The Mog Blog » Why Get a 3DS Right Now… As In: Today

Chances are that if you have not already bought a Nintendo 3DS and you’re on the fence about buying one, you might be at a position where you would feel a bit pressured. With Walmart and now Target dropping their prices of the Nintendo 3DS down to $169.99 and the Ambassadors Program registration ending today (August 11th), most will only have mere hours to buy a 3DS or not at this point.

So, the purpose of this little feature posting? To help you decide why you should buy a 3DS right now.

- The Ambassadors Program Ends TODAY

If you’re on the fence because of the Ambassadors program, take note of a few things. The NES games will be available for sale at a later time but given that each of these games might add up to 2-3 dollars each, that’s about 20-30 dollars that you’re saving right there. Given that you might not like all of the games (I’m not a huge Ice Climber fan) but free games are indeed free games, be it 1 or 10.

The 10 Game Boy Advance games, according to Nintendo, will not be available at all for those outside of the Ambassador’s Program. This means that if you want to play good games like Metroid Fusion (a favorite of mine), Wario Ware (another favorite) and Yoshi’s Island (sure, I like this one too), you’re gonna have to keep hold of your old DS/GBA and buy the original carts (or use some unauthorized method of emulation/flash carting… and all that jazz… which won’t work on the 3DS mind you).

- There are already some great games on the 3DS

We already know Ocarina of Time is a great game. We already know games like Star Fox, Mario Kart and Super Mario 3D Land are coming out (all of which are amazing). What about the mindless hack and slash that is Samurai Warriors? The controversial but still ridiculously fun Resident Evil Mercenaries? Heck, JRPGs fans definitely has something to look forward to with Tales of the Abyss and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor… assuming they never played the original DS version that is. They definitely have some good games coming up soon and most people opted out of buying the DSi, so that’s a lot of DSi games to browse through to. But talking about DSi…

- It’s a great replacement for your Nintendo DS

Granted, the 3DS is more based on the DSi rather than the original DS, given that there is no GBA cartridge slot. However, everything else that would have worked on the DS will work on the 3DS. This also includes the fact that there’s a slide pad now that will work with DS games in replacement of the d-pad. It won’t be analog but it will still work.

This also means that your existing library of stuff of DS games will be there for your DS to play, with full functionality like Wi-Fi and what not. And as previously mentioned, there are a good handful of DSi titles to buy like Dark Void Zero, Soul of Darkness, Tetris (yes, mother f’in Tetris), Cave Story in case you don’t want to wait for the 3DS remake.

- There most likely won’t be a 3DS Lite (or anything to that extent) for a long while

Let’s not beat around the bush in saying that Nintendo will consider making a better version of the 3DS at a later time. Is that time now? Probably won’t be like that for a few years and even then, the trade in value of a 3DS won’t be bad enough that if you really wanted to upgrade, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. With that in mind, you’re fairly safe in buying a 3DS right now. It’s like saying you won’t buy a Playstation 3 because a Playstation 4 is coming out in some undetermined amount of time.

- You can play Link’s Awakening DX already on the 3DS

Oh yeah… Link’s Awakening… in Full Color… on 3DS… and if you really want to make it authentic, you can hold Select or Start as you boot up the game and turn on the 3D for a nice little surprise.

Finally a few more things to note: If you already have a 3DS, today IS the last day of the Ambassadors Program. You must sign into the eShop at least once (which I believe requires a system update before doing so). You also will not be getting your games immediately. Starting from September 1st, you will get your NES games. As the year progresses all the way up to December, you will get your GBA titles. If there are any upgrades for the NES games (like wireless multiplayer or something to that extent), those upgrades will be free.

MogKnight

Hanh "MogKnight" Nguyen is owner and Editor-in-Chief of The Mog Blog. A fan of pushing buttons and making things happen. He has recently been seen going around random GameStops to slowly rebuild his Dynasty Warriors collection.