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View Full Version : 3DS owners unite!



Rare White Ape
May 19th, 2016, 06:58 PM
I'm just putting the feelers out there to see if anyone's into Nintendo's portable powerhouse.

Today I came home with this.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7782/26516150514_20934e3693_b.jpg

Whoopsies. The only reason I bought one is because I was browsing the PS4 games display at Target last week and for some reason just turned around and caught a glimpse of the 3DS display, which up until that very moment had registered precisely a zero on my interest-o-meter. What is this? I never knew this existed!

I'm a big fan of The Legend of Zelda so it had to be done. This week I shopped around and today I got a screaming good deal on the console, A Link Between Worlds (of course) and an AC adapter. Suddenly I want to buy Ocarina of Time 3D, and Majora's Mask 3D, and Super Mario 3D Land, and Pilotwings Resort, and Xenoblade Chronicles, and Animal Crossing, and Mario Kart 7, and Star Fox 64 3D, and Smash Bros. etc, etc

I think this has been coming for a while. I've had a slight rekindling of Nintendo love recently (because emulators (http://gtxforums.net/showthread.php?1330-Emulators-Anyone-play-about-with-them)) and I'm starting to be sucked in again. I'll definitely be a day-1 NX purchaser, but the Wii U... I'm torn. I want to play Splatoon so badly, but by the time I want to pick up a Wii U on the cheap, Splatoon might be dead and buried online, so it's not worth it (despite the cost of a new Wii U not being that much more than a New 3DS XL, heh!). But there's also Super Mario Maker and Super Mario 3D World and Twilight Princess HD and Wind Waker HD... you know. Games that I already have multiple copies of already. I think the prospect of inevitable backwards compatibility with Wii U on the NX might save the day there.

http://img1.rnkr-static.com/user_node_img/50038/1000745731/870/you-be-rolling-photo-u1.jpg

M4FFU
May 20th, 2016, 02:58 AM
I was playing Yoshi's New Island on my (not new)3DS this morning on the train to work, so yes. And Yoshi's Woolly World on my Wii U last night, so....yes?!
I think I'm also going to sell my Xbox One, so...yes?!

I didn't do Zelda first time round, so picked up the Amiibo Twilight edition when it came out. As I grow older, I like Nintendo stuff more than most other things.

21Kid
May 20th, 2016, 04:57 AM
My kids have 3DS's... But they end up using the tablet/phone more often. I think it's just easier to switch games. And there's more variety without having to switch out cartridges, or carry them around.

M4FFU
May 20th, 2016, 05:11 AM
I've probably got more installed games than I have carts, but I get your point. I find 3DS games a touch richer than phone/tablet stuff, so don't mind having less with me. Mind you, my attention span is long enough for the one way commute to play one thing :D

21Kid
May 20th, 2016, 05:40 AM
I suppose that would solve the issue of having to haul cartridges around. But I always get them used/on sale since the kids don't care if it's the newest hottest game yet. That's been the biggest drawback to downloading games for me.

Jason
May 20th, 2016, 06:08 AM
I'm always tempted to buy one, but then I remembered games are not 99 cents :lol:

Rare White Ape
May 20th, 2016, 06:16 AM
Heh, yeah. It's funny how we get used to things on one platform vs. another.

I think it's not even worth playing games on either of the two main phone platforms. I've baulked at paying $5 for a game on my iPhone. Games that are free are full of ads or micro transactions. The blindingly huge majority of them are low quality Sino-shovelware.

But I'll buy a 3DS and a game with the word "Zelda" on the cover and happily pay $250.

Jason
May 20th, 2016, 06:26 AM
I have a controller case for my iPhone that cost like $5, and a GBA/SNES emulator :lol:

Rare White Ape
May 21st, 2016, 11:01 PM
Tell you what, A Link Between Worlds is a pretty damn good game. It's overworld is a direct, although slightly altered copy of A Link to the Past's Hyrule from the SNES, but slightly 3D-ified. Still top-down, but built with polygons rather than 2D art work, so old-school Zelda veterans (I'm not part of this group, being an Ocarina baby) will have a fantastic time re-exploring their old familiar Hyrulian territory.

But early on in the game there is a huge twist (not a spoiler) in that Link gains the ability to transform into a 2d painting and traverse along the walls of cliffs, buildings and inside dungeons, which gives it a completely new mechanic. There is now a huge range of new puzzles to master thanks to the new 2D/3D tricks. Platforms move and walls get in the way, and you have to think quick and pop into a wall to beat the obstacle, or be elevated on the side of a moving brick thingamajig to get to a higher level. Funnily enough, the game is now presented in 3D, but normal activity happens on a 2D plane as in the old SNES game, but switch Link into a 2D painting and the camera changes to a side-on view of the world, making the game now occupy the 3rd dimension.

Another interesting change is that part-way through the game, you're presented with more than one dungeon to master at a time. The usual Zelda process is complete a dungeon, earn a new weapon or item, and use that item to access new areas and the next dungeon, and so-on in a quite linear fashion. Dungeons were more-or-less completed in a set order to go along with the narrative.

Not so in this game. I'm up to a point where 7 dungeons are available to do right now, I just have to find the entrances and do them in any order I want. But to do that I still need certain items, and I need to learn how to use them in the situations they're designed for. To accommodate this there is a merchant who rents you any of the items you need for a small fee of like 50 or 100 rupees, and rental lasts as long as you don't die. Or when you get to the point I'm at, he'll sell them for 800 or 1200, depending on the item, and you get to keep them if you cark it. This is nice because you get to play with all the toys you want right from the start of the game. Another plus is instead of ammo like arrows or bombs, etc, it's replaced with an energy meter that depletes as you use items or walk along walls. It essentially gives you unlimited ammo as long as you wait for it to refill after a few seconds. The big drawback of a rental system like this is the game suddenly becomes a grind for rupees so that you can afford the fee to own an essential item. Pots and shrubs all over Hyrule tremble in fear when a wild Link approaches.

So yeah, great game. I'm enjoying it a lot.

Kchrpm
May 22nd, 2016, 06:02 AM
While I've heard mostly positive about the rental system and how that frees you up to do dungeons in whatever order, I have seen/heard it pointed out that it takes away one of the great bits from Zelda games: item use variety and combinations.

When the designers knew exactly what items you had before going into a dungeon, they could design rooms/encounters around combinations of any of the gear you'd acquired up to that point. When all you have to do to get in a dungeon is rent one specific item, you can only design every part of that dungeon around using that single item. You lose that great moment of walking into a room, seeing something you've never encountered before and having to figure out what 2 or 3 things you have to combine to solve the puzzle. If you're in the hookshot dungeon, the answer is almost always hookshot.

But I am confident Nintendo will figure out a way around this issue, and look forward to seeing how they do it going forward.

Rare White Ape
May 22nd, 2016, 06:42 PM
Yeah it might be how the next Zelda game is built, being open world and all.

Rare White Ape
May 25th, 2016, 06:34 PM
Look what I dug out of my boxes of shit that I haven't opened since moving house in 2009.

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7458/26648663723_40ee03a261_b.jpg

I opened it up and hit the power button, and sure enough like any good Nintendo product, she fired up right away. The clock is off by a few minutes, but you can't really knock it for that after all this time. The clock was set by me when I bought it on launch day back in 1973. It even has a full battery charge! It's in perfect condition.

Remember the nub? You strap this around your thumb and use it to control your characters via the touch screen. It was novel for its time, but I always thought it was a shit way to play games like Mario 64 DS. Trust me that game is way better on the 3DS with the analogue stick.

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7433/27184512611_bfb38e76b8_b.jpg

Also found in my boxes of nostalgia (underneath a very dusty Nintendo 64) was this thing, which I think was carved from pure granite by prehistoric Japanese mobile device engineers. Note the assorted samples of snot and jizz on its pristine white facade. And again, I put in a set of AAs and it turned on right away.

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7322/26648666653_4a75ac9a71_b.jpg

I also bought that on launch day. Of all of the Nintendo handheld designs ever made, I still think that the GameBoy Advance is the coolest looking thing by a mile. I just wish now that I bought the purple one instead of the white one, to match the GameCube when it came out. And hell, it's only real drawback was the lack of backlighting for the screen. If they included that from the start, this thing would have been the best handheld ever made. What an utter disappointment, one feature to spoil such a great console. The GBA SP rectified this, but it never had the same design flair that the original GBA carried with such ease. It was pure Nintendo 90s design awesomeness. I wish I bought a GBA Micro, those were cool, too.

Rare White Ape
July 29th, 2016, 12:01 AM
I picked up Super Mario 3D Land yesterday. That game is utter genius. I can only assume it's Wii U counterpart is equally as good.

I've heard the two games being described as a cross between Super Mario 64 and New Super Mario Bros, which is pretty close to the mark, but you know what it reminds me of the most? Has anyone seen those little bonus stages that were littered across Super Mario Sunshine? I think there was one per level that was hidden away in some corner, and it gave access to one of the level's shine sprites.

3D Land reminds me of those stages because they were a very stripped back classic Mario experience. No FLUDD device, no NPCs, no signs, no fields or buildings or extra scenery. Just Mario and the platforms and the goombas. Pure platforming.

The new game captures that all over again, and revamps it for today. Well, five years ago's vision of what today was back then. Please excuse me for being a little bit behind the times.

Kchrpm
July 29th, 2016, 05:01 AM
I picked up Super Mario 3D Land yesterday. That game is utter genius. I can only assume it's Wii U counterpart is equally as good.
Yep, it is. Except with 4-player co-op available. Hectic and tons of fun.


3D Land reminds me of those stages because they were a very stripped back classic Mario experience. No FLUDD device, no NPCs, no signs, no fields or buildings or extra scenery. Just Mario and the platforms and the goombas. Pure platforming.

Yeah, I can definitely see that. In the Wii U version you get the different suits that can change things up, especially the cat suit. Climbing walls and having a melee attack is pretty different for a Mario game.

Rare White Ape
August 3rd, 2016, 05:28 AM
Waaaaaaaaaaant

http://kotaku.com/the-snes-themed-3ds-compared-to-an-actual-snes-1784750349?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

Kchrpm
August 20th, 2016, 02:47 PM
http://kotaku.com/metroid-prime-federation-force-the-kotaku-review-1785489769


Metroid Prime Federation Force is, however, a smartly-designed strategic first-person shooter that is very fun to play, especially with multiple teammates. It is, believe it or not, Nintendo’s answer to a Destiny raid or to the best missions of co-op games such as Left 4 Dead or Gears of War. It’s not as technical and tactical as the most hardcore versions of the military games Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six but it is a game for people who like discussing loadouts and outlining tactics with their co-op gaming partners before diving into a mission together.
-----------------
The missions are wildly varied and almost all good. There are base infiltrations and boss battles, simple early layouts that encourage teammates to clear out rooms together or attack massive enemies from opposite sides. There are missions where you hold your ground and missions where you are constantly on the move.

I hope they're practicing and getting their chops ready for a full-on console game with these qualities :up:

Kchrpm
September 1st, 2016, 08:42 AM
Summary of announcements from today's 3DS Nintendo Direct: https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/50nack/september_1st_3ds_nintendo_direct_summary/

Rare White Ape
September 1st, 2016, 01:31 PM
Mario Maker for 3DS: YEEEEESSSSSS!

Here's the whole direct if you wanna watch it.

http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct/09-01-2016/#/video-1ndirect

Rare White Ape
September 26th, 2016, 03:55 AM
Super Mario 3D Land.

I finished the main story quite comfortably with over 100 lives in the bank. I thought I had finished the game, but noooo. There are special stages afterwards that were obviously the demented brainchildren of the most fucked up minds in the Nintendo EAD team of the day.

I'm up to the 6th world of the 8 available worlds in the special levels, and each world has 6-8 stages within. In an afternoon I was down to 45-50 lives left, after having completed about 3 of the worlds. A week later I have 11 lives left. Never have I sworn and stomped and said 'fuck-shit-fuck!' so frequently in my life. Some of the levels look like they should be easy, but all they do is suck the life out of you. Then you pass the level that has been providing so much frustration, and the next three go by pretty easily until you get to another really hard one. UGH!

Fuck those cunts who design levels like this. Fuck them to hell.

But bless them too because I am having too much fun.

Great game :up:

Kchrpm
September 26th, 2016, 07:10 AM
I had the same experience with Super Mario 3D World on the Wii U. I was playing with a couple friends, so we got to experience it together :)

Rare White Ape
November 28th, 2016, 04:06 AM
I finished A Link Between Worlds this evening while waiting to pick a friend up at the airport. I played almost the entirety of the game while enjoying downtime on my Sunday shifts at work, so yeah. Got paid to play Zelda. Not bad :up:

It was a slow burn, took me six months, and I enjoyed every minute of it, so I'm really getting my money's worth out of the 3DS. The open-ended style of picking from any one of five dungeons once the game opens up is cool and interesting, because while some of them are easy and would normally be the first few things you do in a Zelda title, some of them are also quite hard and you can go straight to them as soon as you feel like you want to tackle them.

I encountered a fire temple (not sure of its name) almost straight away, I'm talking maybe five months ago here, and it was a heck of a noodle-scratcher, and maybe three weeks ago I came across the ice temple, and that one had a very expansive and confusing map with branching catwalks over 7 levels deep, a lift system going down the middle and plenty of back-tracking. Ocarina's infamous Water Temple - which I never had any real dramas with - is simple compared to this one. I'm imagining the furrowed brows of kid's whose first time playing a Zelda title may have been A Link Between Worlds, and not knowing how the usual state of play in these games pans out.

A few days ago I picked up Majora's Mask, so I'll be moving on to that soon. It'll be my third, no, fourth attempt at playing this, as all others succumbed to worn out analogue sticks, or loss of interest due to other games or activities.

Oh man, I can't wait for the Switch! Portable gaming is Nintendo's huge strong point, and moving the Switch away from being a solely at home experience is a bold but smart move by the Big N.

M4FFU
January 29th, 2017, 11:51 PM
Any UK-ers interested in my White 3DS XL? I want to migrate to the 'new' one so need to find my current one a new home. :up:

Rare White Ape
February 12th, 2017, 02:28 AM
Check dis muhh-fucker out, found in a drawer of my old stuff at mum and dad's house.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/454/32814288386_f4f978d498_b.jpg

"Visuals do not represent actual gameplay"

I won this in a competition while setting fastest lap times in an old N64 F1 game called F1 Pole Position 64, way back in April 1997. I'm talking 20 years ago, I was 14! A very much now defunct retailer called Software Today had a stall set up at the Surfers Paradise IndyCar race, the task was to do hot laps of the Australian Grand Prix and record a time. My best time was second fastest, so I won the GameBoy. The winner scored an N64 twin controller pack that came with a special clear purple controller and a copy of Mission Impossible. Remember that game? It was tough. A week later I got a phone call saying I won, so I went down to their shop and picked it up.

The results of the IndyCar race were Scott Pruett, followed by Greg Moore and Michael Andretti.

I was never really into the archaic old GameBoy platform so it never got used much. I did buy a copy of Link's Awakening, but got stuck on a thing early in the game and gave up, so back into its box it went. It's utterly preserved mint condition box.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2021/32855402285_692637f567_b.jpg

Complete with all of its leaflets.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/486/32040556363_704097cdc8_b.jpg

The console itself is still in really good condition, but as you can see the screen is completely fooked :(

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/552/32474318560_7f6f688e0d_b.jpg

But... Lifetime warranty.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2735/32040556443_cb6f6aaa14_b.jpg

This should be fun to fix :lol:

Size comparison to a 3DS XL - it's only slightly larger than it's top screen!

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2860/32855439945_b43e800f9b_b.jpg

Rare White Ape
April 27th, 2017, 06:48 PM
Well here's a surprise.

Nintendo has announced a New 2DS XL, with a folding design for the 2D version of the 3DS.

I think it looks slick, and I kind of want one.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lxNHhgMuTg

Rare White Ape
August 22nd, 2017, 02:20 AM
Waaaaaaaaaaant

http://kotaku.com/the-snes-themed-3ds-compared-to-an-actual-snes-1784750349?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

HHHHNNNNNNNNNGGGG

It's coming to Europe.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-08-22-nintendos-making-a-snes-themed-3ds-xl

Kchrpm
May 3rd, 2018, 10:53 AM
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/05/nintendo_says_3ds_will_keep_being_sold_unless_swit ch_becomes_a_one-per-person_system

TLDR Nintendo doesn't plan to stop producing the 3DS, and software for it, unless the Switch goes from a one-per-household purchase to a one-per-person purchase. Their information/research shows that most families only get one Switch to share, but they are more likely to get a 3DS for each child.

TheBenior
May 3rd, 2018, 02:21 PM
That makes sense. If the Switch approaches the 3DS' lifetime system sales, 3DS software sales will probably taper off anyway. Until then, there are over 72 million 3DS systems out there.