Oct. 4, 2010

From Samus Aran to Princess Zelda™, Nintendo® consoles have played host to some of the most memorable female characters in video game history. This week, a different breed of heroine makes her eagerly anticipated splash on the Nintendo DSiWare™ service. Shantae: Risky's Revenge finds the famous "half-genie" Shantae using her wits and her belly-dancing prowess in a wild new adventure that players can carry with them everywhere they go. You'll also find new additions to the WiiWare™ and Virtual Console™ services that offer more ways than ever to download a fresh dose of fun directly to your Nintendo game system.

Nintendo DSiWare

Shantae: Risky's Revenge
Publisher: WayForward
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Comic Mischief, Mild Cartoon Violence, Suggestive Themes
Price: 1,200 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: The sequel to the critically acclaimed Shantae is here! Fans asked, and WayForward has answered with a powder keg of high-octane, hair-whipping, hip-shaking action available only on the Nintendo DSiWare service. Shantae: Risky's Revenge sets the bar even higher with thousands of frames of animation, huge multi-sprite bosses and a quest so big it's bursting at the seams. Guide "half-genie" Shantae through haunted wastelands, burning deserts, enchanted forests, dripping caverns and deadly labyrinths. Discover magical attacks, brew zombie coffee, save golden babies and master the art of belly dancing to transform Shantae into more powerful creatures. Use your powers to foil the lady pirate Risky Boots and save Sequin Land from certain doom. With its infectious characters, flirtatious humor and deliciously outlandish action, Shantae: Risky's Revenge offers up all the hair-whipping, belly-dancing action you can handle.

Rummikub
Publisher: Games Factory Online
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: For more than 50 years, players have loved Rummikub for its combination of tactical thinking, luck and tense competition. In this new edition for the Nintendo DSiWare service, combine the tiles to create the smartest combinations and play with friends who have their own copy of Rummikub. You can also pit your wits against the computer in single-player mode at various difficulty settings. Collect all the medals Rummikub has to offer and become the world champion.

WiiWare

Racers' Islands – Crazy Racers
Publisher: ZALLAG
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Mild Cartoon Violence
Price: 1,000 Wii Points™
Description: Six drivers are competing on a popular TV show: an English lord, a dangerous beauty from Russia, a Mexican desperado, an eccentric Frenchman, a Japanese prodigy and an American bulldozer. Whichever driver you choose, you'll have to drive and shoot simultaneously to be the first to cross the finish line. The game includes 20 different races and six thematic islands styled to look like a big amusement park. Unique game play lets you drive with one hand while aiming with the other. Discover tons of content like new items, trophies and time trials.

Learning with the PooYoos: Episode 3
Publisher: Lexis Numérique
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: EC (Early Childhood)
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: Welcome to the world of the PooYoos, the first fun poetic brain-trainer for children ages 3 to 6. With the PooYoos, a merry band of adorable baby animals, children will have fun while learning basic development concepts such as numbers, letters, lateralization, shapes and colors. Children get to dance with their new friends and earn lovely interactive rewards. With two levels of interactivity, children can play activities based on plants and music. This game has been designed for use by children who have not yet grasped reading. The instructions are spoken in French, English or Spanish, depending on the language setting of your Wii™ console.

Virtual Console

FATAL FURY 3: ROAD TO THE FINAL VICTORY
Original platform: NEOGEO
Publisher: D4 Enterprise
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) – Violence
Price: 900 Wii Points
Description: Originally released in 1995, this is the fourth title in the Fatal Fury series of beat-'em-up games. Previous releases in the series used a two-plane battle system allowing you to move and fight between the foreground and background. This game features a three-plane format – foreground, background and main plane – known as the Oversway System. Characters will automatically move back to the main line after a certain period of time in the foreground or background planes. Other new features include Combination Arts (the ability to execute combo attacks with simple rhythmic button taps), Hidden Abilities (superior versions of the popular Special Moves and Super Special Moves from previous installments) and minor tweaks to all of the characters' Special Moves. As a result, this installment offers the deepest strategies and tactics in the Fatal Fury series to date.