Thinking of buying a 3DS for my kid for Xmas but....

[WCP]

With the $50 gift card at Target, (with purchase of a 3DS), I'm thinking seriously about buying one as a Xmas gift for my kid. My wife is always buying stuff at Target, so the $50 gift card is as good as cash. The problem is, that's just the hardware. I would still need to buy a game. The only games that seem to really be worth it are Mario, Zelda and Mario Kart. Mario 3D Land seems to be the obvious choice, but it's $39.99 pretty much everywhere, which isn't exactly cheap.


The biggest factor however, is what happens when he gets bored with Mario? What 3DS games are coming in the near future that look awesome? Also, the whole $39.99 price point for new games is really bothersome to me. Just seems like highway robbery for a portable game. I guess I could check and see if Blockbuster is renting 3DS games, and maybe get him a Blockbuster rental pass for a couple of months. That way, he could try out a bunch of 3DS games and see which ones are worth a damn.

[Oobgarm]

If you're having second thoughts already, don't do it. Wait until next year if you can. There's really not much out right now that justifies it, unless he doesn't have a DS yet at all.

Then, go for it.

[Colorado Rockies]

Best Buy also has the 50.00 gift card w/ purchase of a 3ds.

They also have a buy 2 get 1 free on all games 29.99 and above. So you can use that gift card towards some games.

I bought the 3ds system, mario kart 7, mario 3d land, and got saints row the 3rd for free.

[DOAsaturn]

3DS got out of the gates so slowly, I purchased one on launch day but didn't give it that much attention until more recently. There are some good first party titles out there now including Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart, Zelda and Star Fox. But there are a lot of games out there on the cheap that can be fun for a kid... Tetris: Axis, the Lego games, Pilotwings, Super Monkey Ball, Street Fighter IV, Rayman 3D, Ridge Racer. Other solid games (but not as cheap) include: Cave Story, SMT: Devil Survivor Overclocked, DOA, BitTripSaga, Sonic Generations. The recently released Super Star Kartz is fun too. Don't forget some good downloads like Let's Golf 3D, Freakyforms and Kirby's Adventure for dirt cheap - those are timesuckers too.

[Vinnysdad]

Toys R Us is having a sale on all video games right now. Buy one get one half off. I picked up Mario Kart 7 for $39.99 and Mario Land 3D for $19.99. I thought it was a good deal so you can go that route if you want.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Personally, I think the 3DS is a bit shallow and gimmicky with its 3D effects, but some have said they are pretty decent. I'd go ahead and buy it - but make sure there's a generous return policy. As for games, things like Mario and games that have been well reviewed may be worth it at the $40 price, but that is a bit steep for a portable system.

[joshnickerson]

Does he already have a DS? Since it's backwards compatible, there are tons of cheap, quality standard DS titles out there that he could try out between 3DS games.

[Gameguy]

Is your kid actually interested in getting a 3DS? If he doesn't really care, just get a cheaper DS system with more games instead. Or even a GBA if you don't mind giving used games as gifts, games are pretty much dirt cheap by now and you could buy a box full of them for the same cost as a 3DS system.

[WCP]

He already has a DS, and plays it here and there. I don't think it's so much that he really, really wants a 3DS really bad, it's more of a case that there isn't anything really specific for Xmas that he wants, but he kinda likes the 3DS and wouldn't mind that being his "big" xmas gift. My other son wants an Ipod Touch.

[The 1 2 P]

The problem is, that's just the hardware. I would still need to buy a game.

You can use that gift card to put towards a 1st party game. But if you do alot of shopping at Target then make sure to check out their clearance section. Over the past two months they have had several 3DS games on clearance as low as $8.98. While most are third party they also had Nintendogs+Cats for what I believe was $12 or $14.

[WCP]

I ended up getting a 3DS tonite. Sometimes I will check out Slickdeals and Cheap Ass Gamer to see the latest deals for games and stuff. They were talking about this Target deal with the $50 gift card, but they also said that there was this deal going on at Target where if you buy a $50 gift card, you get a $10 gift card. You have to use this coupon.

So, some of the Slickdeals people talked about buying 3 separate $50 gift cards and getting 3 more $10 gift cards via the coupon. Then using that stuff to buy the 3DS, thus essentially getting a 3DS for the equivalent of $90 plus tax.

So, I printed out the coupon and said what the F, might as well try it. Now, what I did was buy a $100 gift card, and then I got a free $10 gift card, and then I went to another register and bought a $50 gift card, and got another $10 gift card. I didn't do it three times like some people. I just didn't feel like going to 3 separate registers and doing that. I felt silly enough doing it twice, heh... So I actually paid $100 plus tax, instead of $90 plus tax. But it worked like a charm!

You can't beat that with a stick. A brand new 3DS for $110.