August 5th, 2011

Nintendo sends out Ambassador Program notification via SpotPass

95 Comments

In preparation for the price drop of the 3DS, Nintendo has sent out a notification via SpotPass to remind folks to connect to the eShop before August 12th so they’re eligible for the free games as a result of being an early adopter. You can check your 3DS or after the break for the message.

(Thanks to Elias Moreno for sending this in.)

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To our loyal customers, we would like to offer you 20 downloadable games from the Nintendo eshop at no charge. These free games are available to Nintendo 3DS owners who connect* to the nintendo eshop at least once before 11:59 p.m. Easter/8:59 p.m. Pacific time on Aug 11, 2011. You will automatically be registered as a 3DS Ambassador.

Starting Sept. 1, Ambassadors will be able to download 10 NES Virtual Console games at no charge and before they are available to the public. These games, including Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climber and the Legend of Zelda, are slated to become paid downloadable games, but Ambassadors get them early for free. Later in the year, once the paid version of the games are available in the Nintendo eshop, Ambassadors can download any of the remaining games or any of the updated versions at no cost.

By the end of 2011, Nintendo will provide Ambassadors with 10 Gamb Boy Advance Virtual Console games. These include games like Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario ADvance 3, Mario Kart : Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare INc: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kond. The games will be available exclusively to Ambassadors and Nintendo currently has no plans to make these 10 games available to the general public on the Nintendo 3DS in the future.

More details about this program will be announced in the future.

  • Requiem

    Got this message this morning when I woke up. At least it pretty much confirms that I’m one of the ambassadors since I already logged into the eshop.

    • mike

      got mine yesterday :)

  • Matthew

    Got this message when I woke up.

  • Jean

    My 3DS is currently being sent to nintendo for repair so I hope I still qualify, I have bought things.

    • Holonboy

      What happened to your 3DS?

    • Jean

      The start button was having difficulty functioning

    • ABEzilla

      My 3ds has suffered small scratches I wonder how much it would be to fix that…

    • jesse

      @ABEzilla, my 3ds had two large scartches on it when i got it on the top screen, they were lining up with the bottom screen, so i call a nintendo of america, and they emailed me a shipping label, then i will send it to them, and they will fix it for free, but i cant send it yet because im out of country on vacation !

    • Blah

      “The start button was having difficulty functioning”

      nooooo you did the wrong thing :/

      this is firmware’s fault, system update will fix that, nothing is wrong with your console …

      similar problem was with charge light

    • Requiem

      Make sure that if you get it back before the price cut, you log into the eshop again; just in case

  • Matthew

    The date says 1/08/11. ?….. O__O….. ?

    • David Turnbull

      It’s the 1st of August. ;) Date format is different in Australia.

    • SkywardSword

      DD/MM/YYYY

      Australia’s date format FTW!

    • Soeroah

      I’m actually pretty sure America’s date format is the ‘abnormal’ one in relation to the rest of the word.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country

    • http://www.youtube.com/flyinglevel Nick Knack

      NO! every one else should MM/DD/YYYY!!!!! The other way IS CONFUSING.

    • origamiguy

      How is ordering them by the amount of time they represent ‘confusing’?

      I can understand if you’ve been using the broken system all your life, but DD/MM/YYYY makes so much more sense.

      In fact, if I remember correctly, China (and other asian countries) do YYYY/MM/DD which is actually the ISO standard for date representation.

      Basically, America is doing it wrong for no reason.

    • DryYoshi

      LOL Most of the world has day-month-year xD

    • http://www.YouTube.com/khfanlizzie lizzie1238

      I don’t understand why the date would be before the month. You always say the month first when talking. MM/DD/YYYY or YYYY/MM/DD makes more sense to me.

    • Belinni

      Despite being a part of America Puerto Rico actually uses both DD/MM/YY and MM/DD/YY. I guess it depends on where you study but personally I think DD/MM/YY makes more sense as Days become Months and Months become Years.

    • Matthew

      @David Turbull Oh XD

  • Matthew

    Look at the date O__O

    • Holonboy

      Well if it says 1/08/11, and you don’t know what it means, you have to use your brain.

      The 11 is definitively for 2011, so we have that taken care of.

      Now we have the 1 and 08. This could either mean the first of August or eighth of January.
      The later is not a possibility.

      What can we assume then?

      It’s the first of August of 2011.

  • usauser

    If I connected my 3DS fort the last time one month ago, do I have do to it again?
    Thx

    • jesse

      you only have to be connected once, i think that they register your serial number or ip address or something, but just login once and your in :D

  • zac

    i log into the eshop every day to be 100%

    • ABEzilla

      lol ur paranoid…

    • mike

      @ABEzilla nothing wrong being paranoid
      Im so paranoid In’t left my house in four years
      :)

    • Sean

      @zac yeah I do the same thing, yet I don’t know why….

  • Christian Moss

    Told you there was a notification david. -_-

  • Kylehyde

    Got this 3days ago…

  • moed0515

    Just to be sure all I have to do is go to the eShop and thats all right? I don’t need to buy something? or log into my club Nintendo account?

    • jesse

      nope just go on it, and then your done, you are automatically registered

  • Jbluna

    just alittle question about the progam not shure if this was aressed or not but will the VC games come in a batch, like simultaneously?

    • Jbluna

      *program
      * addressed
      darn typos

    • ABEzilla

      no they will not we will get them starting sept. 1 and then we will continue to get one each following week… unless nintendo has announced otherwise, this is the plan…

    • Requiem

      I think it’s 1 a week starting September 1st, but it is possible that they’ll put the first 10 in one day(September 1st). Although Nintendo doesn’t seem to be a fan of big eshop updates like that.

    • Z

      You forgot *sure
      lol:)

    • Sean

      They’re making it sound like we’ll be getting them all at once….

  • http://www.gamerparadice.yolasite.com J2Dinc

    I got this at the end of July, why did I get it so early????

    • ABEzilla

      why do you lie? lol jk

  • https://sites.google.com/site/hybrilynx/ David Hoyle

    its almost pointless really. becuz the update to get those notifications was the same day the eshop came out. and who wouldnt have updated their system for like a few minutes and not have time to visit the eshop for at least a few seconds. anyways, those notifications should have been emails or messages from people on my friend list. just like the wii. i wonder why they didnt send one for the wii?

  • Jbluna

    just go to the news section on the eshop and it will say:
    Ambassador Program
    ———————————————————————–
    You are a Nintendo 3DS Ambassador

    Plain and simple

    • Luxik

      There’s no Ambassador Programme news for me ;O
      Just a Video

    • Luxik

      It doesn’t say anythign for me, just a Video is what i have

    • Jbluna

      hmm, how odd

    • Belinni

      I got the news but no video.

    • Luxik

      Now, when i watch this video, it still says “New” up to it. It’s like it doesn’t recognise i’m here :/ Same with all the tabs :/

  • Joe

    The date format is correct if you’re anywhere except The Americas and Asia. I’m in England and got a similar message on Tuesday Afternoon. (2/8/11)

    • Joe

      Mistake! i actually got mine on Sunday (31/7/11)

  • G-hunter

    Got this message like 2 days ago in UK

  • mptje

    I got it 2-3 days ago already. Old news. It was even a video in the E-shop, and I got it in my own language – Dutch.

    • Cheezemaniac

      I did found it yesterday, in dutch :)

  • fooooood!!!!

    NOOOO!!!!! I thaught that this was an infinite thing for people who got the 3ds early! Something like typing in the 3ds code on the back would be great for me, but noooo! I just had to accidentaly drop my 3ds while playing halo, thus breaking the wireless signal receiver 1 week before the ambassador program!!!

    • http://www.youtube.com/flyinglevel Nick Knack

      you sure it’s broken? Try calling Nintendo’s Tech support button if it is really broken, if not then a simple flick of the wireless switch should work.

    • Requiem

      If you logged in anytime before the upcoming price cut(meaning anytime from when the eshop became available until now) then you should already be an ambassador.

      What I’m wondering is why you were holding your 3DS if you were playing Halo O.O

    • http://3dsblog jester

      lol
      I never knew halo came out for the 3DS

  • AminalCrosser

    Check nintendo video! PIZZA QUEST!

    • Peter

      Defeat the Crust Golem!

    • http://3dsblog jester

      its lame
      the music video updated but stayed the same weird

  • Le Blockhead

    I got this message on wednesday

  • Ty97

    i got this notification 2 days ago…

  • Luxik

    Is Nintendo Video out for europe? it says i can’t download any videos :/

  • Limadude

    I don’t know why but i didn’t get it! I have connected to the internet on it so whats wrong?!!!!

  • Jodel

    Got this message after I attended my 8th grade student orientation. and also when I read the news section of the eShop, it said about the Ambassador program that I am a Nintendo 3DS Ambassador! YES!

  • Thunder

    Question. Do the 10 downloads HAVE to be used on these games, or can they be used on anything, anytime? I think that will be the ultimate judge of whether I buy prior to the drop or not.

    • Requiem

      I dint think they’d specifically mention certain games if you were allowed to download any game out of a larger group(in other words, I dont think they’d say “here’s 40 games, choose 20″ if they already specifically mentioned half the games). So, no it’ll probably be 10 specific games.

      They will most likely be redeemable anytime after they’ve been put up though(meaning most likely won’t expire if you didn’t download everything at once).

  • Luigi277

    It’s Donkey Kong not Kond at the last paragraph. Just saying

  • Neoxon

    Got the message this morning. Hyped for the free games.

  • djnforce9

    I wonder if these NES games will be re-scaled to fit the entire 3DS screen. That would be really neat.

  • Shinko

    If you go to E-Shop and Check the E-Shop NEWS it will tell you if you are an ambassador.

    “You area Nintendo 3DS Ambassador!”

    • Luxik

      It doesn’t do that in my 3DS, there is just video >__>

  • Angelo

    Just checked. There’s even a video message (which is basically the same text, but flowing) on the eShop.
    Since they were at it, they could have removed the “visit the eShop” part: since you have to go on the eShop to see the video in the first place, you’re already set.

  • Gianni Fiore

    just got it! yay free games! oh hey lookin for a racing game! ridge racer or wait for mario kart or both??? any ideas??

    • MrKoopan

      mario kart

  • Nesyaj0

    I kinda hope this means people that buy a 3DS now can’t be an Ambassador… in case some1 buys it with a price drop at stores like Walmart and still expect to take advantage of the deal cuz this is just unfair…

  • Chris

    It would be awesome if they had super mario and luigi superstar saga for free. Hopefully it will be available for download in the future, best mario game ever!

    • Basilman

      There is no “Super” in that titles name but I agree that game was epic one of the best RPGs I have ever played!

  • Roberto

    got my massage yesterday before i went to bed then i read the new massage in the eshop =D

    • http://www.YouTube.com/khfanlizzie lizzie1238

      The eshop has massages?! XD

  • Redox Indicator

    Donkey Kond?

  • Deric

    got mine today. but it took a few mins after turning on my 3DS for it come in.

  • Aleem Shah

    got the msg today.. but will it be available worldwide or region locked? :X

  • Troy Shen

    As IF you guys are still talking about the date…

  • drwill439

    Thore sneaky bums, they didnt put all the games in the letter.

  • Elias Moreno

    Woot. Front page. My parents are so proud of me.

    • Yew Loong

      There are no eshop in singapore. What can I do?

  • hello

    Do I need to connect to the eshop again to be registered for the ambassador program if I have already connected before?
    I’m at vacation now and I left my 3ds at home (my parents wouldn’t let me bring it)

    I’m sort of nervous because I won’t be back before August 12 :(

    • Matthew

      If you have connected once there is no need to worry! Nintendo even sends you a message! :D

    • hello

      Thanks :)

  • Glade

    on the eshop there’s actually a little notice in the news section saying that you are an ambassador and pretty much stating the entire notification over again

  • FacestabMan

    I tried and tried, and never got the message.

    I visited the eShop plenty of times but I swear, if I don’t get in I gonna be pissed.

    • Luxik

      Same me, i’m getting here daily, but no message :/
      I’m gonna video this and if i don’t get ambassador, i’m simple going to mail nintendo with the images :P

    • socialsimon64

      yeah i’ve tried too. Maybe they didn,t send the message in europe?

    • socialsimon64

      Also i got this video on the eshop telling me to visit the eshop. WTF

  • Sawgg

    I <3 nintendo