What are the best downloadable games for the 3DS ?

[WCP]

My son currently has Pushmo and Mutant Mudds. Both games are pretty cool. I was just wondering if there was anything else that can kinda be universally recommended ? The brand new games at stores for $39.99 is a little too pricey for my blood, so instead we've been looking to the smaller downloadable stuff.

[joshnickerson]

I'd recommend Shantae: Risky's Revenge on DSiWare, but I'm not sure if your son is at that age where girl characters are "gross" or not...

Denpa Men is an interesting RPG that uses AR to capture party members to go into various dungeons. It's got a demo he can try out to see if he likes it, and the saved data from the demo can carry on to the actual game if you end up purchasing it. Cave Story also recently got an upgrade for the eShop, if he likes shooting, Metroidvania style games.

Colors 3D isn't actually a game, but if he's interested in art, it's a good, low-cost alternative to the Art Academy games.

And of course, there's also plenty of excellent retro stuff in Virtual Console.

You might also be interested to know a sequel to Pushmo, "Crashmo" is coming out later this year. There is also a sequel for Mutant Mudds in the works as well.

Tiny Cartridge has a write-up of upcoming stuff on the eShop as well:
http://tinycartridge.com/post/32891095517/eshop-goin-ham-for-rest-of-2012-guild01-crashmo-and

[Tanooki]

$40 is a bit much, but often stores like Target do like $7-10+ off sales, or where you get like a $10+ gift card back against another purchase lowering it that way. 3DS has been out long enough there are a good supply of games you can with a little looking can be had in the $20 area of pricing, sometimes less.

That said if you want the most bang for your buck w/out a physical copy perhaps look into the virtual console as there's some fine NES and GB/C stuff on there had for around the $5 mark that could last quite awhile and a few of those 3D-Classics redo type things like Kirby's Adventure.

[WCP]

The only thing that sucks about the 3DS right now is the lack of games. My son recently got a 3DS XL, and I think that device is pretty freaking awesome. I've played 3D Mario Land on it, and Mario Kart 7 and Pilotwings, and I think all 3 of thsoe games are really good. Mutant Mudds is ok, and Pushmo is pretty decent. Other than that, I'm honestly not seeing much to play on the thing. I'd try Zelda OOT, but I just can't bring myself to pay more than $20 for it, and can't seem to find a used one for $20. Starfox 64 sounds decent, but I've heard that you can beat the whole game in about 3 hours. I can't seem to find that one for a decent price either. I've heard that the NSMB 3DS version is kinda boring if you're not jazzed about the whole collecting coins game mechanic.

I just wish the 3DS had some more really good games coming out for it, but I don't really know of anything major besides the Luigi's Mansion game, and I don't know when Luigi's mansion is actually coming out. I wish there was a local place that rented 3DS games. Then I could try the game for a day before finding out I spent $40 on a piece of crap.

oh by the way, has anybody tried any good demos on the 3DS ?

[Tanooki]

I've got 10 games for the thing, but sure some aren't exactly little kid appropriate like Residen Evil Rev or Dead or Alive. That said, New Super Mario Bros 2 is fine, and it's not a bore unless you're bored of the Super Mario Bros formula and style of playing. Cave Story (I wouldn't drop more than 20-25 on it), Kid Icarus, Pinball Hall of Fame, Starfox 3D and Steel Diver(again 20 max) I think would all be good choices.

Looking forward yeah there's that Luigi's Mansion next year and also Animal Crossing too in the 1st quarter of 2013, but I think this month that Paper Mario game releases which would be a fit I think.

[kupomogli]

There's really not much for the 3DS that's out that's any good outside of the ones everyone knows about. First party titles or Resident Evil. You could always go to Gamestop when they have a buy two get one free used game sale and see if there are any regular DS games that are good you may have missed?

I myself don't recommend digital games on consoles because most of these games are really "you get what you pay for." It's not like Steam where it's easy to find a good game for only a couple of dollars.

[WCP]

Is the Resident Evil game that good ? I remember trying the demo, and just thought that it was "ok". I thought it got pretty bad reviews, so I've avoided it.

[Tanooki]

You might be thinking of mercenaries which got mixed reviews but revelations is fantastic.

[BetaWolf]

Mighty Switch Force is pretty decent. It actually gets pretty difficult near the end. The only thing I really don't like about it is how much of a twitch game it is, rather than puzzle solving.