Mario Tennis smashes Virtual Console

While Nintendo had nothing to offer nostalgic gamers recently, this week is a different story. Mario Tennis (1,000 Wii points, or $10) from the Nintendo 64 made its way to the Virtual Console this week. The rerelease includes the same cast of 16 Mushroom Kingdom characters, variety of game modes, items to use, and multiplayer found in the 2000 title.

Nintendo released three titles on WiiWare this week, one of which was Pong Toss Pro: Frat Party Games (600 Wii points, or $6) from JV Games Inc. The title, inspired by the college-born phenomenon, is a sequel to the 2008 original. The game includes a redesigned throwing system built for accuracy and sports improved graphics and a tournament mode.

Also coming to WiiWare this week is Jett Rocket (1,000 Wii points, or $10) from Shin'en Multimedia. The game puts players in the shoes of Jett and tasks them with exploring Yoroppa, a planet attacked by the nefarious Power Plant Posse. Players will explore poisonous swamps, tropical islands, and freezing-cold glaciers in the action adventure game.

The final game coming to WiiWare this week is Robin Hood: The Return of Richard (500 Wii points, or $5). From Nordcurrent, the game puts players in the boots of Robin Hood the archer, fighting through 12 levels in medieval England.

Switching to the DSiWare front this week, Nintendo released a six-pack of digital titles for the portable download destination. From Ubisoft comes Battle of Giants: Mutant Insects - Revenge (800 DSi points, or $8). In the game, the mutant king has fallen, and the mutant queen has risen to power and is exerting powerful dominion over the insects. In the game, players are tasked with freeing the scorpion champion, the only giant insect capable of dethroning the queen.

Also hitting DSiWare this week was Brain Drain (500 DSi points, or $5). The puzzle-solving game features three game modes: Challenge, Race, and Random. From publisher Enjoy Gaming, the title has more than 200 puzzles, various difficulty levels, and time attacks to complete.

Continuing the puzzle theme this week is Animal Color Cross (500 DSi points, or $5) from Little Worlds Studio. Players must uncover an animal picture that lies beneath the grid from various geographical regions, where fauna from those destinations can be uncovered.

From Circle Entertainment this week comes Ancient Tribe (500 DSi points, or $5). Players assume the role of a benevolent deity in this real-time strategy game set in a world called Savage. As the deity, players will guide the world's inhabitants toward food, resources, and hunting grounds to sustain and grow their population.

Speeding to the dating front, Gameloft's Date or Ditch (500 DSi points, or $5) hit DSiWare this week. Players will face the entire gamut of dating experiences from romantic to wild and can take their dates to go to dinner, see a movie, and "more."

The last game to come to the portable's download destination this week is Maestro! Green Groove from Neko Entertainment (500 DSi points, or $5). The game mixes music and platforming, where players will hit spiders to play drums, shoot fruit to hear melodies, and more.