With eleven new releases spread across Wii U and 3DS – twelve, if you count free indie radio portal Sense by Play.me on Wii U – it’s a very busy week for the UK Nintendo eShop.
A Cube Life: Island Survival demo is due on Wii U too, along with a timely discount to £6.39. We guess sales have slumped now that Minecraft: Wii U Edition is out.
LEGO Marvel’s Avengers is out Friday, priced £39.99 on Wii U and £29.99 on 3DS. A season pass is also available on Wii U for £7.99. IGN reports that the 3DS version has the same open-world hub as on consoles, with no loading screens or such – a series first. It’s also pleasing to see the Wii U version launch the same day as other on consoles – LEGO Jurassic World was hit by an awkward delay.
Final Fantasy Explorers is another new release arriving in both digital and physical forms. Although the £29.99 asking price for the digital release may seem reasonable on first glance, both GAME and Amazon have it to pre-order for £23.99. Reviews are yet to appear, but if the positive hands-on previews are to go by then it’s worth investigating.
Presumably to tie-in with the release of Explorers, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (£6.29) is also out on Wii U VC this week. As those who played the GBA original will testify, it’s a very addictive and time-consuming experience.
The Wii U also gets co-op puzzle platformer Shadow Puppeteer (£13.49). You play as a boy and his shadow – the two were separated by a shadow puppeteer, and now must track down the titular villain by manipulating light to solve puzzles.
That’s being joined by the Pictionary alike PictoParty (£7.00), and the comical office-set stealth romp Level 22: Gary’s Misadventures (£6.29). Looks like that last one is set to hit Xbox One and PS4 any day now, too.
The self-explanatory Word Puzzles by POWGI (£7.99) is due on both Wii U and 3DS while Epic Word Search Collection (€7.99 – no word on UK pricing) heads to 3DS.
This leaves us with two more 3DS games: Arc System Works’ Family Fishing (£3.98) – an arcade-like affair in which it’s possible to throw smoke bombs to hinder the opposition – and Runny Egg (£1.79), a 2D auto-runner…with an egg. By all accounts, it’s a decent budget buy – it was given 8/10 from Nintendo Life and 7.5 from Nintendo Enthusiast.
As for discounts, a handful of Little Orbit’s licensed games are due a price drop – including the better than expected Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations for £15.99 – while Affordable Space Adventures becomes a tad more affordable, dropping to £11.80.