Tag / Nintendo

by ibmacin

The Nintendo Switch OLED

I was scrolling through my list of blog post ideas and realized that I never posted my review of the Nintendo Switch OLED model. It has been out since October 8th of 2021 so this review will only be a year late haha!

My history with Nintendo & the Nintendo Switch

I am a huge Nintendo fan. I was born in the same year that the NES was widely released in America and I have owned every Nintendo system released in the US to date (yes, even the Virtual Boy & Wii U). When Nintendo unveiled the Switch, the company was not doing great. The Wii U was pretty much a disaster right out of the gate and the 3DS, while doing much better than the Wii U, was really showing its age.

Enter the Nintendo Switch. Ever since it was revealed, I was super hyped for it. One of my buddies and I planned a trip to PAX South (R.I.P.) to play the system before it was released. We fell in love with it once we had some hands on time with it and we found ourselves at the midnight launch for the system at our local Best Buy. Fast forward three and a half years and the Switch is a runaway success. Nintendo has completely turned their fortunes around with the Switch. The have not only sold a ton of hardware, but they have also sold a ton of software too. So when Nintendo announced the next model in the lineup, The Switch OLED, you can bet that I preordered it and received it on launch day.

The Hardware

The Switch OLED, while not the Switch Pro that everyone wanted it to be, is a substantial update to the original Switch. I want to hit on all of the improvements in this section.

  • The Display: The main selling point of the Switch OLED is obviously the new screen. Gone is the original 6.2″ LCD and it has been replaced with an absolutely gorgeous 7″ OLED panel. This is a massive upgrade for the system. Nintendo makes some of the most colorful games in the industry (Mario, Pokemon, Smash Bros., Splatoon) and the colors are just stunning on the OLED display. The panel can get super bright and I also really appreciate the bigger screen size. It is very noticeable. Even nearly a year later, every time I play my Switch in handheld mode, I am blown away by the screen.
  • The Kickstand: The original Switch came with a kickstand, which is a great idea. The problem was that it was a horrible kickstand! It was extremely flimsy and I got to where I didn’t even trust it enough to use it. Nintendo completely overhauled the kick stand on the OLED model and it is so much better than the original one. The kickstand now runs across the whole rear of the system & it is super adjustable. I would compare it to the Microsoft Surface Pro kickstands if you have ever used one of those.
  • Built In Storage: While the original Switch came with 32gb of internal storage, the OLED model doubles it to 64gb. While serious players will still need to expand their storage with a microSD card, it is a nice addition nonetheless.
  • Sound: The sound quality of the built in speakers on the OLED is considerably better then the built in speakers on the original model. Again, some may use headphones most of the time they are on their Switch but it is a nice upgrade.
  • The Dock: The Dock that comes with each system has been redesigned as well. It has two benefits over the old dock. First is that the dock now includes a LAN port for wired internet. The old dock does not and requires you to purchase an adapter for wired internet. The second is that, at least to me, the dock is more aesthetically pleasing. As something that sirts on top of my entertainment center, I like the look and shape of the new dock more.
  • Color Options: While the Switch OLED model is still available with the same red and blue joy-cons as the original system, it also come in a new white colorway, complete with a white dock. This is the color that I opted for. I am very into white electronics so this was just perfect for me. I love the clean look of the dock and joy-cons!

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Switch OLED is in my opinion, the version of the Switch to buy if you are in the market for a Switch. It is also a decent upgrade if you are coming from an original model. It is by no means a necessary upgrade and it runs all of the games the exact same as the original Switch and the Switch lite. But if you are really into the Switch and would appreciate all of the little upgrades over the original model, I see no reason not to go for it! Thanks for reading.

by ibmacin

Splatoon 3: First Impressions

Splatoon 3 released a few days ago and I wanted to give my first impressions on my time with it so far. For reference, I played the first Splatoon on the Wii U a little and then played Splatoon 2 on the Switch a lot (200+ hours). Splatoon 2 is up there with Breath of the Wild as my favorite games on the Switch. I had so much fun with that game, but it was not without it’s annoyances. Enter Splatoon 3.

Refined to Perfection

Splatoon 3 does not drastically change the formula from previous games in the series. It consists of almost entirely the same modes as Splatoon 2. You still have your single player campaign, Turf War, ranked modes, and Salmon Run. Where Splatoon 3 moves the needle is how much it gets right in all of the details. These details, while small, contributed to a lot of annoyances in the Splatoon community. Splatoon 3 comes really close to fixing them all. A few of my favorite changes:

  • You can skip the intro and hop right into the world. This is huuuuge!
  • You can party up with your friends in Turf War battles and always be on the same team now. This was easily my biggest gripe with Splatoon 2 and it has been fixed!
  • The new lobby is great. Instead of just staring at the players names waiting for your next match, you can now goof off in the lobby while you wait. Try out your weapons, play leapfrog with your teammates, or see how much area you can paint before the next battle starts. Just having something to do makes the wait seem so much shorter.
My current gear

New & Fresh

Of course, there is also a lot of new things in Splatoon 3 as well. I love the new battle pass catalog feature they have added. Basically once you hit level 4 you are gifted a catalog. Each catalog runs for a few months and you rank it up alongside your player rank. Each new level rewards you with some new item. It could be a new sticker for your locker, a new emote, new clothing items, or any number of other things. This is a great addition and will keep the community more engaged with the game. Also, unlike other games, the catalog feature is free and included with the base game.

The Catalog

Splatoon has always been about self expression and customizing your look and they have added some great options along these lines in Splatoon 3. Now, each player has a SplashTag that identifies them in multiplayer. You can now customize the background, add badges to it, and also give yourself a title, similar to the title feature in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. All of these changes are great. On top of that, each player is assigned a locker in the multiplayer lobby that they can fill with any items they have collected in the game. There is a lot of customization here and it is fun to look at everyone’s lockers to see all of the creativity on display.

Example of the new SplashTags

The multiplayer co-op mode Salmon Run has also received some new additions. It is now always available to play as opposed to how it was in Splatoon 2 when you could only play the mode during scheduled times of the day. Also, you can now throw eggs as opposed to only being able to drop them which makes a huge difference in strategy this time. You also have a chance to face a gigantic boss at the end of your runs, which is great fun. I have faced him twice so far and defeated him once.

Final Thoughts

Nintendo has done an outstanding job with Splatoon 3. While not a groundbreaking entry in the series, they have cleaned up so many areas from the previous games while adding enough new stuff to keep the fanbase engaged. They have also promised plenty of post launch support, both free and paid, so this game should remain fresh for many years. If you have thought about dipping your toes into Splatoon, now is a great time to jump in. Thanks for reading.

by ibmacin

My Favorite Things of 2021

It’s been another year & I am back with another favorite things list. I hope everyone who reads this had a great 2021! On to the list.

686 Everywhere Pant (Slim)

On last year’s list I posted about my love for the Denali Travel Pant. I still love and wear these pants to this day. However, for my birthday this year, my wife bought me 2 pairs of the 686 Everywhere pants. While considerably more expensive than the travel pants I had worn up until this point, the Everywhere pants are a massive upgrade in every way. These are the most comfortable pants I have ever worn. I have been wearing them very regularly since getting them and even purchased a 3rd pair later in the year. I cannot recommend these pants enough.

Nike SB Zoom Blazer Low Pro GT Skate

I picked up my first pair of Blazers this year and I couldn’t be more happy with them. I have never been into the Air Force 1s or Dunks but the Blazers has always been appealing to me. I love how these look and also how they feel on foot. I have some similar shoes in the Vans Old Skools as well as the Adidas Sambas that are not close to these in comfort. Very happy with this pair of shoes.

Blundstone #585 in Rustic Brown

I purchased my first pair of boots in over 10 years this year. I picked up some Blundstones on a trip to Austin this year and have been very happy with them. These boots are tough, comfortable, and I love the way they look. I plan on having these around for the next 10 years.

Patagonia Ultralight Black Hole Hip Pack

I purchased this fanny pack back in April and it has proven to be a very handy bag to take with me on the go. First off, it packs into it’s own front pocket and becomes very small, so you can easily bring it anywhere. It’s also made of a very durable ripstop material and is extremely lightweight. I hate carrying a bunch of items in my pocket when I am walking around the city and this little bag is perfect to put all of my small items in. I can carry my iPhone, wallet, keys, chapstick, sunglasses, and a spare battery pack all in this little pack. You can wear it around your waist like it’s the 80s again or, you can wear it crossbody which is what I prefer.

iPad mini 6

I have already wrote an entire post about my love for this little tablet. I still love it and use it everyday. It is extremely portable and is a pleasure to use. Long live the mini!

Nintendo Switch OLED Model

I am a huge fan of the Nintendo Switch and was very happy to upgrade to the new OLED model when it was released this fall. It is a very nice upgrade over the regular switch in several key ways. Obviously the new OLED screen is the star of the show, being both larger in size as well as much more vibrant. Throw in a massively improved kickstand, better speakers, and those sweet, sweet white Joy-Cons and you have yourself a pretty solid upgrade.

Apple Fitness +

I love Apple Fitness + but of course I would right? It seems like it was made for people just like me. I am very fitness oriented and, as a huge Apple fan, I have all of the required gear already. While not for everybody, I love that I can do classes from my iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV wherever I am and the Apple Watch integration is so, so good. I love working out outside more than anything but when the weather is not cooperating, I am pumped to open up Apple Fitness and close my rings for the day!

by ibmacin

Pikmin Bloom

I have been playing Pikmin Bloom for a little over a week and a half now and wanted to give my thoughts. Pikmin Bloom is a new game on both Google Play & iOS from Niantic, the creators of Pokémon GO.

For those unaware, I will do my best to explain what Pikmin Bloom essentially is. The goal of the game is to walk around outside and find seedlings scattered about. You grow the seedlings by walking a certain amount of steps until they are ready to be plucked. They will then follow you on the map and help you find other items and additional seedlings.

You can feed your Pikmin nectar found from fruit that the Pikmin gather to have them sprout flowers on their heads. You collect the petals from their flowers and plant them as you walk to grow flowers everywhere you walk. Along the way, you may encounter giant flowers that require you to plant smaller flowers all around them for them to bloom. Once the giant flowers bloom you can collect valuable items each time you walk past them. After you reach a certain level, you may also encounter mushrooms, which you can tackle alone or with up to four other people. Upon taking down the mushrooms you will gain various items as well.

This trailer gives a brief overview as to what the game is all about:

As someone who really enjoyed Pokémon GO for a time, I was curious to try out Pikmin Bloom. I don’t play very many phone games, (I much prefer playing the Nintendo Switch for portable games) so I figured I would try it out for a day or two and then be done with it. I did not expect at all to fall in love with it but that is exactly what happened! Below are some of my favorite things about Pikmin Bloom so far:

  • I love that like Pokémon Go before it, Pikmin Bloom encourages you to get out and walk. In fact, with less things to stop for in Pikmin Bloom versus Pokémon GO, I find myself walking more and stopping less to interact with the game. As someone who loves walking anyway, this game is perfect for me and I find that it pushes me to walk even further than I typically would.
  • Another thing that really incentivizes me to get out and walk is that the app lets you look at any players on your friend list’s total lifetime step count. This has been a huge motivator for me to get out and walk more!
  • I also love how simple the game is right now. You can get in and out in just a couple of minutes. It respects my time which is definitely what I am looking for in a phone game.
  • I like how there are special Pikmin, called Decor Pikmin, that wear special costumes tied to where you found their seedlings originally. This feature encourages you to walk around places you may not typically think of to try and get all of the various forms of Decor Pikmin.
  • I also like the social aspects of Pikmin Bloom. Not only can you send postcards that your Pikmin find to your friends, but if you are with your friends irl, you can walk and plant flowers together, as well as tackle some of the harder expeditions together. It’s a lot of fun to play with a friend or friends!
  • The last feature I wanted to highlight is the daily log feature. Every night, you will get a notification to go into the app and look at how you did for the day. It will show you how many steps you had that day as well as show on the map all of the flowers you planted for the day. It will then ask you how your day was and prompt you to post a picture or pictures from your phone that were taken that day as a memory. I initially did not think I would like this feature but it turns out to be a lot of fun! I am looking forward to looking back at my daily log in a few months and being reminded of all of the things I did on various days through the pictures that I uploaded.

If all of this sounds like something you want to check out, I highly encourage you to download it and try it out for yourself. Now is a great time to jump in as Niantic is holding the first Pikmin Bloom Community Day this Saturday on November 13th. You can download it on iOS here and on Google Play here.

by ibmacin

My Favorite Things of 2019

Hello all, I know it has been some time since I last posted here but I’m going to try and post more frequently going forward. I thought a fun way to get back into writing would be a list of some of my favorite items that I picked up in 2019. These are all things that brought me a lot of joy over the past year. Without further ado, let’s jump right in!

  • Giant Escape 3 hybrid bicycle: I got on a fitness kick in the second half of this year and this is one of my favorite fitness related purchases I have made to date. I picked this bike up secondhand and I absolutely love it! I have put over 300 miles on it already and I see many more in my future. I even started commuting to work some on this bike, which has been a ton of fun!

  • Brooks Adrenaline GTS 19 running shoes – My other favorite fitness related purchase, these shoes have been incredible for my running. I got these from a local running store where they do a gait test on you before they recommend what type of shoe you should go with. I was experiencing a lot of pain with my previous shoes and it turns out I had been wearing completely the wrong shoes. These have been a total game-changer for me!

  • Topo Chico – As part of my effort to lose some weight and become more fit this year, I gave up soda and caffeine completely. I quickly became bored of only drinking water so I started to try out various sparkling waters. It took some trial and error to figure out what I liked and didn’t. Topo Chico mineral water is by far my favorite drink now. I keep some stocked at both home and work now and I truly believe that discovering this wonderful drink has kept me from going back to soda.

AirPods Pro

 

  • AirPods Pro  – The newest item on this list. I picked these up just the other day. They are better in some ways and worse in some ways compared to the regular AirPods. The noise cancelling is absolutely fantastic and the sound quality is better to my ears. On the other hand, they are not as comfortable as the regular AirPods. Still, I’m very glad I picked these up.

  • North Face Field Bag sling – In an effort to get away from carrying a backpack every single day, I ordered this more compact sling bag after doing a lot of research online. I am absolutely in love with this bag! I can carry all of my daily essentials, save for my water bottle (more on that later), in a much smaller package than with a backpack. I carry my iPad mini, Switch Lite, sunglasses, battery pack, cables, keys, wallet, & AirPods and it all just fits perfectly. Embrace the man bag and live your best life!

  • Hydro Flask Tag Along Bottle Slings – I discovered these at a local outdoor gear store and fell in love with them! The Hydro Flask water bottles have been my favorite water bottles for years now and this is a great way to carry them around on walks with the family, at the farmer’s market, the zoo, or wherever you want to have a water bottle handy but don’t want to hold it.

  • Nintendo Switch Lite – The Nintendo Switch Lite is such a great little handheld! I am living the two Switch life now, with my original Switch pretty much always docked at home while the Switch Lite goes everywhere with me now. I love the compact size, how sturdy it feels in the hands, and the classic d-pad that they included on this model.

  • iPad Mini 5 – I thought we might never see the day but Apple decided to update my all-time favorite iPad this year! I have always loved the iPad Mini ever since Apple released the original one years ago. I had to give up my 4th generation iPad Mini a couple of years ago as it had gotten too slow for my liking but I happily picked up the iPad Mini 5 at launch and I am so glad I did. This thing is extremely fast, super thin and lightweight, and is much more than just a big iPhone, especially now that iPad OS is out. I take this guy everywhere with me!

  • Birkenstock Arizona EVAs – Full disclosure, I actually got a pair of these last year but really only started wearing them this year. The Birkenstock Arizona EVA’s have become my go-to summer shoe. I love how they look but more importantly, I love how they feel. They are incredibly comfortable! I wear them with or without socks and I picked up my second pair this summer. I also love how they are waterproof so if they get dirty, you can just wash them off and they look brand new. They are also relatively affordable compared to the leather and cork Birkenstocks.

Better Sweater

  • Patagonia Men’s Performance Better Sweater Hoody– I picked up this fleece sweater from Patagonia after doing a lot of research and it is very close to being the perfect sweater for me. I went with the performance hooded version of this jacket as it has some stretchy side panels which give you better movement compared to the regular version of the Better Sweater and I really wanted a hood. This, along with my Nano Puff jacket I got last year, are my go-to jackets and will be so for years to come.
by ibmacin

Introducing: The Kuribo’s Shoe Podcast!

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Hello all! I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I have started a podcast! The Kuribo’s Shoe Podcast is a Nintendo centric podcast & I couldn’t be happier to share it with all who are interested. I have 2 episodes up right now:

  • Episode 0 is a brief introduction to the podcast and explains why I am doing the show and where the (to some) strange name for the podcast comes from.
  • Episode 1 went up this morning! It is all about Year One of the Nintendo Switch. I was thrilled to be joined on this episode by one of my best friends, Chad, and we talked all about the Nintendo Switch and each of our personal top 5 games released for it to date.

The plan going forward with the podcast is to release a new episode every two weeks on Friday. Hopefully, I can have a co-host for each episode if at all possible.

If a podcast about Nintendo is of interest to you, please do us a favor and subscribe. It would mean so much. Or, if you know of someone who might would enjoy it, please tell them about the show. Again, it would be much appreciated. Links for everything will be at the bottom of this post.

I have wanted to do something like this for several years now and I’m so glad that I finally took the plunge. We have lots of room to improve as we record more & more episodes but I was really happy with our first effort. Please bear with us as we continue to improve.

You can find our show page on Anchor here.

You can find us on iTunes or Apple Podcasts here.

You can find us on Pocket Casts here.

Our twitter page for the show can be found here.

We will be on Google Play Music very soon hopefully. We are in the process of getting approved.

Oh, one more thing. If you enjoy the podcast and wanted to give us a rating on iTunes or through the Apple Podcasts app, that would be like really really nice of you. 😉

by ibmacin

The Nintendo Switch

I got a Nintendo Switch on launch day and now that I have had it for a little over a week, I wanted to give my impressions on the hardware as well as the software that I have played so far. Please note that these impressions are from a lifelong Nintendo fan who has owned every system since the NES.

I have been excited for the Switch ever since Nintendo released their first video for it last year. I read and watched everything that I could building up to the release. I preordered it the day that preorders opened up as well. I also went with a buddy of mine to PAX South in San Antonio early this year, where Nintendo was showing off the Switch to the public for one of the first times. We loved it so much that we waited in the line twice so we could play everything that we wanted! I even lined up with the same friend at Best Buy for the midnight launch to get our games and accessories. So you can imagine my excitement on Friday, March 3rd when I picked up my shiny new Switch from UPS! Below are my likes and dislikes with the Switch itself as well as the games that I have played over the last week.

Hardware

Likes

  • I really like the neon version of the Switch that I picked up, it just has more character than the gray version in my opinion. The colors of the neon red and neon blue Joy Con controllers just really pop.
  • I love the speed of the Switch software! Compared to the slowness of both the Wii U and 3DS’ operating systems, the Switch OS is super fast. Switching between the home menu and the game you are playing is super quick, as is putting the Switch to sleep and waking it back up. Also, the day one patch for the Switch downloaded and installed in less than a minute for me! I don’t believe I ever had an update for the Wii U that didn’t take at least 10-15 minutes to download and install.
  • I was also pleasantly surprised with how quick you can go from TV mode when the Switch is docked to handheld mode when you un-dock it. It happens within a second I would say!
  • I absolutely love the Pro Controller that I picked up along with the Switch. I fell in love with it the first time I used it at PAX South. In my opinion, it is the best controller Nintendo has made so far. It has the perfect weight, great battery life, perfect stick placement, and all of the Amiibo functionality, HD rumble, and motion controls of the other controllers built in. Yes, it is expensive, but to me it is worth the price.
  • Lastly, I just really like the premise of this system. It is great to be able to have a home console that you can also take with you wherever, whether that is on a trip, to the park, or just to the recliner in your living room. I love that with the two Joy Con controllers that it comes with, you are set up for co-op games right out of the box too. Battery life has been fine for me as well. I know people complain about it getting just around 3 hours playing Zelda but have these people ever played with a 3DS? I have had multiple 3DS’ for years and that’s about what I get with them as well. Would I like it to be more, absolutely. But with a full time job and a baby at home, I’m not really ever at the point where I am playing this thing un-docked for 3 hours straight. If you do, the Switch conveniently charges via USB-C, so you can always just get an external battery pack to prolong your play sessions.

Dislikes

  • The kickstand on the back of the Switch is just terrible. The sound it makes when you open it is terrible, the angle it puts the Switch at is terrible, the flimsiness of it is terrible, and the fact that it will only work on a hard, flat surface is terrible. What was Nintendo thinking with this thing? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • The Joy Con straps that Nintendo give you to slide onto the left and right Joy Cons are pretty badly designed. First off, you can easily put them on the wrong way if you are not really paying attention. When you do put them on wrong, the pressure you have to apply to them to remove them makes it feel like you are going to break the controller. Secondly, even when you get them on right, they still are not smooth or easy to remove at all. I really don’t like these things.
  • The dock itself is super flimsy and hollow feeling. Once you mess with one you wonder why Nintendo charges so much if you want another one. There is hardly anything to it.
  • The Switch operating system, while speedy, is not fully baked. You can add friends but not message with them & the online service Nintendo is building is not going to be ready until much later in the year either. Nintendo has never been known for having an awesome online service but this is extremely bare bones. Here’s hoping that they add more functionality sooner rather than later.
  • I very much disliked the taste of the Nintendo Switch cartridges when I tried one! They taste super gross! See this story for context haha.

Software

Likes

  • Let’s get this out of the way at the very first. The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild is an absolutely amazing game. It is unlike any Zelda game that has come before and allows a since of freedom and exploration that I have rarely seen before. The sheer size of the world and things to do and various ways that you can approach different problems is insane. The fact that after a very brief tutorial at the beginning of the game, that you can then just go anywhere and start exploring is such a cool concept. The only 3 games I can think of that have hooked me in this way in my entire life are Animal Crossing on the GameCube, Pokemon Blue on the Game Boy, and Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64. That’s really it for me, this game is that good. Sure, I have played the majority of the mainline Zelda games but I’m telling you this game is different. This game is special in a way that few are. I find myself thinking about it when I am not playing it and when I am playing it, I am playing it for far longer that I intend to. Throw in the fact that I can play this game at home on my big screen and then need to leave and can just un-dock it and take it with me wherever I go and it just feels magical to me! I know that the Nintendo Switch launch lineup of games is pretty limited but trust me, this game alone is worth buying a Switch for in my opinion.
  • Another game I bought and have really enjoyed is Snipperclips – Cut it out, together!. This is a equally parts cute and clever co-op puzzle game where you are trying to solve puzzles together with your partner. My wife and I have had a ton of fun playing this together, and it is easily worth the $20 price tag in my opinion.
  • I also have bought the Shovel Knight Treasure Trove bundle. I never did play Shovel Knight on any of the platforms it was on previously so this bundle that came with everything was perfect. This is a really fun game that is made in the style of an 8-bit platformer like the ones I grew up playing. It also has co-op play which is something that I can’t wait to try out!

Dislikes

  • I bought Super Bomberman R and so far, I’m not really enjoying it. Now, I have only been playing the single player campaign so far and I know multiplayer is where Bomberman shines, but I have not been super impressed as of now. Maybe playing the campaign in co-op and playing some 4 player multiplayer will redeem it, but I am skeptical. Right now, it would be hard for me to recommend it, at least at its current price. It has a terrible camera angle, mediocre music, and some pretty bad slowdown as well.

Miscellaneous

  • I purchased Nintendo’s other launch game: 1-2-Switch, but have not got the chance to play it yet. I mostly bought it to play with my wife and friends but just have not had the chance to play it so far.
  • Some of the games I am very much looking forward to are: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in April, Splatoon 2 this summer, and of course, Super Mario Odyssey this winter.
  • Sales numbers so far for the Switch have been promising and anecdotally, it seems like there is much more talk and interest in the Nintendo Switch than the poor Wii U ever had. I sure hope it is a success for Nintendo. They could really use another hit after the disappointing sales of the Wii U. I personally don’t want to ever live in a world where Nintendo stops making their own hardware. Nobody makes quality, fun filled, family friendly games as well as interesting hardware quite like Nintendo does.
  • These are my initial impressions of the Switch so far. I am looking forward to playing it much more over the coming weeks and meeting up with some buddies of mine that also bought Switches and playing some multiplayer games.

Thanks for reading!

by ibmacin

Why I love the 3DS

3dsI have been wanting to write about the Nintendo 3DS for a while now. In some ways, I believe it gets lost in the conversation amongst all of the talk about smartphones and tablets. It’s subpar launch certainly didn’t help things either. But as of late, I really think the system is hitting it’s stride. I have certainly enjoyed using mine lately. So how did the 3DS turn things around and why should you care enough to consider buying one? Let’s go back to the launch of the system. The Nintendo 3DS launched in America on March 27, 2011 for $249.99, which is a lot of money for a handheld system. To add further frustration, Nintendo only released two first party games at launch – The decent Pilotwings Resort and the not so decent Steel Diver, not exactly heavy hitters like Super Mario or The Legend of Zelda. On top of that Nintendo’s eShop, their version of the app store for downloadable games, demos, and movies wasn’t ready for launch. It wasn’t until June later that year that the eShop finally went live for 3DS owners. It’s fairly easy to see how a $250 handheld system with zero must have games and a not quite feature complete OS didn’t exactly take the world by storm in the world of iPod touches, smartphones, and tablets, not to mention Nintendo’s previous handheld, the DS, which was dirt cheap by this point. I  bought a 3Ds on launch day and after a few weeks of Pilotwings and the built in software it basically sat on the table collecting dust. It would occasionally get turned on but not very often. It looked like as great of a success as the DS had been for Nintendo they had really screwed up with the 3DS. Sales were weak and the public was seemingly indifferent towards it. It looked like that maybe the time for dedicated handheld video game systems had passed by. But then Nintendo started to turn things around. On July 28th 2011, just 4 months after it’s release Nintendo dropped the price of the 3DS a substantial $80.00 from $249.99 to $169.99. They apologized for the lack of games and gave everybody who had paid $249.99 for the 3DS twenty free downloadable games (10 NES games & 10 Game Boy Advance games) as a goodwill gesture. The games being released were more frequent and of better quality, the eShop became a great place for cheap downloadable games as well as classic Game Boy and NES games which could be bought cheaply, and sales dramatically improved. On August 19th 2012 Nintendo released the 3DS XL in North America. I traded in my launch 3DS for a shiny blue 3DS XL on that day and am extremely happy with it. Boasting dramatically bigger screens, better battery life, and being much more comfortable to hold, in my opinion it is a superior system in every way. I wholeheartedly recommend the XL if you are on the fence between it and the original. So what is so great about the 3DS? First off is the games. I have grown up playing Nintendo games and will always have a special place in my heart for them. Nintendo’s systems are the only place where you can play these games and the 3DS already has a bunch of good ones. Some of the best ones available now are Super Mario 3D Land, Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon, Mario Kart 7, Professor Layton & The Miracle Mask, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and quite a few others. There are plenty more on the way too. Just this year will see the release of Animal Crossing New Leaf, Mario and Luigi Dream Team, Pokemon X/Y, The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2, and Mario Party, with Yoshi’s Island, Monster Hunter 4, and Super Smash Bros. all coming after this year. There are more games for this system I am looking forward to than the rest of them combined. That’s not even mentioning any of the downloadable games either (My downloadable picks are HarmoKnight, Gunman Clive, Pushmo, and Mutant Mudds). Another thing I like about the 3DS are the built in social features, most notably StreetPass. StreetPass works when you are walking around with your 3DS closed. When you pass by another person with a 3DS both people get notified the next time they open up their systems. Their Mii will visit your 3DS and your Mii will visit theirs. You can use people’s Miis to help play mini games built into the system and to collect Nintendo themed puzzle pieces. It sounds strange but it is quite addicting. I recently went to the Dallas Comic-Con and brought my 3DS where I received many StreetPasses. It was really cool seeing the people, where they were from, and what they had been playing. I guess to summarize it all up, if you grew up with Nintendo and haven’t recently paid them any attention, check out the 3DS. It is a great little system and has really turned itself around. The last numbers I could find were about 31 million units sold. This thing isn’t going anywhere, and there are a lot of great games still to come. Mine certainly hasn’t gathered dust in a long time now. Now if only Nintendo could turn around the Wii U……..