Finally time to buy a 3DS?

With interesting games like Resident Evil: Revelations and Kid Icarus: Uprising just around the corner, the Nintendo 3DS might finally be worthwhile spending some hard-earned dough on. Especially so, with a Mario and Zelda game already available for the system... even with the latter being a 14 year old one.

Get ripped now or tomorrow

It’s never easy knowing when to buy a console – get it on the launch day, and be prepared to spending countless hours queuing for an overpriced piece of hardware with a feeble amount of games available. That has certainly been the case with Nintendo’s new 3D handheld. But On the other hand, being one of the few with a true 3D handheld, you’ll be the coolest cat on the block; amongst tech geeks, anyway.

Patience has its perks; price cuts will come eventually, as well as slimmed down hardware, with enhancements like a better screen or battery life. You’ll also have a larger library of games to choose from, for a more aged console, that you can find cheaply, perhaps even pre-owned for even less. The downside is that the games are old, and a lot of games don’t age very gracefully. And you can pretty much forget about online play, checking out game everyone else finished 5 years ago.

$0.99 cellphone games - now on cartridge for only $39.99

Ohoy, Flipper! (Steel Diver, 3DS)

In the case of the 3DS, there weren’t much of incentive to get one when it first came out, apart from the interesting hardware itself; most notably its “true 3D” screen as well as its “augmented reality” capability. Apart from Nintendo’s own lineup of N64 rehashes, including StarFox 64, Pilotwings and the masterpiece Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, most games that reached the 3DS were essentially games you can get off the Android / iPhone Market for a couple of bucks each. What gave them the idea that anyone would even think of paying $40 for a ridiculously simplistic title like Steel Diver, or an actual mobile game like Asphalt (currently selling at $0.99 for the Androids), is honestly beyond me.

Nintendo's questionable decisions

Nintendo also decided to announce more colours of the 3DS, such as the Flame/Metallic Red, only to delay it for months and months. Another thing that kept myself from buying one earlier was the announcement of the additional thumbstick addon. I’m guessing a lot of potential 3DS buyers got suspicious, thinking that the original 3DS design was rushed, and flawed; as it apparently needed accessories of that kind so early in its life cycle. Hence, I was expecting a new 3DS design to get announced. As we all now, that didn’t happen. Not yet, at least.

Jaleel White as Steve Urkel,
in Family Matters

No-one should be surprised by the fact that Nintendo made a financial loss of 35 billion yen last year. After spending their entire effort developing a brand new system, without having any proper games ready for it. At the same time, they seemed forfeit the Wii entirely. The Xbox 360 and PS3 had already caught up, with their "own" takes on Wii's motion control. The Wii has always been sort of a concept system, and once that's old news, it's still just a last gen console, with modern controls. The first, and most likely the last Wii exclusive Zelda game; “Skyward Sword”, was sadly the only reason why all Wii's in the world aren't dustier that your VHS collection of Family Matters. Hopefully the time is finally here for the 3DS, now that the launch titles that didn’t came, eventually will arrive… fingers crossed.

My unboxing video of the red Nintendo 3DS

Received my "Metallic Red" Nintendo 3DS last week. Here's me opening the box! Exciting, huh?

More on the 3DS soon! 'Til then - happy gaming, kids!
~theJo