It's not often that two big Nintendo franchises see new releases on the same date, but tomorrow is going to be an exceptionally good day. Both Mario Golf: World Tour and Kirby: Triple Deluxe are hitting the Nintendo 3DS tomorrow, both in retail stores and digitally via the Nintendo eShop.
"May 2 is going to be an outstanding day for Nintendo 3DS owners," said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Mario Golf: World Tour and Kirby: Triple Deluxe add two exclusive Nintendo experiences to the already-incredible library of software found only on Nintendo 3DS.
Mario Golf: World Tour is the first Mario Golf title in a decade, since 2004's Advance Tour for the Game Boy Advance. You'll control the usual cast of characters, playing with folks like Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach (or just using your Mii character) and hitting a ball around courses filled with Warp Pipes and Piranha Plants, utilizing items to help your progress. There are more serious golf courses available but why are you playing Mario Golf if you want a serious golf game in the first place? It's like playing Mario Kart and expecting Gran Turismo.
To increase replayability the game has an extensive shop full of gear to unlock in the game, all sorts of clothes and golf accessories, all of which can enhance your abilities when equipped. You can customize your character with it and take them to online matches, which can be played either by taking turns or by playing simultaneously, making for a much faster game. Nintendo also has scheduled events that they will host online, allowing winners to get special pieces of gear.
If you can't get enough of it there's three DLC packs already planned, with the first of it hitting the first day. These three packs of downloadable content will add a total of 108 new holes and three playable characters. THey can be purchased individually for $5.99 or with a season pass for $14.99, which will also give you a special Gold Mario playable character.
Mario Golf: World Tour will launch for $29.99. If you're excited about the game you can now download a demo via the Nintendo eShop. Check out our review round-up here.
Kirby: Triple Deluxe brings the pink fluff ball back to his side-scrolling roots and gives him a whole new slew of enemies to inhale. If you've somehow never played a Kirby game, his big gimmick is that he can transform into different forms depending on the enemies he eats, somewhat like a Hostess snowball version of Rogue.
This time he has a new ability called 'Hypernova' that allows him to inhale almost anything in his way, include obstacles and entire sections of the level. He's insatiable, that one. The game will also feature multiplayer battles via local wireless or Download Play. You pick your favorite copy ability for Kirby and fight against other friends. Four players can play using one game card.
Kirby: Triple Deluxe will cost five bucks more than Mario Gold and ring in at $34.99. No demo for Kirby, sadly! Check out our review round-up here.
This are the last big releases for the immediate future but that's not to say the Nintendo 3DS doesn't have more games coming soon. Don't forget that the weird and amazing-looking Tomodachi Life hits June and Super Smash Bros. is on the way this summer.