What the 3DS Means to Me

If there was one thing that defined my 2011, it would have to be my discovery of the Fullmeal Alchemist series. Oh, and Nintendo released a new handheld. No big deal. I mean, c'mon. It's got a new Mario installment, a remake of Ocarina and Star Fox 64, and some puzzle platformer called Pushmo or whatever. It can't be more than that to me, right? Well, to put it lightly, no. The 3DS has given me experiences I haven't had before, and some Nintendo fans haven't had on their consoles in a while, if it all.

I mean, its not like this thing brought some revolutionary glasses-free 3D tech or anything like that

I was a first-day adopter of the 3DS. Preordered it at GameStop, yadda yadda. I just had to experience the glasses-free 3D as soon as possible. So what was available at day one? Really, not much. I picked up Pilotwings Resort and Super Street Fighter IV to play. This was the first good thing the 3DS did for me: it got me into the Street Fighter series. Before, I had only passing knowledge of the series. Now, I know how to Hadoken with the best of them (maybe I'll throw in a Spinning Piledriver if I'm feeling bored). The next day, a Monday, was when the 3DS started really bringing me awesome.

Ken reminds Ryu that his Shoryuken burns. Literally.

The middle of Freshman year for me was tough. I go to a private Christian school, and even though everybody knows each other, I felt pretty alone. Earlier in the year I had football to keep me busy and in social interaction, but after that, it was a toss-up. Video game discussion in particular were an absolute nightmare for me. It was basically me with my Nintendo fanboyism and my "gameplay is king" argument vs. everyone else and their "Nintendo has sucky graphix and you're just a stupid idiot for liking them" argument. Then, on March 28, 2011, that all changed when I pulled out my 3DS and totally blew the minds of even the most outspoken Nintendo haters. Enough people were piling around to play Super Street Fighter IV that I was considering to start charging. Minds were blown even more when I mentioned that the aforementioned Street Fighter installment was a port of a game from the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3. The pre-installed games Face Raiders and AR Games bought even more imploding of human craniums. Now no one really argues about video games, especially since pretty much all of the strict Nintendo haters left anyway. I also don't feel as alone at school because over the summer I worked for the father of one of my classmates at his apple orchards, and now I'm really great friends with the family. Anyways off topic talk about life is off topic.

Totally what I felt like that day I brought my 3DS

The 3DS's early months and its relative lack of games meant that in my desperation for new games, I purchased titles I probably wouldn't have otherwise. Games like Ridge Racer 3D and Dead or Alive Dimensions introduced me to series I only knew from their slightly exaggerated internet reputation. Other series I got introduced to by the 3DS are Rayman, Nintendogs, and Resident Evil. Especially Resident Evil. The Mercenaries 3D and Revelations gave me both the action and survival horror takes of the series. Not only did the 3DS bring me existing series, but it also brought me new games to enjoy.

Revelations is a pretty good-looking game

Downloadable games Mighty Switch Force and Pushmo come to mind, as well as the retail launch title Steel Diver. These games are fun and unique, though only Pushmo really was groundbreaking, in my opinion. Nintendo Video has brought some good videos to watch, and Nintendo Show 3D on the eShop has suprised me in more ways than one. But what's next for the 3DS in my personal experience? Plenty, to be sure.

Honestly, I'm suprised that the Pushmo Park hasn't been shut down from all the kids getting trapped

Games that I'm planning to buy for the system that will my first title in the respective series include Tekken 3D: Prime Edition, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, and Kid Icarus: Uprising. These titles and more will keep me busy for the time being, and will definitely be putting off my planned purchase of a PlayStation Vita. Yes, I've made a few potshots at it, and I even mentioned my Nintendo fanboyism in this very post, but I do want to support handheld gaming as much as possible now with smartphones and tablets seeking to kill it. Yes, I write this post on my Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet, but it can't replace my 3DS, as much as a computer will never replace consoles for me as long as consoles exist. As for the 3DS, it represents to me the beginning of a return to form for Nintendo, where the video game press actually treats it to be a legitimate game company instead of some stupid joke, where schoolyard debates about video games will no longer be a losing battle for the Nintendo fans, and where third-party developers will line up to produce games for a Nintendo console, not unlike the SNES days. From what I'm seeing, Nintendo has the same idea that I'm having, and they're ready to rock.