Nintendo 3DS – Worth Buying or Not?

. If you are wondering to become one of the (eventual) tens of millions of gamers just by buying a Nitendo 3DS, this article will help you to have the final decision.

 

The first question to ask yourself is quite simple: what are you expecting out of the Nintendo 3DS? It is a handheld gaming device after all – you’re not going to have the feature-set of an iPhone, or the raw power of an Xbox 360, and making a purchase with unrealistic expectations will only leave you heartbroken (or at least with a bit of buyer’s remorse).

 

To set reasonable expectations, you might find it interesting that the Nintendo 3DS is the first handheld gaming device that is:

 

Built from the ground-up to support stereoscopic 3D content in the style of Avatar and How to Train Your Dragon.
Manufactured to include motion controls, stereoscopic 3D and a touch screen – three features that can be combined to create quite interesting gaming experiences.
Able to play remakes of classic games like Ocarina of Time and Starfox 64 3DS.

 

Sounds pretty great, eh? But I don’t want this to be a puff piece. I don’t want you to buy a Nintendo 3DS thinking it’s perfect. As with all products, there are some people who it may not be suited for.

 

Time for a little more self-reflection: does 3D gaming actually sound fun to you? Were you enthralled by Avatar or blown away by How to Train Your Dragon. Just because 3D is added to a game doesn’t mean all of its shortcomings are eliminated. There’s a chance you may get headaches or eyestrain or maybe you simply don’t care enough about 3D to justify the price of the Nintendo 3DS.

 

Then there’s the games. Nintendo consoles are well-known for having lots of games, but most of them end up being shovel-ware titles from developers trying to cash-in on gullibility. This means the vast majority of triple-A titles will be from Nintendo themselves. Are you okay with this?

 

Playing Mario, Zelda and Metroid titles is something that still captures my imagination, but it’s not for everyone. And while the 3DS has the most 3rd-party support of any handheld ever released, I think you’ll still find most of the “must have” games do feature classic characters you’ve encountered before.

 

But I haven’t really answered your question, have? Should you buy a Nintendo 3DS? It’s impossible to make a decision for you, so if you haven’t already made up your mind: find a friend who owns a 3DS and try to sink 1-2 hours into any games – really get a feel for the system. Failing that, head over to a local video game store and see if they have any Nintendo 3DS booths you take over temporarily. Nothing beats hands on experience.