Gaming It Printed Money! In 3D! The Nintendo DS/2DS/3DS/N3DS/Mobile Discussion

Gameplay breakdown for Dr. Mario World. Hits July 10th and preregistration is open on the site.

 

Impressively, I think that edges out the DS's lifespan by about half a year. Still eclipsed by the GB/GBC, however (by 1-5 years, depending on how you define the system).

That is, however, remarkably consistent for the 3 core handhelds Nintendo has produced.

Yeah, that's why they're still selling the games and maintaining the eShop. Still a huge market out there for them.

Though, interesting to see they've gone from "use it as a port machine to keep it going" to full-on "discontinued production" in 2 years time, following the poor sales of the Bowser's Inside Story port.

 

It really is quite a success story when you think about it- it launched overpriced with no notable games and Nintendo was forced to issue a rare pricedrop almost immediately, offset the early adopters with the Ambassador program, and then it developed a most impressive library that allowed it to climb to greatness.

And, amusing too, as it was the successor to the DS, another handheld that didn't quite come out of the gates that strong then eventually allowed such creative games to be made that it won folks over and started printing money. A lot of "sold my DS for a PSP then sold that PSP for another DS" stories back then.

 

If anyone still has Mario Run installed, I’m trying to get friends added for a couple My Nintendo missions. I don’t know if this link works multiple times or not, but give it a go.

I don’t play it often but I’ll give a Toad Rally a go every now and then.

 

Dr Mario World will be shutting down on November 1st.

Apparently it was the worst performing, non-Miitomo, mobile title "in terms of lifetime revenue and installs". In two years it had 13 million installs (5m in the first week) with $13.9m in revenue.

For comparison:

-FEH: $891.5m, 17.4m installs, 4.5 years.
-ACPC: $242.1m, 60.5m installs, 4 years.
-MKT: $222.3m, 208.9m installs, 2 years.
-SMR: $83.9m, 289.8m installs, 4.5 years.

That's a shame, though- I actually quite liked what I played of DRW. I didn't play it often, but it was an interesting twist on the gameplay and, well, it was fun playing as Dr. Bowser .

EDIT- If we also count Dragalia Lost, since Nintendo publishes it, as of last Oct, it was sitting at $146.4m, 3.9m installs, 2 years.

 

Nintendonium shines again! Back in August I had charged up my Majora's Mask N3DS in advance of a vacation trip, planning to continue my play through of Samus Returns in preparation for the then-forthcoming Metroid Dread. But, at the last moment I decided to bring my Switch along instead, figuring I'd continue leaving SR sessions to gameplay at night.

Sadly, leaving it behind left it in a place to fall victim to a storm-related ceiling collapse that occurred while I was away, which ended up damaging the exterior of the system. Flashforward 3 months and I finally get around to seeing if the thing still functions and, lo and behold, it boots up, still with a fully charged battery and the Metroid menu theme playing!

I still need to replace the system, ultimately, to restore it's previous physical state in my collector as a collectible, but, still, impressive that thing held up functionally. Outside of JoyCon drift and N64 analog sticks, the legend of Nintendo product durability endures.

 

Dragalia Lost will be concluding this summer, with service discontinuing sometime afterwards.

Surprising, given how successful it was. I would have thought that they’d leave it running for awhile even if there weren’t future updates.

 

Update on Wii U & 3DS eShops.

As of March 27, 2023, it will no longer be possible to make purchases in Nintendo eShop for the Wii U system and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. It will also no longer be possible to download free content, including game demos. Furthermore, as this date draws closer, related services will cease to function:

• As of May 23, 2022, it is no longer possible to use a credit card to add funds to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
• As of August 29, 2022, it will no longer be possible to use a Nintendo eShop Card to add funds to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. However, it will still be possible to redeem download codes until March 27, 2023.

Users who link their Nintendo Network ID wallet (used with Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems) with their Nintendo Account wallet (used with the Nintendo Switch family of systems) can use the shared balance to purchase content on any of these systems until March 27, 2023. After that, the balance can only be used to purchase content for the Nintendo Switch family of systems.

No changes are planned for Nintendo eShop on the Nintendo Switch family of systems.

The changes to Nintendo eShop on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems will simultaneously take effect in software on these platforms where it is possible to make purchases, such as StreetPass Mii Plaza, Theme Shop and Nintendo Badge Arcade.

Even after March 27, 2023, and for the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to redownload games and DLC, receive software updates and enjoy online play on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.​

 

Your reminder that there are only 5 days left to add funds to 3DS and Wii U.

 

Just a friendly reminder that you have 11-12 days left to redeem download codes and make digital purchases on the 3DS.

 

Slight extension!

 

Finally tackled trying to preserve what I could of my N3DS so that it would stop leaving gold chips in my pockets. Process seems to have been successful, so hopefully I can start taking it on the go again and continue my Samus Returns run.

 

Well, we're entering the final 2 weeks of the 3DS/Wii U online services. Finally found time to pop in the copy of Triforce Heroes that I got a few weeks ago. To no surprise, there were no other players available in the lobby at 9am on a Monday . But, on the upside, the game seems pretty playable in single player mode (outside of some clunkiness when it comes to stacking up or breaking down your totem due to the player swapping).

Puzzles are pretty simple so far- I basically cleared the first two worlds (each has about 4 levels). In a way, it actually reminds me of Mario vs DK to a small degree, what with the quick-play-session puzzles and such. Still, it isn't grabbing me as far as challenge goes yet- but there are a lot more worlds to go, so hopefully the complexity ramps up.

But seeing as I'm not gonna get much out of the multiplayer (at least until I can meet up with a friend who also has it for some local wireless co-op and vs modes), I think I'll jump over Federation Force now and see what I can invest out of that in the remaining time.

 

In these final hours of 3DS online, I manged to get a Fed Force game together with a friend online. Not as long of a session as we had planned, but we played the first mission co-op a couple times (almost beat it). It's definitely something that seems like it would be fun with a full 4 man team. The controls are a little sluggish, and there's some fogginess over certain targeting applications and how they pertain to movement that will probably clear up with practice.

But definitely had some fun, frantic shoot 'em up bug hunt moments. And watching a teammate take a zip line or use their superman hover is pretty amusing.

Also cracked through MK7, unlocked Shy Guy and played some online matches. MK7 is definitely more unforgiving than 8- higher coin costs, more aggressive CPUs with multiple weapon hits having a minimal (if not existent) safety gap, weapons hitting you in launchers and gorges, different timings for vehicles trick boosts, etc. And some of the non-Zero-G versions of these levels are tougher than their zero-G MK8(D) incarnations, for sure.

Having the mini map on the second screen is a welcome feature, though. Makes up for the lack of a rear view mirror.

 

And the Nintendo Network is no more.