In 2011, Nintendo launched their next portable handheld console, the Nintendo 3DS. It featured games in full 3D graphics, two cameras, gyro controls, and a 3D slider to view games in 3-D without the glasses. Up to 2016, the 3DS had 6 model types from the original to the New 2DS XL
Alongside the WiiU, the 3DS had a massive game library that would later be console-locked for good when its Nintendo eShop service on March 27, 2023. Then later this year, its online multiplayer service shut down on April 8. With Nintendo planning to bring selected 3DS titles to the Switch, let’s look at what made the 3DS one of Nintendo’s interactive consoles.
A Deluxe Upgrade
The Wii and DSi became the blueprints for designing the 3DS. These Nintendo consoles have given the 3DS all the features including its built-in home screen, apps, and an internet browser. For a handheld console, there are plenty of reasons why it inspired the Nintendo Switch.
Stronger Hardware for 3D Graphics
The Nintendo DS and the DSi wanted to push game developers to try and create 3D games that can be played on the go. The problem was that the DS graphics could only handle low-poly games like the demake of Resident Evil. The 3DS has a powerful graphics card similar to the Wii U.
The differences between the two consoles are night and day. Depending on the games’ style, the 3DS can make them stand out or mostly smooth. You can still notice some pixels stand out but overall, 3D games had more chances to be put onto the 3DS.
3DS Design
The classic dual screen is here to stay for console owners to carry comfortably in their pockets. There is now a joystick above the Control pad for secondary buttons making it comfortable for a player’s thumb. There is a Home button to swap between games and 3DS apps.
Adapting the camera from the DSi, there is an outer camera behind the top screen and a selfie camera above it. From its first design, there was no Camera joystick so you either rely on the L and R buttons or purchase the Circle Pad Pro. The New Nintendo 3DS XL added a small camera stick above the Button Pad (A, X, B, and Y).
There’s a slider on the right top screen speaker to turn on the 3D pop-out effect. Sliding up to the max will let you play games and watch cinematics in 3D. Sliding it in the middle will have characters pop out while the backgrounds are in the game’s original state. The bottom will turn off the effect.
Home Menu Features
The 3DS has a Home Menu that functions exactly like the Wii. Pre-installed apps include the Mii Channel, System Settings, Music Player, Health & Safety, Camera, and Nintendo eShop.
The bar chart icon is your 3DS Activity Log, keeping track of your steps and play time on your 3DS. There’s a speedometer that awards you with a Play Coin for every 100 steps you take as long as the 3DS is in sleep mode.
The connection icon is called the Nintendo Zone. This feature is used at a chosen location in an area offering exclusive rewards for games that support it. Nintendo would announce these rewards for certain games in 3DS Notifications or Twitter (now X). Animal Crossing New Leaf used it for their limited-time crossover furniture items.
Above these features are the Miiverse, Friends List, Game Notepad, and Internet Browser. Miiverse was a Nintendo community hub service that allowed gamers of the WiiU and 3DS to draw and write in different 3DS game forums. It came to an end on Nov. 7th, 2017 after the debut of the Nintendo Switch.
Stable Local and Online Multiplayer
In the 2000s, the DS attempted to create an online multiplayer service for players to play together worldwide. When players don’t have the Internet, they turn to Download Play for local multiplayer.
Thanks to better hardware, Online Multiplayer became more stable. And if you still have DS games, playing multiplayer became a breeze without the worry of disconnecting often.
Streetpass and Spotpass
Earning Play Coins isn’t the only thing the 3DS can do in Sleep Mode. When you play certain 3DS games, they may ask if you want to turn on Streetpass and Spotpass.
Streetpass is your 3DS encountering a player in your local area. Spotpass is whoever you pass by on the Internet. Having either of these will give you in-game rewards or will have the player’s game avatar interacting within your game space.
Exclusive 3DS Games
The 3DS library has an extensive game library in both physical and downloadable versions. Some games even implemented their camera with augmented reality (AR). The same goes for their less-used function, the gyroscope.
Gyroscope Games
Not many Nintendo fans know this but there were 3DS games that offered gyroscope support. The gyroscope detects your movement and was mainly used for games with an aiming mechanic or motion movement.
Star Fox 64 3D became the 3DS launch title to demonstrate gyroscope controls in pilot battles. Sega’s Super Monkey Ball 3D has the best use for tilting the ball’s race track to give Aiai movement.
However, during the 3DS’ life, game developers noticed players suffered from motion sickness if gyroscope controls were used for long periods of playtime. To prevent this, they added an option to turn the gyroscope off in their game’s options.
Download-Only Exclusives
The 3DS Nintendo eShop had a third of its game library that were Download-Only exclusives meaning you couldn’t find a physical copy of it anywhere. The most devastating loss has to be the Level-5’s 3DS creator collaboration, the Guild Series, and Nintendo’s sleeper hit, Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball.
The Guild Series only had two seasons of games, making 7 in total. I played three of them; Liberation Maiden (Grasshopper Manufacture/Suda51), Attack of the Friday Monsters (Millenium Kitchen/Kaz Ayabe), and my favorite, Weapon Shop de Omasse designed by Japanese comedian Yoshiyuki Hirai. These three gave me a different experience with a good challenge and enjoyment.
I rescued Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball so I wouldn’t miss a chance to see what the game was about. It’s a charming mini-game collection with a unique bargaining gimmick connected to the Nintendo eShop. Seeing it lose half of itself when it closed is quite a shame.
AR Games
The ? Mark Block and the Face Icon are the featured AR games. AR during the 2010s was experimental before Snapchat made AR video filters in 2018. Nintendo used this opportunity with the 3DS Camera by scanning AR Game Cards included with each 3DS purchase.
You can play with these cards through the AR Games app (? Mark Block). You must be in a brightly lit room for the cards to work properly. The 3DS Camera will display the games in front of you to play in reality.
The games that I own that have exclusive game cards are Kid Icarus: Uprising and Kingdom Hearts 3D (Dream Drop Distance). Developers Sora and Square Enix use the 3DS Camera for players to enjoy cards fighting one another or taking photos with their game characters.
The Face icon is for the game, Face Raiders where you fight your face in three rounds. While its concept was weak, its idea of using AR to search for something had developers using reality as a play area without an AR Card. An excellent example is Denpamen: They Came By Waves where you use the Antenna Tower to recruit Denpamen with the 3DS Camera.
3DS Loves Miis
The most memorable deed Nintendo has done for the 3DS is creating a selection of Mii Games. The appreciation for what started as a console avatar on Wii blossomed into something more on a handheld. It became an entire Miiverse (not the forum service).
Streetpass Plaza
Previously, I said Streetpass and Spotpass allow you to interact with other players in sleep mode. Streetpass Plaza lets you play with them in Streetpass Games. This 3DS app is a love letter from Nintendo asking people to play with you Miis.
In the Plaza, you can play with any Miis you encounter once per a Streetpass game. Nintendo launched two free Streetpass games to kick off, Puzzle Swap and Find Mii, the game that later became a Smash Bros. stage. Then from 2013 to 2016, they launched 3 game packs making 13 games total.
Each game from the season pack has a unique Mii matching the game they are from that acts as a guide. Iris Archwall from Monster Manor is my favorite Streetpass Mii. There are challenges to complete in the Streetpass Plaza. You will earn different Nintendo theme hats to place on your Mii.
Tomodachi Life
Nintendo experimented more with Miis when they released Tomodachi Life for the 3DS worldwide. The game began development in Japan as a DS title to see how Miis could function in a life simulator. Their answer was complex but the game’s features worked well with their Miis.
The only problem was that the DS had limited memory to handle more than 10 of them. With the 3DS’ large memory, it was possible to create 100 Miis in a single cartridge. These Miis can build a life outside playing sports and party games for the first time in 2013.
Tomodachi Life is shared custom Miis worldwide to what shenanigans they will bring to their island. Your Miis can have hobbies, dates, and even fight with a fiery rage. Nintendo did such a fantastic job that they wanted to try another format that Miis could work in.
Miitopia
Made as an expansion to Tomodachi Life, Miitopia is a creative Nintendo RPG that allows Miis to fight against the dreaded Dark Lord. The Dark Lord is the villain of the Miitopia who steals faces from the population and attaches them to monsters.
Now it’s up to you and your party members to use your powers to restore the stolen faces of Miitopia. If you own a copy of Tomodachi Life, you can transfer Miis to Miitopia. Choose between 14 Jobs to battle terrifying or silly foes. I love the Chef class for their ability to heal and high defense.
What made the Miitopia so enjoyable was for the first time in an RPG, you aren’t naming a preset character. You are creating an entire cast of characters through Mii customization with faces and set personalities.
Like Tomodachi Life, these Miis can develop mood swings that can affect battles in numerous ways. Bonding will offer party members access to certain team abilities such as Praising for an attack boost.
Miitopia grew so popular from 2016 to 2017 that it was remade for Nintendo Switch in 2021. The game added content that improved Mii customization with makeup and wigs, a horse for extra team support, and Extracurricular Activities to speed up the Bonding process.
The End of Nintendo 3DS
As Nintendo made plans for the Nintendo Switch, the end of the 3DS and WiiU grew nearer. When Nintendo announced the eShops’ closure on March 27th, 2023, 3DS owners went to their local game stores to search for the games they always wanted to play on the system.
A new problem later emerged when the May 2023 3DS stability update warned owners that any further modifications detected on their 3DS for game piracy would be deemed unplayable. It performs a forced shutdown if no one has played their 3DS system in 6 months or updated their modded 3DS.
Soon, Nintendo shut down the 3DS and WiiU online servers on April 8th of this year. Every 3DS owner took the time to play online multiplayer for an entire week until the day it was time to say goodbye. Or so it seems.
Fans Preserving the 3DS
While Nintendo tried to lay the 3DS to rest, the company accidentally caused a surge of fans to attempt to preserve the beloved handheld. The latest gossip about the 3DS is that Nintendo never closed the Streetpass Plaza and programmers are creating an ongoing network server for online multiplayer.
This rumor is true as my sister and I have our Miis encountered one another when we have our 3DS systems in sleep mode. A month ago, a 3DS Network mod called NetPass allowed modded 3DS users to Spotpass Miis into Streetpass Plaza by selecting a set location. It’s impressive to see how Nintendo did not think of this feature.
As for online play, it’s a work-in-progress network called Pretendo, a fanmade online server to play 3DS and WiiU multiplayer while the Nintendo Network online server is closed. According to the website, the Pretendo have finished 73% of their progress to create an operational multiplayer with the selected games including Mario Kart 7 and Pokemon Rumble World.
And the firmware update? The 3DS Hack mod, Luma programmed a bypass for the May 2023 stability update to keep your modded 3DS alive and running. So what are you waiting for? Grab your 3DS, play your favorite games, and continue to Streetpass Miis!
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