Nintendo 3DS games, a look back and forward

[Tanooki]

Much like the WiiU this one did suffer too when it came out. A big price adjustment kind of screwed early adopters only softened with the prize of 10 GBA games (which I got) that they really have stayed true to not giving out to buy since on the system. It started out slow in the software department with a few good titles, but rotted a time. It really has come into its own as something I think better than what came before, the DS with the quality and style of games you get with it. I really adore the fact that as much as third parties supposedly 'hate' Nintendo they really don't seem to when it comes to the portable front. Look at all the fun franchise titles they could have pandered on the WiiU beefed up or even the Wii too that did end up on the thing from Ace Combat to Tales of the Abyss and more. To me it really is the only truly well balanced system for quality releases from all concerned parties first, second and third. I can only hope they keep this thing alive for a good stretch like the old GB/GBC did as the level of output it does stands up pretty well as a unique offering that isn't a tablet or a tablet using a controller attached.

What are your all feelings about the system and its games?

[Jorpho]

I can't think of a single coming out in the near future that sounds particularly engaging, except for Layton X Wright and Smash Bros. Maybe that new Steampunk game they announced a while ago, but there's no way I'm passing any kind of judgement on that until it's officially released.

Of course, I've still got plenty on hand to play as it is. I'm only partway through Mario & Luigi 4, and I've still got ThreatRhythm, Zelda, Pokemon, Kid Icarus, and numerous others. And the Mii Plaza games have not yet lost their allure. Sheer genius, those!

[Leo_A]

I'm hoping for some surprises down the road like the anticipated release of Majora's Mask 3D as the 3DS starts to fade away, but there's nothing on the release calendar for the 3DS that I'm interested in at the moment (E3 was a big disappointment for this system in particular).

Only Sega's 3D Classics program is catching my eye at the moment, but no North American release is scheduled as of yet for this latest round of downloads. Fantasy Zone, Fantasy Zone II, Outrun, and Afterburner II though will be sure buys if Sega brings them West along with whatever else that may appear in wave 2 later this year.

And if M2 restarts Game Gear downloads one of these days, I'd be interested in Ristar and a few others. So far I've ignored the Virtual Console on the 3DS thanks to the lack of button remapping options. But since the Game Gear emulator does have that feature, I've just been waiting for something to catch my eye there.

[Tanooki]

I'm going to be snapping up Theaterhythm Curtain Call when it pops up as they added new modes that really put some depth into the game I'm looking forward to. I took advantage of the BB 3DS sale week and nabbed Kirby and Yoshi so there's that too. I'm so undecided on that steampunk game from NIntendo as it could be truly annoying to play looking at the few pictures or it will work very well, it's too hard to know at this point. Smash Bros I'll grab on this over the WiiU, don't see a reason to buy a more or less identical game twice and pay $20 more for TV usage. I'm not at all sure what else is coming on a physical card without digging around but I'm sure there's something. I've just been so wrapped up in Famicom and then the GBA over the last few months I've ignored everything else.

[Leo_A]

I'm no fan of Smash Brothers or the fighting game genre, but aren't they two separate games in many ways outside of the character roster and gameplay? Stages for instance I thought were exclusive to each version?

I would think a fan, assuming they own the necessary hardware, would want both.

[kupomogli]

The picked up a lot in its second year, with games like Etrian Odyssey, Bravely Default, Castlevania Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate, etc, along with the games it's had from it's first year. It's got a good line up of games that make it worth owning. It's still kind of a disappointing handheld compared to the DS and even the PSP when both of those were on their third year. The 3DS isn't quite lacking as much as the Vita is, but it's definitely lacking in the games department as it's getting almost as little support from third parties as the Vita has since Japan refuses to localize games and mobile phones are where the money's at.

Off topic, but another thing I thought of after taking advantage of the buy one get one free sale from Best Buy, getting Zelda, Yoshi, Kirby, and Tomodachi. Nintendo games are really starting to suck. Yoshi's New Island is one of the worst platformers I've played in a long time, and Tomodachi is a low budget experience with even less to do than Animal Crossing. It's like Animal Crossing mixed with Nintendogs. I ended up thinking of a lot of past first party Nintendo titles that have been lackluster and while some titles have been good a lot have been really lacking. Most of these games I would have never purchased if they haven't been on sale like B1G1 or B2G1 since I dislike Nintendo's rarely drop MSRP on their games and I was only slightly interested in them. Super Princess Peach, Metroid Prime Hunters, Glory of Heracles, New Super Mario Bros, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Wii Sports, Pokemon Diamond, Pokemon X, Yoshi's New Island, and Tomodachi Life are pretty crappy imo. Nintendo isn't the amazing first party company that they were when they have so many games that are failures, and these are just the ones I've played and didn't like, doesn't count all the other ones I've didn't play..

[Leo_A]

What makes the 3DS stand out for me despite the dismal 3rd party situation is all the 1st party exclusives.

Sadly, most of what the Vita receives that's Sony published are ports of earlier PS3 projects. I can only think of three major exclusives off the top of my head for the Vita right now (The single entries in the Killzone, Uncharted, and Resistance franchises that it has received).

3DS outnumbers that with Mario games alone in my collection (A 3D platformer, a 2D platformer, a kart racer, and two RPG's).

[Nz17]

I just wanted to chime in to say that I'm looking forward to the following releases which have been confirmed for North American 3DS:

Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney - 2014~08~29
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call - 2014~09~16
Super Smash Bros. 3DS - 2014~10~03
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal - 2014~11~11
Azure Striker Gunvolt - 2014
Final Fantasy Explorers - Unknown date but on the way

[kupomogli]

What makes the 3DS stand out for me despite the dismal 3rd party situation is all the 1st party exclusives.

Sadly, most of what the Vita receives that's Sony published are ports of earlier PS3 projects. I can only think of three major exclusives off the top of my head for the Vita right now (The single entries in the Killzone, Uncharted, and Resistance franchises that it has received).

3DS outnumbers that with Mario games alone in my collection (A 3D platformer, a 2D platformer, a kart racer, and two RPG's).

Other than Fire Emblem and Zelda A Link Between Worlds, both of which I'm only assuming to be good, and Super Mario 3D Land, the majority of first party games on the 3DS I've played haven't been that great. It's been the third party games that have been the best experiences on the console imo.

And not trying to get into a war about which is better, as I've already said because of the exclusive third party offerings the 3DS is the better portable, even if not by much, you did forget a few first party exclusives on the Vita out of the list you made. Wipeout 2048, LBP Vita, Tearaway, Unit 13, and Gravity Rush. A futuristic racer, 2d platformer, 3d platformer, stealth/shooter, and open world 3D platformer like game. There's even a digital only Uncharted card game, Fight for Fortune which is actually a good game. The problem with the Vita is that it doesn't have much more than that. Most games not listed are not only on the Vita, but they're also on the PS3 as well. Dragon's Crown, which is going to be on PS+ for free next month is an amazing game, but if you already own a PS3, there's little reason to purchase the game for the Vita. The same could be said for many of the other games. As long as you own a PS3 or 360, the Vita doesn't have much to purchase that you can't already play the better version, while if you own a 3DS, a lot of the best games on the 3DS can only be played on that portable.

While most of us here own multiple systems so this doesn't matter, if someone favored portables more and didn't own a console or maybe a Nintendo only console owner, then the Vita would be a better system than the 3DS. It wouldn't matter if all those games were multiconsole between the PS3/Vita, because as a handheld only owner or Wii U owner, they'd have no access to them anyways. It's a problem because Sony markets it towards its own fanbase, but doesn't have any games that their fanbase doesn't already own.

[Leo_A]

Different taste so I'm not saying that you're wrong, but I suspect most would be in agreement with me.

That said, I don't really think that something like Tearaway quite qualifies as a major exclusive. In fact, I've never even heard of it. But doing a bit of research just now, it seems to be a more modest performer despite very respectable review scores. Vita no doubt has some nice exclusives, but in the area of major system exclusives like the type that pushes most hardware sales, it doesn't have much to offer.

In fact didn't Sony themselves recently cast doubt on its future where this very area is concerned? Vita's focus is definitely on the independents (And PS4 streaming) at this point with anything else being the exception to the rule (And most of that looks set to continue being PS3 conversions).

[kupomogli]

In fact didn't Sony themselves recently cast doubt on its future where this very area is concerned? Vita's focus is definitely on the independents (And PS4 streaming) at this point with anything else being the exception to the rule (And most of that looks set to continue being PS3 conversions).

Yup. Sony said they're going to put less effort into releasing games on the Vita because people can purchase a PS4 and play games through remote play. Basically. You better hope third parties continue supporting the console, because we're not going to. A slap in the face to everyone who purchased a Vita. Notice how they rebranded the Vita TV as the Playstation TV. So many signs that point towards them abandoning the Vita.

[Leo_A]

Certainly a shame since they created a magnificent piece of hardware and yet seemed to only give it half hearted support at best.

I think I posted this speculation at AtariAge once, but I wonder if they changed direction completely at a point just prior to release of the Vita (Perhaps due to their financial situation and/or the explosion of smart phones) where they knew it wasn't a war worth winning, but that it would've been more damaging to just kill it entirely than it would've been to follow through by releasing it.

That would explain why it seems to have only enjoyed limited support since it's here just to appease customers that were looking forward to upgrading from the PSP to Sony's next generation portable while recouping some of their losses (While investing as little as possible back into it during the process).

If they've actually been trying their best these past few years with the Vita, I don't know what to say. Has appeared as an afterthought since even before launch for them despite entering this arena as the replacement for an extremely successful contender that passed the 80 million units mark on Sony's first try to crack Nintendo's dominance in a market Nintendo themselves essentially created

Nintendo on the other hand seems to do a good job of spreading themselves across both lines even when the going gets rough.

[Tanooki]

More like a good punch to the nuts. But I have to wonder how much they'll stick to it at the same time since now they're placing that Sony TV thing on the market outside of Japan here in the US and it has a vita slot on it and can play all those games natively except those with touch since it takes a PS3 pad, but I can't see any reason they wouldn't also sync a ps4 controller for its touch sensors.

I had one not long after launch I bought used off a military contractor who used it for a few dozen hours and gave up due to work, paid the price of the Vita and got 3 games with it, the added sony travel/use package with the game holder, car/home charger, case, etc which was nice. I played the hell out of it with Uncharted, Hot Shots Golf, Lumines, Katamari and also it came with Marvel vs Capcom 3 which did nothing for me. I gave up on it after many months because all I saw were console ports of third and first person shooter/adventure games I had no interest in or in some cases disliked entirely so all that was on the horizon was Gravity Rush so I ditched it thankfully at no loss. I keep regretting selling it when I see the things around at stores, but that dries up fast when I see retail places giving it at most 2 mini racks that hold maybe 12 game or so and realize it's not cruelty but more or less all they have out at the time in print and then feel fine about it being gone. :\