COMMENTARY: The 3DS Is Looking To Be A System For The Ages

If there was one thing last week’s Nintendo Direct communicated, it’s that the 3DS is shaping up to be a system for the ages. Nintendo’s handheld isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s remarkable looking at the life of the system and how it began, and then seeing it now.

Five and a half years after the worst launch of a Nintendo handheld ever, with a paltry launch lineup and a price point $50 too high, the 3DS has steadily and quietly gotten better and better, with no end in sight.

This past Nintendo Direct was Nintendo telling 3DS owners that they still have long-term plans for the system that go through at least 2017. The rumblings now are that Nintendo has concrete plans for the 3DS that go all the way up to 2019. That’s pretty impressive and would rival the original Game Boy for lifespan.

This year in particular has been a notable one for Nintendo’s 3D handheld wonder. Lots of RPGs, Super Nintendo Virtual Console games, and yet another new batch of StreetPass games have all been bestowed upon us in 2016. And some more RPGs on top of that.

• • Dragon Quest VII
  • Pokemon Sun & Moon
  • Monster Hunter Generations
  • Picross 3D: Round 2
  • Fire Emblem Fates
  • Bravely Second: End Layer
  • Hyrule Warriors Legends
  • Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice
  • Mega Man Legacy Collection
  • Rhythm Heaven Megamix
  • 7th Dragon III Code: VFD

Not all of those are RPGs, but that is an impressive lineup. When it’s all said and done, the 3DS looks it might rival the Super Nintendo, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation 2 as one of the greatest systems for the RPG genre.

One of the biggest boons for the 3DS this year has been the inclusion of Super Nintendo games in the system’s Virtual Console library. Granted, they can only play on New 3DS, but that we’re getting them at all this late in the system’s life is unexpected. To make it even better, Nintendo has quickly put out some of the best games the Super Nintendo has to offer.

Within the first month, we got….

• • Super Mario World
  • The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  • Super Metroid
  • Super Mario Kart
  • Donkey Kong Country
  • Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest
  • Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble

….among others. As I write this, Super Castlevania IV just released for New 3DS, which is one of the best entries in the Castlevania series.

If you remember the Super Nintendo days of the early/mid ’90s, you know how nice it is having these available to play on a portable system. Games are still being released semi-regularly for it, and there isn’t one dud on the list. Hopefully, this will continue until the system is ready to be put out to pasture.

A new batch of StreetPass games is another clue from Nintendo that the 3DS still has some legs under it. Although StreetPass games have gotten a little tiresome, Nintendo still seems interested in the idea. Whatever Nintendo’s next portable system turns out to be, StreetPass functionality will almost certainly be a part of it, but even bigger and better. That’s how Nintendo rolls when they come up with an idea they like that works.

That takes us to the elephant in the room that Nintendo thus far has refused to acknowledge: their new console, codenamed NX. We have lots of rumors about it, but we still don’t know what the NX is. Nintendo has been enigmatic about their new system by even their standards of paranoia and secrecy.

As great as the last Nintendo Direct was, we’re now about six months away from the scheduled launch of NX, and Nintendo still refuses to talk about it. If we get into October without Nintendo unlocking the vault of NX information and giving us even a small morsel, then I’m going to assume the system will not make its March 2017 release window.

Usually, this close to the scheduled launch of a system, we know what we’re dealing with, what its features are, and most of its launch games. Nintendo showed off the Wii and the Wiimote over a year before it launched in November 2006. Meanwhile, we don’t know anything about NX, and we’re supposed to be six months away from having it in our hands.

Back in 2004, Nintendo didn’t initially know if the Nintendo DS would catch on and sell, and so touted their GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS triple-threat as their “third pillar strategy”. The DS did catch on quickly and become a massive success. As a result, Nintendo quickly abandoned their “third-pillar” strategy and retired the Game Boy Advance so they could put full support behind the DS. They could do something similar with the 3DS and NX.

Will the 3DS be the last dedicated handheld system we see from Nintendo? Possibly. But if the NX really is a portable system, Nintendo will likely keep the 3DS around as an insurance policy, much like they did with Game Boy Advance when the Nintendo DS first launched.

Whatever NX is or isn’t, whether it ends up being a portable system or not, the 3DS looks to be playing a big role in Nintendo’s immediate future.

In the meantime, until Nintendo decides to acknowledge the existence of their mysterious new system, let’s enjoy the games we have, new and old. There’s a lot of them available for Nintendo’s aging 3D portable. The 3DS has accrued a truly impressive lineup already – and it’s not finished.

And when the 3DS is done and goes to the great arcade in the sky, it will be remembered as one of the greatest we’ve seen.