It's Thursday, and it's time for Nintendo Download news in North America. Continuing the recent trend also seen in Europe there are only offerings for Wii U and 3DS, with a variety of demos, download-only games and a retail release to test your resolve. Let's see what's on offer.

Wii U Virtual Console

F-Zero (Nintendo, $0.30) — The second game in the Family Computer 30th Anniversary Campaign, this classic SNES racer brings futuristic tracks and vehicles travelling at ludicrous speeds. It is, in our opinion, a stone-cold classic that can be yours for just 30 cents. You can check out our Wii Virtual Console F-Zero review to see how highly we think of it, and we'll race through this Wii U version for our upcoming review.

Wii U Retail Demo

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Capcom, Free) — Arriving in North America soon, this enhanced and expanded version of the Wii title has a free sample on offer to tempt you into picking up the new iteration. This'll offer a chance to slay some monsters with some big weapons, to see whether the taste for the hunt makes the full release tough to ignore. We were able to hunt some beasts in December, so you can also check out our Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate first impressions if you want to know what we thought.

Wii U eShop Demo

Trine 2: Director's Cut (Frozenbyte, free) — One of the most attractive download-only titles on the Wii U eShop that also offers online co-op and voice chat, this demo should help you to decide whether it's worth your funds.

3DS eShop Downloads

Picdun 2: Witch's Curse (INTENSE CO., Ltd, $4.99) — This dungeon RPG sequel arrives on 3DS with a promise of 60 stages to conquer, while you can choose from one of three female partners to accompany you on your journey. Incorporating a first-person perspective and blending in the puzzle genre, we certainly rated its predecessor highly in our GO Series: Picdun review; we'll go questing in this one to let you know what we think soon.

Viking Invasion 2 - Tower Defense (Bigben Interactive, $7.99) — A sequel to 2009 DSiWare release Viking Invasion, this follows in the same footsteps of tower defense with a twist, with your task to set up weapons to repel enemies approaching via various routes. The first title was a solid entry on the DSi service, and we'll take on the invading viking hordes to see whether this carries an equally good fight.

3DS Virtual Console

Yoshi (Nintendo, $4.99) — This NES puzzler developed by Pokémon masters Game Freak took the popular Mario side-kick and put his name centre-stage, even if he is ultimately still being saved by Mario. It's all about catching and matching falling enemies or, if you can, catching a lot of them between two egg shells. Unfortunately the 3DS version is listed as single player only — meaning no split screen multiplayer — and we didn't rate this one particularly highly in our Wii Virtual Console review; as always a member of the team will review the 3DS release.

3DS Retail Download

Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan (Atlus, $39.99) — This latest entry in the RPG series will arrive on the 3DS eShop at the same time as the high street release on 26th February. A challenging and involving franchise, this seems likely to please its most committed fans, while those unsure can try out the free demo currently on the eShop; demo progress will be transferable to the retail game, too.

3DS Retail Demo

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Capcom, free) — The handheld version of this demo will also be available. It's unlikely that cross-play will be possible with the Wii U demo, but we'll certainly give it a try.

Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed (SEGA, free) — A terrific title on Wii U, this 3DS version has already been available in North American stores for a little over a week. You can now sample a few races to see whether it's worthy of a podium place, and we'll also be bringing you a review very soon.

That's everything for this week. Lots of free samples being joined by a mix of the old and new on the eShop platforms; let us know what you'll be downloading in the poll and comments below.