Belat3DS: late lifecycle 3DS games

[Olli]

I recently realized that I still own a 3DS that I haven't used in several years. The last game I played was probably ALBW, which I must have finished in 2014 or early 2015. The console was discontinued in 2020, which leaves at the very least 5 years worth of games on the console. What's worth checking out?

 

[Ixo]

While it wasn’t quite what I had hoped it was going to be, Ever Oasis is worth picking up. Even if just for the noots.

It’s part resource hunting, part dungeon crawling with some town building & management thrown in. Gets a little repetitive, and all the post game is 99% “okay, get / defeat X thing / creature out of the one big dungeon.” It’s also cute as heck, to be expected from Koichi Ishii designs.

 

[ArugulaZ]

I 'unno. I think Kirby Planet Robo-bobobo-bobobot came late in the machine's life, and it's good, although I'm in the minority who preferred the more traditional Triple Deluxe. Project X Zone 2 provides amusement and geeky thrills by smashing together characters from different brands, and having them clash in SRPG battles with a slight fighting game influence. You hit buttons to juggle enemies and keep them aloft for more damage.

Culdcept Revolt is probably the most recent game I've got, but you probably know that one pretty well by now. It's Monopoly meets Magic: The Gathering, but what I like about this one is that it's better explained than past entries. If you don't know how to play the game, you'll get a thorough and effective education by the time you finish the tutorial. If you still haven't picked up on the finer points, you'll get a gold arrow which points you to the best cards you can play. It's probably the most user friendly entry in the series, although it helps that it's one of the few that was released in America and the only one (?) published by Nintendo.

 

[muteKi]

Gotta love Rhythm Heaven Megamix and Warioware Gold, even if the release of each feels like a terrifyingly last hurrah for their respective series.

 

[narcodis]

I think the absolute last game released on the 3DS was Persona Q2, which I know nothing about but I hear is good if you like that sort of game. There's also Persona Q.

Monster Hunter Stories was a good one! Kinda went under everyone's radar I feel like. It is a turn-based monster catching RPG with monsters from the MonHuniverse. More importantly, it lets you ride around on the monsters you catch. Lots of cool exploration and stuff. Thematically is similar to like a saturday morning cartoon, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Alliance Alive is maybe my favorite RPG on the 3DS??? It got a switch port so that might be more worth checking out if you've got a switch. I love this game.

Etrian Odyssey 5 is pretty good! I also own Etrian Odyssey Nexus, but have yet to even pop the cartridge in.

Samus Returns was a pretty cool remake of Metroid 2!

Nintendo also went and put a fresh coat of paint on Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, and Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story, both which are great if you've never played them. Bowsers Inside Story also comes with some like, other game? Bowser Jr's whatever. I know nothing about it despite owning it myself.

 

[q 3]

Pocket Card Jockey is the single best horse-raising, horse-racing, FreeCell solitaire-em-up there is. Probably the only one, too, but who's counting. Unironically the best game GameFreak has put out in recent years.

Persona Q2 was a personal apology from Atlus to me for their prior neglect of the female protagonist of P3P. She's practically the star of the show, and it's delightful. Also it's a half decent Etrian-like.

Style Savvy: Styling Star is the apex of the dressup RPG genre, if for no other reason than it has an actual fully realized story mode. Also god bless Nintendo Europe for their inexplicable love for this franchise, we got all the songs dubbed in English and pretty darn well!

7th Dragon III: Code VFD is the finale to one of Sega's last classic JRPG franchises, and also the only entry officially localized. D'oh! It stands tall on its own, though, with some interesting battle mechanics (field nine characters at once!), a gonzo time travel plot, excellent Yuzo Koshiro music, and probably the most openly queer entry in the RPG dating sim genre (granted, that still means there are some horny bad anime character designs lurking within).

 

[Dracula]

The last game I played on 3DS was Samus Returns, which I got not too long after I'd bought a Switch. I loved it and I'll probably play it again someday.

 

[Violentvixen]

Pocket Card Jockey is the single best horse-raising, horse-racing, FreeCell solitaire-em-up there is. Probably the only one, too, but who's counting. Unironically the best game GameFreak has put out in recent years.

Persona Q2 was a personal apology from Atlus to me for their prior neglect of the female protagonist of P3P. She's practically the star of the show, and it's delightful. Also it's a half decent Etrian-like.

Yes, another vote for these too. So fun.

Technically it's right before your time window, but if you haven't played it Fantasy Life is a delight.

 

[Exposition Owl]

I also really liked Ever Oasis. It felt to me like the first Mana-style game I’d played that didn’t have a bunch of weird rough edges in its design.

 

[John]

I've only played the intro to SMT: Strange Journey Redux, but it's interesting so far. I've never gotten into a monster/demon collecting RPG, so we'll see if it sticks with me. If you didn't play this on DS, the 3DS is apparently the way to go.

I also vote for the Picross games, even though they're not all late titles. If you want to walk on the wild side a bit, you can find the JP exclusive e9 and Club Nintendo Picross games that weren't released in EU/US.

 

[WildcatJF]

Alliance Alive is maybe my favorite RPG on the 3DS??? It got a switch port so that might be more worth checking out if you've got a switch. I love this game.

Oh my god, The Alliance Alive is incredible!! Delightful characters push a lighthearted but compelling narrative along at a great clip. An intriguing battle engine lets the player have a remarkable amount of freedom to customize character setups and formations. Great environmental art direction and musical accompaniment. Lots of exploration, discovery and recruitment to maximize your party’s guild support network. I wrote a mostly spoiler free opinion piece when I played it in 2018 (it only briefly touches on some character personality and costuming stuff, along with some very early plot beats), and it's one of my Top 50 games of all time.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is really close to being my 2nd favorite in the series. Excellent character design and voicework push a fairly rote storyline into grander places. Sensational soundtrack backs the action. It twists the Fire Emblem mechanics in very unique ways, making it stand out from its peers in many ways (and most of them are great!), including dungeon diving! Combat is still relentless and a delight but not as brutal as some titles in the franchise. Again, I wrote on it on my blog if you want more thoughts (there are some spoilers in this, mind). Another Top 50 game.

 

[Violentvixen]

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is really close to being my 2nd favorite in the series. Excellent character design and voicework push a fairly rote storyline into grander places. Sensational soundtrack backs the action. It twists the Fire Emblem mechanics in very unique ways, making it stand out from its peers in many ways (and most of them are great!), including dungeon diving! Combat is still relentless and a delight but not as brutal as some titles in the franchise. Again, I wrote on it on my blog if you want more thoughts (there are some spoilers in this, mind). Another Top 50 game.

Oh wait, this was that late in the 3DS lifecycle? Definitely recommend this one. For some reason I thought it was earlier.

 

[Beowulf]

The last game I played on 3DS was Samus Returns, which I got not too long after I'd bought a Switch. I loved it and I'll probably play it again someday.

Samus Returns was among the last games I played on mine too, and I agree that it was solid. I loved all three Kirby games (I think Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot were both great, but the port of Epic Yarn was still good). I've generally liked every Mario & Luigi game, and while I'd argue Bowser's Inside Story is my favorite, Paper Jam has some really fun tweaks to it.

Second all of recommendations for Alliance Alive, which was a wonderful melding of SaGa and Suikoden.

 

[Olli]

Instead of listening to anyone's advice, I went and bought Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice, because for some reason I had completely missed this entry (I thought it was phone only?). This was not as easy as it might have been, as apparently you can't just buy things from the eShop with a credit card anymore, you need to have a gift card or go to a website and buy credits in weirdly sized increments. Thanks Nintendo!


I also noticed I have another free Shovel Knight prequel, King of Cards, thanks to backing the game on Kickstarter back in the day. Hooray!

 

[Ixo]

Technically it's right before your time window, but if you haven't played it Fantasy Life is a delight.

Especially if you can get a multiplayer session going. It's great fun emoting at your friends in between teaming up to take out the bigger challenges around Reveria.

 

[FelixSH]

Another shout-out for Samus Returns. I don't think it replaces the original, or even the fan remake, but it is a very fun game in its own right. Not for everyone (it is relatively combat heavy, IIRC), but I had a lot of fun with it, a few years ago.

Instead of listening to anyone's advice, I went and bought Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice, because for some reason I had completely missed this entry

Who advised you against it? Is it disliked? I'm playing it right now, for the first time, probably at the end of the third case, and like it a lot.

 

[Olli]

Who advised you against it? Is it disliked? I'm playing it right now, for the first time, probably at the end of the third case, and like it a lot.

I meant I'm ignoring people's advice in this thread, I haven't heard of people badmouthing SoJ.

 

[Positronic Brain]

You also missed the last installments of Picross and Picross 3D.

 

[ArugulaZ]

I meant I'm ignoring people's advice in this thread, I haven't heard of people badmouthing SoJ.

I do seem to remember people hating that Professor Layton sequel with his daughter as the protagonist and the talking dog, though.

 

[Beowulf]

I do seem to remember people hating that Professor Layton sequel with his daughter as the protagonist and the talking dog, though.

It's...okay? Honestly, the Layton games peaked and then declined over the course of the 3DS era--I thought it was long in the tooth by Azran Legacy. If someone was starting the series for the first time, I'd probably point them to Last Specter.

 

[Ludendorkk]

I do seem to remember people hating that Professor Layton sequel with his daughter as the protagonist and the talking dog, though.

The trouble for the Layton series is that the guy who designed most of the series puzzles died.

 

[Olli]

You also missed the last installments of Picross and Picross 3D.

Picross is definitely something I enjoy!

 

[Son of Sinistar]

3D Out Run is a great port of the arcade game, with graphics, sound, and gameplay settings to adjust the experience.

Edit: Zero Time Dilemma also came out in the that time frame. It's worth playing if you enjoyed the first two games though it was also released on PS4 and PC.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

If you liked Bravely Default, Bravely Second is more of that with a much better late game gimmick.

Dragon Quest VII is a quality entry in the series, though it may take you until the end of time to finish it.

Oh, and Paper Jam.