The Nintendo Download_ That Nobunaga’s Really Going Places

It’s an ambitious week for The Nintendo Download, with the feudal warlords of Nobunaga’s Ambition marching into battle against paper planes, card games, and a platforming devil.

Nobunaga’s Ambition for the Super Nintendo (800 points) leads the Nintendo Download charge this week, delivering deep strategy game play that none of the newer games in the lineup can possibly lay a finger on. Enter Japan’s Warring States period as the ruler of a fief, using diplomacy, military might, and the odd ninja as you ambitiously attempt to unite Japan.

Compared to that Virtual Console offering, DSiWare might as well be playing cards or throwing paper airplanes. In fact, that’s exactly what’s happening on DSiWare this week, with the five card games of Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics (500 yono all app points) and Paper Airplane Chase (200 points).

WiiWare fills your console with European devils this week, with Cocoto Platform Jumper from Neko Entertainment (700 points), a platformer featuring a mini-devil that was originally released as a European-exclusive Gamecube title in 2004.

Nobunaga is tempting, but I’ll most likely wind up saving my points this week in hopes of something better down the line. As always, official descriptions follow.

Nintendo DSiWare

Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics (Nintendo, 1-8 players, Rated T for Teen – Simulated Gambling, 500 Nintendo DSi Points™): Clubhouse Games comes to Nintendo DSiWare with a collection of five fun card games in Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics. Play familiar favorites like Blackjack and Five Card Draw, or test yono all app your ability in the fast-paced Last Card, Last Card Plus and President. DS Download Play allows players to host as many as seven friends.

Paper Airplane Chase™ (Nintendo, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 200 Nintendo DSi Points): In Paper Airplane Chase, glide your virtual paper plane through an increasingly tricky slalom course. Take it slow in Endless mode or zip through several Time Attack courses. The two-player Race mode allows friends to race each other using a single Nintendo DSi system.

WiiWare

Cocoto Platform Jumper (Neko Entertainment, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone – Mild Cartoon Violence, 700 Wii Points™): A long time ago in a faraway land, strange little creatures lived in the depths of Abyss. Cocoto, his little devil friends and the mysterious Fairy protect the secret of the magma – the source of their power – in a magic cauldron. Meanwhile, Zaron, the god of lightning who lusts after this force, is up to something. He can count on the rulers of the other kingdoms that Cocoto must cross. The tragic kidnapping of Shiny, Baggy and Neuro has left Cocoto alone to watch over the cauldron. Refusing to leave his friends, he will set out to find them with Fairy.

Virtual Console

Nobunaga’s Ambition (Super NES, 1-8 players, Rated E for Everyone – Violent References, 800 Wii Points): Nobunaga’s Ambition is a game set in Japan’s Warring States period, a turbulent age when feudal warlords battled for control of the country. As the ruler of a fief, the player chooses his or her yono all app own path to conquest: Will you wage war on your neighbors or rely on diplomacy? Use economic sanctions or send ninja assassins? Use all of your ingenuity and resources to unite Japan under your banner.