It’s the Wii U that hogs the eShop limelight this week – five new indie titles, a Virtual Console release of the N64 semi-classic Yoshi’s Story for £8.99, an open beta for Namco-Bandai’s Lost Reavers and price drops on a bunch of first-party games in preparation of the new Wii U Selects range. Phew!
Those five indie games are 2D action platformer Olympia Rising (£4.49) – which received mostly positive reviews on Steam – the allegedly terrible COLOR BOMBS (£1.39), a virtual rendition of the Rubik’s Cube (£4.49 – also on 3DS) and Star Sky 2 ( £3.60) – a “deeply atmospheric and meditative experience†intended for relaxation purposes.
After a false start, FPS Paranautical Activity is also due this week – it was originally planned for release last month. That last-minute delay shouldn’t have come as a surprise – it has had a rough, and controversial, development.
We imagine that the Lost Reavers open beta will pique the interest of a fair few. Previously known as Project Treasure, this is Namco-Bandai’s stab at free-to-play dungeon crawling. It’s a co-op experience – enter a tomb, secure the relic inside and then make it out alive, battling zombies, mummies and boss characters along the way. Those who would rather wait for the finished package don’t have too long to wait – it’s due 28th April. With Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada in charge, it should be a nice addition to the Wii U’s ever-growing library.
As for the previously mentioned price drops, New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U, Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, LEGO City Undercover, Nintendo Land and Wii Party U receive permanent cuts to £19.99 from Friday. New Super Luigi U can alternatively be had for £8.99 on its lonesome. We will however point out that Base.com currently has the Nintendo Wii U Selects range to pre-order for £15.99 a piece.
Other Wii U games in line for a cut are relatively few – Stone Shire (£1.00), Wicked Monsters Blast! HD PLUS (£2.69) and Runbow (£8.24). The Runbow discount is well-timed – it’s due a wealth of DLC including Winter, Anime, Steampunk, Professional and Satura’s Space Adventure packs. Looks like one piece of DLC will be free – Lilac, which we presume is a new character.
As well as the handheld version of Rubik’s Cube, the 3DS sees two other releases – good old Pilotwings (£7.19 – New 3DS only) and Natsume’s Super Strike Beach Volleyball (£4.49), which features eight characters and campaign, survival and free-play modes. Try as we might, we fail to find a single screenshot. It isn’t even mentioned on Natsume’s site. We wonder if this is to prevent a mix-up with the controversial Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball series?
The pickings are slim where this week’s 3DS discounts are concerned, too. Karous – The Beast Of Re:Eden drops to £3.29, Samurai Defender to £1.59 and AeternoBlade to £9.99. Snow Moto Racing 3D meanwhile drops to £3.59. Unless mistaken, this is the 8th time it has been on discount within two years. We’re guessing publisher Zordix AB is still yet to make their money back on this one.