Double Dragon for Nintendo 3DS eShop

By Tom Phillips Published 22 June, 2011

Kirby TV channel launches for Wii.

This week's Nintendo eShop update arrives tomorrow and adds Game Boy brawler Double Dragon to the 3DS Virtual Console.

Originally released by Taito in 1987, Double Dragon is the spiritual successor to arcade beat 'em up classic Renegade.

Also available is Nintendo's own Radar Mission, a Battleships-type affair designed by Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi. Both games will set you back €3 - around £2.70.

Nintendo has also announced the Kirby TV Channel, available tomorrow as a download for the Wii.

The application will stream 50 episodes of the Kirby anime, with four to be immediately available. Two new toons will be added each week, replacing older episodes.

Series Kirby: Right Back at Ya! was originally broadcast in Japan between 2001 and 2003. A trailer for the English dub, first shown in the US in 2006, lies below.

Kirby's Epic Yarn launched earlier this year and strung an 8/10 Eurogamer review from John Teti. Nintendo is now planning Kirby Wii, a previously canned GameCube game, for release this Christmas.

  • Double Dragon - 3DS Virtual Console - €3
  • Radar Mission - 3DS Virtual Console - €3
  • Just SING! 80s Collection - 3DS/DSiWare - €5, 500 Points
  • Delbo - 3DS/DSiWare - €2, 200 Points
  • NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits demo - Wii - free
  • Kirby TV Channel - Wii - free

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard. @TomPhillips151 on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Toothball #1 11 months ago

    Oh yeah I forgot I'd need to watch for eShop updates now. Used to the PSN and XBLA updates, but fell out of the habit of watching for WiiWare updates.

  • AcidSnake #2 11 months ago

    Hang on, Kirby Wii?
    Either I've forgotten about it or this is the first I've heard of it...

  • brigadier #3 11 months ago

    I'm getting worried about the virtual console games only being Game Boy games. :-/

    I was under the impression that SNES and NES would be released as well... I can't understand why they aren't?

  • midnight_walker #4 11 months ago

    @AcidSnake - Kirby's Epic Yarn. It's really rather good, but it's painfully easy.

  • Eraysor #5 11 months ago

    That trailer just gave me horrifying Moomins flashbacks

  • MARKIV #6 11 months ago

    @brigadier Despite what Nintendo say, the 3DS wasn't suppose to be launched until Xmas hence everything on it right now is a cheap quick port.

  • Centrifugal #7 11 months ago

    Hopefully the virtual console won't just be Game Boy games. I'm sure the 3DS is more than powerful enough to emulate the N64 seeing as how even the PSP can do it somewhat, and that's homebrew.

  • wizlon #8 11 months ago

    We need more 3D classics releases on the 3DS.... soon.

  • Timotei #9 11 months ago

    An article headlining Double Dragon with a video of Kirby.

    Great work, EG.

  • Kay #10 11 months ago

    I was under the impression that SNES and NES would be released as well... I can't understand why they aren't?

    The 3DS' VC will only do handheld games, unfortunately. So far support for GB, GB Colour, Game Gear and the PC Engine handheld have been confirmed, and I'm guessing GBA games will also be on there at some point.
    Edited by Kay at 22/06/11 @ 16:42

  • varsas #11 11 months ago

    @AcidSnake: It was announced at E3.

    Screenshots here: http://www.eurogamer.net/gallery.php?gam... and it isn't Kirby 64.
    Edited by varsas at 22/06/11 @ 16:44

  • brigadier #12 11 months ago

    @Kay

    Cheers for that.

    Feel a bit cheated now then. Why call it the Virtual Console, as in the same thing the Wii has? I was under the impression it would have the same content as the Wii version.

  • BraveArse #13 11 months ago

    @eraysor - "That trailer just gave me horrifying Moomins flashbacks"

    I just had one reading your comment. /shudder

  • Paulie_P #14 11 months ago

    @brigadier

    I can see where you're coming from, it would make sense that Virtual Console on the 3DS would match the Wii's. It would cause less confusion among customers and surely the 3DS would be able to handle N64 games. You would think it would make business sense as well as being a good service.

    However this is Nintendo we're talking about, if they released virtual console on the 3DS, they wouldn't be able to repackage games like Zelda OoT (as brillant as it is in 3D) and Starfox in 3D. Also even if they did release SNES and NES games, they would still be drip fed 2 a week as they are now. They really don't seem to have a clue (although i'm on of those armchair business people that watches the apprentice and screams at the tv the whole damn episode when they do something stupid).

  • jonsaan #15 11 months ago

    And so it begins. One release a week of MEH games. Why? Why not release a few at once. Especially if they are average ports of decades old games.

    EDIT: I didn't realise Rad Mission was a GB game too. MEH as well. Just give us the classics and move on to another system. Which basically means Nintendo games only, bar the odd exception.
    Edited by jonsaan at 22/06/11 @ 18:46

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #16 11 months ago

    When playing game boy games can you choose the color for the monochrome emulation?

  • Phantom_Dynamite #17 11 months ago

    Ah Double Dragon, the tale of the brothers Lee on a mission to save there love interest from that bastard Willy.

    Happy Days.

  • Muddtallica #18 11 months ago

    I just want it to be known to all: the Kirby anime series, of which Right Back At Ya is a translation, is actually pretty darned good. I mean, it's very much a kids show, but it had surprisingly high production values and was rigorously faithful to the spirit of the videogames. The dub was a little loud and 4Kids-ified for my tastes, but hey, it's nice to see that show get a bit more exposure, even in its diluted form.

    This has been a Muddtallica message. I thank you.

  • Paulie_P #19 11 months ago

    @GamesProgrammer - nope, you can't choose the monochrome colour.

  • WinterSnowblind #20 11 months ago

    @brigadier
    They've only ever talked about handheld games coming to the 3DS. Gameboy and Gamegear.. with the possibility of virtual boy stuff coming too. It's likely we'll eventually see GBA games as well, but I'd imagine they want to get the older stuff out first so that the more advanced games don't detract from the older ones.

    We know that the original Zelda is coming as a 3DS Classic though, and Miyamoto has suggested he'd like to do Link to the Past in 3D too. But for the most part, I imagine they'll keep console games to the Wii.

  • CallousB #21 11 months ago

    I'm surprised they didn't push the cartoon stuff on Wii far earlier in its life. Plenty of old gaming cartoons they could show. It might have helped encourage more of the mass market to get their Wii online.

    I'm a bit miffed the 3D classics aren't being released quicker.....I'm doubting the US/Europe will ever get the Xevious 3D game that Japan had at launch. I'm assuming it's a rights issue of some sort?...as it's not as if there's much to translate. A shame as I loved the original.

    I hope they consider the original SNES F-Zero for a 3D Classic update.

  • patootik #22 11 months ago

    As there are no console games appearing on the service should it not be called the "Virtual Handheld" in that case?

  • RawNinjaKid #23 11 months ago

    Game Boy version of Double Dragon?? - Okay, for nostalgic value, I guess. I would prefer NES/SNES versions a bit more.

    I hope NES and SNES comes to the 3DS Virtual Console. It might by popular demand, but don't expect the Wii VC to be account linked in anyway.
    Edited by RawNinjaKid at 22/06/11 @ 19:39

  • Ashcroft #24 11 months ago

    I'd want the arcade version of Double Dragon for that, not some awful port that took them 3 seconds to emulate.

    Nintendo haven't got a fucking clue when it comes to digital downloads.

  • BonzoBanana #25 11 months ago

    We can only guess at what the 3DS is actually capable of. I'm fairly sure the 3DS is less powerful than PSP in actual cpu power but does have a better gpu so I personally don't think N64 emulation is possible which is why games like Starfox and Ocarina have to be properly converted and re-coded and not just emulated. I do feel Super Nintendo emulation would be ideal for the console and I'm sure it could also emulate dsp games like mariokart but possibly not sfx cart games. There is no reason to limit virtual console games to only handheld consoles. If the 3DS does use a single core arm processor for games and uses the second arm for background tasks then it has about 300 dmips performance where as the wii is close to 1700 dmips for its main processor (not including the wii's arm support/background processor). The wii is much more powerful and capable of emulating other systems much easier.

    If you want handheld emulation the psp is a much better bet although even that isn't good enough for N64 emulation I think. Last time I checked it was only full speed without sound and with sound it was too slow most of the time. Perhaps this has changed. I have read that N64 emulation on psp is ok but to me unless its 100% speed or close to it with sound its a failure.

  • orion976 #26 11 months ago

    GBA version of Double Dragon, now that was actually a great version

  • SG #27 11 months ago

    SO AWESOME!

    I'm going to go and download them and spend a few hours feeling like I'm 8 again!