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Hands On Nintendo’s NES 3DS Ambassador Games

By Spencer . August 31, 2011 . 7:42am

Hands On Nintendos NES 3DS Ambassador GamesNES games for early 3DS adopters were supposed to be released around the world on September 1, but Japan got them a little early. All ten games (see the full list here) are available now if you own a Japanese Nintendo 3DS.

 

After I downloaded the games via the "your downloads" tab, I tried out Super Mario Bros. first. Sure enough, it’s letterboxed Super Mario Bros. without a fancy 3D filter or two player support. If you pick a two player game, Super Mario Bros. locks up when its Luigi’s turn. Nintendo will add  mulitplayer support via free update when these games are sold for an unspecified price on the Nintendo eShop.

 

While the NES games do not have save states, your progress is saved if you switch to another application, return to the home menu or turn the system off. The Virtual Console menu has not been fully implemented. It only has two touchscreen buttons: return to game and reset.

 

Save data for The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, and Metroid work. Yes, save data for Metroid. The Japanese version was built for the Famicom Disk System and had save files instead of passwords.

 

Have a North American region system? You’ll be able to get your eShop games soon! When you do give Yoshi (aka Yoshi’s Egg in Japan) a try, it’s a Mario themed falling block puzzle game that didn’t get too much attention since it was released late in the NES’ lifecycle.

 

Update: You can switch to two player mode in Super Mario Bros. by pressing L+R and Y at the same time. Thanks for the correction, everyone!


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  • Gerardo Silva

    America got them earlier too, not just Japan. :/

    • http://twitter.com/Linka13 Linka

      Nah, not really. The games are in the area they said they’d be, but they aren’t letting you download them just yet. I just checked.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joey-Blanton/507393589 Joey Blanton

        Check your download history.

        • http://twitter.com/Linka13 Linka

          I actually did after that, and tried to download Super Mario Brothers.

          I got hit with an error instead.

          Edit: Ah, nevermind, restarting my system actually worked! Awesome.

    • malek86

      They seem to be unavailable in Europe yet.

    • http://www.siliconera.com Spencer

      And when this article was written they were not in the American store, I checked with my US region 3DS and Japan region system. They were only in Japan :/

  • francoic

    Also, since it was already September 1st there, they aren’t technically early. 

    • http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/members/55321.html FinalArcadia

      It’s still earlier (time of day) than the rest of the world has access to them. Being September 1st doesn’t really change that. It’s all about time zones.

      • francoic

        I see what the article guy means. We were both wrong. Never mind. 

    • http://www.siliconera.com Spencer

      These games were downloaded on August 31 Japan time though, so technically they *we’re* downloaded early. The article was not written this second and suddenly posted it was in a queue.

      • francoic

        Yup. Already covered in my second comment that I made below this one. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joey-Blanton/507393589 Joey Blanton

    For what it’s worth, in the American release, you can press L+R+Y to switch to the second player’s controls in Super Mario Brothers.

    Of course, I have no idea of knowing if the same can be said for other regions.

    • http://twitter.com/The_9th_Sage Ian Chamberlin

      Ah, someone beat me to it. :D

  • thecowboypoet

    They’re available here in CANADA! Downloaded some of the games (Metroid, Zeldas, Super Mario) before work… didn’t have much time to play with them, other than to play the first level in SMB and kill some monsters in LOZ.

  • http://www.facebook.com/CalientePhoenix Phoenix Caliente

    Does he mean the US and Canada received them early on US systems?

  • Vino (Tim N)

    Awesome, distractions on a busy day! I hope Nintendo doesn’t get sloppy after they’re all released and smoothlines everything soon.

  • neo_firenze

    Multiplayer and save states to be added later, Virtual Console menu not yet fully implemented…  this is just the story of the 3DS, launching incomplete.  Not that I won’t be happy to get my 20 free games, but jeez.  This really hammers home the point that they’re scrambling and unprepared. 

    It must be said – the original DS had a bit of a rocky start too and recovered big time, so there’s certainly hope.  Vita sure excites me a whole lot more at this point though.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/VeryMadMage Mick Synodis

    So can you save in the U.S. 3DS version of Metroid or are they doing it like with Virtual console where each region gets its version no matter how inferior it may be?

    • http://www.facebook.com/VeryMadMage Mick Synodis

      checked. Of course it’s the U.S. version. But at least you can suspend the file and it will load form where you quit. So as long as you don’t accidentally hit rest, you won’t need to write down passwords.

  • thebanditking

    So the titles that originally supported cart saves work as they should correct?
    Still this is disappointing, I mean come on its 2011 emulators on PC’s have had the save state function for years now and with 3DS having a SD card in every system there is no excuse. Hopefully when the updated versions release later all the titles will support save states.

    • http://www.siliconera.com Spencer

      We’ve mentioned this before – all of the NES games will be updated with a save state and multiplayer support later this year when the games are sold on the eShop.

    • http://www.facebook.com/VeryMadMage Mick Synodis

      No excuse? How about giving people something early? Gamers are so entitled.

    • Aoshi00

      I just d/l’ed them and tried out ice climber and Mario.. I must say it’s rather uncomfortable playing on the 3DS.. these games were great back then and it’s nice to play on Wii’s VC, but on the 3DS I dunno..  also they don’t have the 3D effects.. I thought they all do like Excite Bike?  Anyway, my US 3DS has a loose hinge now I think.. after I finish getting the DoA Dimensions DLCs I’ll need to send it it for repair (again lol after they fixed my Jpn one).. damn those daily costume download, so troublesome.. and I need to wait for the 2nd round too since Amazon shipped the game to me so late..

  • http://twitter.com/EdgeKun Ed Powell

    I stared at that Metroid screenshot, stared again, and then stared some more. Then I scrolled down and read that bit of trivia regarding japanese Metroid carts.

    I wa. . . no. I NEED that Metroid. I -need- classic Metroid with save slots. ;_; I know it’s -very- unlikely, but here’s to hoping that somehow the US version of Metroid on Ambassador has that. ;_;

  • http://twitter.com/The_9th_Sage Ian Chamberlin

    Hold L+R and hit y to change to controller 2.  Then you can play as Luigi if you like.  At least on the US version it’s definitely not locking up or something.

  • http://www.samuraiprincess.com Mr Fwibbles

    Does the microphone work in the Japanese version of The Legend of Zelda, or does that game freeze when you try to access the second controller too?

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