Nintendo 3DS

[Damm64]

It is times like this that I love to remember a quote from The Big Lebowski.

I seriously need to watch this movie already.

[BogusMeatFactory]

It is times like this that I love to remember a quote from The Big Lebowski.

I seriously need to watch this movie already.

All things come from the Dude and to the Dude we all go.

[Exhuminator]

It's even got Jesus in it.

[irixith]

Irix has a nice list. I'd add Ace Combat and Castlevania to it along with Pinball Hall of Fame and both of those Theaterhythm Final Fantasy titles. The 3DS has the best handheld library since the GBA for variety and quality.

Absolutely! I ended up with over 100 GBA games, and expect to be somewhere around the same when the 3DS wraps up its life. To this day I can't believe they killed it (GBA) as early as they did. Anyhow, I judge any of my system libraries by how much fun I have with it, and keep coming back to the 3DS because it provides that fun. I didn't list New Super Mario Bros 2 because I bought that one from the eShop, and it's one of my favourite games period. It's a must buy for coin rush mode -- I'd buy a fully fleshed out coin rush game with more levels. Best addition to the 2D Mario formula in a long, long time. It's a must-own!

Castlevania is one of the only titles I bought and sold...just did not like it and could not get into it. I'm a big "Metroidvania" nut, and have no problem when they switch the formula to something new...if that something new is fun. What am I missing? Why does the game feel so awful? Does it get any better the farther you get into it?

I'd love to get my hands on stuff like Ace Combat/Pinball Hall of Fame/etc, but it's difficult to pick up games where I live. If you miss the 7 days a game might have been on the shelf, you'll never find it. There'd probably be even more games in my library if it was easier to find them here.

[Ack]

It is times like this that I love to remember a quote from The Big Lebowski.

Which one? "Nice marmot?"

"Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man."

[Tanooki]

I agree with you, I'm shocked and at the same time not they greased the GBA. They really did kind of lie about it, remember the third pillar bs for over a year? Yup, that didn't last. The entire blame for that thing going down in flames was Sony and Sony alone. The PSP scared the crap out of Nintendo so they went into their R&D vault and decided to try and disrupt the wave of console on the go change Sony tried to force with the clearly(compared) underpowered dual screen system and it pounded them. The GBA was riding still pretty well against the PSP, the primary target audience of kids and some casual non-technophobe teens/young adults were still fine getting their Advance Wars, Castlevania, and other T and a few M like experiences as the system was just solid and it has aged super well. Even today many tablet (non3D) games look not as nice as what some people did on the GBA and that says a lot to me. I don't think other than the original GB that they ever felt out a market and knocked it out of the park so well with the GBA. Sure the DS sold more, but it possibly may not have if GBA hadn't been snuffed out and kept around as a budget system as game development costs and hardware were just cheap...and we know cheap is what people go for in handheld games now.

I'm not sure where you're at but Ace Combat had been very easy to find anywhere when it came out and for awhile, not so much now. Pinball Hall of Fame though that's a legit complaint, I had trouble finding that in a large population area as they did a smaller run of those. It's just the download game we all get now with like 30-40 tables with just like 8 in there, but it was a solid selection and with the 3D slider on it felt like really looking at the depth of the table, not just a flat representation of it. I used to be a game reviewer for around 4 years in the dying days of the GBA into the DS and I used to have a heap of games for both (maybe 75-100 for each) but the DS I got rid of it all as it didn't replay with me well other than FF3 and the GBA I've got around 35 games I've rebuilt, some being quality import titles like Steel Empire which is fantastic.

Glad you like NSMB2, I hated it. It just didn't play right to me, much like the first but just got more annoying with the coinage influence everywhere.

I don't have a huge supply of games I used to but I do have this stuff:
http://tanooki.home.insightbb.com/nintendo3ds.html
http://tanooki.home.insightbb.com/gameboy.html

[Sarge]

Well, the DS was a fantastic system, too. I think I played more on that system than almost anything over the last few cycles. And the GBA backwards compatibility was certainly useful, too. I do think the GBA was on the downswing at that point, and it was time for a new system.

Still, looking at the time frame, 3.5 years does seem pretty short before the next system came out. I can understand Nintendo's concern with the PSP, though. This was before mobile gaming was a thing, and tech specs could break them. I honestly don't think the GBA would have held up for that long against the PSP, and Sony would have had some pretty impressive inroads into the portable market. Nintendo couldn't fight from the bottom on two fronts. And Sony actually sold a lot of PSPs, just not anything resembling what the DS did. It certainly wasn't a failure, and it was a fantastic system in its own right.

I also don't think the "third pillar" talk was a lie, I think their plans changed when the DS Lite saw such success. There was a lot of concern that it wouldn't be able to stack up to the PSP, so I'm sure they were hedging their bets.

The DS didn't kill the GBA immediately, especially since it took a little bit for the system to get traction. In fact, I'm pretty sure it didn't go stratospheric until the DS Lite came out. Until then, releases were coming on GBA, and it was filling the exact gap you mention, a cheaper system for the kiddos. The GBA SP stuck around for a pretty good amount of time before finally giving way to the Lite.

There was also a decent amount of software that migrated to the DS. Given the architectural similarities and backwards compatibility, it made sense for a lot of devs to do so. I don't know if dev costs were any higher on DS, as long as the scope of the project wasn't expanded beyond original intent. A couple of games, like Scurge: Hive and Mazes of Fate, saw releases on both platforms. There might be more, but I'm being lazy.

Speaking of which, almost all of this is probably the yammering of a mad man with a pounding headache, so take with a massive grain of salt and a dose of ibuprofen.

[MrPopo]

I agree with you, I'm shocked and at the same time not they greased the GBA. They really did kind of lie about it, remember the third pillar bs for over a year? Yup, that didn't last.

The entire blame for that thing going down in flames was Sony and Sony alone. The PSP scared the crap out of Nintendo so they went into their R&D vault and decided to try and disrupt the wave of console on the go change Sony tried to force with the clearly(compared) underpowered dual screen system and it pounded them. The GBA was riding still pretty well against the PSP, the primary target audience of kids and some casual non-technophobe teens/young adults were still fine getting their Advance Wars, Castlevania, and other T and a few M like experiences as the system was just solid and it has aged super well. Even today many tablet (non3D) games look not as nice as what some people did on the GBA and that says a lot to me.

I don't think other than the original GB that they ever felt out a market and knocked it out of the park so well with the GBA. Sure the DS sold more, but it possibly may not have if GBA hadn't been snuffed out and kept around as a budget system as game development costs and hardware were just cheap...and we know cheap is what people go for in handheld games now.

First of all, you need to start using more line breaks. It makes it MUCH easier to read (see how I fixed your post in my quote).

Second, the three pillar thing was Nintendo hedging their bets in case the DS didn't do well; they'd be able to fall back onto the GBA line and write the DS off as a Virtual Boy-style side project. Of course, the DS did phenomenally, so they dropped the GBA, especially since the DS could do everything the GBA could.

[FerretGamer]

I've rebuilt, some being quality import titles like Steel Empire which is fantastic.

You just made my day, Steel Empire for GBA! Looks awesome, I've added it to my want list.

[Sarge]

Second, the three pillar thing was Nintendo hedging their bets in case the DS didn't do well; they'd be able to fall back onto the GBA line and write the DS off as a Virtual Boy-style side project. Of course, the DS did phenomenally, so they dropped the GBA, especially since the DS could do everything the GBA could.

Ha, I just edited that in to my post. Great minds thing alike and all that.