The 3DS has been out for about four years now, and it's amassed a pretty good library of games in those four years. But the DS is considered one of the greatest handhelds, if not the greatest, of all time. My question to you is, has the 3DS surpassed the DS in your eyes? Or is the DS still the better system with the better library?
I'm kind of mixed. I wasn't a huge DS fan, so yes. I always felt like we were sold a false promise. Launch day with Super Mario 64 and that Prime Hunters demo... I was ready for a portable better N64. Hunters when released was rather lackluster. And we didn't really see any 3D games until towards the end with Kingdom Hearts and Okami. That's a mighty small group. For existing franchises, it didn't do much for me. It has my least favourite Mario side scroller, it has my least favourite Zelda titles, I was kind done with Animal Crossing after Wild World, hurrah for HGSS but I didn't care for DPP much, Kirby we got Canvas Curse and a SNES port, Star Fox Command was weird. Maybe because I largely play Nintendo, but I don't feel the platform was their best output. There are some great touch screen games (Layton, Ace Attorney, WarioWare), but largely the second screen wasn't essential. Same problem as the Wii U tablet now. Also Mario Kart DS was great too. Not to mention the awkward baby steps of early Nintendo Internet connectivity. I think I've enjoyed more of the 3DS games I've played than DS games, but I might have enjoyed those DS games I liked moreso?
Absolutely DS. The only 3DS game I can think of that I've really enjoyed that couldn't have been done on DS (maybe with 2D sprites rather than 3D) is KH3D... and let's be honest, that would have been better on PSP or Vita anyway. :P I bought 36 games on DS and loved the hell out of most of them. (And shamefully played a LOT more than that when you factor in my flashcart.
When I replay DS games, I tend to stick to my DS Lite, yeah. The colour is just so off for DS games on the 3DS. I think there might have been an update that addressed it somewhat because it wasn't as bad as I first remembered it when I played stuff recently. Exceptions though; I've played Super Mario 64, Metroid Prime Hunters, and Ōkamiden on the 3DS because of the circle pad (even if it doesn't really map perfectly, found it was still a benefit) I took a glance at my Backloggery. I have 20 3DS games (including eShop, not VC. Otherwise just 12) and... 50 for the original DS. That's quite the reduction in library size o_o Looking through the titles themselves though, I really think my main issue with the DS was Nintendo's output. I think I fared better with the non-Nintendo games, but that's unfortunately not the bulk of my catalog
I think overall the DS had a better library, but the 3DS does have some standouts. Fire Emblem Awakening is absolutely fantastic - leagues better than Shadow Dragon - and Kingdom Hearts 3D was pretty damn good as well (better on PSP? Really, Erica? Vita, yeah, but 3DS is more powerful than PSP). But there are games like Phantom Hourglass, The World Ends With You, Final Fantasy IV, and Pokemon Platinum/HGSS that I absolutely adored on DS, so it probably edges out 3DS for me. Might do a feature on the site about this very topic soon though just to confirm, lol.
imo KH3D wouldn't have suffered much if it was on a weaker system. It wouldn't be as zippy but flow-motion was so broken as a mechanic that I think the game would actually have been better without it. The bottom screen was a useless map (I think?) and doesn't factor in at all. So yeah, there's nothing important or essential to the game that couldn't have been done on the PSP to me. (I'm still mostly just salty about the region lock though. That's the main reason it would've been better on literally anything but 3DS. Hell, give me another Chain of Memories battle system and put it on GBA if you have to.
I'm revisiting this thread because I think these recent tweets by Emily Rogers more accurately and succinctly say what I was trying to convey through my ramblings above: If we are only talking first party games, and not talking about third party support, 3DS had stronger 1st party games than DS I don't think the DS Zeldas, Metroid Prime Hunters, Yoshi's Island DS, or Star Fox Command will ever be considered "classics" The only *major* 1st party franchise where DS beats 3DS was Kirby. But even then, Kirby Triple Deluxe is great on 3DS. With that said, I'd play Mario Kart DS over Mario Kart 7 any day
DS beats 3DS for me simply because of the nostalgia factor. Many school band trips were spent playing Mario Kart DS on the bus rides (I won the best Mario Kart player award two years in a row), and I logged +600 hours on my Pokemon Black version. The DS had some great games to go along with it, and I spent hours upon hours playing them. I don't know if I'm just growing out of it, or finding other stuff to do, because I just don't play on my 3DS like that anymore. The only game I've played recently would be SSB, and even though that's a lot of fun, I'll still take out my Black version once in a while and have a go at the battle subway. I'm not entirely sure on the reason, but I just remember playing on the DS a lot more.
