Well, I took some time to jot down some thoughts on the one handheld that everyone seems to agree was the bee’s knees: the Nintendo 3DS (and all its various iterations thereafter!)
It’s one I’ve gone through a few ‘phases’ with - collecting, modding, selling, then buying a ‘perfect’ one, then…the pattern just repeats and repeats. I love how truly customizable it is now that it is…essentially an abandoned generation. The community took things to great new heights (those themes!!!), 3D printed docks and displays, vinyl stickers…it makes me so happy to see how very few 3DS consoles look like anyone else’s.
The market is getting crazy though. Prices are only going up (and special editions are going waaaay up), but it’s nice to see options like the Thor, Pocket DS and Anbernic’s RG DS coming up to give modern users some solutions to playing.
Anyway
Don’t expect anything wonderful here, I wasn’t even sure what to write for this article. I guess while I call it a retrospective, it just touches on some key points in the lifetime of the 3DS system.
P.S. 100% ready for any 3DS games recommendations to be shared!!!
The Gameboy Advance could connect to a GameCube and Wii (both as a controller and to link games), GBC and N64 had the transfer pak
IMHO that was the best era of games, besides the NDS. I absolutely want the return of mobile + stationary modes in games, especially local multiplayer games. The GBA could for example show private game state to its player when used as a controller for a GameCube game! And you could bring your characters to your friend’s games without needing an Amiibo, you just linked your consoles together.
Look how far this dude went to recreate it;
https://www.ign.com/articles/how-four-friends-built-a-hypercube-to-play-final-fantasy-crystal-chronicles-together-in-2023