So I got a 3ds today, what are the games to get?

So I got the mario land 3ds bundle today. My bestbuy had the bundle for only 140$ because the package had been opened, I thought it was a good deal so I bought it. I was only looking because I wanted to get the new Pokemon game in October, and the new Smash game when it comes out. I hadn't really been planning to buy one that day but I figured the price wasn't going to get much better than that.

...so here I am

I haven't been paying attention to the 3ds news because before E3 I had zero plans of buying one, and this was really an impulse buy. So I was wondering if there was any must get games for the 3ds that are out now.

As somebody who doesn't own a 3DS, I'm really considering it because of Animal Crossing...I would suggest getting it if that type of game appeals to you!

@techhits: You are in luck! In the last few days, there have already been a couple of threads asking a similar question, and there are plenty of good answers:

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/next-3ds-game-should-i-get-next-1442217/#10

http://www.giantbomb.com/nintendo-3ds/3045-117/forums/looking-to-get-back-to-the-3ds-are-these-the-games-1441899/#30

Personally, I highly recommend Fire Emblem: Awakening, the downloadable Pushmo and Crashmo, Super Mario 3D Land(which you got in the bundle), Ocarina of Time(if you haven't already played it), and the new Animal Crossing. :)

Hmmm what about Dead or Alive: Dimensions?

Oh yeah, and Fire Emblem: Awakening.

@raycarter: DoA Dimensions isn't bad, but it's not a must own. In order to get 60 Fps, you'll be turning the 3d off.

The only other issue is that single player is limited to 6 solo arcade courses, and story mode. The online multiplayer works well, but as of last month I was only able to get one matchup (I searched the whole world). There's a lot of unlockables, but for $20, it's a "get what you pay for" bit. If I had to rate it: 7/10. It plays well, but I wish there was more to the single player to keep me playing it more.

Well if you like Pokemon there's always SMT IV, that comes out July 16. Think of it as the grown up progenitor of the Pokemon series. There's always Fire Emblem Awakening if you like SRPG's.

Super Mario 3dLand

Luigi's Mansion : Dark Moon

Crashmo and Pushmo

Super Mario 3D Land, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Mario Kart 7, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Pilot Wings Resort (if you can find it cheap.)

Those are just a few suggestions.

Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars is a solid TRPG and probably only $5 now

If you like rhythm games and Final Fantasy music get Theatrhythm

And if you like esoteric Japanese stuff get Harmoknight and Crimson Shroud

Animal Crossing, Luigi's Mansion, the n64 remakes if you loved those games, and Mario Kart 7.

There are also demos for some full games on the eShop if any of those interest you.

Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem, Monster Hunter, Kid Icarus.

Dude Fire Emblem!!!!!!!!!!! I still play that dam game.

Unless you have an irrational distaste for strategy games, Fire Emblem is pretty much the best thing ever. EVER.

If you're into the JRPG thing, you should look into Etrian Odyssey 4, and Shin Megami Tensei IV.

And if you like joy, take a gander at Kid Icarus.

Super Mario 3D Land is probably the best platformer I've played in years. Easily the best game I've played on my 3DS yet.

Yo, do you like Final Fantasy music?

I lost a ton of hours to Theatrhythm, check it out and maybe you will too.

What the fuck is going on? Why has this exact same topic created every day for a week now. The 3ds sure got popular all of a sudden and no one seems to look and see that the exact same topic already exists multiple times.

Just for that I'm recommending Star Fox

Fire Emblem Awakening and Kid Icarus Uprising.

I thought I'd commented in this thread already?

Anyway, I'll just rattle off the common answers:

• Super Mario 3D Land
• Fire Emblem Awakening
• Etrian Odyssey IV
• Ocarina of Time (if you haven't played it already)
• Luigi's Mansion 2
• Kid Icarus Uprising (if you can get past the controls)
• Animal Crossing
• Mario Kart 7
• Shin Megami Tensei IV - this one's not out in North America for a few weeks but I'm really anticipating it. I recommend looking into it, SMT Nocturne was great, Strange Journey was pretty good, the Persona games were great, and I have no reason to doubt that this one will be great.

@believer258: @nexey: @jacksukeru: @superkenon: @iceman228433: @mideonnviscera: @turtlebird95: @starvinggamer: @mannymar: @raycarter: @truthtellah: @grilledcheez:

Thanks for all the replies guys, I'm thinkin I will pick up Mario Kart 7 (Really seems like a must own) then ether ; Zelda, Final Fantasy Theatrhythm, Animal Crossing, or Fire Emblem.

I'm surprised just how many good games this system has, I'm wishing I would have picked this thing up sooner instead of a vita.

if you've played 999, then you need to get its sequel Virtue's Last Reward. If not, then check both games out, although just be aware that it's like 75% reading and 25% gameplay (which consists entirely of puzzle solving). Still, they contain one of the most interesting stories in gaming.

Also you may be interested in pre-ordering Shin Megami Tensei IV, because it has some pretty sick pre-order bonuses at no additional cost. I can't say if it's actually good, but the series has never disappointed me in the past.

Fire Emblem nearly sold me a new 3DS XL after playing my son's copy on his 3DS. It's easily the best game I've played on the 3DS. If I had more time for mobile gaming, it would have succeeded.

Don't get Fire Emblem Awakening, nobody should get Fire Emblem Awakening; the game has six difficulty levels and you cannot switch after choosing one. Nobody here recommending the game is recommending a difficulty level to go along with it (as would be the logical thing to do) not that it matters as most of you I presume have not tried the other difficulty levels as a basis for comparison.

But who cares right? Just sit back and enjoy the cutscenes. Whatever difficulty level you pick is fine, I mean it doesn't really matter anyway -- it is after all why the game makes you pick one up front.

ALL THE MARIOS.

@egg: Are you a crazy person? What are you rambling about FE:A? If you didn't fancy the game, that's fine, but I don't know what the heck you're going nuts about. I enjoyed it on Hard mode, and I'd recommend that to FE fans. It's cool if you want that experience, and it's alright if you want something else. In general, I'd just recommend the game as a nice strategy title on the 3DS. :)

Luigi's Mansion

Mario 3D land

Animal Crossing

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

Fire Emblem

Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Full list... here :)

Hard mode as in Hard Casual, or Hard Classic?

@duxa

http://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html?search=&numrev=3&site=3ds

THIS PERSON SPEAKS TRUTH! I can't speak to the new Animal Crossing, as I haven't played it, but all the others are fantastic. And PLEASE play Super Mario 3D Land IN 3D, IT IS AWESOME! You don't really need 3D for most of the games, but I'd recommend trying it and seeing how you like it. For example, in Fire Emblem: Awakening I only click on the 3D for those awesome cutscenes then back to 2D for the actual game. Welcome to the club, duder, and don't forget all the awesome DS games you can now play as well!

EDIT: Oh, and if you are a fan of rhythm music games and final fantasy, I HIGHLY recommend Theatrhythm. I'm still confounded by how much I like that dumb idea of a game.

Hard Classic, of course! It's Fire Emblem, after all. If I make a mistake, I need to either pay the price or have to try to get it right the next time. :)

lmao what? I've read this over and over and I still can't figure out what you're trying to say here.

The game makes you pick difficult level. Then it makes you pick another difficulty level.

It's the elephant in the room. How anyone takes the game seriously is beyond me.

Evidently, the difficulty doesn't matter, therefore the gameplay doesn't matter. This is a game of cutscenes, story, and bikini fanservice. The story is cited as a major strength of the game which to me is evidence that I am right. It's an anime series where you're arbitrarily asked to select a difficulty level before starting. But what happens if you pick one that is too easy, or too hard? Evidently, that doesn't even matter.

Either

a) everyone MIRACULOUSLY picks the difficulty level that is "just right" for them. They're just lucky I guess. (more likely delusional)

b) All the difficulty levels are the same. (aside from maybe casual/classic setting) I'd almost like to believe this but it makes the choice all the more redundant.

c) All choices are easy (except for maybe the most difficult combination) and people are enthralled in the cutscenes and RPG/sim elements, or simply like easy games.

Here is my personal list for some great games to at least check out on the 3DS;

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Pushmo

Picross E/ Mario's Picross

Super Mario 3D Land

Crimson Shroud

One (or both) of the Zelda Ages games

Mutant Mudds

Enjoy your new handheld and have some fun!

Ok, it's clear that you haven't played the game, and it's clear that you don't intend to ever play the game. I have no idea why you are trying to provoke an angry reaction like this, but it's really sad.

Your argument is absolutely ridiculous.

man what a great system. so glad it blossomed into its full potential.

now to hump it. :|

I've played the demo.

My argument is not ridiculous. Rather, it's ridiculous that anyone is praising the game when right from the get-go it pretty much pisses all over itself. Everyone playing Fire Emblem Awakening is merely humoring the game from that point forward.

Take me for instance I know I want a challenge but nothing too extreme, so of course I'll pick the "Medium-Hard-Expert" difficulty with "casual-moderate" rule set, with permadeath set to "dependent". With biggie-size medium gulp mountain dew and two orders of Small XL fries.

Confirmation bias will prove that I picked the right difficulty level for me. Which of course it is because I PICKED IT.

@egg: You should consider playing the full game. I think you'd actually quite like it. :)

That is not an option. In the demo at least you are restricted to certain difficulties. In the full game I am forced to make a choice that is not meaningful, but will permanently impact the entire experience. (effectively making my playthrough biased, at best. Just like everyone else who is delusional enough to recommend the game.)

I might as well use the game cart to pleasure myself, and then recommend the game to others while assuming they will use it the same way I did. And then we both pretend we had the same experience. That's what it means to play the game and pick a difficulty level arbitrarily.

Whether you pleasure yourself with game carts or not is your own business, but I do think you'd probably like it if you have enjoyed other Fire Emblem games in the past(or turn-based strategy titles in general).

If you don't want to play it, that's cool, too. We're all free to have our own preferences.

What do you mean when you say "Pay the price"? Pay the price as in reload your save, restart the game, or just have to deal with perma-death of characters (if that's a thing)?

Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth is the only RPG/Strategy hybrid I've played. Now, I enjoyed what little I played of it, but ended up not finishing it due to the difficulty and not understanding basic mechanics. Fire Emblem looks interesting, so I'm ready to give it a shot. Do you need to know anything about Fire Emblem/What do I need to know about Fire Emblem before jumping in? I mean, I'm okay with jumping into the middle story-wise if its dependent on the older games in the series.

@techhits: I'm not sure if its been mentioned, but there is a cool game in the eShop called HarmoKnight that is a little bit pricy but its a cool rhythm game.

Pay the price, as in when characters die, they're gone unless you restart the battle (perma-death is one of the things about Fire Emblem.) But unlike most games, the game does feature a Casual mode in which defeated characters are only knocked out for the current battle. (I'd never use it myself, but it's there.)

Awakening has a pretty good set of tutorials to help you out. As far as the game's story, there's not much you really need to know. It's set in the same universe as the first three games, but so far in the future that the details aren't really important, aside from the main character Chrom being an extremely distant descendant of Marth. Optionally, the game also has DLC battles against characters from past games, but you don't need to know anything about the characters to complete these battles.

Either one. I like to either just have to accept that a character is dead or have to retry it. That's just how I prefer to play it. Casual mode allows your characters to come back if they die. Though, I'd say Normal/Classic is a better combo than Hard/Casual. And it's certainly more understandable than Hoshigami. It's more straight forward. This game is its own story. So, while it makes references to earlier ones, that info isn't necessary to appreciate it.

If you're new to Fire Emblem, I'd recommend Normal/Classic. Just try to be defensive, keep characters together, and do whatever you can to keep them from dying. I like to reload if a character dies, but on Normal, you can probably get away with losing a few characters if you just want to move on to the next battle. If you like strategy/RPG games and have a 3DS, it's a great pickup. :)

Don't have a 3DS, but if I did, Fire Emblem would be my first stop.

• Super Mario 3D Land
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf
• Fire Emblem Awakening
• Pushmo/Crashmo
• Ocarina of Time 3D

I think you misunderstand. Playing FE Awakening is not an option. As far as I am aware, the difficulty select screen is mandatory.

For the record, there are 6 combinations of difficulty. That means the odds are roughly 1 in 6 (or slightly better) that I will choose the ideal setting.

But, although the odds are 1 in 6 from a probability standpoint, that means that, in principle, you are making the wrong choice no matter what. The only winning play is not to make a choice. FE Awakening doesn't grant you that option; ergo; nobody should play it.

If a game forced you to map a control scheme before even starting the game, and forced to use that control scheme for a 60 hour campaign with no option to switch in between, then the game would be equally retarded as Fire Emblem Awakening. Actually wait no... Fire Emblem Awakening would still be more retarded because the effects of your choice would be much more ambiguous until well into the 2nd half of the game.

If you asked a six year old whether they will be either a smoker or an alcoholic when they grow up, and their choice would in fact come true with no way to change it, it would be as meaningless a choice as Fire Emblem Awakening's difficulty levels. What makes the kid more qualified than you to decide their fate like that? Letting the kid choose is no less oppressive than choosing for them. But at least with Fire Emblem Awakening, it's a videogame someone made but they couldn't decide what's the best way to play it. And rather than letting us decide, they made it so nobody really decides.

Now what if you asked the kid what their sexual orientation will be, and their answer will come true no matter what. "Heterosexual" or "Homosexual" would be the choices. Some people might cry foul that the 6 year old won't know what those mean. So you COULD pose the question as "Normal" or "Gay". But it's arbitrary semantics. The kid might choose "Normal" simply because it's called "normal". Likewise in a videogame I would choose "Medium" difficulty, not because it's the ideal difficulty necessarily, but SOLELY because it's presented as the standard choice.

Let me pose a question to FE fanboys. What is Fire Emblem Awakening had 12 difficulty levels and they didn't have names, they were simply numbered 1-12. Would the game still be a masterpiece then? If so, then what difficulty would you choose? Would you choose 7? 8? Why that number?

What if instead of difficulty and casual/classic, Fire Emblem Awakening presented a third choice. "Number of enemies" With four choices: Minimum, Less, More, Maximum. Would the game STILL be good? And if so, what difficulties would you have chosen then? Intermediate, Classic, Less? Or Hard, Casual, Maximum? Why that particular choice?

Now maybe some of you might say to me "well egg that STILL wouldn't make the game bad" or "That doesn't matter, the game itself is good" If it doesn't matter, then riddle me this: Why does the game present you a choice at all? If the choice evidently doesn't matter and is no effect on the quality of the game. Derp! You can't win. Fire Emblem Awakening is a bad game and that's stating a fact.

So... you just don't like difficulty options? A game doesn't have to be the same thing to everyone, and fortunately, this game is fine for FE veterans and FE newbies alike. If you don't want to think about it, just choose the default of Normal/Classic. :)

I..... er..... WHAT!?!?!?!

does that have anything to do with FE:A at all?

@egg: So you're saying that every single game in the history of video games that asked you to pick a difficulty before starting and wouldn't let you change it is a bad game?

If you want it easy, then you pick Easy. If you want a decent challenge, then pick Normal. If you want a pretty hard challenge, then you pick Hard. If you like it rough and tough, then pick Lunatic. If you don't want your characters to die, then you pick Casual. If you think that characters dying adds to the challenge in a way that you enjoy, then pick Classic. It's so fucking plain and simple that you can only pick the wrong difficulty if you can't read English.

Let me pose a question to FE fanboys. What is Fire Emblem Awakening had 12 difficulty levels and they didn't have names, they were simply numbered 1-12. Would the game still be a masterpiece then? If so, then what difficulty would you choose? Would you choose 7? 8? Why that number?

Well, presumably, the game would tell me that 1 is the easiest and 12 is the hardest, so yeah I would pick 7 or 8. If the game didn't tell me, then I'd look around on the internet for the answer. Game developers, even the worst of them, wouldn't have a difficulty select screen numbered 1-12 where 5 is the hardest, 9 is the easiest, and 3 is normal, so don't bring that shit up.

I restarted the game after a few hours on Casual-Hard and I have a lot of fun every time I pick it up and play it. It isn't factually a bad game just because you have a complaint with it. A complaint that, I might add, isn't really legitimate, especially considering that the game is balanced for each difficulty quite well.

EDIT: And before you bring up a logical inconsistency with my post, I had never played a Fire Emblem game before and wasn't enjoying seeing my characters die and restarting the system every time. Some people like that, and I thought I would, but I didn't so I restarted it.

I...what?

@TruthTellah

And what makes Normal/Classic the default? Where does it say that? In the strategy guide?

"So... you just don't like difficulty options?"

It depends how you define an option. If a game lets me remap the controls, that is an option. If a game makes me map the controls before I even start playing, and forces me to commit to that choice for the entire 40 hour campaign, that is not a choice, it is a liability.

@living4theday258

It's a logic exercise. It's meant to prove that FE Awakening's difficulty levels are an arbitrary choice.

@believer258

"So you're saying that every single game in the history of video games that asked you to pick a difficulty before starting and wouldn't let you change it is a bad game?"

Fire Emblem doesn't just ask you to pick a difficulty. It asks you pick a difficulty and then it asks you pick a 2nd difficulty. It uses two different difficulty scales. That is incredibly arbitrary. This is compounded by the fact it is a, what, 60, 100, 200 hour game with tons of optional quests and DLC? Not a one hour NES game. So whatever you choose, you're stuck with it for the long haul. I refuse the dignify the game with a choice.

And, tricky tricky, by forcing to make a choice the game sort of shifts responsibility to have a balanced difficulty, or be well designed.

If the game is too easy "well why didn't you pick a harder setting?"

If the game is too hard "well why did you pick that then if you didn't want a challenge?"

Oh well of course. How could I be so stupid.

It's like, before playing the game, you're forced to sign a waiver agreeing that the game is good. In which case, why bother playing the game at that point. Might as well just get to it and start recommending it to all my friends. That's what everyone here is basically doing: "I picked Hard Classic. But whatever you pick, I'm sure it's fine. You will love the game. Because, whatever. Cutscenes!!"

"If you want it easy, then you pick Easy. If you want a decent challenge, then pick Normal. If you want a pretty hard challenge, then you pick Hard. If you like it rough and tough, then pick Lunatic."

Those are arbitrary labels/semantics. I will pick normal. Not because it's the ideal difficulty, but because it's labelled arbitrarily as normal, making it presumably the middle ground as intended by the dev's creators. Now if only I know what to pick for the 2nd choice.

When it comes to difficulty levels:

1 > 3 > [2 or 4]

When there are 3 choices at least I know to pick the middle one.

When there are 4 or 2, that's just obnoxious. At least with 2 it's usually "Normal" and "hard"

Which is a pretty good setup, because you simply know to pick normal for the first playthrough and hard on the 2nd playthrough. It makes some sense.

"A complaint that, I might add, isn't really legitimate, especially considering that the game is balanced for each difficulty quite well."

If that were the case then there would be no reason to have to choose. Even if the game makers came out and said "whatever difficulty level you pick, will be the right difficulty setting for you" then that's perversely false by the principle of being offered a choice at all. Why not just "force" everyone to play on Hard/Casual?

All the Fire Emblem Awakening fans in the room can't refute this logic. By your very arguments, that every difficulty level is fine, therefore is no reason not to have everyone use the same difficulty. It is a logical premise that OUGHT to be simple to understand. If the choice is no consequence, then there shouldn't be a choice. This is a videogame; its creators should start acting like game designers.

In the actual game, the recommended default difficulty is Normal with Classic as the recommended default for permadeath. It's rather clear what these two things mean in the actual game. Perhaps the options confused you in the demo, but it's unlikely any gamer would be confused by the final game's recommendations.

If you're looking for a challenge, they give you clear options for a challenge, and if you just want to have some fun, they give you clear options for that, as well. As I said, you really have to check out the actual game to see how it handles it. :)