it's more faithful to the original? If you mean the graphics and music which were upgraded for the WiiWare release (maybe here also?), you could also choose to play with the original content anyway.

Just though I post some impressions on Tetris Online Party for DSiWare (to anyone who cares).

It's probably the best version of Tetris since the Nintendo made Tetris DS. I wish Nintendo would put the marathon portion of Tetris DS on the store but I guess they lost the license to it or something. But Tetris Online Party is from Hudson Soft so it's not a bad version. Much, MUCH better than EA's sterile and dull version on PSN. EA's version has no personality, no charisma, and nothing creative like Lumines or Pac-Man CE. It's pretty lifeless.

But Tetris Online Party does have some life in it which is why it's a good version.

There's online matches and a good single player mode where you can battle the computer as well, plus the usual like Marathon, endless, etc.

It's surprisingly deep for a 500pt game.

And Cave Story is great! Love it on the portable.