5 Must-Have Games For The Nintendo 3DS

Game Rumble: We've played almost every popular game on the 3DS, and they were all good. Some of them, though, stand out among the others. This is a small list of reviews of our favorite games in the 3DS. Our top 5 3DS must-haves.

[dedicatedtogamers]

I'd add PilotWings, SMT4, and Devil Survivor Overclocked to that list.

But yeah, it's clear the 3DS has a great library. Quite a turnaround compared to what was available within launch window. RPG fans - especially - are missing out if they don't have a 3DS.

[gamerumble]

Pilotwings is a good time killer, and it's a good game. But it falls short on the content. In my humble opinion, there's not a lot of things to do in that game.

[Pisque]

So nothing but platform and low budget rpgs

[Murad]

Personally, even though I have a 3DS, I wish handheld games weren't so darn expensive. I mean a great deal of them don't have price drops until 2 years after their launch. Kind of bogus in my opinion.

[dedicatedtogamers]

Are you referring to Nintendo handheld games? I feel ya. The 1st party Nintendo games stay high in price for the longest time.

But otherwise, I think handheld games are pretty cheap, comparatively speaking. I mean, we're talking about $30-40 to buy a game Day One as opposed to $60 for a console game.

[Murad]

@dedicated
I'm sort of talking about Nintendo handheld games, but in general as well. I've noticed the price of handhelds seldom go down compared to consoles. I mean if you look at it like this, Bioshock Infinite is already down to 40 dollars and it's only been a few months ( no offense towards the game for whoever is reading). While, you have handheld games like Devil Survivor that's around 25 dollars at the cheapest even on Ebay, and that game is around a year old. It's just odd how console games come out at 60, but price reductions happen so quickly, while handheld games, even PSP games don't really have a price reduction. Games like Dissdia still cost a good 15 bucks, even though being very old.

[dedicatedtogamers]

I hear ya. Yes, there ARE certain handheld games that hold their value for a long while. I think it's because handhelds have a lot of "rare" games that people want. Look at how FE Awakening was sold out (or at least hard to find) for a month straight. A lot of ATLUS games are expensive and only go up in price as time goes on because their games tend to become rare cult hits.

But there are cheap handheld games, too. Just to name a few, I got Theatrhythm, Pilot Wings, AssCreed Liberation, and LBP Vita for less than $10 over the last year. You just have to look for the deals, I guess.

[dark-hollow]

I can't praise it enough but seriously if you didn't buy fire emblem awakening yet you're missing one of the greatest SRPGs of all time.

With that being said, where the hell is advance wars Nintendo????

[dedicatedtogamers]

Mmmm Advance Wars.

I hope they go back to the quasi-goofy Orange Star versus Blue Moon style of older games. I dunno. I didn't - personally - dig the darker tone of DoR but that's just me.

Spot on about FE Awakening. I've been playing SRPGs since...dang, since the NES I'd say, and Awakening is easily in my Top 3 SRPGs ever.

[Murad]

I personally find myself disliking Awakening as compared to the other Fire Emblem's in the franchise. The reason why it felt more so like a grind fest than it did a true Fire Emblem strategy combined with a few RPG elements. Furthermore, I didn't feel like they even bothered to use the generations to the fullest. I ended up having over 40 characters, just like I did in a Suikoden game, but more so than not, each one of them could take down an army of 20 enemies each round, so it kind of become like, there's no point in liking one character when another is just as strong.
Furthermore, Advance Wars I think is kind of dead. 40 Days I believe the game was called on the DS didn't sell properly or something, or it didn't gain enough popularity and well, I haven't heard even the slightest bit of news. Hopefully I'm wrong about this, but this is what Nintendo does quite a bit. The only reason they brought Fire Emblem back is the major success of Path of Radiance and the story with Lyn and Eliwood.

[Donnieboi]

I want Advance Wars with online battles and the ability to share custom-made maps like how u can share levels in LBP. That would be my perfect A.W. sequel.

[levian]

I love Kingdom Hearts, but I tried to played Dream Drop, and I just couldn't do it. I think they're adding new types of monsters just because they think they can. They add pokemon like pets, or nintendogs or something.

I wanted to, but I really couldn't do it.

[aviator189]

Glad to see zelda make the list. I swear, I could play that game forever, especially the mini-games like fishing.

[levian]

That was the first game I nabbed for my 3DS. I was excited not only because its a great game, but I was told you could play Master Quest after beating it. I never got around to playing it years ago.

I got super excited, I hooked the Hylian Loach my first throw. It got away, sadly.

[_FantasmA_]

Virtues Last Reward is on Vita also and I don't know if Revelations should be on there since its on consoles now.

[linkenski]

It's still so much better when it's handheld imo.

[Misaka_x_Touma]

Much better on 3DS because of second screen. Which is the core gameplay selling point

[Y_5150]

I do not own any of the top 5 that was mentioned. I play different games I guess...

[Qrphe]

This would've been a good list early last year. FE, SMT4, AC:NL and Theatrhythm have already come out since then.

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

Out of the 5 they picked I have KH3D. But I have some of the honrable mentions super mario 3D, Tales of abyss, Fire emblem, and kid icarus. I'm a little surprised luigis mansion wasn't in at least the honrable mentions.

[Williamson]

Kid Icarus, 3d land, nsmb2, Luigi's mansion 2, ocarina of time are what I own/owned for my 3ds which are all fantastic games. I regret trading in 3d land even though I completely beat it.

[jcnba28]

If you own a 3DS buy Fire Emblem: Awakening, it's so damn good!

[Chaos_Raiden]

Sadly, I find that 3DS has a lot of great JRPGs that are worth playing compared to PS3 (without consideration on the PSN games). I find that the PS3 lacks of notable JRPGs, especially RPGs by Atlus like SMTIV, Devil Survivor 2: Break Record, Devil Survivor Overclocked, and SMT: Devil Summoner Soul Hackers.

And lastly, it can also play back RPG games from the DS like 999, Etrian Odyssey games, and many more. That alone tells me that 3DS has larger RPG library than PS3, combining both 3DS and DS RPGs selection. PS3 also has a lot of JRPGs available in both PS Store and retail, but I find that the 3DS has more interesting and new JRPGs for me wanting to play it at the moment.

[Hanso]

i own
Tales of the Abyss (completed)
Super Mario 3d land (got it for free not beaten yet)
FE Awekening (Chapter 15)
Project X Zone (not played yet)

my next game is going to be Link to the past 2

[linkenski]

Monster Hunter is my top pick. I've squeezed 72 hours out of it during the time I've had it, and I've only scratched the surface!

[klecser]

The list is obviously going to be highly personal based upon tastes. My top five are:

Animal Crossing: New Leaf
SMT 4
FE:A
Monster Hunter 3: Ultimate
Kid:Icarus Uprising

With Resi: Rev being a very close sixth.

Covers all the best genres, IMO: FPS, Tactical RPG, Traditional RPG, cutesy retirement simulator.

[RockmanII7]

I've heard really good things about Zero Escape, one of these days I'm gonna buy 999 so I can get Zero Escape.

[klecser]

I heard there was some major glitch in 999 or Zero Escape. I can't remember which one, but it has prevented me from getting into the series.

[RockmanII7]

I looked into it, it's in Zero Escape "When entering the PEC room during the “Escape Section,” and attempting to save, some fans have reported that their game crashes, losing all saved data. Upon investigation, Aksys Games and Spike Chunsoft have confirmed that this does occur". It will be something I have to look out for, thanks for the tip.

[klecser]

Ick. Good luck. I hate glitches.

[Misaka_x_Touma]

I have
Kid Icarus Uprising
Super Mario 3D Land
Mario Kart 7
Fire Emblem Awakening
Etrian Odyssey IV
Tales of the Abyss
Shin Megami Tensei IV

Sharing:
Resident Evil Revelation
Paper Mario Sticker Star
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Super Street Fighter IV 3D
Star Fox 64 3D
Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D

Next Games for 2013:
Zero Escape Virtue's Last Reward
Project X Zone
Pokemon Y

My Top 5:
Kid Icarus Uprising
Fire Emblem Awakening
Shin Megami Tensei IV
Mario Kart 7
Tales of the Abyss

[giogsgs12]

Hey everyone. Gio here, the author of the article. I really appreciate everyone's opinions. :D

Yes, I am well aware that the choices seem highly personal. That's because it is! It was originally a comment I posted in a forum asking about peoples' top 5 3DS games, so I edited it a little and it was posted as an article.

Anyway, ever since I wrote this, my passion for writing gaming articles and columns have been sparked once again and I'm planning to make more soon. Hope you guys enjoy reading my work!

Special thanks to my friend Tim who made this possible. :)