Nintendo eShop Update: Videos for Sale!

The quantity of releases seems to keep dwindling down each week in Nintendo's eShop Updates, as after two consecutive weeks of just getting four new games today we're down to only three. On the other hand, Nintendo Video seems headed the other direction - expanding its offerings and, today, launching its first paid video downloads. Is more 3DS video content a fair tradeoff for fewer new games to buy across all of Nintendo's systems? Well, different people will answer that one differently I suppose.

Let's jump into this week's reviews.

REVIEWS


Billed by its developers as "a beginner's RTS," Castle Conquerors -- Revolution is actually pretty accurately described that way. It takes the tactical gameplay of the real-time strategy genre and distills it down to as basic a form as possible, reducing the action you take on-screen to troop movement alone. You direct squads of soldiers to either stay encamped or walk straight toward another encampment to attack it. That's it.

And it works pretty well. Without having to think about different terrains to navigate, resource gathering to manage or all of those other common RTS elements you end up with a fast-paced attack-and-defend design that's bent entirely on where to send your troops and when.


There are a few more layers of complexity brought in outside of active missions, when you can use gold won from past victories to upgrade your units' stats or research new technologies. There are also a handful of commander powers to activate in the midst of combat that temporarily boost your fighters' speed, strength or defense.

But all the while nothing ever feels too hard to understand, and the RTS uninitiated really could look to this as a beginner's course in the genre.

DSi Shop: 500 Points | 3DS eShop: $4.99

From its screenshots, Fish Tank looks like it'd be just another forgettable match-three puzzler. But it surprised me a bit. It's not incredible, but it does do a few new things with its design that should make it a bit more memorable.

For one, it integrates motion controls into the standard "falling block" arrival scheme for your playing pieces. They're differently-colored fish, and as they enter the playing field from the left and swim toward their ultimate resting spots on the right, you tilt your sideways-held Wii remote left or right to influence the water current and make them float higher or sink lower. It's weird to get used to. The pace of it takes some adjustment and the calibration of the remote's sensor can get out of whack. But once you've gotten into the rhythm of it, it flows fairly well.


Moving your hands up and down like you're tracing the paths of waves on the oceanfront, you get into an enjoyable pattern of sending fish to their proper spots, lining them up with other fish of their same color, of course. When four or more are arranged adjacently you can then eliminate them from play, scoring a completion. You can set up combos, use floating garbage icons as power-ups to mix things up and even toss your friends some controllers for an odd kind of multiplayer mode too.

The presentation is basic, the sound is repetitive and the visuals are too simple to really get excited about, so Fish Tank ends up settling into the "Okay" range in the end. But I'd call that a win overall, since first impressions had me thinking it would be a whole lot worse.

Wii Shop Channel: 500 Points

One of the best-known and most well-loved beat-'em-up franchises, Double Dragon helped define what the brawler genre would become when it first arrived as a coin-operated arcade cabinet in the late '80s. It told the story of twin brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee, working together to punch and kick their way through half a dozen side-scrolling stages to rescue Billy's kidnapped girlfriend Marian.

Nintendo's NES received a fairly faithful port of the game in 1988, but one major feature got cut out in the transition - the two-player simultaneous co-op mode. The game still found an audience among 8-bit players, but it was a shame that it was more "Single Dragon" than Double. That version was re-released for the Wii Virtual Console a few years ago, and is still on sale there for five bucks.


And that Wii emulation is what I've got to point you back to today, because this 3DS Virtual Console version is a port of the even more compromised Game Boy edition. It first shipped in 1990, and it also axed the arcade original's co-op capability. You could play a two-player Versus mode with a Game Boy Link Cable, but that feature's been removed from this 3DS VC re-release too. (Since Nintendo's still leaving out all multiplayer features from these Virtual Console games.)

And, since this is a Game Boy game, it's obviously also missing the color in its visuals. And this version's only four levels long. And it's priced at $3.99, when a game this feature-lite should have shipped for the more affordable $2.99.

So Double Dragon's got a lot of issues here on 3DS. Its one novel new feature is the standard 3DS VC Restore Point support that could help you through the game's tough last stages, but that one positive point isn't enough to overcome its many other failings. Steer clear of this version of Double Dragon. Grab the Wii VC one if you really want that nostalgic Nintendo experience, or just don't buy any version again and wait and pray that, some day, this game will get a modern port that properly pays homage to its original arcade experience.

3DS eShop: $3.99

VIDEOS

I thought last week's addition of a DreamWorks-developed Monsters vs. Aliens short film to the Nintendo Video service was a big deal, but Nintendo's now taking things one step further - paid downloads of video content. Starting today certain clips from Nintendo Video will be made available to own on a permanent basis if you track them down inside the eShop and pay a couple of bucks apiece.

The initial offerings are last week's Night of the Living Carrots and The Pig Who Cried Werewolf (which was an earlier DreamWorks short starring characters from the Shrek franchise). Each one will set you back $1.99.


I'm not sure how I feel about this. Do people really want to keep these clips permanently? I don't know how many times I'd want to rewatch the same six-minute short over and over again. The original Nintendo Video distribution idea of offering up clips for about a week and then rotating them out with fresh content feels more right to me. Seems like too steep a price for such short bits of video as well - but then Nintendo's prices for digital content are steeper across the board than any other service out there, so it's not all that surprising.

Anyway, I'll reserve final judgment until we see more of where Nintendo's taking this idea. In the meanwhile, feel free to use our comments box below to let us know what you think. Are you into this? Will you be spending two bucks a pop to own these clips for keeps? I'm especially interested to hear the reader reaction on this one, since I'm having trouble nailing down my own opinion.

And, as always, come on back next week. We'll be doing the eShop thing all over again.

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