3DS Production Has Ended

[YoshiM]

According to a NintendoLife article (https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/09/nintendo_3ds_production_has_officially_come_to_an_ end), Nintendo has confirmed that 3DS/2DS production is no longer after about 9 years being on the market.

Even though the 3D effect eventually got sidelined, it was a pretty neat trick without needing glasses. The New 3DS line made that feature a whole lot better with the eye tracking. It had a whole lot of social features built in that I have seen people use but when I got on board, the system was pretty much replaced by phones, so I never got a chance to use that stuff.

[AdamAnt316]

A shame, but not entirely unexpected, given the popularity of the Switch and Switch Lite. I think the New 2DS XL was the only model from the series still being offered in the US up to this point.

Last year, I lucked out and found a New 3DS XL at a flea market for all of $10, not long before (or after) it'd been discontinued. Haven't picked up many games for it yet, but it's a fun system to play regardless.
-Adam

[Ryudo]

Lamest Nintendo handheld I owned. Meh

[Gameguy]

I do own one but I really haven't played any 3DS games on it. I find it's harder to come across these games used than older games were, like finding GB/GBC/GBA or DS games was somewhat common at garage sales, thrift shops, or classified ads for pretty cheap prices like $5 each or less. With 3DS I hardly ever found any used games for cheap prices, usually people want $20-$30+ for anything decent, I've only found cheap games for titles really not worth owning. I'm not sure why that is when I could still find various Wii games for cheap everywhere, it's like most people who bought a 3DS were collectors instead of general consumers or children.

Maybe I'll come across some of the better games so I can actually play them, I've been interested in Corpse Party since I heard it was coming out on the system.

[ArcadePerfect]

Mostly played Kirby Triple Deluxe on the Nintendo 3DS as exclusive originals go.

[calthaer]

Have to be honest, I got mine mostly to serve as an upgraded Nintendo DS console. The 3D feature didn't really appeal to me and I'm not sure that the games released in the 3DS era were that spectacular. The DS period from 2005 - 2010 was a really great time for those games, with Radiant Historia being arguably the last truly great original release (not a sequel, remake, or franchise tie-in) for the system. I have a few games I've been meaning to go back to and finish - great reminder that I should do that.

[YoshiM]

Nintendo is selling refurbished systems on their site. $49 2DS systems, $99 New 2DS XL's and I think $130 3DS XL's. A few months ago I bought a 2DS to add to the collection for the kids. The local shops by me are selling them for $60 (and now $70 at one place) but used and sometimes not in the best of shape. The 2DS from Nintendo seemed like it was brand new.

While I already have a New 3DS (not the XL-the Animal Crossing Happy House Designer one) I decided to get a New 2DS XL. I watched my daughter play on her New 3DS XL (which I bought for her as I broke her 3DS XL trying to replace the housing as the hinge broke) and was reminded on how nice the screen was. And while my eyesight hasn't changed in over five years, these eyeballs aren't getting any younger. I love my DSi XL, so why not while as it's a good price? I wanna really SEE Animal Crossing and maybe enjoy FIre Emblem Warriors more. I can't see all the action on my 3DS.

[kupomogli]

I wish Nintendo put more effort into the 3DS. They released so many games without the effect and then Intelligent Systems who used the feature in each of their games and did amazingly well with it, didn't even a single Advance Wars on the system. My favorite Nintendo series, missed the 3DS and I'm never able to experience the game with that effect.

That being said there were so many games with amazing 3D and then other games with poorly developed 3D. Resident Evil Revelations is a beautiful looking game but the faux 3D looks disappointing, same with Tales of the Abyss, etc. But then you've got a lot of games that do it well. Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate, Fire Emblem Echoes, SMT4, there's some great looking games that look absolutely amazing due to the 3D effect. I really wish Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles was ported over to the system, the game would have been perfect for the system provided it received a good port.

It's my favorite Nintendo console, yes I own more DS games, but I prefer the 3DS.

[Baloo]

Have to be honest, I got mine mostly to serve as an upgraded Nintendo DS console. The 3D feature didn't really appeal to me and I'm not sure that the games released in the 3DS era were that spectacular. The DS period from 2005 - 2010 was a really great time for those games, with Radiant Historia being arguably the last truly great original release (not a sequel, remake, or franchise tie-in) for the system. I have a few games I've been meaning to go back to and finish - great reminder that I should do that.

I would agree. I don't own a single physical Nintendo 3DS game, own a couple of digital ones. Nothing seemed to really wow me. The DS and the Wii seemed to be Nintendo at their heights, while the 3DS and WiiU represent them at their pathetic lows as far as creativity goes. The 3DS is not a bad console, but I can't think of a killer app for the system. Mario Kart 7 is an upgrade from Mario Kart DS, but it just seemed like they missed the mark on games like Mario Party Top 100, Super Mario 3D Land, WarioWare Gold, etc. Nintendo DS had Elite Beat Agents, Phoenix Wright 1, 2, and 3, Tetris DS, Hotel Dusk, Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Ghost Trick, so many unique games that gave a lot of character to the system and made me feel like Nintendo was going to come out with another round of unique games. But all of the devs that contributed to the original Nintendo DS success seemed to get lazy in the interim.

There are some good games, like Mario Golf Toadstool Tour, Animal Crossing New Leaf, and Star Fox 64 3DS, but they seem more retreads than anything.

[mailman187666]

I personally like both systems equally. I might prefer 3DS slightly over the original, only because I liked some of the RPGs such as Persona Q and some of the 3D etrian odyssey games. It's funny that it's been mentioned that between 2005-2010 were at the height and then got lazy. I think after 2010 is where you started to see more microtransactions, unfinished games, and whatever other issues plague the game industry these days. My point being is the industry as a whole started to really make the push to maximize profits.

[calthaer]

I'm not sure if it's the entire industry, if we can say that everything post-2010 was terrible. Some of the great games I've really enjoyed over the past 10 years:
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Bioshock: Infinite
Bastion (and Transistor, a not-quite-sequel)
Hand of Fate
BATTLETECH
Kingdom
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
FEZ
Mark of the Ninja
Skyrim
Shadowrun Returns (+ sequels)
Civilization VI
FTL: Faster than Light
Most of Starcraft 2 (I think the first episode was in 2010)

So...yeah...personally, I think there have been lots of good games over the past 10 years, and not too many of the ones I just mentioned have ridiculous DLC...maybe Civ VI, Starcraft 2, Skyrim, BATTLETECH. The rest? A lot of them are like $5-10.

The good game just haven't been on consoles - everything I just listed I got on Steam. It's really been a banner decade for PCs - all the best indie games are on there now. Some of them might make their way to the Nintendo store, but I see no reason to buy a Switch when my PC does just fine.

[Gameguy]

There are still good games, though far less common than they used to be. I just don't find games as innovative as they were during the 90's, when technological improvements actually led to significant new styles of gameplay. How games improved in the 16-bit era compared to earlier games, had much improved interfaces, and then when 3D was new and plenty of new types of games were being made that way, right through the PS2 era with better performance and better controls in place. Controls seemed to stop changing as much once Resident Evil 4 came out as that's what every game copied after.

Combine that with getting older in general and it's just not as impressive to me, even though plenty of modern games still play better than most games from the 90's. Having something be a slightly better version of what I played years ago, isn't the same as playing something that's never been around before.

I really enjoyed the DS when I first started playing it, though I tend to forget about the games now when asked what are the best games I can remember as I end up sticking with classic consoles or PCs. There were a lot of good adventure games on the DS. There are still various 3DS games I want to play, still including Corpse Party, and that sequel to 999, I just haven't made a point to specifically try to buy them yet.

I think a big part of why I didn't pay attention to the 3DS as much has to do with how retail stores that carried games started changing how they were selling them. The biggest one was Gamestop/EB Games, really they barely seem to focus on actual games as much compared to all the random toys and merchandise they're selling, and no more kiosks to try games out. I remember DS kiosks being a thing but I can't remember seeing a 3DS kiosk, maybe at one Best Buy but nowhere else. I don't even bother browsing at Gamestop anymore to see what's new(before Covid being a thing). Same with Walmart as there's still no kiosks either, it all just feels like a different experience to even look at them in stores so I pretty much don't bother. I don't really pay much attention to modern games coming out.

[kupomogli]

Lamest Nintendo handheld I owned. Meh

I find the 3DS to be the best handheld I own. The DS and 3DS had the best games that we've ever seen on a Nintendo portable, and the 3DS has backwards compatibility. You're of course losing GBA support, but I find 3DS/DS library better than the DS/GBA library. Provided you get a New 3DS XL and have an IPS screen, the resolution drop is going to actually not make a difference with the much better color of the IPS. There's a chance both the top and bottom can be IPS, just the top, or just the bottom.

You can tell if you turn the screen and it immediately discolorizes to where you can't see. Certain IPS screens are also better as some do still fade when you turn the screen but can still be easily seen at an angle.

Anyways for me, the 3DS is my second favorite portable of all time right behind the PSP because of both the 3D effect and the backwards compatibility. I absolutely love the 3D effect and I'll play it with 3D on as much as possible. The head tracking on the New 3DS XL is alone what caused me to get the newest iteration despite feeling the original 3DS XL is the more comfortable of the 3DS line of units and if you don't own one of those then I'd recommend getting an XL version as they actually feel better than the New 3DS XL in a lot of ways.

[calthaer]

There are still good games, though far less common than they used to be. I just don't find games as innovative as they were during the 90's, when technological improvements actually led to significant new styles of gameplay. How games improved in the 16-bit era compared to earlier games, had much improved interfaces, and then when 3D was new and plenty of new types of games were being made that way, right through the PS2 era with better performance and better controls in place.

I can't find anything to disagree with here, honestly. I've been going through my game collection recently, and this post started me thinking as well: if I had to make a top 10 or top 20 from each decade, which games would be in it? The 1990s wins hands-down...I can't limit myself even to a top 20, it has to be more like a top 30. So many classic, genre-defining games in that decade, which includes the tail end of the NES (when some of the best games of the platform came out), the entire SNES, and the early 3D era.

Even within series or genres you have multiple megahits. The decade has both Zelda: A Link to the Past and Zelda: Ocarina of Time; it has Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake; it has Super Mario 3 (for the U.S.), Super Mario World, and Super Mario 64; it has Warcraft II, Command & Conquer, Starcraft, and Age of Empires II; it has Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, and Virtua Fighter. All that and I've barely scratched the surface! There's a reason why we're seeing a focus these days on "remastered" editions of some of these games...no one has really topped them. Gotta be honest, it's hard to imagine having a decade as good as this ever again.

[Spartacus]

The 3D without glasses I liked. The hardware upgrades were welcome. The 3DS game library is solid with a nice mix of exclusives and an impressive list of RPG's and Strategy games. Nintendo's icons Kirby, Yoshi, Kid Icarus, Mario Bro's, Zelda, and Metroid all showed up. I don't know if any 3DS games are considered "rare", but I do think it has a decent number of at least "collectable" games. The dual screen and 3D effects won't transfer well to the Switch, so having a 3DS library is far more worthwhile than having a Wii-U library. Too bad it was region locked.

https://i.ibb.co/WGmvJt8/3DSgames.jpg (https://ibb.co/xXxqTH9)


But my favorite thing about the 3DS is the variety of Limited Edition consoles. I found collecting them quite enjoyable.

https://i.ibb.co/p037gmM/3-DSconsoles.jpg (https://ibb.co/6n4M2dT)