3DS/2DS: Getting my act together

 

It’s been roughly two years since production of the Switch’s older sister stopped for good — and when I say ‘for good’, I cannot help but mean it a bit literally.

 

In hindsight, the 3DS tenure now feels like an absolute purge. A part of my gamer’s soul is still vomiting the system; and the Switch Lite era, all amazing games and absence of region lock, only makes my disgust more vivid. Collecting for the 3DS/2DS was an absolute hassle, whether you consider games or pieces of kit themselves. It’s not just the hateful region lock; it’s also the console’s late-life iterations, such as the New 3DS, the 2DS and the New 2DS. I bought what feels like a million 3DS and 2DS, only to end up with the third smallest of all my sub-collections — beaten only by the GBA and the Game Boy. 

 

 

I love the New 2DS, that much is sure. I own a couple of them, and I wouldn’t part with them for all the money in the world; however, I now realise all the rest has to go. And by ‘all the rest’, I mean all my European 3DS, my two North-American 3DS, and that Japanese 3DS I bought on a whim to play 7^TH Dragon III — right before learning it would be localized. Needless to say, all my Japanese and North-American games have to go as well. For one, there are more than enough good games out there, and I don’t need to cling desperately to every single title; for another, I really don’t own that many North-American and Japanese games to begin with. See for yourselves:

 

—      Code of Princess (NA): part of the New Classic rejects

—      Moco Moco Friends (NA): same thing

—      Rune Factory 4 (NA): I own the Switch version. Nuff said!

—      The Alliance Alive (NA): same as above.

—   Shin Megami Tensei IV (NA): didn't pass the New Classic test.

—      Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2 (JP): The first entry should be enough to satiate me. Not only that, but that sequel may well pop up on the Switch one day. 

—      Lord of Magna – Maiden Heaven (NA): I said before that I wanted to keep it; but I honestly don’t want it enough to keep a dedicated 3DS just for it.

—      Langrisser Re:Incarnation Tensei (NA) : I don’t even really wanna play that game to begin with — especially since I own Langrisser I&II on the Switch.

—      7^th Dragon III – Code VFD (NA&JP): I own the European version, so obviously I don’t need that pair.

—      Reve Unitia (JP): I don’t even know why I bought that game, honestly. An SRPG Tales spinoff? Let’s get real here, there is just no way I’ll ever play that thing.

—      Dragon Quest XI (JP): There is obviously no need to keep that game now that I own the Switch version.

—      Fire Emblem Warriors (New 3DS/2DS exclusive): A game that is tied to a very specific version of a given system is just a giant thorn in a gamer’s side. If I wanna play Fire Emblem Warriors, I’ll just buy the Switch version, which comes with a very gentle price tag.

 

 

I’m not disowning these consoles and games, though; on the contrary, I’m respectfully acknowledging their importance in my gaming career. They belong to a time when my collecting impulses couldn’t be fully satisfied by games and systems I loved in earnest; I just had to redirect them somewhere, and the purchase of North-American and Japanese 3DS and games was the result of that rerouting. The fact that I’m able to discard them now means that the gaming times are better, and that my collecting impulses don’t need to roam weird avenues to be fulfilled. On a side note, seeing how tiny my 3DS collection is really makes me wanna to put it to the New Classic test without delay — just imagine how good it’ll feel to have a whole sub-collection sorted out! I’ll get to that soon, dear fellow gamers, and you’ll be the first to know about it. In the meantime, keep doing whatever makes you happy, and take care!