Nintendo 3DS early adopters get 20 free games with updated multiplayer

By Mike Flacy July 30, 2011

3ds-playing-mario — Image used with permission by copyright holder

After Nintendo dropped the price of the 3DS by over 30% earlier this week, the company announced a program to reward consumers that purchase the 3D device before the price drop on August 12. If a consumer connects to the Nintendo eShop before 11:59pm Eastern time on August 11, they will automatically be qualified for the Ambassador program. This initiative rewards Nintendo 3DS owners with ten free NES Virtual Console games as well as ten GameBoy Advance titles that Nintendo isn’t planned to release to the public. Five of the NES games include The Legend of Zelda, Balloon Fight, Donkey Kong Jr., Ice Climber and Super Mario Bros. The GBA games include Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Metroid Fusion, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 and WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame.

Other games will be announced later in the year. Further details indicate that these games will be in 2D, however upgrades will be made to the titles when they become available to the public. New features may include multiplayer modes and 3D visuals. 3DS Ambassadors can download the updates to the titles at no extra cost. It’s unclear if Nintendo plans to schedule weekly releases on the 3DS eShop of its extensive library of classic titles. Nintendo has been releasing titles weekly on the Nintendo Wii.

The price of the Nintendo 3DS is also dropping in Europe and Japan this year, however the main reason for the drop was poor North American sales due to a lackluster lineup of titles. Nintendo has made strides with the 3DS as of late with the release of Nintendo Video, a video delivery system to provide 3D video downloads, and Netflix support. However, the lackluster lineup of titles is often the main complaint from consumers. Nintendo is hoping to impress consumers with the release of several high profile titles this year including Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land, Kid Icarus: Uprising and Star Fox 64 3D.

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