Nintendo Downloads: Street Fighter Alpha 2, Rayman, Shinobi

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Retro re-releases Rayman, Shinobi and Street Fighter Alpha 2 are the cream of this week's Wii and DSi downloadable crop, but there's also something oddly appealing about beating back a tentacle in a toilet using a slipper in Stop Stress: A Day of Fury.

    WiiWare
    • My Dolphin - $5
    • MAGNETIS - $5
    • Stop Stress: A Day of Fury - $8
    • Flowerworks - $10
    Wii Virtual Console
    • Street Fighter Alpha 2 (SNES) - $8
    • Shinobi (Arcade) - $8
    DSiWare
    • Rayman - $8
    • Ball Fighter - $5
    • Pop Island - $5
    • Army Defender - $2
    • myNotebook: Red - $2

All titles will be available from their respective download stores in North America from 9am PST. For more, check out Nintendo's following descriptions.

Nintendo DSiWare

Rayman
Publisher: Ubisoft
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: The legendary first Rayman adventure is now available from the Nintendo DSiWare service. Play as Rayman and try to save his amazing world from the evil Mr. Dark. Discover a charming universe with colorful landscapes and meet funny characters who'll help Rayman through his quest. Experiment with his abilities as you punch, hang or fly in the air and choose between two difficulty levels. Take advantage of new features in the Nintendo DSi version, such as the Nintendo DSi Camera, map selection on the touch screen and the ability to play against time to win bonuses.

Ball Fighter
Publisher: Teyon
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: Ball Fighter is a puzzle game in which you take aim and blast groups of dropping spheres to create matches and clear the board. You can make chains to earn additional points or to make the game more difficult for an opponent. When you destroy spheres in a multiplayer mode, they will be added to the opponent's board, making his or her task more difficult. You can find special bonuses like a Brush, a Rocket Launcher or a Bomb, which can be used to destroy spheres or to paint a line of them with the same color. You'll find a variety of single-player modes, including Arcade, Survival, Brain Breaker and Player vs CPU, plus the unique multiplayer mode, all playable on one Nintendo DSi system.

Pop Island
Publisher: odenis studio
Players: 1-8
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Comic Mischief
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: Discover a joyful universe where playing is always a pleasure with Pop Island. Colorful and fun, Pop Island is an action-packed capture-the-flag game. Pick a team to join, then run, jump and spin your way around the island in an attempt to collect the priceless flags hidden throughout it. Become a surfing penguin, a flying fish or a waterskiing crocodile as you go all out for victory, unlocking 12 more joyful animals as you rack up points across eight different planets. You might even end up competing as a skateboarding mammoth. Playing alone is plenty of fun, but the madcap action reaches a new level when your friends get involved. By sharing the demo of the game via DS Download Play, up to seven more people with their own Nintendo DSi systems can use a local wireless connection to join you for some head-to-head or cooperative action. With plenty of power-ups, you'll need to concentrate on capturing more than just the rival team's flag to claim victory.

ARMY DEFENDER
Publisher: MINDSCAPE
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Cartoon Violence
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: Army Defender is an action shooter in which players must defend their base against enemy attacks by controlling a machine gun tower designed to eradicate enemy waves. As the player levels up, the enemy becomes more and more numerous and well-equipped. Attackers include soldiers, tanks, paratroopers, helicopters, jet fighters, bombers and elite commandos. Depending on the enemy type (red or green), players must switch between ammunition colors. The machine gun tower will fire where the player taps the touch screen. Power-ups are made available on a regular basis when a super bomber delivers them onto the base. When a power-up is retrieved, players will be able to upgrade their tower for a limited amount of time. Upgrades include flamethrowers, rocket launchers or concussion grenades that will help contain enemy progression.

myNotebook: Red
Publisher: Nnooo
Players: 1
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: myNotebook allows you to take notes wherever you are. Just pop open your Nintendo DSi system and jot down your thoughts. Make a list and cross it off, or even play your favorite pen-and-paper games (games not included). You can even personalize your notebook by drawing on the cover and changing the paper type with 18 unlockable squared and lined paper styles. Use the pen or pencil to make your notes or doodles, then erase the bits you don't like. With five ink colors, you'll always be able to make your notes and doodles look stylish.

WiiWare

My Dolphin
Publisher: T&S Ltd.
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points

Description: You are a dolphin trainer. Use the magical stick (Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers) to perform in lifelike dolphin shows. Teach your dolphin tricks and have fun watching your dolphin swim and play elegantly with different scenes, music and angles. This game lets you train your dolphin, compete in dolphin shows and watch your dolphin swim freely. Using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay & Play, you can become friends with other dolphins that have different colors and personalities. You can also buy new toys such as rings and balls for your dolphin to play with.

MAGNETIS
Publisher: YULLABY
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points

Description: MAGNETIS is all about attraction. Connect the magnets to create electric explosions. Solving this frantic puzzle will require quick thinking and foresight. Anticipate connections in order to generate massive chain reactions to win the highest number of points. To get rid of blocks and score points, you must create lines by connecting left and right magnets of the same color by using conductor blocks. The longer the line, the more points you'll get. Team up with as many as three friends in cooperative mode or play against them in battle mode and compete for the highest score.

Stop Stress: A Day of Fury
Publisher: Abylight
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) - Animated Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points

Description: Jack's dreams have become a nightmare, and only you can help him to get out. Climb into the skin of the most stressed-out man in the world, grab the baseball bat and prepare to let off more steam than ever before. Destroy everything around you, beat a path through traffic or at the office, and face off against incredible hallucinations. How far will a day of fury take you?

Flowerworks
Publisher: Nocturnal Entertainment
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 1,000 Wii Points

Description: While our heroine Follie is traveling to meet her auntie with a cargo of mystical Flowerworks seeds, her ship is pulled off course and crash-lands in a particularly dull area of the planet Elilia. Explore with Follie and help her recover her seeds to transform the world from drab to fab. You'll encounter strange inhabitants, some of whom will help Follie in her quest. Others, such as naughty garden gnomes, will hinder it. Flowerworks is a single-player adventure which combines blooming flowers, colorful fireworks, exploration and a whole lot of fun. The game will have the whole family immersed in no time, but be warned: Becoming a Flowerworks master is not for the faint of heart. Flowerworks includes Adventure, FreePlay and Tutorial game modes, with three difficulty settings in a 20-hour adventure.

Virtual Console

Street Fighter Alpha 2
Original platform: Super NES
Publisher: Capcom USA
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) - Animated Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points Description: Street Fighter Alpha 2 explodes with lightning-fast game play and amazing innovations. Quick Move Reversals, Alpha Counters and the incredible Custom Combo System create a new standard for all games to fight by. Push your talents to the limit as you discover new hidden moves and reversals for every character. Neutralize opponents' attacks with high and low Alpha Counters and execute incredible Custom Combos to create your own rapid-fire assaults. All your favorite warriors are back for more. Previously hidden characters Dan, Akuma and Bison are joined by five new fighters: Rolento, Gen and Sakura, plus classic favorites Dhalsim and Zangief.

Shinobi
Publisher: SEGA
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Mild Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points

Description: Here's a bit of helpful advice to all you criminal organizations out there: If you're going to hatch an elaborate plot that involves kidnapping children, don't kidnap children who have ninjas for parents. That was the big mistake that a group called Zeed made when it went after the offspring of the Oboro clan. Now Joe Musashi is on the hunt to rescue the young hostages and take out Zeed's leaders, the Ring of Five. As you scour each stage, leave no children behind - Joe can't proceed to the next level without freeing them all. With an unlimited supply of shuriken, his sharpened katana and his deadly fists and feet, Joe will show Zeed why you don't mess with family.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    December 7, 2009 8:46 AM

    SF Alpha 2: The first and, to my knowledge, only SNES game with loading.

    • reply
      December 7, 2009 8:54 AM

      The cart had a special chip in it for the graphics processing though, didn't it?

    • reply
      December 7, 2009 9:00 AM

      *last hit lands*......................."KO!"
      Why the fuck would anyone want to play the SNES port of SFA2?

      • reply
        December 7, 2009 9:17 AM

        SNES was the most advanced console I had for awhile, so it was the only version I could play. My friends and I played SFA2 for hours every Friday night during our Sophomore year of high school. We mocked the loading, of course, but the game was otherwise excellent.

    • reply
      December 7, 2009 10:42 AM

      Mario Paint.

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