I have owned every Nintendo console and handheld except the Virtual Boy and the Wii U, starting with the NES when I was in kindergarten. I grew up on Mario, Metroid, and the Legend of Zelda (original gold cartridge.) I love Nintendo. Recently I went into the Black Friday shopping season wanting only one thing, a Playstation Vita. One Amazon flash sale later and I walked away with a 3DS XL and a copy of Mario 3D Land instead. Not 100% sure how it happened, but it did. And so, a couple years after packing my Wii into storage I am back in a Nintendo state of mind...and baffled by some of the decisions they seem to have made.

The Games are Still Great.

I'd like to say from the outset that I'm not unhappy with my purchase. Pushmo is as great as advertised, I've enjoyed Mutant Mudds and I'm looking forward to Donkey Kong and Fire Emblem. Since I bought my 3DS Super Mario 3D Land is my most played game on any system and I love it. I hear 3d World is even better and I've considered a Wii U because of it. I hear the new Zelda is fantastic and I'm excited to try it. The quality of the games means I want to see Nintendo succeed even though

The Digital Rights Management and eShop interface are a decade out of date

Wowza. Buying stuff on the eShop reminds me of the first iteration of the iTunes store, only that was better, groundbreaking, and is 10 years old. Games are hard to find, require a ton of clicks to buy, and there's an absolute ton of stuff not on there. I have a 32 Gig SD card (kudos for letting us use those) so I have plenty of room, and with a portable I love having my collection accessible at all times. I shouldn't have ANY cartridges. But there are a good number of games only buyable in cartridge form and buying the games that ARE on the eShop is a pain. It's almost 2014.

If that's not bad enough, although classic Nintendo games are available I can't transfer any of the games I bought on my Wii. I can't even see what I had because there's no way to tie the accounts together. If THAT'S not bad enough, the selection of classics is absolute crap. I'm pretty sure I can't get a Link to the Past on my 3DS even though the direct sequel is the new hotness for that handheld. Awesome. Playing Super Mario 3D Land remind you of Mario World for the SNES? Fool, you can't even get Mario 3 for the 3DS. What were they thinking? Nintendo's strength is its deep library, but that deep library is locked away. Guess I could break my Wii out of storage to play some decent Virtual Console selection but why should I have to?

If THAT's not bad enough, there are no sales! I mean literally there are SOME sales, but they suck. Every other digital games distribution platform from Steam to PSN to XBL has deep sales on a regular basis these days. The 3DS still sells virtually everything at original retail (unless you want to hunt for cartridges...and I don't want to carry cartridges around!) and then occasionally offers up something like the inferior NES version of Donkey Kong reduced from $5 to $3.50. Be still my beating heart. First of all why are we getting the crappy NES version instead of the arcade version? Don't tell me the 3DS can't emulate both. Secondly...NES games should regularly be on sale for 99 cents. They are a source of great value, but on Steam sale I can get copies of hottish newish titles like Fez for $2.50 NES Donkey Kong for $3.50 is an insult in comparison.

IF THAT'S NOT BAD ENOUGH the games are tied to the system....FOR NO REASON. Want to transfer to a new 3DS because you thought the Luigi Dark Moon one looked sweet? Be prepared for a painful process. Lose your system or have it stolen? Be prepared for pain. This system was released in 2011 not 1994. The Xbox 360 was released in 2005 and I can still transfer my purchases to a new one because games are tied to account. There is no excuse for this whatsoever and frankly it is yet another thing pushing me towards cartridges and I DO NOT WANT CARTRIDGES. I don't want games that can be stolen or fall out of my pocket. It's the end of 2013 PEOPLE! HOW IS THIS ACCEPTABLE?

The hardware sucks

The 3DS is obviously underpowered. The screens are low resolution. The hinge is low quality. Spot pass doesn't really work. The 3D is so finicky that everyone turns it off. The 3DS is not a well-designed games machine and the fact that the XL sells for the same as a VITA is ridiculous.

GET IT TOGETHER NINTENDO

I know that none of these are original complaints but you don't really understand how it all interacts until you have a 3DS. The games are there so it's a system worth owning but the games have to compensate for an awful lot. That's why I wanted a vita in the first place. You can argue that the system is designed for a younger demographic but with games like Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei IV they are clearly trying for the adult demo as well. Adults have smartphones and other consoles and they can tell when they are being abused. WE ARE BEING ABUSED. Nintendo needs to come up with a unified account system like YESTERDAY. I don't care that they're slowly inching towards it, not good enough. They need to fix the damn eShop. Their next hand held has to have less gimickry and more decent screens and build quality. I grew up on Nintendo hardware but if Nintendo announced it was going software only tomorrow I'd be happy. The truth is I love Super Mario 3D Land but I'd rather play it on a VITA, and the same goes for other games. Nintendo the hardware maker is basically holding us all hostage with the sweet Nintendo software and forcing us to put up with inferior systems to enjoy their product. Not cool. I want to want a Wii U for the same reason I wanted a PS4. Because it looks awesome and like a great platform, not because it's the only way I can get at specific games that would be better elsewhere.