In February 2011, Nintendo released the followup to their DS console. Called the 3DS, it featured the gimmick of 3D play without glasses. This actually worked, and once again Nintendo had released an unexpected and unusual handheld console.
At the time of release, the DS was still going strong and I had a big backlog of games to play. While the 3DS was better in almost every way, in one aspect it was a step back: Nintendo chose to ‘region lock’ the handheld, which meant you could only play games purchased in the country you bought the system. For someone like me, who had for years bought GBA and DS games while visiting Japan, this was irritating, and it was a while before I purchased one.
My first unit was the Zelda one shown in the top right of the above photo. The other photos show the other four units I would eventually buy: the ‘new’ 3DS, the 3DS XL and (in the center) the ‘2DS XL’. The different versions over the years added new controls, increased the screen size, added processor power, improved the 3D effect and – ultimately – removed the 3D effect. This last iteration – the ‘New 2DS XL’ – is in my opinion the best handheld ever made.
As you can see the system includes analogue controls, a touchscreen and more buttons than any previous handheld. It has a dedicated OS based around online connectivity, and a 3DS online store made this the first handheld you could theoretically build a digital-only library on. The 3D effect varied between games, but even when well done it was tiring to use and I (and I suspect most players) usually turned it off.
Cartridges were essentially the same as for the DS, although the technology was a bit different inside. One change was the system no longer played GBA cartridges, but it was fully compatible with DS games although the increased screen resolution meant they had to be letterboxed.
Aside from Switch, the 3DS is the only console on which I haven’t sold my collection, which runs to 104 games today. This is somewhat small compared to what I had for everything else, and the region lock is a cause of this. But the quality of 3DS games was extremely high, especially for the sorts of games I enjoy, and I still have very fond memories of the system.
The previous photo was all my normal boxed games, and the above shows a selection of my ‘collectors’ versions. These became increasingly common on the system, and I have dozens of them.
Most of these were packaged with a soundtrack or tiny artbook or some other tchotchke, and very rarely cost more than the $30 or so a 3DS game cost in those days. Most of these have appreciated now, but I don’t plan on ever selling mine.
The Etrian Odyssey series continued onto the 3DS with remakes and new takes and I purchased, played – and loved – them all. I have since bought the remakes of the first trilogy for Switch (all of which were good), but one day I plan on replaying some of these later games as well.
Monster Rancher had several great installments on the 3DS, and Generations in particular was wonderful and I played it for over 700 hours! I’d probably rank it as the second best ever MH game.
The 3DS had a version of Puzzle & Dragons, although localization decisions made it much difficult than it should have been (I still haven’t ever beaten the hard mode). Fantasy Life is an incredibly good action RPG that has the distinction of being the first Nintendo handheld game with paid DLC (which I purchased). And Xenoblade Chronicles 3D – which is of course wonderful – is the only game released that required a ‘New 3DS’ to play.
Here’s two sealed games I found in my collection. Both of them I owned and played on other systems, so I doubt these will ever be opened. I checked, and neither of them are especially valuable today.
This one is pricey, and at ~$300 is easily the most valuable 3DS game in my collection. This was a Nintendo series that didn’t succeed in the USA, and not only did they print extremely small quantities of this sequel, but they were very poorly distributed. I found it in a budget bin a year or two after release, and snapped it up for about $10.
One unfortunate aspect of the console was that some cartridges no longer work due to manufacturing errors. I own two of these and when I put them in the console today they are just dead. Back in the day Nintendo offered replacements but I had beaten the games and put them away so mine hadn’t failed yet. These days they cartridges are basically junk, and some think this fate may eventually come to many other 3DS games as well. I hope not.
Aside from a Japanese game I bought last year (and can never play), my last 3DS game purchased was a Pokemon game in mid 2019. By then sales had dwindled, and within a year many stores had stopped carrying the console. The rumoured replacement eventually became the Switch, and the days of a small dedicated handheld – which began with the Game Boy 30 years prior – ended with the 3DS. It remains one of my favourite consoles amongst all those I’ve owned.