As part of the ongoing celebration of the Legend of Zelda's 25th Anniversary, Nintendo is about to drop a long promised gift on 3DS, DSi, and DSiXL owners. As first revealed during Nintendo's E3 2011 Press Conference, the Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures is coming to the eShop for a limited time, and it will be completely free.

Originally appearing as a bonus mode in the Game Boy Advance version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Four Swords Adventures game was expanded into a truly remarkable GameCube title, though the hardware required to play it -- a GameCube, the game, and Game Boy Advance systems with link cables for each of the up to four players -- meant that practically no one played it.

That shouldn't be a problem this time around. Retitled The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition, the downloadable version of the game thankfully supports wireless play. Co-op support remains for up to four players, though Nintendo is also touting the game's enhanced single player mode. Finishing Four Swords' main quest unlocks yet more content, including new stages and new abilities. The game will be available for download from September 28, 2011, to February 20, 2012.

But that's not all the good news Nintendo has for 3DS owners today. Coming this November, a software update for the 3DS will add a long sought after function to the system's bag of tricks: 3D video recording. Taking 3D pictures with the system is almost embarrassingly fun. Expanding that into full video capture is sure to entertain the budding James Camerons of the world to no end. One wonders, though, just how much SD card space 3D video recording will require.

The system update also features new content for fans of the StreetPass Mii Plaza. Nintendo promises "new experiences" for gamers who have completed all the existing StreetPass challenges, though exactly what those might be remains a mystery.

With a great free game and a genuinely exciting new piece of functionality, not to mention solid release dates for Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7, Nintendo is working to give 3DS owners a Fall games season worth looking forward to. Will it be enough to brace the system for the coming battle with PlayStation Vita? What do you think?

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition will be available as a free download for DSi, DSiXL, and 3DS beginning September 28, 2011.