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3DS Ambassador Program fails to ease tension with early adopters

Trit_warhol
Tuesday, September 06, 2011

I concede that I'm making an assumption with the headline: I'm sure that there are some who are happy with the first batch of downloadable freebies that Nintendo has thrown to those who purchased a 3DS before August 12. The list started off promisingly enough: Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda and Ice Climbers were some of the first revealed in the lead up to the system's unprecedented - though arguably necessary - price drop. Then days before the program was set to launch, I was slapped with the rest of them.

Wrecking Crew, NES Open Tournament Golf, Mario & Yoshi...... how do these "classics" make up for the failed launch of the 3DS? They don't; and don't think that this was Nintendo's only jab at their loyal consumer base before all was said and downloaded.

Time has not been kind to this mediocre puzzler

The selection of titles was underwhelming, but I still had to download them before I could have a proper moan. Directions appeared on a great many gaming sites with some inconsistencies mixed in to make matters worse. Before I knew it, some even started claiming that the titles were live (to be fair, most of these were US sites and PAL territories have oft been known to get the short end of the stick). I clumsily opened my dusty portable and connected to the eShop, only to find that my nostalgia fix would go wanting. It didn't matter whose instructions I followed: no luck. It was September 1, where were my free games? It was September 1 here in Australia, but not in other territories: why were these lucky bastards indulging before I could!?

Later that night they finally appeared, but anticipation was to be replaced with frustration. After fumbling through the menus to start each download, I would then be ejected to the main menu after each game was received. I had to go through this process more than ten times so I could get my Ambassador Certificate as well. This was the thanks I got for spending an extra hundred dollars and enduring the worst console launch lineup in history? Please, allow me to raise my middle finger and aim it square at Nintendo.

While Super Mario Bros has aged immaculately, the truth is, not one of the other nine peace offerings is worth loading up (I should clarify that I am not a Zelda fan and still believe that Ocarina of Time is the most overrated game of all time). Worse yet, these emulations do not allow for use of the "Restore Point" feature that allow you to save and load games (and thus, repeat frustrating sections of play) on a whim. This is not what I signed up for! 

This is not enough to buy my silence!

Worst of all was the revelation that the to-be-released Game Boy Advance reparations would receive even less support in terms of emulation. Forget about Restore Points: you can't even put the system to sleep when playing these games. Close the lid and nothing will happen. Who at Nintendo thought that this stripped-down compensation would appease anyone? It turns out that there is a reason that these GBA games won't be released to the general public: you'd be foolish to pay for them!

It's been months since I purchased a game on the 3DS, and Nintendo's half-assed attempt at an apology hasn't helped things. I'm not going to trade in this glorified paperweight because - let's face it - it's worthless anyway. Who knows, maybe Kojima can save the day with the release of Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater? Maybe Nintendo will clean up its act and clean up the GBA ports that are still forthcoming?

What are your thoughts on the 3DS Ambassador Program? Am I just an ungrateful troll?

Links:

  1. Nintendo AU - Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program: http://gamesites.nintendo.com.au/nintendo3ds-ambassador-program/en_AU/detail.php
  2. Kotaku - How Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors Can Download Their Free NES Games: http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/08/how-nintendo-3ds-ambassadors-can-download-free-nes-games/
  3. Bitmob - News Blips: 3DS gets ambassadorial, BioWare's new game, Modern Warfare 3 Hardened Edition, and more: http://bitmob.com/articles/news-blips-3ds-gets-ambassadorial-biowares-new-game-modern-warfare-3-hardened-edition-and-more
 
Tags: Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo 3DS, Ice Climbers, Mario & Yoshi, NES Open Tournament Golf
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Chase Koeneke
September 12, 2011

Not to sound like an ass, but yeah, I think you're being pretty ungrateful. Nintendo didn't owe you or me or any other early adopter anything.

The 3DS was a system with a weak launch, there's no denying that. But it's getting better. Star Fox 64 3D just came out, and while it is another port of an old game, it's still fantastic.

And look at this lineup of games and tell me it doesn't make you excited to own a 3DS:

Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle
Animal Crossing
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Mario Kart
Paper Mario
Sonic Generations
Smash Bros 3DS
BIT.TRIP SAGA
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Super Mario 3D Land
Luigi's Mansion 2
Cave Story 3DS
Rayman Origins

These will all eventually be coming to the system you and I ponied up a bit more cash for than anyone else. And personally, I don't mind waiting.

But Nintendo, out of a sense of pride and honor, gave us 10 free games. Were they all winners? No (I wish Kid Icarus would've replaced NES Open Tournament Golf, but what can you do?)

Maybe I should just write a post about it at this point (I probably will now that I see a lot of my points written down in one place.) Overall, I think it's fair you're disappointed, but I think it's ridiculous that you're angry.

Trit_warhol
Tristan Damen
September 13, 2011

Chase, no need to apologise. I asked an honest question and expected an honest answer. As for your argument, I couldn't disagree more.

You said it yourself, Starfox is yet another re-release for the 3DS. If you count Rayman, Splinter Cell (Chaos Theory) and Super Street Fighter IV, there's very little that isn't done - and done better - on other hardware platforms.

As for the upcoming releases, did you hear that Kid Icarus got delayed again? Metal Gear Solid 3D got delayed again as well. Are any of those games that you've listed coming out in the next month or two? Probably not.

It's not just the Ambassador Program that has angered me either: it's the entire eShop. Matt Polen wrote a great article about the glacial flow of Virtual Console releases:

http://bitmob.com/articles/does-nintendo-want-you-to-pirate

I heard reports of Sega Game Gear games and other retro titles hitting the shop early on, but I haven't seen any hint of those promises being fulfilled. It's depressing, I want to invest more money in this console, but Nintendo refuses to come to the party. If only they listened to their customers, they might have put out more VC games and released some genuine classics as part of the Ambassador program.

As for honour and pride, releasing half-assed ports of no-name games does not smack of either. What about Super Mario Bros 3? What about Kid Icarus? My theory is Nintendo intends to release them later on at a premium price. 3DS classics in Australia cost $9 each. That is grand-freaking larceny.

I await your rebuttal. Let us battle.... with words!

PS. And don't get me started on that circle pad add-on! That should have been identified during R&D, and now we're getting an ugly, battery-poweredadd-on for a console that isn't even a year old!

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andrew robledo
September 12, 2011

its not for anyone ignorant of the of the classics, dont like them too bad more one more person to laugh at. i love today's games cant say anything about the classics anymore than you can change history.

Trit_warhol
Tristan Damen
September 13, 2011

Andrew, I grew up with the Master System, NES and Mega Drive. Each were systems that had genuine classics in their software library. Mario &Yoshi is not a classic, nor is Wrecking Crew. Gimme Super Mario Bros 3 dammit!

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