One of the major downsides to the digital age of gaming is rearing its ugly head again today, as NIS America announces that Etrian Mystery Dungeon will soon be removed from the 3DS eShop in Europe.
The game, which is one of many excellent RPGs on the trusty 3DS, is set to be taken down from the eShop on 30th September. Pages for the game on Nintendo's North American and Australian websites were taken down some time ago, so we're slowly losing access to the digital version of the title all around the world.
You can either go ahead and grab the game from the 3DS eShop now while you have the chance, or you could choose to buy a physical version from NIS America's store for just £7.99. Feel free to read our full review of Etrian Mystery Dungeon if you need to be convinced.
It's always sad to see games simply disappear like this, especially when it happens before its platform of choice has become obsolete. Let us know if you're thinking of getting a copy while you can in the comments.
Further Reading:
[source twitter.com, via siliconera.com]
Comments 54
Time for hunting the physical release while it last.
And this is obviously a sign that the series is coming to Switch. /s
Physical games may as well be digital today, all the updates that are released render many game’s data on the disc useless shortly after release.
At least they were nice enough to give prior warning. Some games just disappear, never to be seen again.
Guess that means a Switch port is inbound 😂
@Slowdive But your purchase doesn’t go away if you buy online
I guess I don't understand why.
Do they have to pay a 'shop fee' to just have it listed?
£4.37!!! I'm buying that!
£4.37 I just bought that!
@sword_9mm i think stuff like this happens when there's a messy transfer of ownership, hear horror stories of issues between devs and publishers
or nintendo being a **** in the case of porting titles from their selects
@RazorThin
Unless the online shop goes down, then you only have access to it for as long as it's on your system
@status-204 Yeah but that's Nintendo their fault, and I see same happening on the Wii U and 3ds.
Meanwhile Sony did it much better, even if you have a PSP you can still download old games that got removed.
As for people owning the digital version of this game, that one will be available for download even after this got removed, like usual
Another heads-up a month away and at the end of vacation season.😆 At least with a generous farewell discount this time, but balanced by said discount expiring exactly one day before next payday.
The story of my life. ¯(ツ)/¯
@nhSnork This is thankfully just a game that you can pick up at any time physically on Ebay, so you'll always have a chance to add it to your collection!
The truth is, your digital games can be taken away at any time as you have no legal protections.
Are they still producing the physical version? Because otherwise the digital version was available longer the physical, so it’s not a disadvantage, just the end of a privilege the digital version provided over the physical one.
Also, sounds like a pretty good FOMO based marketing strategy
I think the best strategy to deal with this in the Switch era is to keep the digital games, DLC, and patches from the memory card backed up on one/multiple PC/external HDD. Can't really keep it all physical in this age, especially with day one patches being so common. Also I had read a thread in ResetEra which pretty much established that physicals stop working in the normal way (online) once the game has been patched on your Switch.
That's why every game I get, I take pictures of it all throughout the gameplay. I then assemble the pictures into a photo album. That way, when the title is no longer available, I can atleast look at the photo album and play choose your own adventure with it. Ok, maybe I don't do this. Hehe
But digital is the future! Haha.
@Chlocean eBay sellers (and frankly, most sellers abroad) are largely reluctant to ship electronics like dedicated console media to Belarus. There have been lucky local folks like the one who successfully ebayed a Project X Zone copy (which he later resold, finding a buyer in yours truly), but they seem like exceptions.
Part of my decisive digital preference in regards to game collections is the perennial lack of physical options around these parts, on local retail and import fronts alike. There's a reason I almost tear up at the mere mention of Tales of the Abyss 3D.😥😆
love digital for the (often) cheaper prices and frequent sales, loathe it for stories like this. the game's only been out for 5 years and it's going already? Physical prices are going to skyrocket and this is going to be another one of those games collectors sell on eBay for tens of £££
@nhSnork I had no idea. That super sucks, man.
I sent out some copies of Ring Fit to some NL folk when it was scarce, so if you need me to send you a copy of tales, I just need to know what region your 3DS is region-locked to and I would be willing to send you a copy if you have Paypal or something
@ancientlii
That would make sense.
Did they ever give a reason for its removal?
This is sad, I was especially bummed when Project X Zone got the boot, because I played the demo on a friend's 3DS, when I finally bought a 3DS it was no longer available...
But at least they announced it.
@Chlocean thanks! But I've received such helpful offers before and sadly tend to turn them down - after all, a big part of the aforediscussed sellers' reluctance has always been about the hijinks and issues of our local custom and postal services. I don't want to risk someone's own or specifically obtained copy in this recurrent quagmire. I appreciate the thought, though!
@Slowdive the problem with physical is that it can break or be stolen at any time
Switch port incoming!
@status-204 Do you still have the same Wii console that you bought the games on? If so I believe you can still redownload them from the Wii Shop Channel.
Bought the physical version a couple of weeks (or months?) ago thanks to a helpful tip from Nintendo Life.
I would've been more happy when they said they'll remove some of the main games. That would mean the main games are coming to Switch, probably. Or better still, NOT remove them, just make a main EO game for Switch. It shouldn't be too hard to make it work in handheld. A simple button to pull up the map screen should work about as well as looking down and switching to the stylus.
@status-204 If your Wii has been in storage for years, how concerned can you truly be about holding on to those games?
Individual games getting pulled from sale isn't a peculiarity of digital. The physical games have usually been out of print for years. It does prevent resale and circulation of old games - the original owners hold onto them forever and they don't end up in the market again.
But what happened with Wii, and apparently 3DS is a travesty that digital games and personal libraries are just ending. Wii was a stupid contract between Nintendo and a third party. It wasn't their own store, and the company that hosted it got bought out by some mobile company and shut everything down. And Nintendo had no backup plans or desire to host their content because Nintendo is Nintendo and treats every console as its own little world.
PS, XB, Steam, etc have a framework as a permanent service. Maybe Switch does, maybe Switch doesn't, but Nintendo seems to be the only digital content store that's bent on losing all their content permanently every time their contracts change.
Went to have a look at this game and noticed that Persona Q is on sale for half price. Will have to pick it up!
Thank you for reminding me! I just bought it. The shipping is more expensive than the game itself but that wont stop me. I love EO games too much to care
Not to worry! I have my physical copy and I always will. It's a wonderful Roguelike.
I don't really see how this is so disturbing. Those who wanted physical could get it, for those who downloaded it, this isn't going to delete it off their systems. Games that were strictly physical, while maybe never becoming impossible to buy, can become too expensive for the average person. Of course looking into the future, things could change, but it's reassuring that the PS5 and Series X are both launching with disc drives.
@RPGamer It's being removed from the shop. We can't buy it, but anyone who has it, has it. Just don't delete it.
The publishers are very unreasonable and seemingly want to push more people into custom firmware and game backups.
@rjc-32 You can backup DLC and updates. It’s very easy to do.
@TheFox The only issue that could occur is if you own the game and your data corrupts, or your system is stolen. Then you can’t get it back. For people who play a game once, beat it and never come back, that’s fine. But other people like to replay their games, so for us, we like to know that our stuff is easy access.
@Pak-Man *You mean Dungeon crawler? I don’t recall this game having any rogue elements, really at all. More like a Wizardry clone.
@Piyo I’m unfamiliar with FOMO.
@Crono1973 Who is going to take away our digital games?
@TG16_IS_BAE That is what happens when digital stores close and your storage device/console dies. As an example, your Wiiware and Wii VC games now only live on your SD card and those only work on the Wii that you bought and downloaded them on.
When that Wii or SD card dies, those games are gone forever. If you backed up your Wii SD card then you can transfer your games to a new SD card but when the console dies, the games are gone.
The same thing will happen to your Wii U games, your 3DS games and so on...
@Crono1973 Yep, that’s why I stopped downloading Switch games. Nintendo will axe this eShop like all the others.
@TG16_IS_BAE You're thinking of the main Etrian Odyssey series. This one's a Mystery Dungeon spinoff.
@Pak-Man Oh!! Got it.
even if 3ds eShop shuts down one day there will still be a way to download and install the game for certain users
@nhSnork No worries! BTW, nice avatar. Luna is the best.
@Chlocean actually, it's not Luna. 😅 Radiant Hope is one of my top fave MLP characters, but she's a comic/game exclusive from a branching continuity. Luna is awesome nonetheless, though.
@Slowdive The headline is a a blanket title and your comment is also. This is a Nintendo problem.
All other online services aren't like Nintendo who base their practice soley on control.
Look at Nintendos competitors alone:
Microsoft- four generations of console will be available on Series X for free if you own previous games. Sony I believe are following Microsoft's lead.
All digital purchases via Nintendo's rivals can be redownloaded free of chargeon your most recent system as they are tired to your user account.
Nintendo puts measures and blocks in place to prevent this.
@nhSnork WOW I am out of the loop. Haven't been involved in two years or so. Still a beautiful character
@Slowdive it depends where u live
most people are poor so they live in poor places thus they get jacked at home or school
i know i used to be very poor
and that depends but mostly digital wins
im sure u know physical not only can be stolen but the prices can be veryvery unreasonable such as shin megami shin 4 new 100 percent working title from a trust worthy seller is a bit extreme then just paying for it on the eshop
this is one of the reasons im hoping the cloud gaming wins as we would have all games even games not gameplayable now such as the arcade games from segas fog gaming
but in order for it to work we need starlink to be up so everyone has amazing internet will be up in usa this year and next year itll be up in most of the world
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