April 7, 2008

The arrival of April means springtime fun is officially back in season. To get Wii™ Shop Channel patrons in the spirit, we’re pleased to offer a pair of lively NES® favorites. One is a breezy, puzzle-busting fantasy, the other a classic baseball title to keep sports fans fired up for a new season of nine-inning excitement. Whether your tastes run toward cookies or ballpark snacks, you’ll find hours of gaming enjoyment right at your fingertips.

Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. Wii™ owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

Yoshi’s Cookie™ (NES®, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Take one part puzzle game, combine with intuitive game play, add a pinch of multiplayer action and top with a layer of everyone’s favorite dinosaur. Mix together and let set for roughly 100 stages’ worth of time. If that sounds like a winning recipe to you, then step into the kitchen and get ready for a batch of fast-paced puzzle action. Hunker down to move rows and columns of randomly placed cookies in an effort to align all the cookies of the same type. Successfully assemble a row or column to make the line disappear, then move to a new one. If you’re good enough, you may even be able to make a Yoshi cookie appear! Feel like taking on a friend? Fire up the two-player mode, where you can attack your opponent while competing to match as many cookies as possible. Be careful, though—if your timing is off, you could end up attacking yourself. Who knew dinosaurs had such a weakness for puzzle games and sweets?

Bases Loaded (NES®, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Bases Loaded is a baseball game with an arcade feel and plenty of options from which players can choose. Select one of 12 teams, set your lineup from the 30 players available (each with different strengths), then play a single game or try to win the pennant. During game play, the screen shows two different viewpoints: one from behind home plate as you’re batting, and the other from the pitching mound in a television-style shot (unique for its time) as your team plays in the field. Strong play control and excellent graphics add to the excitement as you decide what pitch to throw (you can even try to provoke the opposing batter into charging the mound), control all positions on the field, or do your best to get a hit. So step to the plate and find out why this is one of the most popular baseball games on the NES. Can you pull through in the clutch?

For more information about Wii, please visit wii.com.