Nintendo Badge Arcade has been down for a few hours of maintenance today. The downtime has ended, and a new update has been pushed out: version 1.3.1. It takes up 600 blocks of space.
The new version of Nintendo Badge Arcade can be grabbed from the eShop. Alternatively, you can just start the application itself.
Unfortunately, it’s not quite clear what’s new in Nintendo Badge Arcade. There are new badges today and you can participate in a fun little text adventure upon starting the app. You’ll get two free plays as well.
Nintendo has kicked off a new sale on the North American eShops. A bunch of titles have been discounted across Wii U and 3DS, most of which by up to 30 percent.
Here’s the full lineup:
Wii U
Art of Balance – $6.29 (was $8.99)
Badland: Game of the Year Edition – $8.39 (was $11.99)
CastleStorm – $4.99 (was $9.99)
Duck Hunt – $3.49 (was $4.99)
DuckTales Remastered – $4.99 (was $14.99)
Extreme Exorcism – $8.99 (was $12.99)
F-Zero – GP Legend – $4.89 (was $6.99)
Final Fight One – $5.59 (was $7.99)
Konami Krazy Racers – $4.89 (was $6.99)
Mach Rider – $3.49 (was $4.99)
Mario Kart 8 – $41.99 (was $59.99)
Mario Party 10 – $34.99 (was $49.99)
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash – $34.99 (was $49.99)
SteamWorld Dig – $6.99 (was $9.99)
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 – $13.99 (was $19.99)
Teslagrad – $9.99 (was $14.99)
Trine Enchanted Edition – $10.49 (was $14.99)
Wii Fit U – $20.99 (was $29.99)
Wii Party U – $28.19 (was $39.99)
Several New 3DS cover plates arrived in Japan today. There are four new ones based on Disney as well as plates for My Melody. Photos of each can be found below.
A new Monster Hunter Generations trailer has come online highlighting the Prowler mode in Monster Hunter Generations. This features makes it possible to play as a Felyne in the game. Check out today’s video below.
Wario Land: Shake It! hit the European Wii U eShop today as the newest Wii download. View some footage below.
Originally, Nintendo hoped to have the N64 out on the market by Christmas in 1995. The console ended up with a delay though, and wouldn’t be ready until several months later in the following year. Although Nintendo cited a need for more software to be completed, a former Silicon Graphics engineer contended that the extra wait stemmed from issues with the console’s chips.
Ex-Rare staffer and GoldenEye 007 director Martin Hollis was invited to Silicon Graphics before the N64 launched. He actually found a weakness within the hardware, which could have potentially caused another delay had it been addressed.
Hollis told Nintendo Life:
I got to travel to SGI in Mountain View to write test code that would run on some of the few ‘golden chips’ – this is the terminology for the first chips which come off the production line. From the initial run there were very few working chips, and SGI kept them in-house, so a few developers would fly out to use them for a week. I think I might have been the only ‘worker’ from Rare, although Chris Stamper travelled.
I wrote a piece of code which displayed spinning icosahedrons; as many as possible until the framerate dropped below 60Hz. The head of the project at SGI was not too pleased to discover what the performance of the machine was in terms of triangles per second. He asked to see my code in the hope it was inefficient. It wasn’t. He later told me that SGI very nearly did another spin of the hardware to fix the issue, which was with the memory interface.
Nintendo released a new video today showcasing a few European digital game highlights from March 2016. You can watch it below.
Nintendo Download (4/7/16, North America) – Star Fox Zero pre-purchase, Game & Watch Gallery 4, more
This week’s North American Nintendo Downloads are as follows:
Wii U Retail
Star Fox Zero is available for pre-purchase in Nintendo eShop starting at 9 a.m. PT on April 7. Purchase the digital version of the game in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or at http://starfoxzero.nintendo.com/buy/ and receive an automatic Nintendo eShop discount of $4.99 toward the purchase of the Star Fox Guard game when both games release on April 22. If you pre-purchase Star Fox Zero in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or through Nintendo.com, it will pre-load the game to your system so you’ll be able to play after a small game update when it launches. Be among the first to play!
Wii U Download
Emojikara: A Clever Emoji Match Game – $2.99
Epic Dumpster Bear – $9.99
Super Robo Mouse – $4.99
Wii U Virtual Console
Game & Watch Gallery 4 – $6.99
3DS Download
Doll Fashion Atelier – $4.99
3DS DLC
Fire Emblem Fates – New DLC Map – Anna on the Run – Anna is cornered by thieves! What will her fate be? This new map is available to download in the Fire Emblem Fates game for $1.99. Upon successful completion of this map, Fire Emblem mainstay Anna joins the party.
Fire Emblem Fates – Map Pack 1 – As a reminder, anyone who owns either the Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright or Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest game can purchase Map Pack 1 at the Dragon’s Gate in Chapter 6 of the game for $17.99 to get access to 11 DLC maps plus bonus content as they are released weekly through April 21. Map Pack 1 content is priced at more than $24 when purchased individually.
eShop Sales
Wii U / 3DS
– Spring into savings on Nintendo eShop with the Super Spring Sale! Save up to 30 percent off select games in Nintendo eShop starting at 9 a.m. PT on April 7 until 8:59 a.m. PT on April 21. Remember: Purchasing items from Nintendo eShop is an easy way to earn points for the new My Nintendo rewards program. Just make sure your Nintendo Network ID and Nintendo Account are linked prior to making a purchase. Visit https://my.nintendo.com/ for more information.
Wii U
– Angry Bunnies: Colossal Carrot Crusade, Cube Life: Island Survival and more games from Cypronia are on sale until 8:59 a.m. PT on April 25.
– Astral Breakers is 40 percent off (reduced from $4.99 to $2.99) until 8:59 a.m. PT on April 14.
– Master Reboot is 50 percent off (reduced from $14.99 to $7.49) until 8:59 a.m. PT on May 5.
– Nano Assault Neo is 25 percent off (reduced from $9.99 to $7.49) until 8:59 a.m. PT on April 28.
3DS Themes
Disney Frozen
Mickey & Friends
Stitch & Company
Disney The Little Mermaid
Source: Nintendo PR
Yesterday, the fourth Minecraft: Wii U Edition patch was released. It added new elements like the Story Mode skin pack, achievements, Wii Classic Controllers, and more.
Footage of the new Minecraft Wii U patch has now surfaced. Take a look at the update in the video below.
Several new screenshots of Zero Time Dilemma are in, all of which show the game specifically running on 3DS. Get a look at the images below.
Zero Time Dilemma launches in just a few months – June 28 – so we should be seeing more media in the near future.
Thanks to Jake for the tip.
