Free 3DS Game Downloads For Early Adopters

29 July 2011

Posted by:Josh

Nintendo has announced the Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors Program, which will give current 3DS owners 20 free games, TWENTY(!), to download and play (cut of date: Aug. 11th), including exclusives, in exchange for being an early adopter of Nintendo’s stereoscopic glasses-free 3D handheld.

This follows hot-on-the-heels of Nintendo’s 3DS 2011 Price Drop, which saw the company drastically slashing the price of the system from $250 (the launch price) to a much easier to swallow $170.

In order to keep early adopters from freaking out that they had to pay such a premium for the system, Nintendo is offering them 20 free e-Shop downloads.

Here’s a list of what you’ll get:

NES
1. Super Mario Bros.
2. Donkey Kong Jr.
3. Balloon Fight
4. Ice Climber
5. The Legend of Zelda

GBA
6. Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3
7. Mario Kart: Super Circuit
8. Metroid Fusion
9. WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgames
10. Mario vs Donkey Kong

What’s most surprising is that this marks the debut of Game Boy Advance Virtual Console 3DS games, as well as NES titles, all of which Nintendo says will be EXCLUSIVELY available to Ambassadors (though it is hard to believe that they won’t amend the 3DS Virtual Console to add GBA and NES at a later date).

Here’s the full details from Nintendo:

“Since Nintendo 3DS launched in the United States on March 27, more than 830,000 people in the U.S. alone have purchased one to enjoy 3D visuals without the need for special glasses. These Nintendo 3DS owners represent some of Nintendo’s most loyal customers, and Nintendo is rewarding them for getting in on the action early with 20 free downloadable games from the Nintendo eShop.

These free games are available to anyone who owns a Nintendo 3DS system and uses a wireless broadband Internet signal to connect to the Nintendo eShop at least once before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 11. These users will automatically be registered in the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program. The program contains two elements:

Starting Sept. 1, Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors will be able to download 10 NES Virtual Console games at no charge and before they are available in the Nintendo eShop to the general public. These games, including Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climber and The Legend of Zelda, are slated to become paid downloadable games, but Ambassadors get them early for free. Once the paid versions of the games are posted to the Nintendo eShop later in the year, the updated versions will be available to Ambassadors for download at no cost.

By the end of 2011, Nintendo will provide Ambassadors with 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games. These include games like Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong. These games will be available exclusively to Ambassadors, and Nintendo currently has no plans to make these 10 games available to the general public on the Nintendo 3DS in the future.”

And now, for one of my favorite Game Boy Advance games of all time, Metroid Fusion!