Nintendo 3DS

[Yasawas]

More free games from Nintendo, for Europeans at least. Slowly making amends for an entire childhood of shitty PAL conversions. Buy any three of these by the 30th of June, register them and get a download code for a fourth free. If you've already registered one it still counts.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Nintendo 3DS Version)

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate

Luigi's Mansion 2

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

LEGO CITY Undercover: The Chase Begins

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Misc-/Nintendo-3DS-So-Many-Games-Promotion/Overview/Overview-750393.html

[tegan]

for the second time since buying my 3DS XL, I find myself wishing I had waited just a little longer instead of settling on the black and red model.

 

[lobotomy42]

The way Nintendo drip-feeds out new colors of consoles and controllers as if they are special "rewards" can be insanely irritating.  It basically condemns you to having the ugly color if you buy at launch.

 

I got my Pink 3DS (regular sized) a year or so as part of their Valentine's Day promo.  (Now I have pink controllers for all my current consoles!) Though my pink 3DS is less neon than the 3DS XL, and I think I'm glad for it.  However, I do wish the the inside top panel of mine was the same pink as the rest of it (like the 3DS XL above) instead of randomly black.

 

 

That's the one.

[Sno]

If i had a choice, i would have gone for the purple 3DS, but i bought a system at launch and so have to live with aqua blue.

[tegan]

lobotomy42: I remember reading an Iwata asks about the design of the original 3DS, and he said that they specifically wanted the top half to always be solid black because it was less distracting and easier to get absorbed in, like dimming the lights at a theater. It`s also why the clear top coating covers the entire upper half instead of just the screen itself like on other handhelds. I don't know why they went with a more conventional look for the XL.

There was also a limited-run 3DS XL in pink and white at one point, but it's pretty pale. I find the new neon pink one looks really fun, plus it's the same colour as my old DSi was.

[Roderick]

To be fair, the aqua blue original 3DS is a pretty neat color, but NOTHING, I say NOTHING can beat my original lime green DS Lite

 

The best color, bar none, for any machine. As for the XL, I am still considering the Pikachu edition, but it's entirely correct that Nintendo is weirdly restrained with adding cool colors. The original XL line-up of black, red and blue was atrocious. Just a hell of primary boringness.

[tegan]

The original XL line-up of black, red and blue was atrocious. Just a hell of primary boringness.

You mean black/red and black/blue? Because we never got the black/silver one or the pure black one. Or the white one, for that matter. Or anything else besides the pink one and (eventually) the Pikachu one. Nintendo doesn't want us to have colours for some reason.

 

Also, I always wanted the lime DS, but I've been wary about buying one ever since Jeremy Parish got that bootleg one on eBay. I still remember seeing the original colour lineup when the Wii was first announced and then being super disappointed when the promised lime green model never made it to production.

[Roderick]

Games become 10% more awesome when played on a lime green machine. Fact!

[lobotomy42]

That lime green is pretty sweet.

 

Did anyone here get one of those cheese yellow GameCubes? Those were super-rare, although it wasn't so hard to find the yellow controllers.

[tegan]

The Spice Gamecube? They were Japan-only; so I've never seen one in person, just the controllers, which did come out here for some reason.

 

[syntheticgerbil]

Does anyone else have problems with scratches on the top 3DS screen from from the lower 4:3 screen? It's really pissing me off and I wish I could buff them out.

[Sno]

I've definitely had my 3DS's lower screen leave some obvious scuffs and marks on my top screen, but no actual scratches, nothing I haven't been able to wipe off.

Did the Spice Gamecube definitely never come out in North America?

In a case of shamefully demented youthful excess, I owned at least three separate Gamecubes over the course of that thing's lifespan, and I could swear one of them was the Spice one. I remember having another Gamecube at the time and giving away the Spice GC because it was the one giving me some technical grief.

Not having any materials left over to confirm that it was ever in my possession, and subsequently hearing a lot about how the Spice Gamecube was either never released outside of Japan or is otherwise very rare, I've started to doubt if i ever had one in the first place.

I still have its Spice controller, which I remember keeping because it was one of the least busted GC controllers I had.

It would be a weird thing to have constructed a false memory over, but I'm not even sure anymore. Heh.

Edit: Also, holy shit, that lime DS lite is nice.

[tegan]

The early batches of the original 3DS definitely had a problem with the bottom screen leaving marks on the top. I specifically upgraded mine to the XL because mine did it. I know Nintendo was offering to fix the issue for those affected at one point, but I'm not sure if that was the case.

And yeah, the Spice Gamecube was Japan-only, though it was one of the launch colours there so it's common enough that it won't cost a fortune. Here's a boxed on on eBay for just over a hundred bucks. Looks like someone's put up the legitimately rare matching Gameboy Player too. If I had the money, I would go for it.

[shammack]

I've definitely had my 3DS's lower screen leave some obvious scuffs and marks on my top screen, but no actual scratches, nothing I haven't been able to wipe off.

 

Same here.

 

I'm slightly tempted to upgrade to a 3DS XL now that there's going to be an Animal Crossing bundle, but I don't actually like the design of the Animal Crossing one that much. The Japan-only Luigi one is pretty cool, but in both cases I wish the designs were on something other than a boring plain white background.

 

The purple 3DS is gorgeous.

 

Has anyone upgraded from a 3DS to an XL and transferred their downloaded games over? How painful is it? Is it even possible?

[syntheticgerbil]

It could possibly be build up of grime on the top screen, but I've tried wiping it with a bevel cloth and no luck getting rid of them so I figured they were scratches.

[tegan]

Same here.

 

I'm slightly tempted to upgrade to a 3DS XL now that there's going to be an Animal Crossing bundle, but I don't actually like the design of the Animal Crossing one that much. The Japan-only Luigi one is pretty cool, but in both cases I wish the designs were on something other than a boring plain white background.

 

The purple 3DS is gorgeous.

 

Has anyone upgraded from a 3DS to an XL and transferred their downloaded games over? How painful is it? Is it even possible?

 

I've done it. It takes quite a while even if you don't have many games to transfer over, but it's relatively painless. Oh, and you get to watch Pikmin pick up your games and carry them between systems. It's adorable.

[dartmonkey]

The way Nintendo drip-feeds out new colors of consoles and controllers as if they are special "rewards" can be insanely irritating.  It basically condemns you to having the ugly color if you buy at launch.

I always wondered about this. A new colour isn't going to make me repurchase an expensive console but it must work because they keep doing it. I remember late in the N64's cycle they released all the clear color versions - surely everyone who wanted one already had one!? 3DS is a bit different seeing as lots of people will be upgrading to an XL.

I'm eyeing a Wii U later this year and I'm hoping they're going to release a new colour. The gloss finish on the current models makes the whole thing look tacky and the fingerprints would drive me mad. Imagine a matte red or, even better, Gamecube purple...

Has anyone upgraded from a 3DS to an XL and transferred their downloaded games over? How painful is it? Is it even possible?

The transfer is painless, though you need a rock solid wifi connection. Also if the system you're transferring to has a preinstalled game on the SD card you'll have to redownload it.

[Justin Leego]

But who would be surprised to learn that Nintendo maintains detailed files one which color combinations appeal most to which demographics, each new option designed to push X amount of new and existing owners over the edge?

[Roderick]

If that is the case, why aren't they coming with a new lime green, or orange, or purple? Surely those colors are crazy popular.

 

Okay, so most likely not. Most likely people just want a boring black one, or primary colors, or, jesus, grey.

[tegan]

Nintendo actually specifically said that we didn't get the white XL because North American sales figures for previous purely white handhelds weren't satisfying enough to them, so I guess what Justin's saying is actually kind of true?

[Justin Leego]

Forum validation, hurrah!

 

They should totally do a Bieber Mauve though.

edit - also a Limited Edition Michael Bay Orange-Cyan combo.

[Squid Division]

Been playing Ocarina of Time 3D - goddamn this game is just as great as I remember.  Specifically, all the hidden stuff is just so masterfully designed, and there's just so much to do compared to what I remember from Twilight Princess, or the impression I got from Skyward Sword.  Also, the game just looks amazing.

 

The only thing I'm really disappointed with so far about my 3DS is that I actually enjoy playing with the 3D all the way up, so I have about 45 seconds of battery life.  It's astoundingly terrible.

[Sno]

The 3D doesn't drain any more battery than the brightness settings do, it's the wi-fi that kills the battery.

It's probably more that the 3DS's battery just kind of sucks regardless.

Also,

will be getting a worldwide release through the eShop, but i won't be surprised if i'm the only one that cares.

I've admittedly heard some mixed things about the game, mainly that people don't like how the tank's turret is controlled via buttons instead of some kind of touchscreen free-aim or CPP support, and that the co-op only supports local play, but hey... G.Rev... They have made a lot of very cool games that i like.

[Roderick]

Shmups are not exactly my cup of tea, but I am interested in downloading Nano Assault Ex. You happen to play that, Sno?

[Sno]

I played Nano Assault's retail version and i think i posted about it a while ago, but i haven't played the EX version.

I liked the retail game a fair bit, they do some neat things with the design, there's some pretty cool levels. It also looks great and it sounds great, it feels good to play, it's a pretty pleasing little action game. However, as a matter of difficulty, it tops out pretty low and i don't think their scoring systems provide any particularly interesting additional challenges, so it's a pretty short lived game. I think it's quite middle of the road compared to the other shooters those guys have put out, but if you're okay with a thing that is about four hours of pretty loose, lax shooting, it's pretty fun.

As for EX, i did some digging a while ago to figure out exactly what was different and found that:

- They apparently fixed some crash bugs related to the leaderboards.
- They added some new visual effects that negatively impact the framerate.
- They added support for the CPP. (Which is definitely needed.)
- They added a somewhat disappointing sounding survival mode that gives you one life and throws random levels at you. (The levels are not randomized, it selects randomly from the campaign/score attack levels.)

There's also another Nano Assault game on the Wii U's download service that, honestly, looks like a much more impressive game.