3DS - Timeline
Monday2nd May 2022
News A Bunch Of NIS America Games Get Huge Price Cuts On 3DS (Europe)
Only for a week, mind!
Ever since the announcement of the upcoming 3DS / Wii U eShop closure, gamers have been clamouring for sales left, right, and centre, eager to grab some last-minute deals to bolster their game libraries. RPG games for the 3DS in particular have become highly sought after, and while this latest sale doesn't include the likes...
Monday25th Apr 2022
News Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D Physical Prices Jump As eShop Closure Looms
Game still 'temporarily' unavailable to download due to license issues
Hideo Kojima games not only feature the creator's name a few hundred times, they're also well known for being loaded with licensed content. This can be in the form of iconic music or even video clips to tie games into real history, a clever bit of storytelling often deployed in...
Thursday14th Apr 2022
News Atlus Dominates 3DS eShop Chart As Pokémon Crystal Falls Off Top Spot (North America)
A perfect timeline for Atlus
Since Nintendo announced it would be closing the 3DS eShop earlier this year, we've been keeping our beady eyes on the little handheld so we can complete our digital libraries before the Big N pulls the plug. If you've been following along with us, you know Sega / Atlus has been discounting their 3DS catalogue pretty...
Saturday9th Apr 2022
News Save On Pac-Man, Anime Games & More In Bandai Namco's Switch eShop Spring Sale
Huge savings
Following on from Sega's massive spring sale, Bandai Namco is now running one on the Nintendo Switch eShop. There are all sorts of games currently available for cheaper prices. These range from Pac-Man, to anime games like Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece and even My Hero Academia. Other series like Taiko no Tatsujin and Digimon are also...
Thursday7th Apr 2022
News Looks Like Nintendo Has Been Reprinting 3DS Retail Games For A Final Hurrah
Look for thinner boxes and tweaked package design
The 3DS was officially discontinued back in September 2020, with hardware production ending for a system that couldn't match the dizzy heights of its predecessor (the DS), but nevertheless remains a favourite for plenty of Nintendo gamers. There are definitely a few members of the 3DS fan club among...
Sunday3rd Apr 2022
Sale ends April 17th
There's a massive Sega Spring Sale currently taking place on the Nintendo Switch and 3DS eShop in North America. If there's a game you've been holding out for, or you just want to buy everything on the 3DS digital store while you still can, now is a great time to see what might interest you. There are all sorts of discounts...
Thursday31st Mar 2022
News The 3DS Is Getting Another Physical Release This Year, And It's A Pun On 'Vagrant Story'
Smells good, right?
So, you assumed that Andro Dunos II was going to be the very last physical 3DS release? Think again, because the console is getting another boxed title this year, and the name is utterly pun-tastic. Fragrant Story arrives this April and is a 3DS exclusive. It's described as "an all-new 16-bit tactical RPG in the style of
Tuesday29th Mar 2022
News Andro Dunos 2 Switch Physical Edition Pre-Orders Fly Into View
Or 3DS, if you want to go old school
The Switch has an impressive range of shoot 'em ups, and we're still getting regular new releases to check out. One lower profile entry that arrived recently on the eShop is Andro Dunos 2, but if you're a fan of the genre you shouldn't sleep on it. We gave this one a hearty recommendation in our recent review...
Monday28th Mar 2022
Talking Point 3DS Is 11 Years Old, And Our Eyes Still Feel Strange
Remembering the magic and buzz at a preview event
Over this past weekend the 3DS turned 11 years old, not exactly the biggest of anniversaries but enough to make us look wistfully at the little portable. It's a real favourite in our team, and I still keep both it and its charger handy when a bit of sentimental play is required — or when I want to...
Friday25th Mar 2022
Random Look At This Custom Eggdog 3DS
What's up eggdog
Do you know Eggdog? The weird meme stemmed from a video of a fluffy white dog being groomed, but taken at a specific angle, the dog looks like an egg with a face. And thus, Eggdog was born. From out of the legend of Eggdog came a host of new memes, and one of the prime Eggdog memers is zamsire, who used a 3D render of the ovoid...
Wednesday23rd Mar 2022
Random Someone Just Spent $1600 On A Super-Rare Canadian Barbie 3DS Game
Those are some expensive dogs
Across the Nintendo Life staff, we've probably collectively been in and around the games industry for at least a couple hundred years... and yet, there are still things that surprise us every day. Today's surprise was finding out that one of the holy grails for 3DS collectors is a game called Barbie Groom and Glam...
Wednesday16th Mar 2022
News Shin'en Kicks Off 'Everything Must Go' 3DS And Wii U eShop Sale, Up To 80% Off
Discounts in US and EU
The 3DS and Wii U eShops are sadly on their way out and, as expected, publishers are beginning to line up with some heavy discounts on their 3DS and Wii U software libraries in preparation for the store closures next March. Just yesterday, Capcom launched their own 3DS sale in the US, and now developer and publisher Shin'en...
Tuesday15th Mar 2022
News Capcom Launches Its Biggest 3DS Sale Ever (US)
The end is nigh
It's no secret that the 3DS — along with its console sibling Wii U — is heading toward that bright light at the end of the tunnel. With the handheld's eShop closing within the next year, it's natural that publishers will want to capitalise on this unfortunate eventuality with some rather sweet deals. It's a nice opportunity for...
Wednesday9th Mar 2022
News Indie Dev Cancels Roguelike Horror Game For 3DS In Response To Nintendo's eShop Closure
"this decision was made on our behalf by Nintendo"
An aspiring indie game developer says it's been left with no option but to abandon its plans for a 'New 3DS' game port after Nintendo announced last month it would be closing the system's eShop. Otyugra Games is currently working on a roguelike horror title called Dream-Prison Wanderer, which it had...
Thursday3rd Mar 2022
News Here Is This Week's 3DS eShop Chart, Pokémon Crystal Is At The Top (Again)
Get the best Game Boy games while you still can
Last month, Nintendo shocked 3DS owners by announcing the eShop for this platform would be closing up. If you are interested to know what's charting in the lead-up to this or happen to be looking for digital games to get on your 3DS, these North American charts are worth taking a look at. Here are the...
Monday21st Feb 2022
Feature Is It Worth Importing A Japanese 3DS For These Virtual Console Games?
Save money on import classics before it's too late
As we all know the 3DS and Wii U eShops are closing down, taking with them countless classics in all genres. It's a decision that's understandably left many of us scrambling to find our old passwords and make those last minute purchases, finally turning those 'Maybe next time' purchases into a...
Sunday20th Feb 2022
PSA Update All Your 3DS Games, Even The Ones You Don't Own (Just In Case)
Yes, really
Our pals over at the Nintendo Life YouTube channel are full of wisdom, and today's advice comes to you from our very own Zion Grassl, who wants you to know that you should download every single update that exists on the eShop. Wait, shouldn't you just download the updates for the games you own? Well, yes, you should do that. But what...
Saturday19th Feb 2022
News Nintendo Reveals Japan's Best-Selling 3DS eShop Games From 2011 - 2020
Animal Crossing, Pokémon and more...
Ahead of the 3DS and Wii U eShop closure, Nintendo's website has rounded up the top 15 best-selling games on the 3DS eShop in Japan from 2011 through to 2020. Monster Hunter, Pokémon and Animal Crossing have frequently charted to the top over the years, and some other popular series include Battle Cats,...
Friday18th Feb 2022
News Video Game History Foundation Calls Out Nintendo's "Destructive" 3DS & Wii U eShop Closure
Asks Nintendo to "rethink" things when it comes to preservation
Nintendo this week announced the closure of the 3DS and Wii U eShop, and well...it's caused quite an uproar online. So, what now that roughly 2,000 games will no longer be purchasable on the 3DS and Wii U digital storefronts? There's seemingly not much that can be done from
Thursday17th Feb 2022
News 1,000 "Digital-Only" Titles Estimated To Disappear When Nintendo Closes 3DS & Wii U eShop
It's like Nintendo's version of the Blip, but worse
Nintendo yesterday announced the beginnings of a phased shutdown for the 3DS and Wii U eShop stores. It's set to wipe out a huge amount of digital content on these systems, but just how many games can we expect to disappear? While we already know Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation and its D
Wednesday16th Feb 2022
Feature Our Nintendo 3DS And Wii U Memories, In Infographic Form
Wow, we sure liked Netflix on Wii U
Alongside the rather dispiriting — perhaps even controversial, depending on your take — news of the Wii U and 3DS eShop being shutdown in the next year, Nintendo also shared a rather neat trip down memory lane. Similar to the year-end Switch website many of us used, you can visit My Nintendo 3DS & Wii U...
News Pokémon Bank Will Be "Free To Use" When 3DS eShop Purchases End
Payments will no longer be required
Following on from Nintendo's announcement it would discontinue the 3DS eShop and the Wii U eShop as of March 2023, The Pokémon Company has announced it will be making the Pokémon Bank service on 3DS entirely free. Until now, users had to pay to access the entire service. As long as you download Pokémon Bank...
"it will no longer be possible to make purchases"
Nintendo has announced the discontinuation of the 3DS eShop and the Wii U eShop as of "late March" 2023. While you'll still be able to redownload games and DLC, receive software updates and play online beyond this date, the ability to purchase games will "no longer be possible" and new content will...
Monday7th Feb 2022
Random It's The 10th Anniversary Of Resident Evil: Revelaitons
We'll have to do a reprint for the headline
Resident Evil: Revelations came out on 3DS 10 years ago today in North America (it was late January in Japan and Europe but we missed that date, ok?). It was particularly famous at launch for its 'Revelaitons' box misprint, which became one of the more humorous collectibles in the 3DS era. Since that...
Tuesday25th Jan 2022
News Another Game Has Been Delisted From Nintendo's 3DS eShop
Dodge Club Pocket could now get a Switch release
It seems another digital game has gone missing - this time it's the 2018 3DS eShop title, Dodge Club Pocket. Not long after this was discovered, James Montagna - one of the individuals who worked on the series (who is also a director and game designer at WayForward), explained how the game had been...
Wednesday15th Dec 2021
News Nintendo Is Removing Credit Card Support From The 3DS And Wii U eShop Next Month (Japan)
A timely reminder
Nintendo's customer service Twitter account for Japan has issued a reminder that it will be ending credit card and prepaid card support for the 3DS and Wii U next month on 18th January 2022, 9 AM JST. The company previously announced these changes for 3DS and Wii U users in Europe, Australia and New Zealand back in 2019. Here's a...
Wednesday1st Dec 2021
Talking Point Mario Kart 7 And Its Infamous Course Skip Are Now 10 Years Old
One of the earliest Nintendo game updates we can remember
We're in a gaming era of plentiful patches, where it's common for games to get frequent updates starting on day one. There are some rare releases even today that receive either no updates or very few — unless there are frequent DLC additions — and one of Nintendo's selling points is its...
Monday29th Nov 2021
Video Hands-On With The 3DS Dragon Quest The West Never Got To Play
Twas an Elusive Age, indeed
Dragon Quest XI is a fantastic game that you can play on Switch right now, but it's worth remembering that back when it originally launched, it was on another Nintendo system: the 3DS. When Dragon Quest XI hit Japanese store shelves in 2017, it was released on the PS4 and 3DS. The 3DS version is fascinating because it's...
Friday26th Nov 2021
The 3DS titles are still out in front
Yesterday, Famitsu released its latest game charts - revealing Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl for Nintendo Switch got off to an amazing start in Japan, shifting 1,395,642 copies in just the first three days. This figure was based on in-store purchases alone and means these titles are now...
Monday8th Nov 2021
News Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D To Be Temporarily Removed From The 3DS eShop
Konami has to renew some licenses
If you were planning to pick up Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D from the 3DS eShop any time soon, you might have to wait. Konami has had to remove 12 different versions of Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 from multiple digital storefronts - this includes the Nintendo 3DS eShop, due to license renewels...