The 3DS wasn't what I thought it would be

I got a Nintendo 3DS months ago with some games. I loved it at first, but grew bored of it and now I'm seriously thinking about selling it. It just wasn't what I thought it would be. I was a huge fan of the original DS, so I thought I would pay respect to Nintendo for making another one. But it feels like I'm a much different person than when I was 14, whilst Nintendo has stayed mostly the same.

3DS is still way better than a PS Vita, but how gaming companies view portable consoles is a bit sad. Basically, they're just platforms where you drop re-hashes of well established series to sell copies. Portable games rarely take bold new directions, but just offer a "lite" or "diet" version of already existing console games.

I got the 3DS in faith of a new Advance Wars game, but I don't see it on the horizon. I can always just sell it and buy it back when AW comes out. I'm looking forward to Smash Bros too, but I have a feeling that I might just play it for 6 months and get bored. I thought the 3DS was going to be an amazing experience because it had over a dozen great games, but most of those games are just sequels, rehashes, and games that strictly adhere to a formula that was crafted over a decade ago.

Ocarina of Time is a classic, but it's a port of a game we've all already played so many times. And it's not quite as special as it was 15 years ago. Fire Emblem Awakening is pretty good but it's story, characters, and mechanics are lacking compared to that of previous FE games. Mario Kart 7 is pretty much just the same thing Mario Kart has always been except with better graphics. Animal Crossing New Leaf is pretty much the exact same thing I've been doing in Wild World, except with new features. Pokemon X/Y has great graphics and it fixes some flaws, but the structure is the exact same as it was before. I enjoyed A Link Between Worlds a lot, especially the structural changes, but it still could've stood more changes, especially in it's dark world. Moreover, even if there are a lot of games, they are not only expensive but consume lots of time. Especially RPG's: I don't have time for SMT, Etrian Odyssey and Bravely Default.

So, I figured I would be getting a ton of great games, but none of the games were amazing, groundbreaking, revolutionary, wildly innovative or astounding as a whole. I went with quantity over quality. If you don't mind playing the same formula over and over again without substantive changes, that's fine. But then there will always be people like me who want changes and just aren't compatible with Nintendo.

You could boil down every change in established formulas as "just adding new features". It doesn't take away from how they make the game stand on its own

Not a fan of good games? This system is already surpassing the DS in terms of quaility games by the time the DS was 2.5 yrs old.

Wow, don't know what system is producing a steady stream of games that are innovative and not a series of games that do the same thing over and over.

The same could be said for any platform, but if you don't use it, sell it.

3DS has been awesome for me. I've enjoyed every game I've played on it so far. Fire Emblem is great, Shin Megami tensei IV is great, Etrian Odyssey: Untold is god so far, VLR was just jaw dropping, Pokemon is good as always, Scirbblenauts Unlimited was decent, Mario and Luigi was very fun and Link Between Worlds is good yadda yadda. I can't wait to see what kind of other games we get, especially the gems that developers like Atlus give us.

maybe youre not a handheld king of guy....maybe a regular 3ds would have been better...it looks sharper and 3d is stronger...i got bored of my xl and went back to original..much better experience for me.

idk...

maybe the nintendo HDs...the next handheld will be better for you ;-)

I'm haven't played very many video games, but wouldn't it be somewhat common sense that with IPs, you get games that are the very similar to each other? God of War games play somewhat similar when compared with each other, same with Mario and Luigi games, Fire Emblem, FPS's, etc? I mean, ther are games that are really innovative, creative, etc, but that's not always the case?

maybe wiiu is what your looking for instead , its got Mario Zelda mariokart on the way , another Zelda and a Zelda spinoff a dk game abunch of games already out including the 2 Mario games and luigi dlc, /stand alone , cod etc

I cant figure out how to react to this...Every system is all about sequels and some re-makes and such. To me it sounds as though you just lost the magic of gaming and are no longer a gamer. To put it bluntly you out grew video games. So I say just move on with your life cause it seems like your done with them.

@ TC- Not sure what you want or if you even know what you're saying since most if not all games on all systems are like the stuff "you said you're bored off" ...maybe just need a break from gaming.

I love how your complaint about A Link Between Worlds, the most drastic departure from the established Zelda formula since Ocarina of Time, is that they didn't change enough. It made me chuckle.

Anyway, looking back at 2013 there is no question in my mind that the 3DS had the strongest lineup. I finally bought one around the time Pokemon X/Y came out and I adore it.

I believe this is a problem for Nintendo in general, not just when it comes to the Nintendo 3DS. I do not think I will ever have interest in another handheld like I did years ago, my standards have changed and I feel things have also changed in a way that would prevent me from ever regaining interest in a handheld again. I have respect for the Nintendo 3DS, but I saw the 3D part as a gimmick, that could not be utilized conveniently, I saw it as unusable period; thus I always had it turned off. I also had a problem with the battery life, despite having the screen set on power saving mode.

When i buy a animal crossing or pokemon game i know that they have always the same structure. If i want a different pokemon game i buy a spin off But i like more the classic pokemon games. ¿why it have to change their structure? I like it and it is the same estructure since pokemon birth..

Take a break from Nintendo for a while, it's silly to buy something over and over and expect it to be fresh. I took a two gen break now it's fresh again. More than enough games to play on other systems.

It's the least fun and most disappointing system I own, but the big N will hopefully step it up with some more great games.

Yeh the only games on the 3DS that I considered playing was 3D land and ALBW. Of those 3D world is a better experience anyways, so that leaves me with just Zelda. I am bout to sell the 3DS. I don't think its for me.

I don't know what you want from video games, complaining about established IPs adding new features and not re-inventing the wheel. I mean, seriously what do want? Pokemon to turn into a card based dating sim? Big IPs keep a core intact. Every game from a successful IP in 2013 was pretty much just like their predecessors with some new stuff, GTA V, COD:G, BF4, Bioshock, Tomb Raider, etc. They each do certain things differently while keeping some stuff the same. To fault those games for that shows how jaded and fickle you can be.

@drekula2: It's because the 3DS is a pretty boring handheld.

It's a good handheld and it's got good games but it's not great, it's boring.

The problem is that the 3DS failed right from the start and even through price cuts and configurations it's failed to catch on like the DS did.

The DS came out of the gates and printed money and that means that devs could put ANYTHING on the handheld and get their money back as long as they watched how many units they made. Atlus is a perfect example of a company doing that.

No one sees that kind of safety from the 3DS, not even Nintendo.

So what does everyone do? Stick to the normal run of the mill games for the 3DS, ones that will be good but overall they're not going to be world beaters.

It's not out of the ordinary to feel that the 3DS is a step backward in the evolution of handhelds, especially handhelds made by Nintendo.

don't bash the Vita, it's awesome... I put 200 hours into Soul Sacrifice, it just needs more game like you claim the 3DS needs. I think the entire gaming industry is hurting due to iOS and Android games which are simplistic casual low budget endeavors. Easy money they make off 10MB games is killing off serious handheld and console development.

How the hell

Then why not sell it then? I personally love the 3DS and would never part ways with it but clearly you're not a fan of it. So why not just sell it then? I don't think anything is going to change your view on the handheld.

Now I'm starting to see the other side. Vita has excellent cross-play support, PS Plus benefits, PS1 emulation, and lots of indie support. The 3DS just has like 4 key games released each year (3 of them re-hashes).

Still not fully satisfied with either.

I love my 3DS Xl and all the games I own, and the future games coming out. For me it just gets better & better.