With the news that the 3DS was being cut to a price of $169.99 early adapters, including myself, felt just a bit more than upset considering we purchased our Nintendo 3DS for anywhere between $200 or $250. However in a very classy taste, Nintendo decided to give 3DS early adopters 20 free (well technically not because we paid $80 more for our system...) games, 10 of these will be Nintendo Entertainment System classics like The Legend of Zelda, Ice Climbers, Donkey Kong JR, Balloon Fight, Super Mario Bros, and five yet to be announced games. The other 10 will be Game Boy Advance games that at this time Nintendo has no plans to release to the general public, these games include Yoshi's Island™: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart™: Super Circuit, Metroid™ Fusion, WarioWare™, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong™. Now lets break this down, many people are saying that these 20 games are not worth $80 but lets think about this for a second, Excitebike retails for $5.99 plus tax on the e-Shop and the NES games will likely retail at the same price, especially if they are in 3D (which hopefully they will be) so that means just to buy all those NES games wold cost $59.99. Link's Awakening DX retailed at a similar price of $5.99 with Game Boy games retailing for around $3.99 So if they release at the Game Boy Color price of $5.99 then to purchase all the Game Boy Advance games and the NES games would cost $120 plus tax. If they released at $3.99 that means you would pay $100 plus tax for all those games, both of those costs are more than the extra $80 early adapters paid for their 3DS. In addition not only do we get these games for free, we get them early as well. Overall I think Nintendo is providing the goods and a great package for 3DS early adopters.

They shouldn't need to do that though, the fact that hardware price is going to get cut at some point is a certainty, if you decide to just go and buy it day one that's your problem.
 
But that's nice I guess.

There's already a thread about this.

Mathematically things might even out, but that doesn't change the fact that it was a disastrous launch. If they want to keep the 3DS from sinking, they don't need to give away old games, the need quality new titles. 

I'm not really concerned about the free games either way. I thought the technology was interesting and after the heavy discount upon selling a ton of DSi stuff that I didn't want anymore the price of entry was more than palatable for me on launch day. The freebies are nice and will tide me over, but I'm not concerned about games because I know plenty will come over the life of my system, regardless of the time I buy it.

Edit: Also, as a guy that never owned an N64 and only got experience of it through friends houses, I'm getting more out of the remakes that Nintendo is putting out than most others who would count themselves as longtime Nintendo fans. I feel like I'm getting my money's worth already.

They're not screwed, they knew what happens when buying first run nintendo handheld. No software for a year and premium price.

Can't wait to get my Vita day 1 and have the price drop in 4 months only to have Sony give me some crappy PS1 games.

I paid 50 bucks for mine after I traded in a bunch of shit I never touched and was taking up a ton of space. I'm fucking ecstatic that I get all this free shit now too.

@RE_Player92
Why do you consider old games "crappy"? To say Metroid Fusion, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong JR, Ice Climbers, Super Mario Bros etc are "crappy" is just wrong. Yes they may be old games but that does not mean they are bad or worthless.

@DarkGamerOO7 said:

@RE_Player92 Why do you consider old games "crappy"? To say Metroid Fusion, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong JR, Ice Climbers, Super Mario Bros etc are "crappy" is just wrong. Yes they may be old games but that does not mean they are bad or worthless.

It's a matter of expectation. When you buy a new system you generally want to see new and exciting stuff on it, not just stuff that you may or may not have already played. For me, who has never played a lot of N64 stuff, the first year for the 3DS is perfectly fine. I get a few classic gems I can try out for the first time (or play all the way through for the first time) while spending most of my gaming dollars on big console releases in the fall. That's probably not the case for most people.

Their package isn't worth 80 dollars to me. I already own the majority of those titles in other formats and even if I didn't, I don't want to play any of those games. I would much rather have 80 dollars back.