Kid Icarus and Kirby's Adventure getting 3D Classics

The 3D Classics section of the Nintendo eShop hasn't really lived up to its potential. At first, it seemed as though Nintendo would be releasing classic 3D remakes on a regular basis - something which, obviously, helped us justify picking up the 3DS early on. It looked as though that might be the case after the eShop kicked it off with a free download of Excitebike, but since then, Nintendo hasn't really given it too much love. Instead of games like Zelda and Mario, Nintendo has been releasing games like Xevious, Twinbee and, Urban Champion. Yeah.

Thankfully, that may finally be changing. Nintendo has revealed that two beloved NES games that are getting the 3D Classic treatments: Kid Icarus and Kirby's Adventure. Too bad neither is confirmed for a US release.

Above: Kirby (left) and Kid Icarus (right) will look like this, except more 3D.

Kid Icarus was revealed during a Japanese press conference last night, which explains why it wasn't confirmed for a US release. It's going to be free in Japan to everyone who enters the "Chotto Mario na Nintendo 3DS Campaign," which will reward 3,000 lucky gamers with awesome, limited-edition 3DS consoles. There's no release date for that just yet (or word on if we'll be able to win said awesome handhelds), but odds are Nintendo will try and make it available before Kid Icarus: Uprising comes out next year for the 3DS.

Kirby's Adventure has us excited as well, even if it isn't officially coming to America either. There's an excuse for that as well: it was announced in a European press release. Kirby's last NES outing will be bumped to 3D and released on November 17, and wee've a feeling a US release can't be far behind, especially with the impending release of Kirby's Return to Dreamland for the Wii next week.

We've reached out to Nintendo for confirmation that either of these games is US-bound, and we'll be sure to keep you updated. It's so good to actually care about 3D Classics again, isn't it?

Oct 21, 2011