Well, I took some time to jot down some thoughts on the one handheld that everyone seems to agree was the bee’s knees: the Nintendo 3DS (and all its various iterations thereafter!)
It’s one I’ve gone through a few ‘phases’ with - collecting, modding, selling, then buying a ‘perfect’ one, then…the pattern just repeats and repeats. I love how truly customizable it is now that it is…essentially an abandoned generation. The community took things to great new heights (those themes!!!), 3D printed docks and displays, vinyl stickers…it makes me so happy to see how very few 3DS consoles look like anyone else’s.
The market is getting crazy though. Prices are only going up (and special editions are going waaaay up), but it’s nice to see options like the Thor, Pocket DS and Anbernic’s RG DS coming up to give modern users some solutions to playing.
Anyway
Don’t expect anything wonderful here, I wasn’t even sure what to write for this article. I guess while I call it a retrospective, it just touches on some key points in the lifetime of the 3DS system.
P.S. 100% ready for any 3DS games recommendations to be shared!!!


What are your game recommendations?
But I’m also playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for the very first time on the AYN Thor at the moment. I’ve never stuck with it, and I’m enjoying it so much. What a game! I’d have expected the ancient age would make it less of a game, but nope. It’s perfect!
There’s so many more, but that’s a nice little cross-section of GREAT games :)
+1 for Bravely Default I love how much Revo cooked with OST
Thanks for this list.
I played the Metroid game and I love that series.
I’m not sure I liked smt4 too much, but I’m not familiar with the others. I’ll check them out.
I got a 3dsxl about 6 months ago for some Pokémon action, now I need something new.