I played through DQ7 off and on over a year’s time. Its definitely worth playing, some of the stories that take place on the different islands are well written, and can hit you right in the feels. The class system was really fun too. I think I ended up clocking in around 85 hours at the end.
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Good idea! For DQ7’s 20th anniversary, I think I will give it a shot. I don’t doubt I’d be into it for the first few dozens of hours but I was worried that the length was interminable. Glad to hear it can be completed under 100 hours.
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So I hacked my old 3DS this morning which went through fine. My idea was to download all the stuff I have on my main 2DSXL as a backup in case the hardware dies. However, it’s kind of a pain in the butt to find the same files on the web that I already own.
Now I’m thinking it’s probably easiest to also hack the 2DSXL and export all my installed software to cia files to use directly on the old 3DS.
Is there any issue with running Luma3DS and accessing the eShop (buying stuff) and/or playing online? Don’t want to stuff my main 3DS up if I can.
Has anyone done this before?
I started and was even ripping my carts to installers. But I gave up because it was too tedious and time consuming. It was easier for me to obtain the files ready to go.
As far as I know there’s no worry about using CFW online with 3DS.
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I think today is the final day to add funds via credit card on the 3DS store internal to the device.
Can still (likely) add funds via Nintendo Switch eShop. But RIP to a great run for a really great little system that could.
I remember getting my first 3DS (the original model) after completing my first semester in law school - I literally walked to best buy in a haze after the last final scrambled my brain and bought it along with SM3DL, OoT3D, and MK7 to cheer myself up.
(I ended up getting a B+ on that exam).
And man it worked. Same old Nintendo magic. I was into the 3D, and still am, and really dug the AR Cards too (which no one mentions anymore). Plus Street Pass in NYC was incredibly cool since you always got a bunch of puzzle pieces and stuff.
It’s incredible how long ago that was. And how much the world has really changed in that span of time. It’s been over ten years.
Even though the thought of the eShop going offline sat wrong with me when it was announced, I guess it really has been a very long run.
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I love Streetpass. Where I live I did not get as many as you would in a metropolitan area, but I always took it with me anyway. Traveling? Awesome. You’d get them all over. Even on long road trips to the Indy 500 yearly I’d come up with people along the way. It was really neat. I plan to take it with me again on Thursday on my way to the Indy area again to see what pops up!
But realistically, it’s the end of that era. I wish the Switch had the function built in too. Not used as much maybe, but it would be cool to have it in there.
I feel like Pokemon Go sort of takes what made that cool and adds some GPS functionality to it.
In some ways, it feels like smartphones replaced the unique features of the 3DS more than the Switch or Steam Deck have. The location based stuff is better suited to the device that is already always with you. So maybe Nintendo just recognized it and decided to not bother at this point with those types of things on Switch.
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I agree with your last line. Fighting the good fight against the iPhone was something Nintendo clearly decided wasn’t worth the time or money to fight. When all those analysts wanted Nintendo games on Smartphones, at first Nintendo was waving their middle finger. Eventually, they tossed out a few bones because they knew analysts were not going to shut up and it was hurting them, and here we are many years later and there’s zero complaining and the only thing that really changed is Nintendo made a lot more money and is back on top of standard gaming.
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I do miss bringing my 3ds to conventions for streetpasses. Used to get a ton at Gen Con. Was always fun booting up my games after streetpassing to see what games people were playing. I remember getting a few streetpasses for SMT IV they were super high level. When you got a streetpass for something more niche that was always a treat.
I’ve been trying to drastically reduce the number of games I’m buying, but I love the 3DS and couldn’t pass this one up:
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I got 4 StreetPasses last weekend when I went to a convention - not bad!
Yeah, the Switch’s size must be an acknowledgement that Nintendo will never be able to replace the smartphone in peoples’ pockets. As a result they really did just build a portable home console which is a very cool and innovative concept - especially in enabling local multiplayer anywhere - but its conformity to the console/PC space has deprived it of unique software in a traditional sense.
Even the more forward thinking functionality of the 3DS - stuff that really utilised its handheld form factor - like QR Code reading and being able to pay with IC card - was gutted from the Switch.
This is well worth a watch - Nintendo’s planned successor to the 3DS was basically canned, but it was going to have backwards compatibility via dual 480p displays, and a Decaf Latte GPU with architecture similar to the Wii U:
Nintendo’s Lost 3DS Successor: Project INDY | RGD - YouTube
What’s sort of crazy is there is a quote from Iwata in 2014, talking about their next platform and how it will “absorb the Wii U architecture adequately”. (source: Nintendo: Iwata discusses ‘next system,’ promises flat iOS-like architecture across handheld & console | VG247) So I guess the original plan - from a Nintendo assuming both 3DS and Wii U would be successes - might have been to extend both the 3DS and Wii U into a single ecosystem of software. I don’t think anyone else has picked up on this yet.
I finally got round to playing through Kirby: Planet Robobot after it received a last moment reprint and I was honestly blown away by the game. Moreso considering how it uses Triple Deluxe as a base, which increases the risk of it being derivative and old hat.
The level design was consistently inventive throughout (the Casino stages, underwater levels, and the rhythm town stages were my favourite), but what really stood out to me was how well integrated the game’s narrative is.
The very first cutscene set the stakes high for the future of Dreamland and really meant something, and you already feel the effect of what happened as soon as you enter world 1-1. This theme continues through to the (excellent) final boss and it made the game extra special for me.
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Nintendo seems to have reprinted a bunch of 3DS games over here in Europe for a number of publishers. To my surprise the reprints have focused more on harder to find titles than popular ones. it’s been reassuring to see these games return to more stable prices. You can spot reprints by their thinner cases - EUR 3DS games originally came in thicker cases to house thicker multi-language manuals that never really materialised.
These final reprints, as well as late 3DS releases like Andro Dunos 2, come in the thinner JPN/NA cases. I picked up Planet Robobot, Devil Survivor 2, Soul Hackers and Project Mirai DX, and all the games came in thinner cases. There are other tell-tale signs that a game is a late reprint, I’m happy to post more details if anyone is interested in trying to identify them.
The same thing has happened in North America and Canada - retailer Video Games Plus has been touting last ever stock of a number of games lately, claiming 3DS game card production is finished.
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Great picks, looks set up for success. 
Nice lineup of RPGs there, if you’re after more check out Legend of Legacy (Grezzo, SaGa staff) and Stella Glow (Imageepoch’s last game), both are great games and the sort of thing that doesn’t get made any more due to changing development circumstances
I think I prefer the GBA version of Gem Smashers more, because of the graphics and music, but the 3DS version still provides a nice fun puzzler to spend a casual time on:
The 3DS is special to me. I grew up during the transition from 2D to 3D graphics in the nineties. I would play my Game Boy in the playground at school and then go home and play on the N64 with my brothers. I had a Sega friend and the rest of the neighbourhood was PlayStation territory. We all came together at the arcade on weekends. By far the most influential games on my young mind were Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Bros., which I played on a Game Boy Color. Anyway, I stopped playing so much in my teenage years and the seventh generation more or less passed me by.
One day, between lectures at university, I was in an electronics store and I cast my eyes over an awkward-looking device called 3DS. After messing about with its two screens and stylus, I happened upon a fiddly mechanism and flicked it. Never have I been so awestruck by something man-made. The screen had depth! It was totally unexpected — yeah, I could’ve figured it out from the name… I didn’t buy one right away. Like many, Super Mario 3D Land was my cue to jump in. I remember there was an earthquake of historical scale in Japan earlier that year. In December, I received a windfall and immediately booked tickets to Tokyo for myself and a friend. Travel was discouraged at the time, due to the fallout from the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. As far as I was concerned, though, if 120 million people were getting on with it, I could manage for ten days. Besides, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Oh yeah, the 3DS. So I was mesmerised by SM3DL. Not a completionist by nature, I beat the game in every way imaginable and then took to speedrunning it. For me, this game is a true synthesis of Super Mario’s 2D and 3D lineages. The circle pad is absolutely unconventional, as is the need to hold down the run button while you use it. Mario can’t do much (unlike in Super Mario 64 or Donkey Kong '94). His movement is even restricted to eight directions! I know, I know, it sounds like a recipe for disaster… However, each of these mechanics functions perfectly within the levels, which have been refined to a remarkable degree. The need to manage Mario’s momentum in tandem with precision platforming is, in my opinion, reminiscent of SMB3. Regardless of what you think about SM3DL, the game undoubtedly represented something special to Nintendo at that time. I remember Hayashida describing the shock of the earthquake and how he rallied his team to make something extra special in order to bring joy to people who were suffering.
I didn’t do anything gaming related in Tokyo — my friend and I just ate and drank around the clock. Parties were mad. To this day, it’s the only truly 24-hour city I’ve experienced. I had my 3DS on me the entire time! Thousands of hits on StreetPass every day… It was amazing to see gaming in every nook and cranny of the city, from kids gathered around a table at a restaurant, engrossed in competition, to working men and women, who would check their 3DSs as though they were phones. This device was a phenomenon in Japan and it was cool to see it, even if only for ten days. Beautiful comments from Hayashida at the following link: Super Mario 3D Land: From adversity to joy
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Turns out Fragrant Story (as shipped) is only a 15-20 min game right now. Supposedly an update coming to add more, but damn…got taken for a ride.
Back to not buying any games, I guess.
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