The eShops on Wii U and 3DS are closing on Monday, so I wanted to pick up at least one game for each system in its last days, in preparation of the final goodbye. Here are my first impressions and other thoughts about the games I bought.
Pushmo World (Wii U)
In this cute puzzle game, you play as a sumo wrestler who rescues children who have been (somehow) trapped in blocks at the park. By pulling and pushing blocks, you can create steps to ascend each puzzle.
Each block can only be extended up to three spaces away from the back “wall,” so you may have to make an indirect route to the top. Go up, around, pull one block out, push another in, jump across a gap, and so on. After the initial (easy) tutorial levels, the puzzles will really make you think. But fortunately, there is no time limit…so you never feel rushed.
Even though the original Pushmo, and its sequel Crashmo, are in the 3DS eShop, I opted for the Wii U game simply because I enjoy playing on the bigger screen of a TV. (Besides, it interested me most of the Wii U eShop games I didn’t already own.)
It’s published by Nintendo themselves, and some of the later puzzles resemble Nintendo characters. The game is a lot of fun, and I’m enjoying it even more than I expected. It’s a very welcome addition to my Wii U collection.
Tappingo (3DS)
This 3DS puzzle game resembles Picross at first glance, but it’s actually quite different. There is a grid of block pieces that will ultimately form a picture, and many empty spaces. Some blocks will have numbers on them, and you must slide those blocks to extend their color in the direction of your slide.
However, the color will keep sliding until it hits something else (or the edge of the screen). So if it’s not exactly the right number of squares shown on the block, that means something else needs to be in place first. So some parts can only be done in sequence for the pieces to fit just right. It’s a nice twist on logic games.
The game itself isn’t very polished. The menu is bland, you can’t use the control pad/stick in menus (even though you can during gameplay), and there aren’t always sound effects when you’d expect to hear them. You can’t even use the start button to pause the game! So there are some curious aspects to the presentation, but the gameplay is enjoyable. It’ll be good for a quick puzzle here and there.
Donkey Kong 64 (Wii U)
I actually bought this Virtual Console game in January, knowing that the eShop was on its way out. I’m already quite familiar with Donkey Kong 64 (a 3D platformer/collect-a-thon), as I’ve fully completed it seven times on N64. It’s one of my favorite games of all-time, in fact, despite some camera/control issues. The game is still as fun as a barrel of monkeys on Wii U, but there are some irritating problems with this version.
Switch controllers don’t have six face buttons on the right side like the N64 controller does, so it uses the right stick to function as four of those buttons. Unfortunately, that makes it far too easy to accidentally hit a diagonal and trigger the wrong button. I often end up locked in first-person view when I was just trying to rotate the camera. Quite frustrating if you’re racing towards a timed goal!
Also, some parts seem to have been sped up (presumably to help the frame rate). But that makes certain parts of the game move too quickly. In particular, there’s (at least) one stage of the Krazy Kong Klamour mini-game that’s nearly unplayable. You have to shoot at targets before the light dims…but now the light dims quicker than it takes for your ammo (melons) to fly through the air. The game was very easy on N64, but now it’s almost impossible (unless you resort to quickly pausing and un-pausing the game, which I regretfully had to do).
Even though I love Donkey Kong 64, I still recommend playing it on an actual N64 system instead, if you can.
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (Wii U)
Update: On Monday evening (March 27th), the eShop was still open in the evening. So I took another look, and I decided to buy Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. It was on sale for $5.99, (and yet it’s still $39.99 on Switch). I’ve heard a lot about Shovel Knight, although I’ve never tried it before now. And when I realized I had just barely enough money remaining in my account, I decided to spring for it.
Shovel Knight is an old-school, NES style action/platformer in which you use a shovel to attack enemies. You also battle bosses, collect treasure, and visit towns. While I’m not very far into the game just yet, I am absolutely digging it. It’s nice to add a quality 2D platformer to my collection, and I feel like I definitely picked some winners with my last-minute purchases. 👍
Saying Goodbye
Late on Monday night, the eShops officially closed. Or at least, games can no longer be purchased. But even though the Wii U and 3DS eShops are now gone, online play for those systems is still with us…for now, at least. I may make a similar post about the end of online play as well, whenever that happens. They’ll probably give us a few months’ notice, but I’m hoping it won’t happen this year.
Did you all pick up any last minute eShop games for either system? Leave a comment below!