Current 3DS owners eligible for free games

by Ludwig Kietzmann on Jul 28th 2011 4:58AM

Nintendo is looking to reward early adopters of 3DS, or at least incur a last-minute sales burst before $80 (that's over 30 percent!) comes off the system, bringing it down to $170 on August 12. Those who own a 3DS and connect to the Nintendo eShop before 11:59PM EST on August 11 will be automatically enrolled into the "Nintendo 3DS Ambassador" program.

3DS ambassadorial duties mostly involve playing a bunch of free games. The status grants you access to 10 free NES Virtual Console games on September 1 before their general release (these include The Legend of Zelda, Balloon Fight and Ice Climber), along with 10 more Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games by the end of 2011. The GBA games -- like Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames and Mario vs. Donkey Kong -- will not be available to anyone else. Is all that enough to ameliorate early buyer's remorse?

Nintendo claims that it has sold more than 830,000 3DS systems in the US since it debuted in late March, and that it will keep momentum up with several big holiday releases. In the category of games available to everyone: Kid Icarus: Uprising in the holidays, Super Mario Land 3D in November, followed in December by Mario Kart 7.

Source: Nintendo

Tags: 3ds, ds, mario-kart-3ds, mario-kart-7, nintendo, price-drop, virtual-console

Reader Comments (151)

Two articles?
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/07/28/3ds-price-drops-to-170-on-august-12/

@SpeeGold It's a pretty major story. It would be messed up if it only had the same amount of coverage as the previous story about some dude who sorta kinda is starting to teach his off-the-shelf robot to play DDR.

@SpeeGold

Good thing you read both!

@SpeeGold
Disregard my comment. When I originally commented here, this article had virtually the same content and title as the article I linked to. It was redundant but then they edited this one.

Honestly I never, NEVER seen so many people cranky and impatient at hardware launch before until the 3DS.

PS2, Xbox 360, PS3, ESPECIALLY DS, all had launch hardware droughts but gamers weathered through them fine.

What happened?

@Bluebreaker A drought is defined as abnormally low precipitation causing a shortage of water.

If we're going to use that analogy, the 3DS library is and has always been a desert. A low population of farmers isn't a surprising thing under conditions like that.

Expectations have grown ... Those very consoles you named are the reason there are so many people online talking about games (read: the industry has grown), and the people playing have grown (those people that purchased said consoles with monetary gifts or received them as gifts, and could only ever afford to buy one game every six months or so, now have jobs and expect to play more games).

While 11 to 15s are still getting the 3DS, the same age group that purchased the DS when it was in the same position are now in the 18 to 22 range.

If you look back at the first 6 months of any console, they are all about like the 3DS. But people have gotten used to the DS success for such a long time, and its the middle of the generation so theres no comparisons with other new systems, that they don't remember how it used to be.

@Epoque

"...and the people playing have grown...[and] are now in the 18 to 22 range."

If these people truly have "grown," is it not unreasonable for this 18-22 age group to exercise a bit of maturity in the vein of 'patience'? I 100% agree w/your point; it's just that people really need to relax...and be patient. 3DS, Vita, whatever: the games are forthcoming.

@Bluebreaker
PS3 had the best laugh title that any system have ever had. It was Resistance :Fall of Man

@Mustang Fanboy Super Mario Bros., Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, Halo: Combat Evolved, SoulCalibur, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, TimeSplitters, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Tetris, and Lumines all vastly outstrip Resistance IMO.

@Bluebreaker
Since out of the systems mentioned I only owned a PS2 and DS at launch either of them had a lack of software to this degree. PS2 I found a good handful of games to play and at least make me feel like i bought the correct system (for one it launched with an Armored Core game). DS launched with Mario 64 and within months had a good handful of games that were unique and honestly a lot of tech demos but it was cool because they were fun. The software line up for the 3DS is non-existant, and most of the titles that people are calling "major releases" are all re-releases. And now they're gonna drop the price $80 and give me a bunch of games probably not worth that. Whatever I just hope that the software shows up soon.

From a business perspective I'm glad they cut the price to increase acceptance rate of the system. Maybe then more devs will make games for it and my Street Pass will get utilized more than once a week.

@Mustang Fanboy

Maybe for a Sony console but I believe Halo: Combat Evolved both outscored it and outsold it.

@Epoque can't forget about Smash Bros. Melee!

@(Unverified) I'll never forget Melee, but it didn't actually launch with the GameCube.

@Bluebreaker People on the internet have been bitching about games since the internet came out, you probably weren't paying attention...

@Epoque
he said 'laugh title' not 'launch title'.

@Bluebreaker

I think it's because of the high price point. When you buy a portable system for $250 you want to use it, that's too much money invested for a paperweight.

If the 3DS had been $170 from day 1 I don't think there would be such a number of angry gamers. (There are always angry gamers, of course, but the 3DS has had a significant quantity.)

@Bluebreaker They're just bitter because they fell for the early adopter trap.

@Bluebreaker Oh, people bitched and moaned just as much about those other consoles and then forgot they ever had a problem. Most consoles have weak launch lineups and every single time gamers act like it's out of the norm.

@Epoque

I'm 44, where do I get count in your statistics?

I'll probably get downvoted for this but:

70% less of the original price, 100% of the same eyestrain and battery life

PS Vita? $250
Old 3DS Price? $250
New 3DS Price? $170
Watching your competitor drop the price of their product because they know your product is a threat? Priceless.

@DarkPinoy

It's 32% less, not 70.

@DarkPinoy

But surely thats not something Sony should be happy about.
The original DS being cheaper than the original PSP was a major point of success last generation.

@DarkPinoy
Releasing your opponent now has an unexpected upperhand----It might cost you a bit.

@Smithsmithers

Yeah. Not really sure how Sony "wins" by having their competitor at a more attractive price point. Also, eye strain? Does anybody actually have this problem?

@(Unverified)

I just picked mine up a couple weeks ago, I did have some strain initially but after about an hour or two it went away.

I was also about to bitch about the price drop having just bought the 3DS, but I buy a lot of VC games and would make good use of this program. Good on Nintendo for realizing they may catch backlash from the early adopters and going out of their way to add value for their fans. This isn't something they had to do. Price drops happen all the time.

@(Unverified) If nobody had this problem... why does it have a big 7 on it? Isn't it because -having read this on Joystiq- that doctors have determined that no child under the year of 7 should use it because it leads to eyestrain?

@Ellimem Like my double standard post I just... posted.... Didn't Sony get flamed over doing this exact same thing and people bitched about it? Again I say... double standard anyone?

@(Unverified)
Never ever had eyestrain even in PIlot wings (which is apparantly pretty intense) since day one.

@(Unverified) Maybe if you play Pilotwings Resort with 3D all the way, but I haven't had any problems with eyestrain, the 3D on most titles, aside from Pilotwings, have been pleasant on the eyes with max 3D.

@DarkPinoy First off, I direct you to an earlier post on Joystiq regarding kids and 3DS: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/12/30/nintendo-3ds-warning-label-children-under-six-shouldnt-use-3d/

Particularly the last paragraph. If this is the article you're thinking about, the last paragraph states there's been "no firm research confirming these worries"--it's just been Nintendo being overly cautious.

Now, as for your issue about a double standard...Sony made a great console with the PS3, but I sure as he'll wasn't going to plop down $600 for one at launch. The difference here between Sony and Nintendo? With Sony in the early years of the PS3, you had them insisting that the price point was firm and iirc, stated if people couldn't afford it, they should get another job. Nintendo, on the other hand, essentially just admitted a mistake on the $250 price point, lowered it by $80 to drive more sales, and for early adopters (like me! ^-^), offered them 20 free games. I wonder who sounds more appealing of the two...

Oh, and of your Master Card analogy...seems like you feel more threatened by the price drop than Sony (though obviously, we haven't seen Sony's reaction to this...unless...you're a Sony spy! :O).

@religiousjedi

Honestly? Nintendo. Around when the price was announced for the 3DS, Nintendo said it leaned back on the one fact of business, Supply and Demand. After E3 2010, there was so much clamor for the 3DS that Nintendo felt that the value was there and that they could charge higher. They were wrong and have realized that. They're even giving first adopters some kind of benefit, how often do you see that happen, rather than just throwing them under the bus. It may not necessarily be the benefit that you want, but I think its pretty nice.

@nilaul
I played Pilot wings for 5 mins at a kiosk and my eyes def hurt afterward. That's pretty much when I decided not to buy a 3DS

With the money left over from hese savings I could buy questionable clothing and shoes. But where?

@Bubbameister33

But Deebo doesn't buy things. He steals them from his weak prey.

@Bubbameister33 I'm sure one of those spammers will be in here somewhere.

So 20 games for 80 bucks basically? Not bad I guess there are some good games there. (already bought links awakening) What I would much prefer over 20 old games is new 3ds games to justify me buying the 3ds in the first place.

@MosDeffa My fault did not see it's the nes Zelda! Pretty sweet

@MosDeffa that's my conundrum as well, but I figure if I find a demo device or someone who owns one couldn't I just sign into the eshop real quick and get automatically signed up for the "Nintendo 3DS Ambassador" program. Then I could get all those delicious games plus a price dropped 3ds or even a 3ds lite with bettery battery life or whatever improvements they make

@Measlesopolis

That makes no sense at all. The person who owns the 3DS would have already connected to the eShop, meaning they are already on the "ambassador" service.

You have to buy a 3DS before August 12 (the day of the price drop) vAND sign in to the eShop to be qualified for the ambassador program.

That's actually not bad, I bought my 3DS on launch day and had fun. And 20 more free games is just great.

although 80$ off is kinda steep..

@wqerty
Here's how I look at it...
NES games on Wii VC are $5 each.
So far, there's one GBC game on 3DS VC, and it's $6 (Link's Awakening DX). It's likely that GBA games would be $8 (as that puts them on par with SNES games on Wii VC).

If we go by this pricing scheme...
10 x NES ($5) = $50
10 x GBA ($8) = $80
Total = $130

So, it seems like a pretty sweet deal to me.

@BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam
Just out of curiosity of others' opinions... Given that it's 2011 (and pushing on toward 2012), is $5 per NES game really fair to consumers anymore?

@foxhound
Fair to consumers?!? Not Fair to Nintendo!!
These NES games are only getting older == appreciating in value!!

"Here, take more of my money * hands over life savings*"

Seriously though, i always thought $5 was a bit too much for a NES game though ( and that all Virtual console pricings were a bit too high)

@Super Nintendo Chalmers

I tend to agree. I think five bucks for a Zelda game or the like seems acceptable, but Balloon Fighter? Don't get me wrong, I loves me some Balloon Fighter, but it sure doesn't feel like 5 bucks worth of loving me some.

@foxhound
I won't say that I agree with Virtual Console pricing, but the "value" does kind vary based on the game. Honestly, most of the VC releases are cheaper than trying to hunt down a physical copy of these games.

I should clarify: it's a good deal given Nintendo's pricing.

@BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam
A sweet deal as long as, you know, you like those games and think they are worth anywhere near that much.

Is this the first we've heard of NES and GBA Virtual Console on the 3DS?

@Seroth Na they hinted at it for a while now. Im happy but it's bittersweet. Just checked on nintendos website and the games won't even be available till sep 1 then be spread out through the holiday. Bummer...

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Mario Kart 7

Current 3DS owners eligible for free games

Reader Comments (151)

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:03AM SpeeGold said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:12AM onan said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:14AM superchamois said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 6:20AM SpeeGold said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:20AM Bluebreaker said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:32AM onan said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:36AM Epoque said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:37AM KaBob799 said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 6:12AM C1ph3rDivyne said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 7:17AM Mustang Fanboy said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 7:44AM Epoque said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 7:50AM Grimbear13 said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 8:52AM theBrayn said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 9:17AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 9:21AM Epoque said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 9:43AM tanooki equipped said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 10:31AM gevenstaines said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 10:56AM MasterYogurt said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 11:35AM Faceless Troll said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 2:13PM Roto13 said

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Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:21AM DarkPinoy said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:37AM ironneko said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:38AM MRB1G said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:45AM Smithsmithers said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:58AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 6:15AM Ellimem said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 6:19AM DarkPinoy said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 6:32AM DarkPinoy said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 8:20AM nilaul said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 8:32AM Ryguy226 said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 8:56AM religiousjedi said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 9:39AM Suichimo said

Posted: Jul 29th 2011 6:23AM Kyizen said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:21AM Bubbameister33 said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 10:42AM QuePasa87 said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 11:01AM Ryguy226 said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:22AM MosDeffa said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:40AM MosDeffa said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 10:27AM Measlesopolis said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:47AM tendoboy1984 said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 5:23AM wqerty said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 6:23AM BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 7:19AM foxhound said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 7:33AM Super Nintendo Chalmers said

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Posted: Jul 28th 2011 12:18PM BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam said

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