Mmmmm, free. Easily my favorite word. I like writing it. I like reading it. I like getting things for free. It's the complete package! Certainly 20 free games, whether I'll play them or not, take the sting out of Nintendo's 3DS price drop. Of course, some of you lucky bastards get the reduced price and the free games.
Well, welcome to the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program, folks. Nintendo of Europe have an official page for us lucky early adopters and with it, a few more details on the enigmatic free games coming later this Fall.
The Nintendo Entertainment System games coming to the Virtual Console will come with nearly the same feature set they've got on the Wii's Virtual Console. An electronic manual will come with the games to explain the game's controls. A complete manual will be updated into the games once they're made available to the public. Alternating multiplayer modes will be supported, but these NES titles will not support simultaneous multiplayer.
Players will also be unable to "restore" their games to specific points, much like you can with Virtual Console games on the Wii and Game Boy Virtual Console titles on the 3DS. The later, public releases will include this functionality. Transferring between an old 3DS and a new 3DS will be supported.
Virtual Console Game Boy Advance games are a completely different, yet similar story. Manuals will be available, but players will not be able to use any wireless functions or peripherals while playing the games. The HOME button will display a simple menu, but you won't be able to run any background software, like the internet browser. The restoration function and the Virtual Console Suspension functions will be disabled.
Game Boy Advance games will still maintain their save functions but Spotpass and StreetPass will not be supported. Like the NES titles, you'll be able to transfer these games to another 3DS with your eShop profile.
Not the greatest news, but hey, free is free. I can't help but wonder why the full manuals won't be included until the "public" release. We're also still waiting on news of when the GBA games will be made available at large on the eShop.
