3D platformers and Zelda clones on the 3DS

[Daltone]

So a few days ago I posted in the Vita thread that neither that nor the 3DS held any interest for me.

Today, I saw a 3DS on sale with ALBW and Pokemon, thought 'what the hell' and bought it. I've played a bit with both and enjoyed a warm nostalgic glow, which lead me to the e shop and Lylat Wars.

In the glory (ahem) days of Lylat Wars and the N64 you couldn't swing a cat without hitting a new 3D platformer but I am struggling to find such a thing on the 3DS. I was sort of expecting to find Mario 64 3D, but no dice. As far as I can tell, not even Rayman 2 has been ported.

Does anyone have any recommendations for 3D coin collecting, platform hopping 3DS games, or have they gone out of fashion?

Failing that, are there any good Zelda clones out there? 2D or 3D.

I'd even take an Operation Win Back, Mission Impossible or Hybrid Heaven at this stage.

[celerystalker]

For 3D platformers, Super Mario 3D Land is very good, and the 3DS Skylanders is also a good platformer. The other games I've liked the most don't quite match your question, but are Code of Princess, Shovel Knight, Adventure Time: Hey Ice King, Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?, and Cave Story.

[SEGA_Queen]

As far as I can tell, not even Rayman 2 has been ported.

Actually, Rayman 2 was ported to the 3DS in March 2011 under the name Rayman 3D. It's available as a physical copy, but I'm not sure if it was ever put in the 3DS eshop.

[Daltone]

Actually, Rayman 2 was ported to the 3DS in March 2011 under the name Rayman 3D. It's available as a physical copy, but I'm not sure if it was ever put in the 3DS eshop.

Ah ha! Excellent. Mario 3D land looks ok too

[kupomogli]

Super Mario 3D Land is the best full 3D platformer I've ever played. I haven't played Super Mario 3D World yet. Other than that, I haven't played any 3D platformers on the Nintendo 3DS. I've played some 2.5D games on the console and would highly recommend Shinobi and Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate, both of which are amazing games.

Shinobi is a classic style 2D platformer with a multiplier score system that gives you more points the better you do. You will die a lot in this game and on normal difficulty, there are limited continues and the checkpoints are only during stage transitions, so you'll be spending a lot longer than a few hours to finish the game, but the length of the game in terms of the all of the levels combined(minus any deaths) is about two to three hours for someone of reasonable skill level. I think for the style of game it is and, how good it is, it being a few hours to get through is a good length.

With Lords of Shadow, if these games were just a new IP like originally planned until the game was cancelled(even though it was completed,) they wouldn't be getting all the hate thrown their direction, but because of the cancellation, they pitched the idea of the series being called Castlevania Lords of Shadow. I put $125 towards Bloodstained and I'm really hoping it's a great game, but with Castlevania, let's be serious here. IGA has been running this series into the ground with a lot of the titles released before he left Konami. Off topic a bit here but the Lords of Shadow series are consistently great games, just being unfortunate enough to having the Castlevania brand name.

Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate is a mix between classic and exploration style Castlevania with combat being similar to Lords of Shadow on a 2D plane. While playing through the game, there's fall damage and instant death if it's too great a fall. There is one fall in the beginning of the game that they programmed in to be an instant death despite hardly being much of a fall at all, but from my experience(90 hours of repeatedly playthroughs of the highest difficulty and this is just the 3DS version,) that's the only one in the game or the only one that I've noticed. Lords of Shadow has done away with the whole, touch the enemy and get damaged, bit of 99.999% of 2d platformers, making so that the only way you get damaged is if the enemies attacks actually hit you. The game is well balanced, because while there are levels up, the increased levels only increase how many different whip skills you can do, while life, magic, and item usage are increased through collectibles found throughout the game. There's no increased attack power or defense and enemies do hit a lot harder after the first chapter. The biggest flaw of the game imo are that checkpoints seem a little too forgiving on the first playthrough, because all of the collectibles in the game will save as a checkpoint, and I feel the best experience is the two harder difficulties after you get all of the collectibles that are on your way through to the end of the game. The other issue is that while the game looks amazing, it runs at a locked framerate somewhere between 20 and 25fps. Now good thing about this is that it's locked and there isn't any input lag with the controls, but you'll see visual judder. It's not as bad with it being a 2D game than if it was 3D, but it's still disappointing that it's there.

Now the 3D might not interest you, but whoever is interested in games with good 3D on the system, then I further recommend purchasing Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate because of that. The implementation of 3D in this game is far beyond any other game on the system. Literally jaw dropping to the point that whenever I play the game, I try to keep 3D on as much as I can. The biggest reason I purchased the New 3DS was actually for the 3D face tracking and I'd probably say it's really because of Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate that I even bothered.

[Tanooki]

I'm sure someone will argue against it due to the cheaper lesser classic eShop download version but the physical Cave Story 3D is an excellent game that fits in this thread.

While it has some minor RPG elements to it, the original Adventure Time (Garbage King) game plays much like Zelda 2 in style and gameplay(attack) mechanics and is a great platformer that's a side scroller. and I think the physical release of Shovel Knight that just came out fits the similar mold and is equally worthy of suggestion. Also that third (not 2nd or 4th) Adventure Time game maybe worth a peek, it plays like Zelda 1/3 in style. The 2nd does too but it's got horrible problems and isn't fun, the 4th is a point n click game I believe.

Code of Princess is more of a Final Fight style with RPG leveling(think Dragon's Crown PS3/Vita) but it's a solid platformer brawler that I think should be looked into. I also agree with the nomination for the Castlevania Mirror of Fate title as it's fantastic.

[FieryReign]

Jett Rockett 2 is about all you're gonna get in the eshop, besides what's already been mentioned(Rayman 3D) And that's a mix of 2.5 and 3D.

There's those 2 Pacman games(Ghostly Adventures) but they look extremely childish and lacking challenge.

[Daltone]

Jett Rockett 2 is about all you're gonna get in the eshop, besides what's already been mentioned(Rayman 3D) And that's a mix of 2.5 and 3D.

There's those 2 Pacman games(Ghostly Adventures) but they look extremely childish and lacking challenge.

I saw Jett Rocket the other day - would you say it was any good?