EarthBound available today from Nintendo eShop!

18th July 2013 – Fans of EarthBound got a big surprise this afternoon with the game releasing for the first time in Europe as a Wii U Virtual Console title on Nintendo eShop. During today’s Nintendo Direct Mini, Nintendo also revealed that Nintendo Zone locations are soon getting StreetPass enhancements to let players connect with one another, and provided information about a number of current and upcoming video games.

To view the Nintendo Direct Mini in its entirety, visit our official Nintendo Direct page.

Today’s announcements included:

Wii U news

• EarthBound news: EarthBound, created by Shigesato Itoi, is available from 17:00 UK-time on Nintendo eShop for Wii U.
• Pikmin 3 news: In Bingo Battle, this head-to-head battle mode features 12 different stages with three different variations per stage. Players might want to grow lots of Pikmin quickly, while others want to make quick-hit attacks to grab prizes. Every battle is different, as players adapt to different variables, stages and opponents. In other news, players who go through Story Mode, Mission Mode and co-op Mission Mode and have broadband Internet access will be able to compare scores and stats with other players from around the world. Pikmin 3 launches next week, 26th July in stores and on Nintendo eShop.
• New downloadable Nintendo eShop games: Three great games are coming to Nintendo eShop soon. On 15th August, Capcom is bringing DuckTales: Remastered to Wii U with hand-drawn, animated sprites, original Disney character voice talent* and richly painted level backgrounds from the classic cartoon TV series. Cloudberry Kingdom – launching on 1st August – from Ubisoft is a platformer with a random level generator that gives players a new challenge every single time. The difficulty level can match any need and adapt to the physics of each playable character. Whilst in Spin the Bottle: Bumpie’s Party from KnapNok Games, which launches in August, two to eight players sit around the Wii U GamePad and dance, spin, grab, jump, hide, pass and squeeze their way through a series of fun minigames.
• Pikmin 3/The Wonderful 101 promotion: With Pikmin 3 launching on 26th July, and The Wonderful 101 launching on 23rd August, if Wii U console owners download Pikmin 3 from Nintendo eShop between 26th July 2013 and 21st September 2013, they will be able to buy The Wonderful 101 for 30% off on Nintendo eShop on the same Wii U once it is released and only until 21st September 2013.

Nintendo 3DS news

• Nintendo Zone StreetPass enhancement: Via a Nintendo 3DS system update available soon, owners will be able to visit any Nintendo Zone location to have virtual StreetPass encounters with other Nintendo 3DS owners in a relay format. Whenever a Nintendo 3DS owner goes to a Nintendo Zone location and has the StreetPass feature enabled, they will be able to StreetPass with the last person to visit that location. This enhancement gives everyone more opportunities to StreetPass with other players. Best of all, visitors will be able to get StreetPass data for all their StreetPass-activated games at once. There are more than 25,000 Nintendo Zone locations across Europe that you can visit to go online with Nintendo 3DS and browse the Internet, visit Nintendo eShop and access content.
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf / Nintendo 3DS Image Share Service reminder: Hold down the L and R Buttons at any time in Animal Crossing: New Leaf to snap a picture of the game screen and save it to the SD Card. Players can then access the Nintendo 3DS Image Share website through the Nintendo 3DS Internet Browser to upload the pictures directly to their social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.
• SEGA 3D Classics series on Nintendo eShop: Classic SEGA games enhanced with 3D for Nintendo 3DS are coming to Nintendo eShop soon. The games include Altered Beast™, Ecco the Dolphin™, Galaxy Force™, Shinobi™, Sonic the Hedgehog™, Space Harrier™, Streets of Rage™, and Super Hang-On™.

For further updates:

Nintendo Direct website http://nintendo.co.uk/nintendodirect

Wii U (UK) on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WiiU.co.uk

Nintendo 3DS (UK) on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Nintendo3DSUK

Nintendo UK on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/NintendoUK

Nintendo of Europe on Twitter https://twitter.com/nintendoeurope

Nintendo UK on Twitter https://twitter.com/nintendouk

*Please note: original voices are available in English only.