The 3DS is Finally Done...
The 3DS Final Discontinuation: A Look Back At the 3DS
9/28/20
Since the launch of the Switch, the Nintendo 3DS has been failing bad. Of course Nintendo wants to let go of the past and focus their time and energy on their shiny new HD handheld, and they did this by "discontinuing" it back in Spring 2019. When that was announced, they simply stopped making games for the system. A few days ago, however, Nintendo announced that their system would no longer be sold in stores or produced. I have a lot of memories with my red New 3DS XL, and I think the line of systems deserves as much respect as possible. Basically, this announcement made me pretty sad, so I wrote a relatively unprofessional essay about it.
To be honest, the 3DS was never a very innovative or technically impressive piece of hardware. Sure when it played the original "Luigi's Mansion" for GameCube it felt like the system could do anything, but it's not a giant step up from the DS. All Nintendo handhelds before the Switch have had technical specs and ports from about two home console generations before (this pattern becomes very clear when you look into it). Though, the 3DS could not really emulate a GameCube game without taking a large hit in frame rate and graphical quality. Apparently, the system has a resolution of only 240p for each screen, compared to the GameCube's 480p with most first-party games. The 3DS' handheld competitor, the PlayStation Vita, was far more advanced. There are a number of reasons why the Vita only sold around 11 million units in its lifespan, but there's no denying that was an astonishing piece of hardware. In fact, to show off its capabilities, some PS3 games were ported over.
Obviously, Nintendo's handhelds never have been known for their technical specs, but rather their new features. The 3DS came complete with gyro sensing; something not even the Xbox One controller has, and of course the notorious 3D slider. The 3D slider was arguably just a gimmick to push units and separate it from the DS, and it was sort of dumb that it was the main focus and selling point of the system. Despite the fact that it wasn't utilized well enough in most third-party games, or a surprising amount of first-party games, it was certainly still cool and made the handheld pretty unique. It also came with a joystick, which was revolutionary for Nintendo's handhelds at the time, but not so much comparing to the Vita's two joysticks. The New 3DS did feature a second c-stick, but using it was nothing compared to the Vita's comfortability.
As you can probably see, I've been dissing the 3DS a lot, though I think it's one of the greatest systems of all time. For what it lacks in capabilities, it makes up for in heart and soul. The first-party support for this system was outrageous, with Nintendo putting out not only some of their best handheld games of all time, but some of their best games overall. While the system itself wasn't, its software was revolutionary. I was planning to list some games, but there are honestly far too many to squeeze into one or two paragraphs, even. The 3DS also not only had amazing new games, but also amazing ports. Its port of the first "Luigi's Mansion" was interesting, but it doesn't hold up too well and is probably not the best way to play the game; unlike "Ocarina of Time" and "Majora's Mask". These two Zelda games run swimmingly on the 3DS. "Ocarina of Time", for example, is regarded as one of the best games of all time, justifiably so. In fact, one of people's main problems with it was its faulty aiming on the Nintendo 64 hardware. This is fixed completely with the 3DS' gyroscope; making it a pretty damn near perfect game, if you ask me.
Overall, the 3DS did wonders for Nintendo; not only their handheld game, but them as a company. During the Wii U's devastating failure, the 3DS was one of the only things keeping Nintendo somewhat profitable, and debatably even afloat. It not only came with its amazing library, but was the first Nintendo handheld to include the Virtual Console. Along with this came the amazing library of games for the first DS via backwards compatibility. Personally, I still buy games for this system today and enjoy them greatly. After all, I only bought one two years before the Switch. In conclusion, the Nintendo 3DS marks a wonderful inclusion in the company's console catalogue. It undoubtably deserves to be remembered, respected, and praised for the rest of Nintendo's future as not only what kept them afloat, but what kept us afloat.
Image sources (in order):
https://www.me.com/i-took-the-picture-myself-of-my-own-red-3ds-mentioned-in-the-introductory-paragraph/
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