EarthBound now available on Wii U eShop, StreetPass gets enhanced

Get excited Nintendo fans… EarthBound is now available on the eShop for the Wii U for $9.99. It’s taken forever, but here it is.

Along with the EarthBound release, Nintendo had a few other surprises up their sleeves in the Nintendo Direct mini event which happened a bit earlier today. They covered Pikmin 3, the expanded GameStop Demo program and the upcoming Nintendo Zone StreetPass enhancements.

Check out the video of the event below, make sure to stop by the eShop to finally download EarthBound, and read on for the official info.

Nintendo Direct mini:
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At long last, Super NES classic EarthBound is now available as a Virtual Console game in the Nintendo eShop for Wii U for $9.99. Nintendo announced its availability during today’s Nintendo Direct Mini video. Nintendo also revealed that Nintendo Zone locations will be getting StreetPass enhancements to let players connect with one another, and reminded people about this weekend’s Pikmin 3 demo program at select GameStop and EB Games stores.

“Not only do Wii U owners have a big lineup of great games on the way like Pikmin 3 and The Wonderful 101, but they also have access to Virtual Console classics like EarthBound,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “If you haven’t already, this is a great time to jump into the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U experience.”

To view the Nintendo Direct Mini in its entirety, visit http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct.

Information in today’s Nintendo Direct Mini included:

• EarthBound Launches: EarthBound is available right now for $9.99 in the Nintendo eShop for Wii U.
• Pikmin 3: The head-to-head battle mode features 12 different stages with three different variations per stage. Players might want to grow lots of Pikmin quickly, while others want to make quick-hit guerrilla attacks to grab prizes. Every battle is different, as players adapt to different variables, stages and opponents. Players who go through Story Mode, Mission Mode and co-op Mission Mode and have broadband Internet access will be able to compare scores and stats with other players from around the world. Pikmin 3 launches Aug. 4 in stores and in the Nintendo eShop.
• GameStop Demo program: Nintendo had a great response to its hands-on demos of four upcoming Wii U games at more than 100 Best Buy stores during E3. As a result, Nintendo is bringing Pikmin 3 to more than 250 GameStop locations in the United States and EB Games stores in Canada on July 20 and July 21. Fans who pre-purchase a digital version of Pikmin 3 at any GameStop store this weekend will be able to download the game on Aug. 3 ? one full day before it launches. For more details about the pre-purchase program and to see a list of participating U.S. GameStop locations, visit http://www.gamestop.com/events. Canadians can visit http://www.EBGames.ca to find participating EB Games locations.
• Nintendo Zone StreetPass Enhancement: In a few weeks, Nintendo 3DS owners will be able to visit any Nintendo Zone location to have virtual StreetPass encounters with other Nintendo 3DS owners in a relay format. Whenever a Nintendo 3DS owner goes to a Nintendo Zone location and has the StreetPass feature enabled, they will be able to StreetPass with the last person to visit that location. This enhancement gives everyone more opportunities to StreetPass with other players. Best of all, visitors will be able to get StreetPass data for all their StreetPass games at once. There are more than 29,000 Nintendo Zone locations across North America at locations like Best Buy, Simon Malls, Future Shop and at AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspots, which can be found at places like Starbucks, McDonalds, Barnes & Noble and AT&T retail stores, among others. In addition to StreetPass, Nintendo 3DS owners can connect their systems to the Internet for online play, Nintendo eShop shopping or just to check for SpotPass data or system updates.
• New Downloadable Nintendo eShop Games: Three great games are coming to the Nintendo eShop in the next few weeks. Capcom is bringing DuckTales: Remastered to Wii U with hand-drawn, animated sprites, original Disney character voice talent and richly painted level backgrounds from the classic cartoon TV series. Cloudberry Kingdom from Ubisoft is a platformer with a random level generator that gives players a new challenge every single time. The difficulty level can match any need and adapt to the physics of each playable character. In Spin the Bottle: Bumpie’s Party from KnapNok Games, two to eight players sit around the Wii U GamePad controller and dance, spin, grab, jump, hide, pump, pass and squeeze their way through a series of fun mini-games.
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf Image Share Reminder: Hold down the L and R Buttons at any time in Animal Crossing: New Leaf to snap a picture of the game screen and save it to the SD card. Players can then access the Nintendo 3DS image share website through the Nintendo 3DS browser to upload the pictures directly to their social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.
• Fire Emblem Awakening and Shin Megami Tensei IV Promotion: Anyone who registers both Fire Emblem Awakening and Shin Megami Tensei IV at Club Nintendo by Aug. 31 will receive a code that can be redeemed for a $30 credit in their Nintendo eShop account.

Both games are available in stores and from the Nintendo eShop.