3DS: Friend Codes on First Page, OMG THE THIRD DIMENSION

[EC2151]

I think he's talking about the other GBA games for the Ambassador program, and I'm hoping there's some love to Advance Wars and Fire Emblem (FE7, no others need apply!).

As for Kirby games, I will say without a doubt that Amazing Mirror is the best Kirby game since Crystal Shards, and in general one of the best Kirby games, in my estimation (Metroidvania + Kirby = great game). But that's another topic.

[The Damned]

Any way... I got $50 on the 3DS eShop to use, and I got no idea what to get.

I already own Link's Awakening and Mario Land, not to mention Kirby's Dream Land 1, so that pretty much takes out a quater of the Virtual Console titles, and the rest aren't exactly the cream of the crop.

That leaves the DSi Ware titles and the various apps. Anything that is free, I already got, so don't bother saying "the 3D pokemons thing".

Any other suggestions?

[Gollgagh]

if you haven't gotten Shantae yet, that one is fantastic

[Dhsu]

Cave Story, duh.

[ocre]

How about UNO? :3

[Calpis]

I second Cave Story and Shantae. That western-themed tower defense game is fun, if a little too hard for me though. Picobits is another one I've liked too.

[The Damned]

I'm going to get Cave Story 3D, as it's supposed to be filled with extras that the other versions don't have, plus it's the best looking of the three. Have you seen the latest screenshots? It looks beautiful.

Shantae (the GameBoy one) wasn't something I liked. I'm not too keen on spending $12 on a sequel to something I didn't really like in the first place.

But keep the suggestions coming. Eventually, I should find something I would like.

[Thalzon]

I downloaded Shantae and it's a great action game. Think Henry Hatsworth or Monster Tale. It's sort of like that, with some light Zelda-style dungeoneering. The writing is pretty sharp, too.

But maybe you'd like Ivy the Kiwi? I downloaded it and it's a great little challenging game. A sort of washed-out historical book style of art, and you guide Ivy to the level's end while gathering as many feathers as possible (there's 10 per level). Harder than it sounds, since it soon likes to employ spikes and vertical areas.

[Overflow]

Donkey Kong '94 is amazing, Game and Watch gallery is fun. I've heard the Art Style games are fun, and apparently so is Qix. I don't know if it's in there, but ancient pinball, the ancients beckon (or whatever it's called) is really good. Xevious 3d is neat.

You can always just save it, too. Good stuff is sure to come in the future.

[Dhsu]

http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/219898/the-10-best-dsiware-games/

[The Damned]

Link above resulted in two eShop purchases so far.

In related, actual 3DS news:

Wal-Mart Canada is dropping their price of the 3DS to $198. Even with taxes, that's still a big drop... and because you can get this now, you can still get in on the free games from Nintendo.

You're not saving as much as the $170 price would, but this way, you still get the freebies. Not too bad, huh?

Also, there are lots of people that are talking about getting a 3DS before August 11th, and then having the store they get it from proactively price-match. That might work, but there are a few things to consider.

First, not all stores will do a price-match if it's before the new price is set. They will do one after it goes on sale, though.

Second, some stores will only match a price from another store. That means they don't care about what the manufacturer says the price is, it's only the competing stores prices they care about. If Bob's Game Store isn't selling it any lower than Best Buy, then forget about it.

Third, some places will just outright refuse to do it. They know about the price-cut, but you already bought it before it was announced, so too bad.

So if you can find a store that won't do these three things... good for you?

[ocre]

All Nintendo had to do was confirm that Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire remakes were going to hit the 3DS and it wouldn't be a failure anymore.

[Overflow]

I heard costco is selling it for 169.99:

http://nintendo3dsblog.com/buy-the-3ds-at-costco-for-169-99-right-now

[The Damned]

I do feel a little bad about paying full price for mine, but really, what would I do? I've already bought eShop games, have my Friend Code list made, applied screen protectors, etc...

It's not worth it to me to go back and try to get some money back. I didn't complain about the price drops on any other video game system I've owned, so I don't see what the point is now. Unless Nintendo comes out with a new 3Ds model with far better battery life and some other features that could have been included in the current model, at the same or lower price as the upcoming new price, and within the next few months... I can't really feel bad about it.

I find it funny that gamers will spend thousands of dollars on computer parts but they don't demand a refund or free software because the video card manufacturer decided to take $20 off.

At least, none that I've ever met.

Also, Trajectile is terribly fun (it's from the list that Dhsu posted). It's Arkanoid with Bust-A-Move.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Well lowered prices in computer parts is kind of a given once new revisions are out. PC component manufacturers are far bigger offenders than console ones, so us on the PC gaming side(well, what's left of it) are used to this kind of thing. Besides, when a new revision comes out, it's usually more powerful though, so there's that.

What was the battery life on the 3DS again?

[The Damned]

The same as the PSP models, within an hour. Depends upon the settings.

The biggest battery drain on the 3DS is the 3D screen. Because there are two screens that produce the 3D effect, it has to output twice the backlight brightness. Turning it off all the time almost doubles the battery life.

Sadly, all accounts, from both Sony and third party developers, say the Vitas battery life is the same as the PSP and 3DS.

I guess the DS Lite was the last of the long-lasting battery systems. I still get at least 15 hours out of my DS Lite, and it's still on the original battery.

EDIT: I just realized that I have never actually paid for a copy of Link's Awakening. I got the original cart for a christmas present. I lent it to a friend, and someone stole his GameBoy along with it. He replaced it with the DX version. I've even tried the ROM a few times just for the hell of it.

So I got the Virtual Console version tonight. It's the first time I've actually paid for that particular game in my life.

Edited August 2, 2011 by The Damned

[Toadofsky]

The same as the PSP models, within an hour. Depends upon the settings.

The biggest battery drain on the 3DS is the 3D screen. Because there are two screens that produce the 3D effect, it has to output twice the backlight brightness. Turning it off all the time almost doubles the battery life.

I guess the DS Lite was the last of the long-lasting battery systems. I still get at least 15 hours out of my DS Lite, and it's still on the original battery.

EDIT: I just realized that I have never actually paid for a copy of Link's Awakening. I got the original cart for a christmas present. I lent it to a friend, and someone stole his GameBoy along with it. He replaced it with the DX version. I've even tried the ROM a few times just for the hell of it.

I wonder how good some of these third party batteries are that have come out lately?

I'm looking forward to picking up Link's Awakening DX, and Donkey Kong, I just can't figure out why they didn't put the color version of DK on there instead (it's not that big of a deal to me). I'm also going to get Shantae Risky's Revenge as well. And maybe even Excitebike 3D.

[The Damned]

I have the Nyko battery pack, and it does double your battery life. It also makes it a bit easier to hold on to, since it give a sloped edge to rest your index finger on. The only thing is that if you have the top screen open, and you put it on a table, the 3DS tend to fall over a bit. This makes games where you can play it on a flat surface kind of awkward. It's simply just a balance issue.

But for only $20, it works pretty good.

[Toadofsky]

I have the Nyko battery pack, and it does double your battery life. It also makes it a bit easier to hold on to, since it give a sloped edge to rest your index finger on. The only thing is that if you have the top screen open, and you put it on a table, the 3DS tend to fall over a bit. This makes games where you can play it on a flat surface kind of awkward. It's simply just a balance issue.

But for only $20, it works pretty good.

Makes it pretty bulky too doesn't it?

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Well personally I wouldn't want to have to rely on a third-party extension to get more juice out of the system, but if it gets the job done for $20 bucks and Nintendo doesn't seem to get their act together on making a better battery, then I guess I'm stuck. I don't really see myself laying it on a flat surface, so I doubt that'd be annoying.

What worries me is that Nintendo is going to come out with another revision soon enough where the battery life is vastly improved... Then I'll be up shit creek(but not really I guess).

[The Damned]

Makes it pretty bulky too doesn't it?

Barely even a quarter of an inch. It's slightly thicker than a DS Lite. If you think that's big, I'd like to remind you that it's still thinner than a DS Phat or most other portables.

What worries me is that Nintendo is going to come out with another revision soon enough where the battery life is vastly improved... Then I'll be up shit creek(but not really I guess).

Unless someone comes up with a brand new battery technology that is beyond our current technology level, and they can make it cheap enough to not only produce on a large scale and make it affordable to the market...

Nope, that isn't happening. We're pretty much at the limit of what current batteries can do, and the only thing that can improve overall performance is making them bigger.

So I don't think you have to worry about a new hardware version with a better battery for a while. Even the PSPs longer-lasting batteries didn't add that much. Sony actually owns various companies that deal in battery research, and if they can't make one that lasts longer, I highly doubt that Nintendo (who doesn't do anything related to battery development) can do any better.

[Toadofsky]

Barely even a quarter of an inch. It's slightly thicker than a DS Lite. If you think that's big, I'd like to remind you that it's still thinner than a DS Phat or most other portables.

No I'm not trying to pick and prod over the battery, it's not that big of a problem then if it's that thin. Now if it was as big as the xbox power supply on the first gen 360, we'd have a problem.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Guys, stay with me on this one.

You ready?

an AR- and pedometer-enabled Katamari Damacy.

[The Damned]

That would be either really shitty or INCREDIBLY AWESOME.

There is no middle ground, only utter failure or utter success.

[Level 99]

Guys, stay with me on this one.

You ready?

an AR- and pedometer-enabled Katamari Damacy.

If you're aware of the absolutely godawful I Love Katamari on the iOS, then you'll hopefully agree with me that anything like that is going to 99% be absolutely shitty, .5% be satisfactory, or .5% be phenomenal. I Love Katamari uses the accelerometer built into ipod touch/iphone for movement, which is a lot less complicated than using an AR camera and/or pedometer input. And I still can't beat the second level in I Love Katamari because the controls are absolute shyte. I'd rather leave Katamari where it is, since the games that all came out after the creator left have been lackluster improvements (bar the final Katamari Forever, which was a pretty neat concept and gave the game the visual boost it needed while still retaining the art style). I don't trust Namco to do anything good with Katamari at this point, let alone a gimicky game.

However, on the topic of gimicks, I'm kind of stunned that the 3DS didn't have a Warioware game launched tied in with the 3D and AR capabilities. Usually, Warioware is a game that's used to show off and benchmark a new Nintendo system's capabilities (Twisted = accelerometer controls for GBA, Touched = DS touch screen, Smooth Moves = motion controls and party modes, Snapped = DSI-ware debut and camera controlled games, DIY = DSI features showcase, sharing games, user-created games). Why they haven't done one for the 3DS is beyond me, as that would seem like a goldmine of hardware to make games for. I may have slammed Namco's use of the gimicks in the previous paragraph, but I'm completely confident in Intelligent Systems using any and all Nintendo hardware to the fullest potential within the confines of games that last 4 seconds or less. THAT would be a game that would help me feel better about being a 3DS purchaser.

Going back a few pages, I'm still surprised at how much the dynamic has shifted from pre-2000 console launches. Before the PS2, nearly all systems launched with at least one killer app either bundled with the system or available on/shortly after release. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_launch_games. Between the end of the 90's and the early years of the 2000's, there suddenly becomes a lack of powerful launch titles. Maybe this is due to the extended development cycle of making a current gen quality game. Games cost more and take longer to make now on-average. Maybe its due to the console developers making consoles that are more difficult to program for. Maybe its due to console makers not giving the game developers adequate time to work with the system before launch. No idea, but definitely food for though.