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remimibanana · 1 year ago

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Nintendo 3DS Retrospective Part 2: A System’s Function

The beauty of this handheld is that there are so many things you can do on this system without even having a game. I think it's what gave the 3DS its charm, giving you a reason to keep playing.

As a kid, I didn’t have any internet. The closest I had was this Telstra Prepaid Wi-Fi stick where I used to waste all the internet downloading Sailor Moon videos. There was a short period where I was able to connect my 3DS to the internet so I got to experience at least the heyday a bit!

Anyway, I spent most of my time on the system itself, the lovely Home Menu and all its built in software. I have a lot to say about all these!

Part 2 is under the cut!

I had three 3DSs at the very end, to which only one works properly. The other two have issues but I still kept them for the precious memories. It's crazy to think how long this handheld has been in my life, and how many memories it gave me.

Without it, I don't think I would be who I am today. I really don't know we will live in a world without it...

For as long as I can, I will keep playing on it! I’ll be 50 and still be on my 3DS lol

How did I get my first 3DS?

It was out of nowhere. I didn't know I was going to get this life changing handheld. My dad and I were driving to our family friend’s house as we always did back in the day, while I stared out the window blissfully unaware.

Once we got there…my dad stopped the car and pulled out a box from under the seat and handed it over to me, telling me that he had a surprise.

It was a red original 3DS?! I took it into my hands, staring at the box in disbelief. I remember the box so vividly, and the awe I felt at the fact my dad got me this?! My dad looked real happy to see me so happy.

I remember wanting to rip it open right then and there. My dad told me to wait until we actually got into the house since he also had another one for my family friend. At the time, I only had my DSI which I used be on all the time.

I remember rushing in and opening my 3DS with my family friend who opened theirs, plugging in the handheld and turning it on for the very first time. The setup music is so nostalgic to me for this reason, I spent some time setting it all up and exploring the home menu.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t charge well to this current day, you have to press down on the charger in order for the system to charge at all. I think something is wrong with the charging port but I was never able to fix it.

This was the first 3DS I ever modded, because I was too afraid to mod my 2DS back when. If I bricked my main 2DS, I would have cried. I nicknamed it my “Luma 3DS” after the custom firmware and installed a whole bunch of games on it! I even got a custom theme with the Luma 3DS logo.

I put it somewhere but I don’t know where it ended up aha

How did I get my second 3DS?

My red 3DS lasted probably a year or two before it decided to stop working out of nowhere. The blue LED would turn on, and then a small pop sound could be heard as it turned off. I remember I was really upset, because I loved this handheld.

I was out of a 3DS.

For my birthday shortly, my grandma bought me a white 3DS XL, the same one as above! It came preinstalled with Mario Kart 7, which is why its my favourite Mario Kart.

I remember pointing at it in Big W when she asked me what I wanted, and my grandma didn't look as happy as I was. I think the price displeased her but she still bought it for me, hehe.

This was my main handheld for years, where my brother used play on it from time to time despite how much I didn't want him to. I still have it to this day, although it is worse for wear. One day, it refused to boot into the Home Menu.

No matter what I tried, it wouldn't boot. It would either be stuck on the Black Screen of Death or it would be stuck on the Home Menu transition you would get when you pressed the home button. It was really devastating for me, I had so many memories on here that I couldn't access anymore.

My red 3DS started working out of nowhere, by the way. One day, I tried turning it on and it booted into the home menu without any trouble. I remember showing my dad and he wondered why I even got this white one if the red one was working.

That’s when I dubbed it my dad’s 3DS since he liked to play Mario Kart 7 with my brother and I from time to time and he would use this one. I actually wiped the whole 3DS for him since I wanted my dad to have it (even though I didn’t have to do that lol).

How did I get my current 2DS?

Surprisingly, I got out of gaming for a while. At least on the 3DS side, which is utter blasphemy to me now. I can't believe I'd ever stop playing this handheld! I feel like it makes me a fraud, you see how much I harp on about this handheld and yet I stopped playing it lol

In 2019, I made a friend who really liked Pokémon. He would often bring his 3DS XL to school to show me his games and all the Pokémon he caught. He would ask me if I had any of the Pokémon games and I said I did. This prompted me to find my red 3DS and buy Pokemon Moon so I could play alongside him.

But alas, since my red 3DS has those issues as you know, it was really hard for me to have a fully charged handheld. I felt so bad when my friend wanted to battle me, but I couldn't half the time since the 3DS was either dead or about to die.

He were kind enough to give me his charging dock for the 3DS, but it still didn't solve the issue.

That’s when I decided for my birthday, I would ask for a new 3DS! I wanted to play with my friend! It was harder to find a new 3DS on sale in the shops at this time, so I went to my local pawn shop. I remember wanting an actual 3DS, but my mum wanted to get something a bit cheaper.

This is why I have my 2DS! It came with its own case, which was one of the reasons I chose it. I didn't mind not having any 3D functionality, since I never used it anyway on either of my previous 3DSs.

It still works to this day, and fully modded! I finally got over my fear of modding it, nothing happened. It really is easy to mod your 3DS, by the way.

I do plan on buying a Japanese New 3DS LL one day, the pink and white one! I've always wanted it for myself!

A sad story...

I used to keep all my games in this case right here, since I didn't like keeping them in their original boxes for some reason. It's a decision I regret to this day, since I really like the boxes!

As I mentioned above, I got out of gaming for some time. It seems like during all that, I misplaced the case. It was gone from sight, no matter where I thought I left it. I looked everywhere, but it was nowhere.

To this day, I have no idea where it is. It's been years...perhaps its gone forever. It's really sad to lose something that meant a lot to you, although I don't blame anyone but myself for this. I should have taken better care of it.

I lost all the games I had physically, and that was practically all my games. I had so many I received over the years, all in a poof. I hope I can manage to find it one day, there are a lot of precious memories in it!

I have a fun fact with this that I’d like to share!

I had two copies of Super Mario 64 DS in here because I lost my first copy and asked my grandma to buy me another one, but then my mum found the first copy some time after lol

Now I take better care of things, but if it ever shows up, I will cry profusely. I hope I can find it!

Home Menu

When you turn on your 3DS, you are met with the Home Menu in all its glory.

It's probably one of my favourite menu designs, alongside the Wii. It's simple yet so effective, the BGM is one everyone will never forget and it's also customizable! I feel like Nintendo peaked here, and then just ditched it when the Switch rolled around.

I used to love scrolling all the way until the very end of the menu, and making the icons bigger or smaller! I also loved making folders to store my games. Ever since my white 3DS, I have a folder for the system titles and a folder for my games and demos!

Themes

With the Home Menu, you were able to customize it with themes! These could be bought from the Theme Shop, which sadly stopped working when they shut down the Nintendo eShop.

I’m using Pokemon Sun and Moon— Tropical currently, but I like swapping them out from time to time. Some have their own BGM and sound effects, while others simply change the background.

Here are some of my favorite ones I have!

Splatoon: Squid Sisters

Senbonzakura/Kurousa

ACNL: Paw Print Room

Kirby Copy Ability Global Poll

Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal

Persona Q2 Theme

Badges

To go with themes, they made badges that you could obtain and add to your menu!

When they released, I remember downloading the Nintendo Badge Arcade when I had the chance to. I'll be making a special post just for it, so please look out for it!

I used to put badges anywhere and everywhere I could! It didn't matter if it looked good or not, I just wanted to have as many as I could!

You could even put them on folders! The absolute peak of this feature.

My favourite badges are the ones that act like software icons, where you could click on them and it would open the software! As you can see, I have ones for each of the built in software. The original titles have been put in a folder at the very end, out of view.

Streetpass Mii Plaza

The iconic plaza that everyone knows! You can’t go hearing Streetpass without the Streetpass Mii Plaza!

I've spent a lot of time on here during my time on this handheld, from its initial stage to what we have now with all the DLC! I have always loved the concept of Streetpass, and I wish they brought it back for the Switch.

Alas.

Let’s talk about each of the things you can do in it! I come from Australia so I'll be using the European names for everything, by the way.

I feel like we can't overlook the main plaza area. The iconic BGM, the sea of Mii characters that you can look over as you increase your plaza population and all the various options and games you can choose from!

Puzzle Swap

I love this little game so much.

As the name suggests, you swap puzzle pieces with the people you Streetpass with to complete various puzzles and gain new ones!

I remember trying very hard to complete all puzzles I had, especially excited when I met new people who had the puzzle pieces I needed! I love the BGM and the little tweet of the bird that swoops in to deliver the pieces you got.

With my 2DS, I have loads of puzzles to complete since I always choose pieces from puzzles I don't have when I get Streetpasses. They are really rare nowadays after all. I want to try to do as many puzzles as I can.

Otherwise, I use Play Coins to buy pieces. This takes forever since you can only buy one at a time, and you aren't guaranteed a piece you don't have. I like to sit there and do this from time to time while watching something.

I have over 500 left to collect...I hope I can complete every single puzzle one day! That will be one of my life goals!

Streetpass Quest

Saving the world has never been so much fun.

This was the first game I ever completed fully, and probably will be the only one. You have to save the King who looks exactly like your Mii from the evil Dark Lord who kidnapped them by recruiting soldiers!

I originally beat this on my white 3DS, slowly progressing through all of the floors. There are many enemies and many types of floors that require certain abilities that are based off the Mii's colour. Very simple but fun!

I remember there was a floor that was bright white which required a Mii with black to darken the floor and a floor that was pitch black, requiring a Mii with white to brighten the area.

The only issue with that was I never got a Mii with those colours. I would buy soldiers with Play Coins, and yet I never got black or white for some reason.

There is also a sequel to this game, where you have to save the Princess and the Prince too! I remember being really surprised when there was more to play.

Later on, they introduced new games, as well as the concept of Streetpass VIP! It was a one time payment and you would receive all of the games available and have added bonuses, such as the ticket system!

I have played every single one, but I'll just talk about the one I enjoyed the most!

Streetpass Garden

This is my favourite game out of all of them. I remember choosing this as the free game that the Streetpass Mii Plaza was offering on my white 3DS.

I love how simple and yet fun it all is. You plant a seed into a pot and the people you meet water the flower and make it grow. It takes a lot of people to do so, more than you would expect.

Once it blooms, you can germinate for seeds! Each seed can either be a new breed or an alternate colour of a breed you already bloomed. There is a percentage for each of these, and I always chose the ones that guaranteed a new breed!

Your goal is to fill up your planter handbook and become a master gardener! I think I was very close to doing so on my white 3DS, while I’m still trying to on my 2DS.

For some reason, I chose the Streetpass Slot Racing game on my 2DS for my free game and I remember regretting it since I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

I just wanted my garden back man.

Activity Log

It's so simple yet so charming.

I love the grid aesthetic they chose, it reminds me of my school notebooks I used to use.

All your titles are shown in this little book and I think that’s so cute. I love flipping through all the pages and seeing every single title I’ve ever played appear on there.

Even Homebrew appears on here, which I found really funny. You see normal titles and then you have the FBI manager.

I loved just looking through each the days, seeing what I played the most!

This reminds me of the Wii, where you would get an envelope with your play time. I actually didn't know this was a thing until I looked at the Activity Log recently.

System Settings

I really love the System Settings. I suppose that might be a weird sentence, but it's true!

The BGM is an absolute banger, sometimes I love to boot up the application to simply listen to it all! Please tell me I’m not the only one who does this.

My favourite one is the Internet Settings, Nintendo didn’t have to go so hard on something like this but they still did. I could listen to this for hours happily and vibe.

The little guy helper is the very best, I never really needed any help to connect to the internet, but I still used the helper anyway. I wish we had something like this guy on the Switch.

I would often visit Other Settings, particularly the Profile section. You can edit the User Name, Date of Birth, Region and go onto the Nintendo DS Profile, and that’s all you could do on there.

Nothing truly special, and yet here I am mentioning it for a very specific reason. It’s probably really odd and weird, but I still want to share it with you all!

I might be the only one but…I like to vibe to the Nintendo DS Profile.

It’s basically the DSi Settings but only having the ability to edit the Message and Colour. The sudden change from the light yellow to black as you see this on your screen….so good.

I love the BGM of this so much, it’s unfunny. It makes me feel things, so much nostalgia for something that most people overlook. I vibe so hard.

As soon as I found out that this existed, I was always there. I still do this from time to time in fact, whenever I’m on the System Settings.

I can hear it even now….

To be continued!