Retro|Spective X01: Nintendo 3DS

[Neon Ignition]

It's now a little over eight years since the release of what looks set to be Nintendo's last ever dedicated handheld system, the Nintendo 3DS. Falling in the wake of James Cameron's creation of a 3D craze whereby everyone attempted to implement the experience, usually to mask subpar efforts, Nintendo wasn't to be left behind and marrying it's hugely popular dual screen design with more power and the popular visual craze seemed like a slam dunk despite the handheld markets struggle against mobile gaming.

Now, we're at the dying days of the handheld as it finds itself replaced by Nintendo's hybrid design Switch console and so it's time for a special edition daily updated Retro|Spective look back at the joys of the Nintendo 3DS.




The key hurdles the system faced were:
-The growth of mobile gaming
-The launch of the Playstation Vita
-The lack of a second analogue
-The mixed reactions to the 3D feature

The handheld is destined to be the sole example of that display choice being implemented into the system and though the 3DS models were discontinued a while back it still remains one of the biggest sources of fascination with the system I have. To see a commercial product at a not quadruple figure price point utilise glasses free 3D is still rare and unique in gaming. As a user for whom the effect usually worked without issue it has always been one of the most appealing and impressive aspects of the system and a source of wonder as to how little respect that feature attracted, especially as the 2D option is so popular but has never been that well implemented on the handhelds.


You next have the XL editions of the system, aiming to improve visibility concerns and increase comfort. We're already at a point in the systems development that I think I was on my fourth 3DS. Everything was bigger though that included the jaggies as well. The 3DS XL was well timed to meet the peak output of the system however.



And then the ultimate in Nintendo's era of mixed marketing messages. To produce a cheaper 3DS that dropped the 3D aspects... and the clam shell... and the brand name even though software would continue to be boxed in the 3DS name. It was a bit of a mixed arrival but looking back it was a masterstroke move that was well timed as it allowed aggressive pricing for an easy access point and it's been a stubborn little system that still persists in today's 2DS only new market. I've only recently spent longer periods of time with this one and it's an effective little system even if the screen is a little bit 'does the job' and it causes a tad bit of cramping on the thumb.



If there's one thing more hardcore Nintendo handheld enthusiasts love it's disappointing themselves by pinning their hopes on a more powerful iteration of a system that in reality never delivers what they want, instead just offering a few quality of life changes to refine what was already there. Welcome to the fourth models, the New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL.

A change to the camera system allowed for more stable 3D and a slight bump in power sped loading and stability a drop. The new version was well received but ultimately wasn't the path the system would send itself out on. Eventually Nintendo shut down releasing 3D enabled models onto the market leaving only the 2D iteration surviving.



The New Nintendo 2DS XL will take the 3DS out to live amongst the handheld Gods in Ninthalla alongside the persistent original 2DS model, offering the QOL improvements of the New 3DS XL for a little more than the 2DS. New game releases have now come to an end and the system will only be produced and supported by Nintendo now for as long as they're able to shift them as a cheap knock around system for those who feel the Switch remains too pricey to let their 7 year old play with on a bus.

So Nintendo walks away, the undisputed and undefeated handheld system champion of the world.

Each day we'll take a victory lap of key 3DS games that came out over the systems lifespan but for today, in typical Retro|Spective manner, we salute the ailing Nintendo 3DS and ask you too...

Share your thoughts and memories of the Nintendo 3DS

[fishbowlhead]

They certainly managed to flog a dead horse with the 3ds. I mean it was underpowered when it came out, and they’ve kept it going all these years.

Pretty much just a Pokemon console for me with most of its games being severely hampered by lack of a second analog slider.

[Asura]

They certainly managed to flog a dead horse with the 3ds. I mean it was underpowered when it came out, and they’ve kept it going all these years.

Nintendo did a good job in that regard. The 3DS did well out-of-the-gate but quickly hit something of a lull. Nintendo stuck with it though and it had some great titles overall, and taken as a whole, was a good success for them. Comparably, Sony didn't do anywhere near as well with the Vita, which was a shame (though why the Vita wasn't a rip-roaring success is another debate altogether).

[Dogg Thang]

I adore the 3DS. It must be said that I think the first model felt very poor but I always loved the 3D and the system came into its own with the XL model. Yes, it had a pretty giant drought in its early days to the point where, as much as I loved what I already had for it, it felt like there was just nothing coming out for it. And then the releases trickled and that trickle turned into a stream and, cut to now, I have a ridiculous amount of games for this system.

And as a result, there are almost too many great games to name of all different types. I think that's one of the real strengths of the 3DS for me - almost every need is met in some way. But highlights include Animal Crossing New Leaf, Mario Kart 7, the Phoenix Wrights and the Laytons and the Vs, Theatrhythm Curtain Call (one of my most played games), Metroid Samus Returns and Kid Icarus. And it had quirky things like that Attack of the Friday Monsters.

And if you're a Zelda fan, which I am, it offers the widest choice of Zelda games and some of the best. The best version of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask and Link Between Worlds is absolutely superb. If you got in early, you also got Minish Cap and the NES ones. And you can get Link's Awakening and the Oracles games on the eShop and of course it also plays the two DS ones too so that's a LOT of Zelda and some of the best Zeldas.

Yeah, I love my 3DS.

[DeathAdder]

I've enjoyed my time with the 3DS but the DS had a far better library.

For me, the 3DS is the Nintendo handheld with the worst library, unless you count the Game Boy Color's games on their own.

Great for simulation games though. I've spent many hours driving trains and directing air traffic.

[Neon Ignition]

Hot take - The 3DS is by far the greatest of all Nintendo handhelds.
The DS was strong but the 3DS sharing the same design and fully supporting that systems library completely eradicates any case for the old DS to be the better system. The 3DS also catered for many games that were closer to console experiences, something the old DS was appalling at. I think the only thing lost in translation is GBA support but that's a small hit compared to the gains.

The question is, which is the best model of 3DS/2DS? I'd argue it's either the New 3DS or the New 3DS XL. I like having the extra screen real estate but it's still the case that the XL's enhance the jaggies as well so it's a difficult weigh in between the two.


Today's showcase game:

Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy
Square's rhythm action title taking players through the franchises most popular soundtrack sounds played by hitting the touchscreen along to the beats of the music. It was a surprise success for the company and spawned a spin-off, a sequel and an arcade iteration.





Share your thoughts and memories of Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy

[wakka]

I have always wanted to play Theatrhythm and never have. So that's my thought and memory on it sadly

Must get round to it!

[Nu-Eclipse]

Hot take - The 3DS is by far the greatest of all Nintendo handhelds.

Simply not the case, not when the DS decimated it for sales and not when the Game Boy devices are far more iconic.

The DS was strong but the 3DS sharing the same design and fully supporting that systems library completely eradicates any case for the old DS to be the better system.

Context convieniently and disingenously ignored. The Touch! Generations (Wii and DS) era was massive for Nintendo in a commercial sense - arguably the biggest era Nintendo have had since the NES saved console gaming in the western world, if not bigger. That shouldn't be discarded just because of (admittedly excellent) backwards compatibility.

The 3DS also catered for many games that were closer to console experiences, something the old DS was appalling at.

Sorry, but I've never understood this line of thinking - wanting home console experiences on dedicated handhelds.

Nintendo handhelds have thrived precisely because they have stuck to what they were good at and knowing their strenghts, whereas the Sony handhelds (especially the Vita) struggled/underperformed at market/ultimately failed precisely because of the opposite - wanting to be what they clearly weren't and thus not being remotely good enough to pull it off.

I think the only thing lost in translation is GBA support but that's a small hit compared to the gains.

I agree with this to a point. Nintendo originally promised that GBA games would be made available on the 3DS eShop/Virtual Console to download, only for them to ultimately renege on that promise. Hindsight would suggest that this was because Nintendo ultimately couldn't be bothered to put the work in to make GBA software fully backwards compatible on the hardware - the GBA games that come with the 3DS Ambassador Programme (which came about due to the initial dire sales performance of the original 3DS model) are minimalist emulation efforts at best with none of the 3DS VC bells and whistles like save states, etc.

I am personally disappointed that Nintendo didn't make this happen (GBA and DS games available on Wii U?? WTF??) but in the scheme of things gamers didn't care too much, especially when looking at what ultimately became of the Virtual Console concept on 3DS and as a whole.

[Neon Ignition]

The DS sold more but that's purely a commercial performance aspect, it's arguably exactly the same system but an inferior model to the 3DS. The 3DS also faced very different market conditions and wasn't run along side a fad hit home console. Effectively, the sales aspects of the two systems are different merits to the hardware itself, so I stand by the 3DS being the better handheld.

For the console experiences, they're important because they're a big part of the appeal for many. The DS's success might suggest otherwise but the success of the Switch swings it back to there being an inherent appeal to many to play console games on the move. The Touch generation titles were a bit moment for Nintendo but they exist within a bubble that the motion era games do as well, they were hugely popular for a couple of years that Nintendo benefitted from before gamers and the industry consigned them to the history books. There's nothing about the touch generation the 3DS can't do, it just didn't because most gamers got bored of them and killed the market. The GB systems also contained non-console like games but it was largely due to technical issues rather than a lack of intent, the likes of Mario Land 2, Link's Awakening etc shows a constant line of attempts to replicate experiences on handheld that would eventually be solved by the addition of a simple sleep mode.

Basically, I see it simply as there being no reason to own a DS over a 3DS bar nostalgia at this point. As machines there's no real gain bar ease of use for GBA titles but I guess anyone that nostalgic for hardware would own a GBA also.

[Nu-Eclipse]

The DS sold more but that's purely a commercial performance aspect, it's arguably exactly the same system but an inferior model to the 3DS. The 3DS also faced very different market conditions and wasn't run along side a fad hit home console. Effectively, the sales aspects of the two systems are different merits to the hardware itself, so I stand by the 3DS being the better handheld.

Like it or not, the commercial performance/sales aspects are ultimately the aspects that matter!

Also, for me, it's way too much of an easy cop-out to just suggest that the DS did well because of the Wii alongside it. The DS did well because people knew or eventually got to know (once it had been refined as the DS Lite iteration) that it was a quality handheld, like pretty much every other Nintendo handheld that there has ever been. Also, your point is undermined simply by virtue of the 3DS going on to be successful in its own right despite sharing a generation with the ill-fated Wii U.

For the console experiences, they're important because they're a big part of the appeal for many. The DS's success might suggest otherwise but the success of the Switch swings it back to there being an inherent appeal to many to play console games on the move. The Touch generation titles were a bit moment for Nintendo but they exist within a bubble that the motion era games do as well, they were hugely popular for a couple of years that Nintendo benefitted from before gamers and the industry consigned them to the history books. There's nothing about the touch generation the 3DS can't do, it just didn't because most gamers got bored of them and killed the market. The GB systems also contained non-console like games but it was largely due to technical issues rather than a lack of intent, the likes of Mario Land 2, Link's Awakening etc shows a constant line of attempts to replicate experiences on handheld that would eventually be solved by the addition of a simple sleep mode.

People were given home console-like experiences on PSP and Vita. The former under-performed and the latter died, so no they're quite evidently not that important and not that big an appeal for handheld gaming.

[DeathAdder]

Basically, I see it simply as there being no reason to own a DS over a 3DS bar nostalgia at this point. As machines there's no real gain bar ease of use for GBA titles but I guess anyone that nostalgic for hardware would own a GBA also.

Has anybody actually said they would prefer to own a DS console over a 3DS console? The fact that the 3DS plays 3DS and DS games, and the DS only plays DS games (say I mean a DSi) doesn't mean that the DS therefore automatically has the worse library. If I had to get rid of either my HD-DVD player or my DVD player, I'd probably get rid of the latter, because my HD-DVD player plays all my DVDs as well as the handful of HD-DVDs I have, but it would be mad to suggest that the HD-DVD library was better.

I realise that's probably not your intention, but it feels as if you're using the fact that DS games can be played on the 3DS to shut down any suggestion that the DS might have the better library.

The DS sold more but that's purely a commercial performance aspect, it's arguably exactly the same system but an inferior model to the 3DS. The 3DS also faced very different market conditions and wasn't run along side a fad hit home console.

Of course selling more is a commercial performance aspect. What else could it be?

What difference does running alongside the Wii make to the DS? You could argue that it achieved its success in spite of the success of its sister home console, as there's only so much money that Nintendo fans are prepared to spend on the company's products, and therefore the two consoles should be cannibalizing each other's market. Why are you sure that the DS pegged onto the Wii's coat tails? Why not the other way round? The DS had seized the momentum back from the launch of the PSP, and had been pulling ahead for more than a year when the Wii launched, with many of the DS's most famous titles already released.

[Neon Ignition]

The commercial aspects matter but largely only to the company aiming to sell the product. That a system sells the most isn't necessarily a reflection that it's the best example of its type just as few would argue Sam Smith's Bond theme is the best one because it sold the best of them all. But, a definite concession is I've definitely been viewing the systems libraries as DS = GBA + DS games and 3DS = DS and 3DS games rather than isolating games specifically for that platform hence the 3DS favouring

The Wii and DS popularity is a difficult one to dissect true. I don't think the DS sold as well as it did purely on the strength of its library just as I don't believe that's the case for the Wii also. I think they were the right products at the right time with the right software that appealed to a wider audience than typically would pay them attention. That the Wii U was such an utter disaster after the Wii is a reflection of how of the moment that audience was. The 3DS seems detached but I think it's a key moment that the first 6 months of the handhelds life was also a disaster for Nintendo and they had to aggressively claw their way to making the system a success, something they never put the effort into for Wii U.

I don't think the DS sold as well as it did because of the Wii but I think there was a certain level of synergy between the two, just like the PSP doing well for Sony coming off the back of the PS2 success story. It's not the sole reason but I'd wager it's a key factor.

But even then, essentially you take a refinement of such a popular handheld design then add in support for both systems libraries plus more via eShop and that's why I'm happy to class 3DS as Nintendo's greatest handheld. Bearing in mind I'm saying greatest... not most successful

[Dogg Thang]

Lots to pick up on here but I’m on adventures (not really) so can’t delve in. But I totally buy into the idea of the 3DS being one of the greatest handhelds when you take into account that it plays DS games. And I also think it ended up with some better gamer’s games than the DS, even though it took its lifetime to get there. It has variety yet focus.

Aside from the always-questionable use of the word “promise”, I don’t remember Nintendo even saying that the 3DS would get GBA games. In fact I think it was the opposite but I’m willing to be proven wrong and will do some googling later.

[QualityChimp]

I wish I had a white New 3DS XL with the coloured buttons. Is that a combination that came out or were the coloured buttons only on the New 3DS (non-XL).
I think it looks ace, has a bigger screen and I'm a fan of the 3D screen. Nintendo innovation made mainstream!

However, I don't and I don't think I can name any games I'm desperate to play, mainly those 3D versions of older arcade games.

I love my Vita and I love the shape of the DS, so you'd think this would be a great halfway house, but nothing has ever been a platform seller for me.

What's the score with that 2DS?! Let's take away the USP of a 3D screen, the foldable body that avoids screen scratches and makes it so big you'd never slip it into a pocket. Am I right?!

[Nu-Eclipse]

Aside from the always-questionable use of the word “promise”, I don’t remember Nintendo even saying that the 3DS would get GBA games. In fact I think it was the opposite but I’m willing to be proven wrong and will do some googling later.

Oh, I definitely recall reading and posting links elsewhere on the web about Nintendo putting GBA games on the 3DS Virtual Console. I’m pretty sure it was widely acknowledged by most that the Ambassador Programme was a precursor of sorts to GBA games properly arriving on the system. At the very least, it was more likely than unlikely that it would happen.

I certainly never read anything about Nintendo saying that they absolutely wouldn’t ever do it. It was something that people wanted at the time.

Will try to find these links.