StarTopic Wii U and 3DS Virtual Console Essential Purchases and Discussion Thread - (Update: Wii U /3DS eShops Officially Closed)

[Brock Reiher]

I keep trying to decide between Kirby Epic Yarn, Pikmin 2, Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon . Hard to decide.

get pikmin 2 and shadow dragon. both 10s

 

[Shadow]

Atlus really isn't going to put SMT IV Apocalypse up for sale in the EU, are they?

 

[Barely Able]

Atlus really isn't going to put SMT IV Apocalypse up for sale in the EU, are they?

Did they publish that over there or was it Deep Silver? I know there were som of their games they didn’t publish there. Hopefully they do one last sale because they haven’t done one recently.

 

[Jonno394]

I wonder if there'll be a fire sale before the end? I only just rebought a 3DS and realised I've very little time left.

I'm gonna focus on eshop exclusives (ie dillon, pullmo, boxboy etc) and GB/GBC titles (the zeldas, mario sports rpg titles).

 

[Linkstrikesback]

I wonder if there'll be a fire sale before the end? I only just rebought a 3DS and realised I've very little time left.

I'm gonna focus on eshop exclusives (ie dillon, pullmo, boxboy etc) and GB/GBC titles (the zeldas, mario sports rpg titles).

For first party titles? There's basically zero chance at this point.

And I think it's we are at the point where most of the interested third parties who could have done a fire sale, will already have done it, and most of them have just completely abandoned the store.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to grumble about how Capcom just stopped doing sales in the EU regions entirely years ago even as they continued to have them in North America.

 

[Jonno394]

For first party titles? There's basically zero chance at this point.

And I think it's we are at the point where most of the interested third parties who could have done a fire sale, will already have done it, and most of them have just completely abandoned the store.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to grumble about how Capcom just stopped doing sales in the EU regions entirely years ago even as they continued to have them in North America.

I've seen a lot of capcom bashing for lack of EU sales! Mad that they've seemingly forgotten europe.

 

[shoptroll]

And I think it's we are at the point where most of the interested third parties who could have done a fire sale, will already have done it, and most of them have just completely abandoned the store.

Yea, I’ve given up on Level-5 and WayForward doing anything at this point. Haven’t seen any DSiWare or Virtual Console sales either.

With two months left I could see maybe Capcom and Sega/Atlus doing one more sale depending on region but that’s going to be it.

 

[Barely Able]

Yea, I’ve given up on Level-5 and WayForward doing anything at this point. Haven’t seen any DSiWare or Virtual Console sales either.

With two months left I could see maybe Capcom and Sega/Atlus doing one more sale depending on region but that’s going to be it.

Didn’t Nintendo publish the Level 5 games (at least in NA)? So those will never get sales at this point.

 

[Krvavi Abadas]

WB is doing a sale.....
of two separate LEGO games, one per console.

3DS gets LEGO Jurassic World, and Wii U gets LEGO Marvel Super Heroes.
not really sure why any of the other games they published are on sale.

i also keep forgetting to bring up Markanime Studios, an indie dev who's been giving away codes of his Wii U games once per day on Twitter.


i was expecting a lot more devs to be doing similar content, but so far it's just been him.

 

[shoptroll]

Didn’t Nintendo publish the Level 5 games (at least in NA)? So those will never get sales at this point.

Did they? I honestly don't think I ever paid that close attention to who was actually doing the publishing work in NA, but that would easily explain why none of their games have seen a discount.

 

[Barely Able]

Did they? I honestly don't think I ever paid that close attention to who was actually doing the publishing work in NA, but that would easily explain why none of their games have seen a discount.

The Layton games (including Phoenix Wright vs Professor Layton) and the Yokai Watch games were published by Nintendo worldwide it appears. So definitely not getting a sale

 

[EricTheGamerman]

I'd love for the Etrian Odyssey games to get one last sale too since those are all rough in price right now and I would probably buy one for $5 outright if I had the option.

I keep arguing what I actually want to buy before the shop closes, but a part of me just sort of is like buy Pokemon Crystal to have a legit Celebi in my Living Dex and let that be it. If Nintendo isn't going to care about preservation of these games, I'm not going to super stress over having a "legit digital copy" that much that is stuck on one system that may well not be redownloadable in the future. I love the 3DS, but I can't afford to buy every single damn digital only game I've missed and same with the Wii U, especially when I could use that money on more worthwhile physical games I'm still missing.

 

[Jonno394]

My new 2DS XL came today and decided to buy a few eshop exclusives:

Fullblox - finished the taster then bought the whole package for £8ish. The NES pixel ones are a nice bonus

Attack of The Friday Monsters - seen this recommended a lot so thought i should buy it before the closure.

Chase-Cold Case Investigations ~Distant Memories~ - I loved the CING titles on DS. I know this isn't supposed to be anywhere near as great, but I'll give it a shot.


How are the river city titles? I can see two more traditional brawlers then a fantasy one.

 

[Weebos]

A reminder to Download Pokémon Bank.

Pokémon Bank is the only way to bring Pokémon from Generations 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 forward to Pokémon HOME and the Nintendo Switch games. Once it's gone, so too are your chances of bringing forward your precious Pokémon from Ruby, Platinum, or XD: Gale of Darkness.

It will still work after the eShop closure, but you will need to claim/download before it closes.

 

[Leo]

Everytime I thought I was done, another game gets on my radar and I have a small list now.

I still need to buy:

Metroid Prime Trilogy
Pikmin 1 and 2
Style Savvy Styling Star (the demo is so good)
Luigi's Mansion

Also a couple VC games and maybe Planet Robobot and Samus Returns.

Thankfully I already got everything I wanted from Atlus on the last sale, but I'm still thinking I might regret not buying more Etrian Odyssey games and Devil Survivor 2.

 

[Josh5890]

For anyone who has played Fire Emblem Engage and wants to try out some of the older games, there are a few on the Wii-U Virtual Console that will be going away soon.

Fire Emblem The Blazing Blade (GBA)- $7.99
Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones (GBA)- $7.99
Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon* (DS)- $9.99

Personally, I am getting the latter two games. The ebay process were swelling even before Engage. Now they are getting straight up to insane prices. Nintendo, please upgrade the NSO asap lol!

*This is a remake of the very first Fire Emblem game, which was on the Switch eshop for 20 minutes before Nintendo delisted it.

 

[shoptroll]

How are the river city titles? I can see two more traditional brawlers then a fantasy one.

I think I can answer this:

River City Tokyo Rumble - This is a RCR style sequel to the original Renegade (which got a full on remake and Riki/Ryan spinoff for 3DS that were never localized). It's pretty good but also very linear (although you need to do two loops to see the whole story if I'm remembering correctly).

River City Rival Showdown - This is a full-blown remake of the JP version of River City Ransom. The game now plays sort of like a hybrid between open-world with a time-based structure and branching narrative paths depending on which events you manage to trigger across the three days. The way I'd kinda describe it is a beat-em-up crossed with a visual novel that plays out in real-time. There's also a dungeon crawl style randomized loot system at play too. I liked it but trying to get the true ending has proved elusive because the window on some of the necessary events is tight as hell. Also the higher difficulties are very difficult and when I stopped playing I was in this weird no-man's land where I was slaughtering everything on normal difficulty but only doing scratch damage on the next difficulty level and couldn't figure out how to overcome that hurdle.

River City: Knights of Justice - I think this one you mostly buy for the novelty of Kunio and gang in medieval RPG garb (it's still a brawler at the very core despite the themeing). It gets kinda samey after a while and ultimately I ended up tossing away all my weapons in favor of Mach Kick/Punching my way through everything (as one does). I don't remember a ton of the gameplay flow other than it's basically mission/quest based.

If you can only buy one game, get Rival Showdown as I think it has the most to offer in terms of content (although it gets a little repetitive until you can actually complete one of the paths through the game). Tokyo Rumble is more for if you want a new and original RCR game/story. Knights of Justice is a bit of a "I have $10-15 to spend, why not?" sort of deal after you've picked up the other two.

It's really a shame Natsume didn't bother with the other 3 3DS releases. Tokyo Rumble I found kinda confusing because we didn't have the previous two releases that led into it so the story is kinda hard to get into as a result. I'm really hoping that Arc eventually ports all these titles into modern systems because they would be a good continuation from the work that was started with the DD & Kunio Retro Brawler Collection.

 

[Krvavi Abadas]

i was expecting a lot more devs to be doing similar content, but so far it's just been him.

here we go, there's another one.


looks like they're having a bit of trouble keeping up with a daily schedule. but the account is obscure enough that a few of the codes from the past few days should still be unredeemed.

 

[Pokemaniac]

A reminder to Download Pokémon Bank.

Pokémon Bank is the only way to bring Pokémon from Generations 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 forward to Pokémon HOME and the Nintendo Switch games. Once it's gone, so too are your chances of bringing forward your precious Pokémon from Ruby, Platinum, or XD: Gale of Darkness.

It will still work after the eShop closure, but you will need to claim/download before it closes.

Also when downloading Pokémon Bank, make sure to also download Poké Transporter (accessible from the main Bank menu) in order to transfer from Gen 5 and VC.

 

[xghost777]

Also when downloading Pokémon Bank, make sure to also download Poké Transporter (accessible from the main Bank menu) in order to transfer from Gen 5 and VC.

Is that going away too with the shops shutting down? I have Pokemon Bank downloaded.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Is that going away too with the shops shutting down? I have Pokemon Bank downloaded.

It's a fully separate app that has to be downloaded from the eShop separately, but the only way to get to the listing is from a deep link in the main menu of Bank.

 

[xghost777]

It's a fully separate app that has to be downloaded from the eShop separately, but the only way to get to the listing is from a deep link in the main menu if Bank.

Thanks! I have the VC releases so I’d like to have the option to transfer my favorites when the time comes!

 

[Pokemaniac]

Thanks! I have the VC releases so I’d like to have the option to transfer my favorites when the time comes!

Also, in general, it's probably worth noting that I'm not entirely sure that Bank can be fully operated without a Gen 6 or 7 game inserted or installed, and it's one of the few 3DS apps that hard requires an NNID.

 

[xghost777]

Also, in general, it's probably worth noting that I'm not entirely sure that Bank can be fully operated without a Gen 6 or 7 game inserted or installed, and it's one of the few 3DS apps that hard requires an NNID.

If it doesn’t work out for me, not a huge loss, but I’m still glad you mentioned to download the Transporter. I’d hate to miss out on being able to do it down the road because I didn’t do something now. I plan to play Moon, X, Sapphire, Blue VC, and Silver VC some day.

I have a lot to catch up on with Pokemon since I only returned with Arceus and Violet last year. My last mainline game prior to those two that I beat was Silver.

 

[Symtendo]

Now we have GB and GBA VC, are there any games that are unlikely to come to that service that are definite grabs and are very unlikely to come back?

 

[Barely Able]

Now we have GB and GBA VC, are there any games that are unlikely to come to that service that are definite grabs and are very unlikely to come back?

The only games that I think might be unknowns that are any good or not available in other compilations could be some Capcom games (Bionic Commando, the later Mega Man Games, especially 5 which was completely unique), Natsume games (these light come but Lufia and the later Harvest Moons could be good options), and the Pokémon and Donkey Kong Land games (I say these as unknowns even though they are Nintendo published).

For GBA, Nintendo might hold off on the original advance wars games with the rerelease, Bamco has a few games which might come but who knows (mostly the 2 Klonoa games), Capcom and Konami don’t really have anything that isn’t releas(ed/ing) in a compilation or superior version besides Konami Crazy Racers. I think Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is probably the most likely not to come. A bunch of Natsume games but I don’t know if they are that great.

I think the Pokémon spin-offs should come with trading card game being announced, but there are a few of those on both VC.

 

[xghost777]

Now we have GB and GBA VC, are there any games that are unlikely to come to that service that are definite grabs and are very unlikely to come back?

I’d grab Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. It’s a fantastic game, that might get its own rerelease one day (Square loves rereleasing stuff), but I do not believe it will be on NSO and it probably won’t be cheaper.

 

[TheMoon]

Any Mega Men, Castles Vania, anything from Square (assuming one did not care for the currently existing collections of those) that might be there and for safety I'd grab the Klonoa game(s?) on GBA VC as well.

Also anything in general that you want to actually "own" and not just have locked into a subscription that will become unusable once it runs out or that service retires OR THE LICENSES EXPIRES AND THOSE GAMES LEAVE THE SERVICE (which has not happened yet but NSO is still young but count on seeing those headlines in a few years).

 

[Krvavi Abadas]

one last notable sale before the shutdown. (ends february 22nd)

Another World is a notable adventure platformer that was highly influentical for it's cinematic qualities, so it's a fitting choice to potentioally end things off.
the link is for the 3DS version, but there's also a Wii U port that's currently getting the exact same discount right now.

 

[evilotto]

Would anyone be able to confirm the following games don't have DLC? Want to make sure I don't need to start a game or something to unlock.

Devil Survivor: Overclocked
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers
Stella Glow
Etrian Odyssey IV (pretty sure the DLC here is just QR codes)
Etrian Odyssey Untold: Millennium Girl

Thanks!

 

[V_ac]

Would anyone be able to confirm the following games don't have DLC? Want to make sure I don't need to start a game or something to unlock.

Devil Survivor: Overclocked
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers
Stella Glow
Etrian Odyssey IV (pretty sure the DLC here is just QR codes)
Etrian Odyssey Untold: Millennium Girl

Thanks!

Don't know about Stella Glow, but you're fine on the other four. SMTIV and EO 2 Untold were the first Megaten/Etrian Odyssey 3DS games to have DLC.

 

[SiG]

Breaking news!

Shop closing got pushed back to 2024!

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Breaking news!

Shop closing got pushed back to 2024!

Are you sure?

As far as I can tell from the machine translation , the only thing that's pushed to 2024 is the merging of 3DS/Wii U Accounts and NNID, with the stores still stopping purchases end of march.

And unless the machine translation is wayyy off base, they even replied to that tweet you posted reiterating that the end date for sales hasn't changed.

 

[Jersh]

Are you sure?

As far as I can tell from the machine translation , the only thing that's pushed to 2024 is the merging of 3DS/Wii U Accounts and NNID, with the stores still stopping purchases end of march.

And unless the machine translation is wayyy off base, they even replied to that tweet you posted reiterating that the end date for sales hasn't changed.

Correct. You have an extra year to merge your NNID funds to your Nintendo Account, but that's all.

 

[julian]

Correct. You have an extra year to merge your NNID funds to your Nintendo Account, but that's all.

So it’s just about getting your funds off the old NNID?

 

[TheMoon]

So it’s just about getting your funds off the old NNID?

Yes that is all. Got nothing to do with any kind of extension. Purchases end on the 27th next Month. Nothing changed.

 

[Barely Able]

 

[TheMoon]

made the mistake of reading the replies to a nintendo tweet. immediately need to go to bed.

 

[Barely Able]

Reminder that Fire Emblem dates delists on Tuesday the 28th at least for EU and Japan. Probably best to get it now. And remember, you have to play to Chapter 6 to be able to buy the other DLC campaigns. I still need revelations so guess I will be getting that today.

Updating this to say DLC will still be available NOE said, including story DLC after Chapter 6. So I assume you can still download those. Also, go Nintendo apparently received comment from NOA and this doesn’t apply to that region. Still would recommend getting these now to be safe though.

 

[Leo]

Is Mario & Luigi Dream Team worth getting?

I have all three first games and I'm playing SS again on NSO and remembered how good it was, I know Dream Team had a mixed reception but this might be the last time the game will ever be available.

Ugh, this whole thing is so stupid.

 

[Barely Able]

Is Mario & Luigi Dream Team worth getting?

I have all three first games and I'm playing SS again on NSO and remembered how good it was, I know Dream Team had a mixed reception but this might be the last time the game will ever be available.

Ugh, this whole thing is so stupid.

Better than Paper Jam. I would put it in same league as Partners in Time. This game is still $30 on Amazon new so might not be too hard to track down physically if you want it

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Is Mario & Luigi Dream Team worth getting?

I have all three first games and I'm playing SS again on NSO and remembered how good it was, I know Dream Team had a mixed reception but this might be the last time the game will ever be available.

Ugh, this whole thing is so stupid.

It's fine. It's too long and too tutorial heavy but if you like the other games, you can probably find something in it to like as well

There are enough copies of it floating around physically that it's unlikely to get a rapid price increase any time soon though.

 

[stodesign12]

The only game I need to complete my Wii U catalog is Project Zero (Fatal Frame). It's impossible to get the physical version at a decent price, and the digital version costs 50€.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

The only game I need to complete my Wii U catalog is Project Zero (Fatal Frame). It's impossible to get the physical version at a decent price, and the digital version costs 50€.

The problem for Project Zero V is that it was an extremely limited run in Europe for the physical, technically, it was only ever a special edition, and it outright doesn't exist in NA, which is why it's expensive, despite a port to all modern platforms.

 

[stodesign12]

The problem for Project Zero V is that it was an extremely limited run in Europe for the physical, technically, it was only ever a special edition, and it outright doesn't exist in NA, which is why it's expensive, despite a port to all modern platforms.

Yes, but my problem is that Wii U version is still the best version imo (second screen and samus and zelda costumes).
I saw the physical version twice last year, costing 150€, which is "not crazy expensive" (for a collector's item) but still too expensive for a Wii U game.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Yes, but my problem is that Wii U version is still the best version imo (second screen and samus and zelda costumes).
I saw the physical version twice last year, costing 150€, which is "not crazy expensive" (for a collector's item) but still too expensive for a Wii U game.

You're not wrong, I just meant to give a little context if you weren't aware. The number of copies of the PAL edition may well be numbered in thousands rather than tens of thousands, so I'd just bite the bullet and get the digital version if you really want it.

 

[xghost777]

Is Mario & Luigi Dream Team worth getting?

I have all three first games and I'm playing SS again on NSO and remembered how good it was, I know Dream Team had a mixed reception but this might be the last time the game will ever be available.

Ugh, this whole thing is so stupid.

I wasn’t a big fan when I played it a year and a half ago. It’s too uneven and dragged out. If they cut more of the combat out it’d be better.

Though if you think you’ll regret never playing the full series, I’d get it.

 

[Nabbit]

Is Mario & Luigi Dream Team worth getting?

I have all three first games and I'm playing SS again on NSO and remembered how good it was, I know Dream Team had a mixed reception but this might be the last time the game will ever be available.

Ugh, this whole thing is so stupid.

Personally, I absolutely loved it and it's on par with BiS for me. It does have some very heavy tutorials the first 1/3 of the game or so, and it's a long game so that can be off-putting, but it also introduces a ton of creative mechanics, especially with Dreamy Luigi, during that time, so it didn't bother me much. I found that first few chapters or sections enjoyable but fairly slow, and then I thought the majority of the game, the remaining 2/3, was amazing, creative and engaging with epic boss battles and compelling set pieces. The music is top tier, too.

For me, I haven't played PiT, but I enjoyed this more than SS or PJ and the latter I found solid but not amazing and would still recommend for a Mario RPG experience.

Basically, if the tutorials won't bother you and you love the series, I'd definitely recommend it.

 

[Nabbit]

On a separate note, in my quest to find hidden gems and must-haves before the shutdown, i came across some really excellent features on RetroXP:

https://retroxp.substack.com/p/buying-a-wii-u-can-still-be-worth

https://retroxp.substack.com/archive?sort=search&search=3ds (several different articles about must have eShop purchases on 3DS)

Bunch of gems I didn't know about, so I was really glad to read these. And now I'm hooked on the site, it's a great read for retro gaming fans. It's by gaming writer Marc Normandin.
Medium-length articles with lots of meaningful info about the appeal and quality of the specific retro games bring discussed

Plus he has 100 separate entries for each of his top 100 Nintendo games, and the ones I've read are really fun and compelling reads.

 

[shoptroll]

Better than Paper Jam. I would put it in same league as Partners in Time. This game is still $30 on Amazon new so might not be too hard to track down physically if you want it

Just don’t forget to check the eShop for patches for any physical games you’re planning to get later. It’s been unclear if patches will still download automatically after the closure.