Goodbye, 3DS — Now Playing: Monster Hunter Stories; Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

Pages

Six years ago, I said so long to my beloved Wii, and now, once again, the torch is passing from one Nintendo system to the next. It's time to say goodbye to my 3DS.

I bought a 3DS fairly early, and I've been a lot more active with it than I was with the Wii. Even so, there's a nice collection of games I'd like to get to before I pack it away in a dusty corner of my storage room. I also have a large pile of (mostly) JRPGs that I've started but haven't finished.

My hope is that some of you will follow along with me and that you'll have some suggestions for what I might want to take a look at before the end.

I like making lists, so I'll have two lists going:

  • The Bucket List of games I want to play, with an if I'm actively working on them
  • Games I finished, with a next to ones I really recommend and a next to ones I really don't

The Bucket List

  1. 7th Dragon III: Code VFD
  2. Culdcept Revolt
  3. Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers
  4. Devil Survivor: Overclocked
  5. Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker
  6. Ever Oasis
  7. Hey! Pikmin
  8. Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven
  9. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions
  10. Monster Hunter Stories
  11. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
  12. Pokémon Moon
  13. Poochy and Yoshi's Woolly World
  14. Rhythm Heaven Megamix
  15. Rune Factory 4
  16. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
  17. Stella Glow
  18. Yo-Kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits

Games I've finished

  1. Aero Porter
  2. The Alliance Alive
  3. Attack of the Friday Monsters!
  4. Azure Striker Gunvolt
  5. Boxboy!
  6. Bravely Default
  7. Bravely Second: End Layer
  8. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate
  9. Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.
  10. Crashmo
  11. Crimson Shroud
  12. Crush 3D
  13. Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
  14. Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
  15. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
  16. Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl
  17. Fairune
  18. Fire Emblem Awakening
  19. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
  20. Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest
  21. Fluidity: Spin Cycle
  22. Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
  23. Gunman Clive
  24. Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi
  25. Ikachan
  26. Kid Icarus: Uprising
  27. Kirby: Triple Deluxe
  28. The Legend of Legacy
  29. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
  30. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D
  31. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
  32. Liberation Maiden
  33. Luigi's Mansion
  34. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
  35. Mario Kart 7
  36. Metroid: Samus Returns
  37. Mighty Gunvolt
  38. Mighty Switch Force!
  39. Mighty Switch Force! 2
  40. Mutant Mudds
  41. My Nintendo Picross: Twilight Princess
  42. New Super Mario Bros. 2
  43. NightSky
  44. Paper Mario: Sticker Star
  45. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies
  46. Picross 3D Round 2
  47. Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
  48. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask
  49. Pushmo
  50. Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology
  51. Resident Evil Revelations
  52. Sakura Samurai: The Art of the Sword
  53. Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
  54. Shifting World
  55. Shin Megami Tensei IV
  56. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux
  57. Shovel Knight
  58. Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir
  59. Star Fox 64 3D
  60. The Starship Damrey
  61. SteamWorld Dig
  62. Steel Empire
  63. Stretchmo
  64. Super Mario 3D Land
  65. VVVVVV
  66. Weapon Shop de Omasse
  67. Xenoblade Chronicles 3D
  68. Xeodrifter
  69. Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

Lately, I've been playing a lot of Fire Emblem Fates, specifically the Conquest version. After playing Echoes and Awakening in the last few months, it's definitely a bit of a step back. I really miss the turnwheel feature of Echoes that allows you to undo your turns a certain number of times per battle; consequently, I've been playing Fates on Normal/Casual.

Difficulty options are a strange thing for me in the Fire Emblem series. I think the games offer the best experience in Classic mode where there's a threat of permanently losing your troops. It gives a nice weight to your choices. However, if you blow a turn and find yourself losing a few units all at once, it more or less necessitates starting the battle over. You can get by losing one and sometimes two units per battle, but anything more than that, and you're looking at starting the battle over from scratch or else badly screwing yourself for the rest of the campaign.

That's why I liked the turnwheel so much in Echoes. You could undo a bad turn, but you couldn't do that indefinitely. You eventually had to face the outcome of your choices, and I did. I lost a handful of units in the last battle, and consequently the ending was much more satisfying and bittersweet than if everyone had survived. (I do think they give you a few too many gears in Echoes, but that might change with the difficulty level.)

One other thing that stands out about Fates to me is how much more sexual it is than either Echoes or Awakening. There's a lot more innuendo in the dialogue and lingerie armor in the character designs. It doesn't put me off enough to stop playing, but I'm really glad they backed off from that a bit in Echoes, and I hope they don't carry it forward into Three Houses on Switch.

Oh, fun! I actually just bought a replacement 3DS XL for myself. There a quite a few 3DS games I still want to play despite my recent Switch obsession. I'll dig through my library later to see what I can add.

I was a bit confused about the purpose of this thread until I clicked on the Wii thread. That sure is a trip down memory lane.

The purpose is pure vanity on my part. I'm playing through all of these games, and it seems like this is a better way to dissect them and wring my hands over them than clogging up the 3DS or JRPG (et al.) threads.

What's on your still-to-play list? I'm always looking for suggestions.

And for the love of all that's holy, can someone please explain what the difference is between the seventeen different versions of Yo-Kai Watch 2? And, more importantly, which one should I play?

Yo-Kai Watch unfortunately follows the Pokemon trend of two releases at launch followed by a collective sometimes after. For YW2 you want Psychic Specters which combines Bony and Fleshy (still hate those names).

It looks like it'll be a good while until you pack it away for good.

From your list...

I want to still purchase and play...

Rune Factory 4
Metroid: Samus Returns
Yo-kai Watch 2: Psychic Specters

Own and need to complete...

Ever Oasis
Rhythm Paradise Megamix
Monster Hunter Stories
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Pushmo series
Boxboy series
Some of Phoenix Wright series
Some of Prof Layton series
Attack of the Friday Monsters
Pokémon Moon

Not on your list and on my pile to finish...

Pocket Card Jockey
Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns
Picross 3D 2

There are probably more, possible edit laters.

(Any edits = forgotten pile games)

garion333 wrote:

Yo-Kai Watch unfortunately follows the Pokemon trend of two releases at launch followed by a collective sometimes after. For YW2 you want Psychic Specters which combines Bony and Fleshy (still hate those names).

Thanks! And if I remember right, the first one isn't really worth playing since the second one got released?

Bubblefuzz wrote:

Pocket Card Jockey
Picross 3D 2

I don't know anything about Pocket Card Jockey. What about it catches your eye?

Picross 3D Round 2 is one I had totally forgotten about. I'm all over that. Conveniently, My Nintendo has a 50% discount on it right now!

ClockworkHouse wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Yo-Kai Watch unfortunately follows the Pokemon trend of two releases at launch followed by a collective sometimes after. For YW2 you want Psychic Specters which combines Bony and Fleshy (still hate those names).

Thanks! And if I remember right, the first one isn't really worth playing since the second one got released?

Correct, you're fine not playing it. They recap the game anyway as the first part of YW2 is playing through an abbreviated YW1.

Also, The Alliance Alive is great, glad to see it's on your soon-to-be-played slate.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

What's on your still-to-play list? I'm always looking for suggestions.

I'm not sure if I have many suggestions that aren't already on your list. The only ones I can think of are Fantasy Life and Steamworld Heist. Both are worth a look if haven't played either. Also the Monster Hunter games, but I know you bounced off those due to the premise.

For my personal list...

Own and plan to play more of:
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - Got sidetracked by the asynchronous multiplayer stuff and never ended up playing much of the game. I plan to ignore most of that when I fire it back up.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - Really enjoyed the 2ish hours I played, but I got sidetracked by some other major release and never picked it back up.
Resident Evil Revelations - I started playing this shortly after finishing RE4 and right around the time my 3DS battery started to fade. I couldn't play more than 10 minutes away from a charger, so I just stopped playing 3DS games all together. New 3DS acquired, so I plan to return.

Own and have yet to start:
Attack of the Friday Monsters!
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

Definite purchases:
Metroid: Samus Returns

Possible purchases:
Rhythm Heaven Megamix
Warioware Gold
Fire Emblem Echoes
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

All the recent talk about Dragon Quest XI has me interested in finally giving one of them a go, but the multiplayer integration of IX has me a bit worried. It seems like that was a big part of why people enjoyed that entry, so I'm not sure how it'll play now without anyone to play with. That's why I'm thinking about picking up VIII instead. I know that VIII is a favorite for many DQ fans. Any thoughts?

I played Dragon Quest IX without ever touching the online component (I think they even turned the servers off in the middle of my playthrough) and I still had a great time with it. I prefer it slightly to VIII if only for the great flexibility in your party build.

garion333 wrote:

Also, The Alliance Alive is great, glad to see it's on your soon-to-be-played slate.

I'm about 12 hours into it already. I have to rotate through games or I get burned out on them.

I am really enjoying it so far. At first it looked like a more guided Legend of Legacy with maybe a bit too big a splash of Bravely Default, but as I've gotten further into it, it's really developed an interesting and unique identity. The guild towers and recruits are a really fun addition to the formula set by the previous game. I do really miss the mapping mechanic of Legend of Legacy, but I'm willing to give it up for all the other new systems that have come in.

If it keeps this up, it'll likely end up being one of my favorite RPGs on the platform.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Bubblefuzz wrote:

Pocket Card Jockey
Picross 3D 2

I don't know anything about Pocket Card Jockey. What about it catches your eye?

I played the generous eshop demo, enjoyed it a good deal and picked up the full game a while later. I need to get back to it as it's one of those odd little mash ups that every so often just grab me (Battle Chef Brigade being another). It's cute and tricky. It's horse rearing and racing mixed with solitaire. There's the demo if you want to try it

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Picross 3D Round 2 is one I had totally forgotten about. I'm all over that. Conveniently, My Nintendo has a 50% discount on it right now!

Happy to remind at such a convenient time

Dyni wrote:

Possible purchases:
Rhythm Heaven Megamix

Do it! Such good fun.

Have you put any time into 7th Dragon III? I might have glowed about it to you before but wanted to reiterate- I don’t particularly like that style of JRPG and it was still one of my top 5 or so 3ds games. Bump it up the list if you’re curious.

Well, rabbit plops. This whole project might end sooner than expected. I'm starting to have a lot of issues with non-responsive shoulder buttons on my N3DS.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Have you put any time into 7th Dragon III? I might have glowed about it to you before but wanted to reiterate- I don’t particularly like that style of JRPG and it was still one of my top 5 or so 3ds games. Bump it up the list if you’re curious.

I put a few hours into it, but it's one of a small number of games that I lost and need to rebuy: 7th Dragon, Persona Q, and Samus Returns. I had about 20 hours in Persona Q, even.

Time for a 2DS!

I do really like the feel of the New 2DS XL. My wife has one of the wedge 2DS units, and it's fine, but I've gotten used to the bigger screens.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I played Dragon Quest IX without ever touching the online component (I think they even turned the servers off in the middle of my playthrough) and I still had a great time with it. I prefer it slightly to VIII if only for the great flexibility in your party build.

Well, that's nice to know, but it looks like I was mistaken. I own DQ VIII, not IX, so i guess that's the one I'll be trying out!

Bubblefuzz wrote:
Dyni wrote:

Possible purchases:
Rhythm Heaven Megamix

Do it! Such good fun.

I'm sure. I had plenty of fun with Rhythm Heaven on DS. Also Elite Beat Agents. Why haven't they made another one of those?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Well, rabbit plops. This whole project might end sooner than expected. I'm starting to have a lot of issues with non-responsive shoulder buttons on my N3DS.

Ah, that sucks. I just had to replace mine due to battery issues.

Dyni wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Well, rabbit plops. This whole project might end sooner than expected. I'm starting to have a lot of issues with non-responsive shoulder buttons on my N3DS.

Ah, that sucks. I just had to replace mine due to battery issues.

I feel like mine is just on the verge of failing. I’ve traveled with it a lot, and now it will sometimes turn off if I apply a little bit of torque to the bottom half while I’m holding it, or if let the screen close too forcefully. It’s typically totally fine while I’m riding the bus or train, but I have to make sure I save before I get off! Also I’ve occasionally gotten a BSOD, which is never something I expect from a console.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Six years ago, I said so long to my beloved Wii

Btw. Our Wii is still under the telly and still gets played, this morning the boy had some Galaxy on the go. I clicked on that link and will be having a casual read through for anything might have missed out on before the Wii inevitably says farewell.

I've still not decided whether to upgrade to a Wii U or just go for broke and repurchase the Switch.

Prices on Wii U games are really quite appealing right now and there must be some good value in the catalogue.

So I guess thought be worth an ask and this seems as good a place as any... Is the Wii U a recommended replacement or one to bypass completely?

Though I suppose I could have resurrected that linked say bye to Wii thread

Bubblefuzz wrote:

So I guess thought be worth an ask and this seems as good a place as any... Is the Wii U a recommended replacement or one to bypass completely?

A year ago, I would have said a Wii U is worth it for its great library, but it seems like every direct brings new Switch ports of Wii U games.

Awesome list and thread. I need to play a couple of those myself. I still always intended to go back and do more endings on both Devil Survivor games too.

Dyni wrote:
Bubblefuzz wrote:

So I guess thought be worth an ask and this seems as good a place as any... Is the Wii U a recommended replacement or one to bypass completely?

A year ago, I would have said a Wii U is worth it for its great library, but it seems like every direct brings new Switch ports of Wii U games.

It's the price of catching up on that catalogue, that has me umming and ahhing between the two, particularly with the boy in mind.

For now though, I'm bringing that Wii thread back to life!

Dyni wrote:
Bubblefuzz wrote:

So I guess thought be worth an ask and this seems as good a place as any... Is the Wii U a recommended replacement or one to bypass completely?

A year ago, I would have said a Wii U is worth it for its great library, but it seems like every direct brings new Switch ports of Wii U games.

It's a tricky question to answer.

On the one hand, Nintendo is seeing incredible returns on their Switch to Wii U ports. Ports of games four or five years old are selling three times their initial release run. It's a safe bet that Nintendo is going to try to port over as much as they can.

On the other hand, there are still a handful of Wii U games that haven't been ported or announced for porting that are worth playing. You wouldn't be completely foolish to wait to see if they do come to the Switch, but some of them are really questionable or might not show up until the end of the Switch's lifespan.

The Switch is hands down a better experience than the Wii U for every game that you can play on both. The Wii U is agonizingly slow, and it lacks a suspend mode. However, Switch ports are being sold at full price, while the Wii U has a mature secondhand market to bring some of those prices down.

I've seriously considered doing another one of these threads for my Wii U library. I still have a few major games I'd like to play there. But how many vanity threads can one clock have?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Switch ports are being sold at full price, while the Wii U has a mature secondhand market to bring some of those prices down.

This is it, to pay £10-£15 for the old Wii U versions or full price on the shiny new Switch ports.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I've seriously considered doing another one of these threads for my Wii U library. I still have a few major games I'd like to play there. But how many vanity threads can one clock have?

3.

Do it.

I’ve had a mini 3ds renaissance myself lately. Some coworkers roped me into playing Pokémon Go with them while on breaks, so it pushed me into playing Ultra Sun after ignoring this generation. Quite a good entry, but the method for obtaining Legendary Pokemon seems very lazy compared to normal.

Dyni wrote:

Ah, that sucks. I just had to replace mine due to battery issues.

They sell battery replacements also. No need to get a whole new unit. I'm looking into it now since my N3DS seems to be getting around 30 minutes and then dying immediately, which makes playing outside of the very near vicinity of a power outlet a risky proposition. The replacement battery seems to be going for around 35€, which seems like lot for that battery, but there's not much of options.

Suvanto wrote:
Dyni wrote:

Ah, that sucks. I just had to replace mine due to battery issues.

They sell battery replacements also. No need to get a whole new unit. I'm looking into it now since my N3DS seems to be getting around 30 minutes and then dying immediately, which makes playing outside of the very near vicinity of a power outlet a risky proposition. The replacement battery seems to be going for around 35€, which seems like lot for that battery, but there's not much of options.

If that is too rich for you, there are chinese knock off batteries you can buy.

Just discovered this thread. I play mostly 3DS / DS games these days. I started recently when I got sick of packing my Switch around. I started carrying my 3DS on my commute instead.

Shortly after that I completed Fire Emblem Echoes. I liked it much more than Conquest. The combat and class system is less interesting. As are the maps. But it has one of the best stories in a FE game I’ve played. The presentation, music and voice acting were incredible.

Even though I didn’t like the baseline combat as much as Awakening or Fates, I enjoyed the game more overall. Mila’s Turnwheel was a huge highlight.

Recently I’ve almost finished Rhythm Heaven. I’m on the final towers. I also beat the main part of Warioware Gold. Not sure what else you’re supposed to do after beating the story levels.

After that I started playing Advance Wars: Dual Strike. I finished that up this last week and I’ve since been grinding through battle maps to try to earn enough money to unlock everything.

Next up I may try to beat Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. I’ve hit a rhythm with that game I never have before. Maybe I’ll go back and beat AW1 or AW2 finally.

Looking at your list I’d like to finish

Luigi’s Mansion
Codename: S.T.E.A.M.
Professor Layton
Metroid

Notably I own all the Mario and Luigi games, but I don’t really like them. I’ve decided the only game in the series I like is Superstar Saga. I don’t like the 3DS art style and the tutorials are too overbearing after the first game, IMO.

EDIT: Fixed faulty autocorrect

Pages