Overview
The Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program is a special bonus that Nintendo implemented as a means to thank early adopters of the handheld for their support. The reason for the program's creation was to ease any feelings of customer resentment due to a significant price cut on the 3DS that took effect less than a year after the handheld's launch. Anyone that purchased a 3DS and connected to the handheld's online eShop prior to the Ambassador Program's cut-off date was eligible for inclusion. Ambassadors received the privilege of downloading twenty specially selected Virtual Console games free of charge. The line-up is comprised of ten NES games and ten GBA games.
Nintendo also released a downloadable tool on the 3DS eShop for Ambassadors called the Ambassador Certificate to alert uses regarding the status of the Ambassador Program titles.
Since then, the NES games included in the program have subsequently been offered for purchase by all 3DS owners on the eShop. These versions are fully featured Virtual Console titles with features such as multiplayer and restore points. Owners of the bare-bones Ambassador versions are allowed to update their copies of the games to the more fully-featured editions free of charge.
Nintendo stated it had no plans to make the GBA games available for purchase outside of the Ambassador Program.
The 10 NES Games
The first batch containing the ten NES games was made available on August 31st in North America (September 1st in Europe).
The 10 GBA Games
The second batch with the ten promised GBA games was confirmed on December 14th via the Ambassador Certificate and announced for release on December 16th, 2011.
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