Thursday’s Download: A Metric Assload of Quality Demos and More Hit Every Nintendo Service Today.

Y’know that old saying about being stuck standing around forever at a bus station before inevitably 3 or 4 of them all arrive at the same time? No? Well think about it for a second because that was the first image that popped into my head when I had a look at all of the games made available for Nintendo’s eShop on the 3DS and Wii U today. There’s even a little something for those of you that still have the original Wii plugged into your television to check out. Yes you read that correctly, the long awaited Retro City Rampage finally arrives, determined to jumpstart a little life into the rotted corpse of WiiWare. There’s a pretty eclectic mix of fun to be had here so why don’t we just dive right in and have a look?

Across the board this is a series that gets a lot of love but I personally have never been compelled enough to check it out. I guess the idea for these games is that you press buttons in time with musical sounds or beats or something? Sounds like it would have been all the rage back in 2007. Clearly the game I’m most excited about taking for a spin tonight is the one with the brass big enough to include the word *Castlevania* it its title. *Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate* might have one subtitle too many but the developers have been saying all the right things regarding this first franchise entry for Nintendo’s 3D portable. Basically that this is the spiritual successor to *Castlevania III* for the NES and not another in the long line of “Metroidvania” approaches to the series. Too bad they’re still sticking with the confusing as all get out androgynous character designs. Oh man, I had totally forgotten about this game! This full download is one that’s been around for a while but I wanted to include here because the price has been dropped from $11.99 to $7.99 for Miyamoto knows how long. As you can see, it’s a side scrolling shooter with a unique twist that was met with solid to great reviews when it came out. It looks like it would be a lot of fun on the Wii U doesn’t it? And this. Arguably the biggest release of the day and one that I remember reading about in Nintendo Power (R.I.P.) nearly 2 years ago! I could go on for a bit about how badly I’ve wanted to play this game but instead I’ll link to the full review of the PS3 version written by our very own John “ANC” Barnes.

Click here to have a look.