3DS in 2018: A Mismanagement of Resources

Missed opportunity

Remember the climatic ending of Blade Runner? When Roy Batty saves saves Deckard on the Roof? Well, if you recall that, you'll probably recall his incredibly potent and concise monologue:

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

       Succinct. Elegant. Evocative. A perfect end cap to a moody, atmospheric film. Now imagine an alternate universe. One in which Batty waxes on for several minutes, dragging out a mediocre, poorly written diatribe about his life and subsequent death. All the while, Deckard is checking his watch, waiting for the Nexus-6 to finally keel over and die, totally helpless. That would totally kill the scene, right? Well, that hypothetical situation is the very real one in the Nintendo sphere. I'm the weary Deckard, impatiently waiting for the 3DS (Roy Batty) to just kick the bucket. Now, don't get me wrong. I think the 3DS is great. In fact, much like how Blade Runner is my favorite film, 3DS is my favorite handheld. But, all good things must come to end. Unfortunately, the recent Nintendo Direct is proving that Nintendo just doesn't know when to let go. So today, let's discuss just why the 3DS has outstayed its welcome, and why its speedy death is absolutely imperative. 

       Before we dive headlong into the discussion of the 3DS's hopeful death, let's look back at why I loved this machine so dearly in the first place. I got my original 3DS as a Christmas present in 2011. With it, I received Ocarina of Time 3D, Mario Kart 7, and Super Mario 3D Land. I was ecstatic to play so many grand, Gamecube-quality games in the palm of my hand. Its size and clam-shell design made it uber-portable, and before long, this little guy came with me everywhere. Throughout the system's life, I was buying and playing through all the games I could, constantly breaking out the old 3DS when I had time. Pound for pound, I think it has one of the best libraries of any Nintendo machine. It became a haven for not only Nintendo's core franchises, but their second tier experiences as well. There were an abundance of zany ideas, and every game that came out, from A Link Between Worlds, to Miitomo, to Fire Emblem: Awakening felt purposeful and interesting. Sadly, that just isn't the case these days. 

      Starting in 2015 and continuing through  2016, we saw Nintendo begin to lose steam with the 3DS. Many of the games that came out during that period were sequels and spin-offs that re-used assets from previous 3DS titles. That doesn't make them bad, in fact I had plenty of fun with games such as Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, Kirby: Planet Robobot, and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D. However, Nintendo clearly didn't have the ambition or resources to allocate to new 3DS projects. Development was wrapping up, and focus was evidently shifting onto the Switch. 

       Only, it wasn't. 2017 was chock-full of 3DS games launching almost every month. However, with key exceptions, the lineup was filled with mediocre games. Mario's titles failed to connect. Mario Sports Superstars and Mario Party: The Top 100 were panned. Pikmin make its handheld debut with the painfully dull Hey, Pikmin!, and Miitomo (one of 3DS's most creative games) was followed up by Miitopia; a lacking RPG-lite. Even Pokemon wasn't immune from criticism, as Ultra Sun/Moon were, in the end, quite divisive. It wasn't all bad, though, as 3DS did see the return of Metroid, a remake of a beloved Mario & Luigi, and a crowd-pleasing classic Fire Emblem. 

       While these games were good, they just didn't make a splash. The community has totally moved on from this handheld, myself included. In fact, I'm pretty sure I spent more time looking for my 3DS charger than I did actually playing Metroid: Samus Returns. The 3DS's time has just passed. We have a brand-new Nintendo machine that we can take on the go and play games ten times the scope of anything found on 3DS. The fact of the matter is, at this point in time, the 3DS is a relic. It doesn't hold a candle to the Switch, or even to the Samsung Galaxy I carry in my pocket every day. The 3DS is a superannuated piece of technology. A game like Metroid: Samus Returns would've been gorgeous on Switch, but on 3DS it looks good, for a 3DS game. That is not the proper way to revive such a prestigious franchise. These games deserve to utilize the bleeding edge tech. Not just graphically, mind you. Imagine how much more immersive Metroid would've been with proper speakers and a better sound chip, and HD Rumble that alerts you to new Metroids lurking in the shadows. Dual sticks for proper 360 degree aiming or the number of subtle ways that the Switch would've augmented this game beyond the mere graphical upgrade numbers far more than I've listed here. The bottom line is, putting such exciting games on 3DS just feels like a missed opportunity. 

       Furthermore, it isn't like I'm going to go around carrying two handhelds with me. I make a conscious decision to either pack my 3DS or my Switch in my bag. Well, it's 2018, you know exactly which one I'll pick. The 3DS had six years in my backpack already. It's time to move on. I didn't buy a Switch on the promise of the next generation of Nintendo games, only to have to dig out my 3DS to play a new Metroid game. That isn't sensible. We should be looking forward, not back. But, as long as truly interesting games trickle out onto 3DS, we can't do that. One foot has to stay planted firmly in the past so we can experience all that Nintendo has to offer. It just isn't sensible to continue supporting the 3DS in this manner. 

      But, Nintendo is. The recent Direct announced multiple 3DS games that would be objectively better on Switch. The most obvious, WarioWare Gold, is the newest entry in the micro-game franchise. Since its inception, this series has been all about multiplayer fun. Gee, it sure would be nice if Nintendo had a system that allowed for easy local multiplayer with innovative controllers that open up new micro-game possibilities. That would be nice. Oh well. Joking aside, this game would've been perfect on the Switch. The Joy-Con and tabletop mode guarantee you'll always be able to jump into a multiplayer game of WarioWare. Likewise, the insane amount of tech in the Joy-Con would open up wildly creative micro-game possibilities. Think 1-2 Switch's ideas but implanted in a game with actual effort. It is just baffling to me that Nintendo decided to revive this dormant franchise on the 3DS instead of the Switch as they did with Metroid. Putting them on the hybrid would've been a no-brainer. 

       The common defense for more 3DS games is the huge install base of the handheld. Now, yes, there are undoubtedly a lot of 3DS systems in the wild. In fact, the last recorded sales figures have the handheld pushing 70 million sold. In an era where the PS Vita couldn't break 20 million, and smartphones threatened to obliterate the dedicated handheld market, the 3DS sales are astounding, even if the DS has it beaten 2:1. The important thing to remember, though, is the sheer number of repeat customers. Just between myself and my sister, we own four 3DS systems. It isn't that much of a stretch to extrapolate then, that along with the extra systems sold, the total number of unique 3DS owners is closer to, generously, 60 million. A majority of people have upgraded their handheld at least once; and many people have upgraded twice, owning all three hardware revisions. The 3DS fanatics in the world have even more units, collecting variant systems and 2DS models. However, that doesn't mean that in the year 2018, Nintendo is selling to 60 million players. The simple fact is that people move on. Whether this accumulated 60 million players now game on the Switch, cellphones, or any other dedicated piece of hardware, they simply aren't paying attention to 3DS anymore. This is not an abstract concept, or a simple inference. 

       The sales figures for the most recent 3DS games paint a desperate picture. Courtesy of VGcharts, we know that sales are down for all franchises. The most dire example is certainly Metroid: Samus Returns. The game moved an embarrassing 450,000 units in contrast to Metroid Prime, which moved 2,820,000 units. That means Samus Returns sold sixteen percent of what Metroid Prime did. Keep in mind, Metroid Prime was very controversial pre-release, and launched on a console with a third of 3DS's install base. For a more direct comparison, take a look at Mario's fate. The awkwardly named Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions sold 460,000 units. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team sold 2,300,000 units. But don't worry, that game sold a whopping twenty percent of what Dream Team moved back during the 3DS's peak. While these games could still make up some ground in the future, games sales are, and always have been, extremely front-loaded. 

       According to NPD's sales figures as reported by GameSpot, Samus Returns debuted at 12th in the multi-format charts. By October, it had already fallen out of the top 20, but maintained its position on the 3DS-only chart until it fell off that list completely in November. Beginning in December, a mere three months after release, Metroid was nowhere to be found. Mario & Luigi is still holding on by a thread at number eight on the platform specific chart, as reported in January (the most recent set numbers available). Regardless of how many more units trickle out over the coming months, it is evident by their chart performance that these two will not be making up any ground. The sad fact is that these titles will never even come close to matching their predecessors. 

       You have to judge these sales on a greater level as well. Mario & Luigi has another title already confirmed, but Metroid's future was already on the rocks. We knew for a fact that the sales of Samus Returns would dictate the future of at least 2D Metroid, if not the series as a whole. I'd hope that Nintendo would have the business smarts to understand why this game failed, but if they don't look a bit deeper, we could've just witnessed the last 2D Metroid in quite some time. Metroid Prime 4 will still come out, that isn't a concern, but the side-scrolling offshoot may be in jeopardy. I don't want this to happen, but it may indeed have just died. I am concerned that this could spell the end for WarioWare as well, if that game fails to perform; unfortunately history is not on its side. I don't want to see these beloved franchises fall at the feet of a dead console, but that is looking more likely. Another one bites the dust, I'm afraid. 

       I could go on, but I really don't need to. Fire Emblem and Pokemon suffered similar, but less severe fates, but those numbers are unnecessary to proving the point. The thing is, neither Metroid or Mario & Luigi reviewed poorly. Both have Metacritic averages in the 80s from both critics and fans. They were both advertised well, and were given ample showtime time at E3. That only points to one thing; people simply don't care about the 3DS anymore. The user base has abandoned the handheld, and I think it is time for Nintendo to as well.

       Games are being sent out to die on 3DS. This isn't just a "grass is greener on the other side" type of situation. This is a "the grass is alive on the other side" situation. Metroid would've easily sold north of a million units on Switch, mark my words. The same would've applied to Mario & Luigi. If ARMS, a totally untested and average new IP could clear one million, Metroid and Mario could have smashed that figure. I feel badly for the consumers like me who are shown a game like WarioWare Gold and have to accept what a blatant missed opportunity it is. More than that, though, I feel badly for the hardworking developers who have to release their games on decrepit, stagnant hardware just because Nintendo wants them to. It's a backwards business strategy that is doing nothing but wasting resources and upsetting the fan base. I would've purchased all the announced 3DS games if they were just coming to Switch, but I can't justify purchasing games on the 3DS anymore. I only have so much money to spend, and I'm going to put the majority of it towards my new console. Maybe I'll cave and buy WarioWare, time will tell. I know I'm far from the only one who feels this way. If the outcry online is any indication, this is hardly a minority opinion. Pull the plug before even more games get sunk, Nintendo.  

Let me know what you think in the comments below!