I remember that during the first 6-12 months of the 3DS being out, there was a lot of doom and gloom about the system not doing well, not having any games, and people just not being sure if it was going to take off. Then at some point halfway through 2012, I noticed that most gaming journalists seem to be of the opinion that it's doing pretty alright, and that now the Vita is the thing to worry about. I'm just not sure why opinions suddenly turned around, when not a whole lot has changed.

Was it really just the 3DS price drop that did it? I know it certainly helped, but a price-dropped handheld with few great games is still a handheld with few great games. Or did the switch happen when Super Mario 3D Land came out, and it was legitimately awesome? People seem to think that Kid Icarus was certainly polished and full of content, but the controls ultimately weren't for everybody, and I don't think of it as the must have game for the system. Mario Kart 7 is functional, but meh, it's Mario Kart again. Ditto for New Super Mario Bros. 2. There is some good 3DSWare, but I don't think any of it is so great that it turned around opinion on the 3DS.

It just doesn't seem like the system has improved that much in the past year. The price was already cut this time last year. Since then, they've had basically 2 notably polished games (3D Land, Kid Icarus), and 2 Mario games that were sorta phoned in. I guess we have another Professor Layton out this year and a (hopefully return to form) Paper Mario, but these are all the series you expect to come out on a Nintendo handheld, and are largely formulaic at this point (aside from the 2 standout games mentioned). Is the Vita just doing so terribly that suddenly it's high fives all around for the 3DS' so-so library at this point?

I remember that during the first 6-12 months of the 3DS being out, there was a lot of doom and gloom about the system not doing well, not having any games, and people just not being sure if it was going to take off. Then at some point halfway through 2012, I noticed that most gaming journalists seem to be of the opinion that it's doing pretty alright, and that now the Vita is the thing to worry about. I'm just not sure why opinions suddenly turned around, when not a whole lot has changed.

Was it really just the 3DS price drop that did it? I know it certainly helped, but a price-dropped handheld with few great games is still a handheld with few great games. Or did the switch happen when Super Mario 3D Land came out, and it was legitimately awesome? People seem to think that Kid Icarus was certainly polished and full of content, but the controls ultimately weren't for everybody, and I don't think of it as the must have game for the system. Mario Kart 7 is functional, but meh, it's Mario Kart again. Ditto for New Super Mario Bros. 2. There is some good 3DSWare, but I don't think any of it is so great that it turned around opinion on the 3DS.

It just doesn't seem like the system has improved that much in the past year. The price was already cut this time last year. Since then, they've had basically 2 notably polished games (3D Land, Kid Icarus), and 2 Mario games that were sorta phoned in. I guess we have another Professor Layton out this year and a (hopefully return to form) Paper Mario, but these are all the series you expect to come out on a Nintendo handheld, and are largely formulaic at this point (aside from the 2 standout games mentioned). Is the Vita just doing so terribly that suddenly it's high fives all around for the 3DS' so-so library at this point?

The price drop and there are games out for it now.

It just has good games coming out semi-steadily. Plus the XL is sweet.

For me, it's basically the assertion that I will have to buy one anyways because of the new Fire Emblem game.

@ArbitraryWater said:

For me, it's basically the assertion that I will have to buy one anyways because of the new Fire Emblem game.

Same here.

I even heard some people claiming handheld gaming was dead!, haha, how wrong were they!.

...Kingdom Hearts DDD, is as polished as they come on 3DS.

Pretty much the price drop and the fact there are games out for it now. I also don't think saying there are only two polished games is fair. RE:Revelations, Kingdom Hearts and Theatrhythm might not be to everyones tastes, but they all seem like well made games. Not to mention some of the stuff on the e-shop being really good.

There are quite a lot of games out for the system, just because some of them have gotten no attention at all doesn't mean they are not worth playing. Rhythm Thief, Shinobi and DOA Dimensions etc are all pretty good games. I think NSMB2 was a total misstep though. I hate that Nintendo forced such a boring and uninteresting game out over something like Luigi's Mansion.

Between those 64 remakes, the price drop, 3d Land, Kid Icarus, NSMB2, some popular series that everyone knows are coming (Paper Mario, Fire Emblem etc) and the price drop it's starting to look pretty solid. When you get right down to it the only exclusives Vita has going for it are still just Uncharted, and Gravity Rush, with little on the horizon and a still pretty overpriced machine.

We really got to learn to stop betting against Nintendo

I think it's more that it has been crushing it sales-wise lately. I'm certainly not disappointed with mine.

@TeflonBilly said:

We really got to learn to stop betting against Nintendo

I think u hit the nail in the coffin with that one,

Well the price drop happened, and a ton of mario games.
t's still a financial disaster especially compared to the original DS, but its unit sales are healthy now, in Japan at least. (And everywhere, compared to the Vita, which now gets all that hate.) 

People think it's doing alright now because it's outpacing the DS, the best-selling gaming handheld ever. Personally, I think outselling the #1 seller is more than "doing alright now" but to each their own.

@BisonHero said:

I remember that during the first 6-12 months of the 3DS being out, there was a lot of doom and gloom about the system not doing well, not having any games, and people just not being sure if it was going to take off. Then at some point halfway through 2012, I noticed that most gaming journalists seem to be of the opinion that it's doing pretty alright, and that now the Vita is the thing to worry about. I'm just not sure why opinions suddenly turned around, when not a whole lot has changed.

Sales of the Unit picked up dramatically after the price drop.

Thus what was once deemed a commercial failure is now deemed a success.

opinions changed because people realized it was actually selling well.... simple as that

Cause Super Mario 3D Land is fucking awesome!

@ArbitraryWater said:

For me, it's basically the assertion that I will have to buy one anyways because of the new Fire Emblem Shin Megami Tensei game.

A lower sale price and larger library of desirable games tends to change minds.

@Animasta said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

For me, it's basically the assertion that I will have to buy one anyways because of the new Fire Emblem Shin Megami Tensei Fire Emblem game.

I have set you back on the right path.

It will be the same with the WiiU, tell your friends, SexyToad said it here first.

Same thing will happen for the vita when Assiaians Creed: We Arnt Racest and Persona 4 Golden comes out.

@Dagbiker said:

Same thing will happen for the vita when Assiaians Creed: We Arnt Racest and Persona 4 Golden comes out.

I'm not so sure. Persona 4 Golden seems like the Ocarina of Time 3D of the Vita, in that it might help sell some units for a month or two, but it's still just a rerelease, which is ultimately lame. However, if they do the unthinkable and make a great portable version of a console series, then yeah, the Assassin's Creed game might help the system a lot. On the other hand, everybody will be too busy playing actual Assassin's Creed 3 to be interested in playing a Vita Assassin's Creed.

I wouldn't say it's alright when you take into account most third parties have already given up on it. Nintendo seems to be the only company that's supporting it.

@Turtlebird95 said:

I wouldn't say it's alright when you take into account most third parties have already given up on it. Nintendo seems to be the only company that's supporting it.

What evidence do you have to back that up?

As a 3DS owner I still feel like there's nothing new to play. When I own all the games I want for a given platform, there's a problem.

@Video_Game_King said:

@Animasta said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

For me, it's basically the assertion that I will have to buy one anyways because of the new Fire Emblem Shin Megami TenseiFire Emblem Shin Megami Tensei game.

I have set you back on the right path.

considering I've never even beaten a fire emblem game, I'm not about to get the new one (I got close on one of the GBA ones, but it got too annoying)

Plus it's been way too long since a proper SMT game, not since Nocturne (SJ doesn't count) so yah

@MikkaQ said:

As a 3DS owner I still feel like there's nothing new to play. When I own all the games I want for a given platform, there's a problem.

Yeah, this is what I'm getting at.

3D Land is great by all accounts, and some people can gel with the controls in Kid Icarus, and if you're a huge Final Fantasy enthusiast or Kingdom Hearts enthusiast then Square Enix has released a couple games for you, but once you play through those, there isn't much else that really stands out in thea year and a half since launch. I get the impression that game journalists on this site and others seem to think the 3DS has proven that it's doing well now, but I just don't see it. There is a Professor Layton game and a Paper Mario game out this fall, plus next year brings Luigi's Mansion, Fire Emblem, and hopefully Shin Megami Tensei, and maybe that will flesh out the library enough that it feels like there's a good variety of games for the system.

@Turtlebird95 said:

I wouldn't say it's alright when you take into account most third parties have already given up on it. Nintendo seems to be the only company that's supporting it.

What evidence do you have to back that up?

The price drop is the big thing I think. Go on Amazon and search for the 3DS, and then search for DS Lite/DSi and you will probably see why the 3DS is a pretty good deal.

@Turtlebird95 said:

@Hailinel said:

@Turtlebird95 said:

I wouldn't say it's alright when you take into account most third parties have already given up on it. Nintendo seems to be the only company that's supporting it.

What evidence do you have to back that up?

To clarify, I didn't mean they have given up literally on releasing games, I meant developers aren't even trying. Most 3DS games are just crappy ports of Lego and movie based games. Occasionally games like Revelations and KH come out, but that's not nearly enough.

Monster Hunter and Megaten sound pretty significant to me.

@BisonHero said:

@MikkaQ said:

As a 3DS owner I still feel like there's nothing new to play. When I own all the games I want for a given platform, there's a problem.

Yeah, this is what I'm getting at.

3D Land is great by all accounts, and some people can gel with the controls in Kid Icarus, and if you're a huge Final Fantasy enthusiast or Kingdom Hearts enthusiast then Square Enix has released a couple games for you, but once you play through those, there isn't much else that really stands out in thea year and a half since launch. I get the impression that game journalists on this site and others seem to think the 3DS has proven that it's doing well now, but I just don't see it. There is a Professor Layton game and a Paper Mario game out this fall, plus next year brings Luigi's Mansion, Fire Emblem, and hopefully Shin Megami Tensei, and maybe that will flesh out the library enough that it feels like there's a good variety of games for the system.

The problem with this is that the 3DS is still relatively young. Look at both the PS3 and the 360 and at the same point in their life how many games did they have of the same quality as Mario, Kid Icarus and Resident Evil? Not many (if any) that's for sure. I bought both of those consoles a year after their release and it was still a struggle to find many games that interested me for a huge chunk of time. I think for a machine that is only a year and a half old (?) it's doing considerably well on the games front.

also helps there is a steady orignal DS release as well

also helps there is a steady orignal DS release as well

Because once something becomes relevant in terms of library of games, it starts to be noticed. Not everyone is a stubborn mule who holds everything to it's past and this is a great example. Nintendo will be remembered for it's crap launch (just listen to Wii-U game discussions) but people will continue their products when they deserve it.

Let's also not forget the system is a young-ling and this is generally how these things start out anyway.

Because it has sold more than the DS in the same time window, and the DS was hella successful...