What the New 3DS Lineup means to Gamers

The Wii U had a rough emergence into the Next-Gen world. If it wasn’t their introduction of the Gamepad that confused you, it was the name of the console itself. You could be glaring at this article, brandishing your pitchfork at the thought of Nintendo having another fiscal failure. It begs the question of Nintendo possibly repeating history, but what does Nintendo have in mind? In October’s Issue of Edge Magazine, Miyamoto testifies that his team wants to appeal to dedicated gamers, and will be shifting away from casual gamers in the future. How will Nintendo deliver this? Here’s where the New 3DS fits into this picture.

Wait, when is it coming out?

What throws most gamers off about Nintendo’s console announcements is it’s timing. The New 3DS has an October 2014 release date in Japan, yet it leaves their large Western audience hungering over it’s 2015 release date. It’d make sense for Nintendo to release it this holiday. Point, it makes no economical sense to release it anytime but Christmas. Nintendo has a habit of releasing Eastern and Western consoles apart by a couple of months. The longest stretch of time Nintendo had was with their last hardware upgrade, the Nintendo DSi, which spanned from Japan’s November 1^st, 2008 to America’s April 5^th, 2009 release.[Ref] Grab a Kleenex or ten, but it could be possible that we won’t see a 3DS in America until springtime rolls around.

Bring on the games.

There's a light at the end of this tunnel, and it’s the hardware itself. The New 3DS family has more, yet significant, buttons. With the introduction of the C-Stick and a new pair of triggers, this will play an important role in introducing new mechanics in future games, especially standard shooters and 3^rd Person Action/Adventure games. Although it is standard to improve hardware control to an improved console, the message that Nintendo is now sending to its most loyal fans is in the color of the buttons themselves. The smaller 3DS mirrors a SNES controller. This could be a simple nod of Nintendo celebrating it’s 125^th birthday, but given all of the flack they’ve received, it stands for more.

This is what it stands for: the first step into Nintendo’s return to dedicated roots. With the bump in processing speed on the New 3DS, Nintendo wants to bring games like Xenoblade Chronicles (their only exclusive announced) to its portable system. Granted, part of this is due to 3DS being more profitable, but having a 100+ hour title like this coming to the system is a love letter to dedicated gamers everywhere. Out of pure speculation, it’ll eventually mean bringing titles similar to Metroid Prime or Star Fox to the console! Far-fetched? Sure, but with 2 pairs of triggers and dual analogs, there’s nothing stopping Nintendo from delivering ferocious gameplay.

Gotta Catch’em all! Amiibo-mon!

The addition of Near Field Communications technology in the New 3DS device has been presented through the use of Amiibo’s in August 29^th’s Nintendo Direct. No example was shown of how the Amiibo’s will play out in future games, but Nintendo explained that the original 3DS will need a peripheral device, also releasing in 2015.[Ref] This being said we can still think of a couple of ways Amiibo’s will be used. Nintendo has been keen to having interesting Pokemon spin-offs, like N64’s Pokemon Snap! Or DS’s Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. What’s to stop an Amiibo Pokemon series to come out with a joint Pokemon game? Imagine being able to physically simulate a pokemon battle with your 3DS? While this is an obvious cash-cow for Nintendo (I’m buying my share of the Wii U lineup), it shows that this’ll be an opportunity Nintendo can’t afford to miss with their loyal customers.

As Iwata says: Please Understand.

As much as we like to groan and gripe about Nintendo’s latest decisions, it’s inevitable that as Nintendo fans, we’re drawn to it’s lovable art, charming characters and precise gameplay. It shows that Nintendo’s marketing ability has come a long way because although you’re still reading this article and possibly still brandishing your pitchfork, no one wants Nintendo to fail. It’s as iconic as Coca-Cola, and as intimate as pizza. Good or bad, you’re going to eat it anyways. Nintendo knows that, but now only time will tell if Nintendo learns from their mistakes.


As excited as we are about the New 3DS lineup, we still have a lot of questions and theories here as to Nintendo's choices at Part-Time Geks. Join us in the comment section below if you have the same!