So three months ago, for my birthday, my lovely wife surprised me with a 3DS. Now, bear in mind that I hadn’t bought new gaming hardware since my Xbox 360, and that was 2008. I admit, I’d nearly forgotten how much fun it was to pick up a brand-new console. This is something that doesn’t translate well to PC gamers, who upgrade their systems a component at a time. When you buy a new console, you have a box full of exciting new possibilities dropped right in your lap. The 3DS was no exception. Even though I’d wanted one, I hadn’t realized how much until I opened it up.
Some of my favorite features:
3D Camera: Although I don’t use the 3D for gaming much, having the 3D camera is AWESOME. It’s like the closest thing to a holodeck we have.
eShop: I’m still a sucker for the classics. Whenever I play on the road, there’s a good chance I’m going to be taking along Tetris, Donkey Kong, or Kid Icarus. The eShop lets me download classic games (admittedly, from a limited selection) without hacking my phone or buying some grey-market Android portable. With this, I get to play with real, Nintendo-made controls… and after being a customer for 25 years, I’m convinced no one makes video game controls as well as Nintendo.
DS Compatibility: Thankfully, Nintendo’s continued their tradition of keeping portables backwards-compatible. There are a lot of really good DS games I’ve missed, but thanks to the 3DS, I can still play games going all the way back to 2004. To give some perspective, this means that my 3DS, partnered with my GBA, will play nearly every game from six different platforms spanning the past 26 years. Now, I realize some people might say “Big Deal”, but in an industry where people are encouraged to throw out games that are a year old, I think that’s a sign of a company that invests in its customers, and strives to create games that will have value for years to come.
I’m not wanting to sound like a walking billboard for Nintendo, but I’m really impressed with this thing. After spending the better part of the past year disgusted by the overhyped Xbox One and seeing the mobile market saturated with Pay-To-Win games, it was awesome to open up a box full of stuff that reminded me why I got into gaming in the first place.
Aaron Bossig 