Surprisingly, 3DS is now the best gaming platform.

Fast forward to two years in the past. Nintendo is in trouble - the creators of Mario have just released a completely new portable with a stunning stereo screen, which turned out to be useless. It is sold sluggishly and does not cause much enthusiasm in the profile press and gamers. Nintendo will take radical measures: just six months after the launch of 3DS, the company shocks the entire gaming community, lowering the price of the system from $ 250 to $ 170. Instant response: “Nintendo is doomed - it cannot withstand such a blow!”

Surprisingly, she endured. Now things are going with Nintendo 3DS are completely different.

During these two years, the Nintendo portable has gradually evolved from a general ridicule into a real miracle. At the launch in March 2011, its competitiveness was questionable: yes, the thing is, of course, stylish, but who in their right mind would give $ 250 for the console to play on it ... ah, Steel Diver ? Today, two years later, you can buy 3DS XL - an advanced model of a “point-free” 3D system - and play really cool games from really cool series. From Kingdom Hearts and Professor Layton to The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario . And if you want something unusual, there are several extremely unusual and interesting projects like Pullblox or Crimson Shroud in the digital store.
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The library of games for 3DS continues to grow. Get at least the latest presentation of Nintendo Direct, where they announced an interesting Mario & Luigi , a new Mario Golf , a Donkey Kong Country Returns remake and a whole heap of crazy downloadable games for the eShop store, whose range is more and more impressive.

In addition to these announcements, the details of the already announced games were revealed, for example, Luigi's Mansion 2 , Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and downloadable content for the Fire Emblem: Awakening released last week. Now on a portable Nintendo, everyone can find something to their liking, except, perhaps, first-person shooters.

But we have not even touched games from third-party developers. Soon there will be a couple of RPG from Atlus - Etrian Odyssey IV and Devil Summoners: Soul Hackers . Not long left to wait and the new Castlevania and Monster Hunter . (It would be even better if Square Enix listened to its fans and released a new Bravely Default rooster in the West : Flying Fairy and a remake of Dragon Quest VII .)

Do not forget that Nintendo has not yet announced new projects for its two major series - Zelda and Metroid . Large 3DS-games with Link and Samus in the main roles (you can be sure - Nintendo will release them for sure) will make this game platform even more attractive.



It is possible to list big names for a long time, but the essence is simple: 3DS as a gaming system is very impressive now. Nintendo continues to do everything to make their offspring even more attractive. Why disputes about the technical characteristics and performance, when it is already clear to everyone that the best platform becomes the one on which the best games come out. And in 2013, this is 3DS.

As our editor-in-chief remarked , 3DS is worth buying for the sake of Fire Emblem alone : Awakening - a terrific strategy that loads brains more than chess. Or for the sake of Super Mario 3D Land - one of the best Mario games in general. Or for the sake of Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward - my favorite game of the past year. Or for the sake of Revelations - the only worthwhile game in the Resident Evil series since hell is the fourth part!

Three or four years ago, the best gaming system on the market was not the Xbox and Playstation. Nintendo DS dominated the video game world. It had everything: puzzles, platformers, role-playing games, quests, many sequels of famous series of various genres. DS was for me a cheaper, more affordable and attractive system than any other. The games cost $ 30–40, and the developers were interested in experimenting with the craziest ideas - remember the RPG with Mario traveling through Bowser’s guts, or a chic visual novel where the system needed to be held sideways, like a book. Over the past ten years, I have bought more games for my DS than for any other console.

3DS went the same way and achieved success. It diverges well - Nintendo reports that more than 30 million units have been sold worldwide - and have far exceeded our wildest expectations.

Maybe the reason for this were those very failures at the start. In the summer of 2011, 3DS went to the bottom. When no one could imagine that she could survive in the world of the iPhone and Android, Nintendo, backed against the wall, did not give up and continued to bend her own line. It was decided to abandon the promotion of stereo effect as a reason for buying the system. Instead, the company has been engaged in what has been best for her for the last 30 years - to make cool games.

How simple is that, yes? "Whistles" and specifications do not matter. Cool platform make the game. There are great games on 3DS. Therefore, 3DS is a cool platform.

Translator's note. The article was published in February, so some information is outdated. Luigi's Mansion 2 (completely in Russian), Animal Crossing: New Leaf (mayor's secretary leads Twitter ), Etrian Odyssey IV, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, etc. have already been released. Bravely Default: Flying Fairy and Dragon Quest VII have been confirmed. Donkey Kong Country Returns is coming out the other day.