NINTENDO DOWNLOAD: WIIWARE AND WARIOWARE JOIN FORCES FOR MAXIMUM  DOWNLOADABLE EXCITEMENT

March 29, 2010

Wario™ may be known as a troublemaker, but this week he deserves a  friendly high-five for helping to deliver a mother lode of downloadable  fun for Wii™ owners. The new WarioWare™: D.I.Y. Showcase game  for the WiiWare™ service lets users with broadband Internet access  download all kinds of outrageous content, from music and microgames to  four-panel digital comics – some created by users themselves. Meanwhile,  a cIassic RPG has arrived on the Virtual Console™ service, while  Nintendo DSiWare™ users will find new ways to tune musical instruments,  rescue turtles, launch their own fireworks display and more.

This  week also marks the kickoff of Nintendo's WarioWare: D.I.Y. "Big  Name Games" series. Several of the industry's most talented game  designers are using WarioWare: D.I.Y. software for the Nintendo  DS™ family of systems to create their own one-of-a-kind microgames. New  microgames will be added every Monday through July 26, all available for  download to anyone with broadband Internet access and a copy of either WarioWare:  D.I.Y. for Nintendo DS or WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase software  for the WiiWare service. The series gets underway with inventive new  microgames from Super Smash Bros.™ creator Masahiro Sakurai and Metroid™   designer Yoshio Sakamoto. To learn more about the games and view an   exclusive behind-the-scenes video featuring Masahiro Sakurai, visit http://www.wariowarediy.com.

And   just for Club Nintendo™ members, we've got a little something extra to   offer this week. Starting March 31, members can redeem 80 Coins to   download Grill-Off with Ultra Hand!™, a wild game for the Wii   console that challenges players to cook a variety of meats with an   extendable arm. What better way to prepare for barbecue season than some   fast-paced grilling drills on your Wii system? For a taste of the   action, visit http://grilloff.nintendo.com.

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WiiWare

WarioWare: D.I.Y.  Showcase
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-4
ESRB  Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief, Mild Cartoon Violence
Price:  800 Wii Points™
Description: The frantic fun of WarioWare is available for the first time on the WiiWare service! WarioWare:  D.I.Y. Showcase shows off all the different elements found on the WarioWare:  D.I.Y. game for the Nintendo DS family of systems. The WiiWare  software includes microgames, music and four-panel comics – all with  simple controls using only the Wii Remote™ controller. Use the Game  Blender and its many modes to play microgames featuring Wario™, ninjas,  animals and even cIassic Nintendo franchises. Check out the Music  section to hear or play a selection of songs using a character from  Balloon Fight™. In addition to the bevy of preloaded products, you can  also receive content from friends, play with products made using WarioWare:   D.I.Y. or download games from the NinSoft Store. Let your   creativity run wild – even Wario would be impressed with the   possibilities for new content!

Diner Dash®
Publisher:  Hudson Entertainment
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E  (Everyone) – Use of Alcohol
Price: 1,000 Wii Points
Description:  Diner Dash, a popular PC action-puzzle game, has landed on the  WiiWare service. Guide Flo, an office worker-turned-restaurateur, as she  builds up her empire over four unique diners. Go online to face players  in head-to-head. If you feel up to the challenge, join up with a friend  or another player online for a Team Dash game where your team will take  on six other players to see whose diner is the best in town. (Broadband  Internet access is required for online play.) Players take direct  control of Flo as she runs around to seat patrons, take orders, deliver  food, take payment and bus tables as efficiently as possible within the  time allowed. Players who are fond of traditional control schemes may  also use a point-and-click styIe with hotkeys to aid Flo in her quest  for customer satisfaction, which is reflected in a heart meter that  empties as customers lose patience. If the meter empties completely,  then the customer will leave the restaurant.

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Virtual  Console

Ogre Battle® 64: Person  of Lordly Caliber™
Original platform: Nintendo 64™
Publisher:  Square Enix
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) – Mild  Language, Mild Violence
Price: 1,000 Wii Points
Description:  Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber is a tactical RPG  originally released for the Nintendo 64™ system. Featuring a gripping  storyline with many possible endings, plus a genre-defining character cIass system, this strategic epic has rightly retained its place in the  hearts of tactical RPG fans for more than a decade. The game tells the  story of Magnus Gallant, a recently graduated officer of the Palatinean  Army who is assigned to the troubled southern region of his native land.  There he witnesses the plight of the lower cIass – the victims of a  tyrannical ruling elite whose only thought is for the preservation of  its own lofty status. With civil war brewing, Magnus is faced with a  terrible choice: to betray his own noble origins in the name of liberty,  or to turn a blind eye to the evils of his rotten society.

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Nintendo DSiWare

Disney  Fireworks
Publisher: Disney Interactive Studios
Players:  1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi  Points
Description: Light up the night with Disney  Fireworks! Touch and flick to trigger a dazzling nighttime  extravaganza of color and fun. Aim rockets to their matching colors in  the sky to set off an explosion and score points. Time them perfectly to  improve your Wow Meter and unlock special surprises and rockets. Disney  Fireworks comes with five themed environments, original music, 15  challenging levels for each world, high-score tracking and much more.

Save   the Turtles
Publisher: Sabarasa
Players: 1
ESRB   Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief
Price: 500 Nintendo  DSi Points
Description: Save the Turtles takes players  to more than 32 of the world's most exotic beaches in a quest to help  tiny turtles find their new home. Players must use the stylus to rub and  tap the touch screen of the Nintendo DSi system, digging eggs from the  sand and lining up cute reptiles while avoiding crabs, seagulls and  litter on their way to the safety of the sea. The game features four  modes, including a never-ending survival mode called Turtles Forever,  plus several unlockable trophies. Give Mother Nature a hand and help  save the turtles.

Nintendo DSi™ Metronome
Publisher:   Nintendo
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price:   200 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: The Nintendo DSi   Metronome software can be used to help keep tempo –when playing an   instrument, for example. It creates a rhythm by playing sounds based on beat and tempo settings, both of which allow a wide range of   adjustments. Choose from three metronome designs (including one based on   Nintendo's Game & Watch™: Ball title) and record your  own sounds for the metronome to use. Or, if you want to take a break,  enjoy a unique minigame: Donkey Kong™ Metronome, in which you make  sounds into the microphone to match the beat and have Mario™ jump over  Donkey Kong's barrels.

Nintendo DSi Instrument Tuner
Publisher:  Nintendo
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price:  200 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: The Nintendo DSi  Instrument Tuner software can be used to tune an instrument by  aligning tonal pitches. The software offers two methods of handling  this: feeding sounds into the microphone to measure the difference with a  target pitch, or listening to a sample tone. In addition, the standard  musical pitch and notation can be changed, as well as the design of the  tuner (choose one of three designs). If you're feeling especially in  tune, test your ear by taking on the Tuner Fight minigame's challenge:  Pop balloons as they rise from pipes by making tones that match the  displayed pitches.

Super Yum Yum Puzzle Adventures
Publisher:   Mastertronic
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) –   Comic Mischief
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points
Description:   Super Yum Yum Puzzle Adventures is a multi-award-winning puzzle   game starring a chameleon called Leon. Featuring 48 levels across four   worlds and exclusive Nintendo DSi features, the game asks players to   navigate many hours of mind-bending game play while trying to rescue   Leon's babies from the belly of Ms. Tum Tum. Leon must eat his way   through fruity, fiendish puzzles, licking fruit to change color and   choosing the right combinations of fruit to finish each level.

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This is good news for me.  I'm just about to finish up with Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSP.  Now I can switch to something that I've never played before.

Agnates said:

Wait, what? I thought WarioWare D.I.Y was a DS game? Is the WiiWare version fully featured?

It's not the full version.  It's got a lot of the DS microgames, but most are missing.  It seems that the real purpose for D.I.Y. Showcase is to act as a Demo, and then once the game comes out you can use it to play the games on the TV screen and upload the games you create for different contests.

phantom_leo said:

I am literally dumbstruck and speechless right now.

Sorry let me take that out of your mouth.

*zippppp*  Okay feel free to talk again.

Saradin's (Excellent) Ogre Battle FAQ

They are very different. I loved OB64, I never finished Tactics.

They share the same developers, ironically enough, but OB was Quest's baby. Tactics was something they were hired to do for Square before they were bought out altogether.

You have a much larger army in OB, and thus more troops to manage. People get a bit overwhelmed at the set-up menus, but once you get past those you're good.

You have less say in the battles, but overall there's more strategy. More thought provoking strategy too 'cause you have moral implications to how you behave too.

The Good/Evil character classes and story-line changes dependant on your moral choices --THAT'S-- what really did it for me!

Yeah. The battlefield is not grid based. It's a 3D map with differing types of terrain. OB is real-time in movement. Your enemies are trying to engage you as you try to liberate towns. They will rush back to towns to heal and/or revive their leader if they are killed in battle. There's much more going on, on the map. The battles themselves go by very quick at first, lengthening as the game progresses. They are going to seem like you have no control at first. Once you realize arrangement of the troops is very important and what you upgrade your troops into is, too, who you attack, etc, everything falls into place.

Iwata said:

I pulled a lot of strings to get you Ogre Battle 64 on Virtual Console, Leo. I'm glad you are enjoying it.

Yeah, Thanks Wat-Man!

Keep it between you and me, but I was figuring I was gonna have to bribe Yoda with some oral sex to get his copy away from him if my urge to play got to be too bad!

Shhh! Don't say anything to him!

It's a good thing he's not around!