Nintendo Slashes 3DS Price to $169.99, Early Adopters Get Free Games

the price doesn't matter to me if all he 3ds has is promises of 4rd party support and rehashed 1st party games. 
 
but this is pretty interesting, i wonder how mcuh it will effect the vita sales becasue at the same price point the vita looked like the winner but alot of people will most likely pick up the 3ds now (if handheld gaming isn't dead)

Well that does seem to be a pretty substantial list of free games. I suppose I can live with paying an extra 80 bucks.

Nintendo announce 3DS price gamers complain , Nintendo cuts the price and adds free games to previous owners gamers complain, am I missing something here?

Smart move by nintendo, I got a 3DS when it came out and 20 free games sounds awesome. The GBA games are all classics and that content will be worth close to $50 knowing the way Nintendo will price those games

That was quick.

Those are some old, if sweet, games. Hoping this is a sign for them bringing more NES games onto the system. I'd even pay for Megaman 2 again if I could get it on a portable device. (Edit: Preemptive; I know there's like a crappy version for the iPhone or whatever) That said, just let me transfer the games I have for the Wii VC, pretty please?

Also, I liked the DS(lite) a lot, had bought three of them at the end of the cycle, so I feel kinda bummed about the start of this generation so far. Here's hoping it picks up.

strangely, this only makes me want to buy this BEFORE the price drop...so many good free games

Wasn't expecting a price drop so quick. I may not wait for a hardware revision after all when that Mario game drops.

@TruthTellah said:

@QKT said:

3d still makes me feel ill and cross-eyed. so no thanks.

You know you can turn it off and just enjoy improved graphics and processing power over the old DS, right?  It's a whole new system.  It's fine even without the 3D.  Have you checked it out?

Then it's just a DSi with bad battery life and a very poor selection of games. The 3D effects are pretty much the only selling factor here.

Can someone clear something up for me? I thought they weren't releasing gameboy advanced games. They had only announced gameboy and gameboy colour. If this is them announcing some GBA titles, I will be more than happy to pick up some classics such as Minish Cap and Golden Sun.

Can someone clear something up for me? I thought they weren't releasing gameboy advanced games. They had only announced gameboy and gameboy colour. If this is them announcing some GBA titles, I will be more than happy to pick up some classics such as Minish Cap and Golden Sun.

This is pretty awesome news. Both because I am going to get 20 free games (super awesome) but that now more people I know are going to finally get a 3DS!

Sony can't be happy, but they surely knew that Nintendo was going to drop the price (because they can) to stay competitive. The fact that they're doing it now is a total shocker to me. I wasn't expecting Ninty to give an inch for quite some time, out of pride if nothing else. Their "we can charge what we want because we're Nintendo" free ticket is finally up, it seems.

Damn! I was on the fence about buying one but now I'll be getting one for sure.

Nintendo on the offensive. That's some serious price drop.

This is pretty awesome news. Both because I am going to get 20 free games (super awesome) but that now more people I know are going to finally get a 3DS!

The House that Mario Built does it again! I for one am perfectly happy with my 3DS, I love it. But hey, twenty free games? I'll take that as a thank you for being there early, sure.

Wait, what? Twenty!? That is so many games! Thanks Nintendo!

I hope the EU lineup is the same as the US. Mario Kart Super Circuit was my first GBA game and my first Mario Kart. I loved that game. I was devastated when my battery save died :/

The price was never the issue it was the lack of games and that viewing 3D like that isn't pleasant for long. I can't see how saving some money on something I don't want is really 'a deal'.

That's a hell of a drastic price drop. Still don't see any reason to get one though.

@QKT said:

3d still makes me feel ill and cross-eyed. so no thanks.

You know you can turn it off and just enjoy improved graphics and processing power over the old DS, right?  It's a whole new system.  It's fine even without the 3D.  Have you checked it out?

This is the smartest thing Nintendo has done this generation.

I would have been fine with the price drop happening, but I would have been happy with the ten free NES based virtual console games. Throwing in the ten free GBA games has me pretty stoked, overall. Having a version of the original LoZ to get my hands on will be neat!

This is definitely making the 3DS enticing for me, but it's still more interesting in the watching the handheld gaming slapfight than the wanting-to-play-games-on-this-thing way.

That is going to be awesome!

Does that mean DSi gets a price drop too?

Less one of those games is the original Pokemon - I'd have to say I'm still waiting for a redesign that adds actual battery life to the system.  169.99 is a good price though, very much impulsive territory.

Oh god dammit I literally got mine yesterday what the hellllll

People is complaining about the free games now. I guess we all expected before the 3DS came out, to be compensated with something more for having bought the 3DS at launch, right?

Wow, the drop is quite steep. Biggest drop ever.... and it hasn't been a year. The price was too high to begin with, though.  
 
My first reaction was anger, but as I look over the list of free games, I think there's enough content there to justify an early purchase. 10 exclusive GBA games? Sounds good to me.

@Shaanyboi said:

NOT BAD. 20 free VC games seems like compensation enough for being an early adopter, sure!

Agreed. It's pretty nice to not just get screwed over on pricing for buying early like so many other companies tend to do.

My only question: When can I get all those games? EDIT: According to Kotaku, the NES games will be available on September 1st with the GBA games coming sometime thereafter.

aww shiii and i was gonna buy a vita screw it Nintendo you win this one.

This is what you people get for buying a handheld gaming console in 2011 when things like smartphones exist.

A well-needed price drop.

Wow, I expected a $199.99 price drop before Vita, but not an additional 30 dollars. This seems... desperate. And somewhat foolish too. It's all about the games, Nintendo. Blame yourself for having such an awful library for now and the foreseeable future.

Well, the thing has been selling like junk (the DS outsold the 3DS last month). Nintendo set that original price arbitrarily because of the apparent interest at trade shows like E3.

You know, I wouldn't be shocked to see the same thing happen to Wii U next year.

It's all about the games. Do people really want to play N64 games on each new handheld? In hindsight, perhaps Nintendo launched the 3DS too soon.

Someone at worked picked one up. I really liked what it could do and Zelda looked amazing on it. I was waiting for a new model type with a color I liked more and longer battery life. But this price drop would have me picking one of these up before the end of Summer.

So I get 20 free games? Jesus.

I should have waited.. but those games seem pretty cool.

I'm holding off for persona 3d.

I was going to bitch about those GBA games not being available to me, but I kinda already own all of those...

"3DS Ambassador" program, which roughly translated into English means "free stuff."

- Patrick

It probably has more to do with the fact that 3D just isn't a big draw to most people. I mean the 3ds has considerably more power but I think people still feel like 3D is something that maybe they'll put up with for a 2 hour movie once a month, but it's not something they want to spend quality time with. A lot of people that like 3D even expect the technology to get much better so they aren't in a rush to get these early versions of the format.

crazy price drop! also, 20 free games seems cool with me. 

3DS at $170 is a pretty compelling offer. I may buy one after the price drops.

$170 for the 3DS is a great price, probably the price they should have shipped it fore tho, but never mind, I'll probably get one now ^_^

Tempting but the library is still lacking and battery life is still a concern. I am going to continue to hold off until I see some improvement in the other areas. We all know that they are working on the next version of the 3DS and I would rather wait and spend my money on an improved model, all the while waiting for their library to improve.

Nah. No thanks.

Still not biting. Give me a hardware revision and a bonus, second price-drop and I'm in.