Experience vintage Nintendo games, remastered in 3D, on the 3DS

Sep 1, 2011 06:35 GMT  ·  By

Nintendo has unleashed the first batch of free games for its 3DS Ambassadors, meaning people who bought its recently released Nintendo 3DS handheld at full price, before the last month's price cut went into effect.

Nintendo's 3DS wasn't exactly the success the company had hoped, with early sales figures failing to meet up to expectations, while the small number of quality games, as well as the delayed online eShop digital store, made many loyal fans put off buying the device.

In order to stop it from failing completely, Nintendo announced that the price of the 3DS would be lowered from its initial $249 to just $169 early last month.

Because the company didn't want existing 3DS owners to feel cheated, it confirmed that they'll be turned into Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors, meaning they'll get 20 free downloadable games for their handheld console.

Now, Nintendo has released the first batch of free games for its 3DS ambassadors, who can now download 10 classic Nintendo Entertainment System titles for their console, including the first iterations in famous franchises like Mario, The Legend of Zelda or Donkey Kong.

The 10 free games are: Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climber and The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Metroid, Open Tournament Golf, Wrecking Crew, and Yoshi.

In order to easily download the new games, Nintendo 3DS owners need to access the eShop, go to the 'Settings/Other' section, and then select 'Your Downloads', which allows you to view your own download history. Underneath your previous downloads, you'll find the 10 free games, which can easily be redownloaded.

Besides the free games, there's an extra application called the Ambassador Certificate, which, when started, will notify you once the other 10 free games will on the eShop.

The rest of the free titles comprise classic Game Boy Advance games, including Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 and Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, and will be released in the near future.