It is clear to see that Nintendo is driving the Nintendo Switch hard with a constant stream of incredible games. The 3DS was Nintendo’s prior champion and helped the company stay afloat during it’s commercial failure with the Wii U. When the Switch strongly gathered momentum, support began slowing down until it gradually stopped for the handheld console.
It has now been a few years since Nintendo shifted their full focus to the Switch and it has garnered a formidable library of games for itself. However, the Nintendo 3DS also has a rather robust library of its own and it does ask the question on whether now is now a good time to buy a Nintendo 3DS?
The short answer is Yes and I am going to tell you why. The Nintendo 3DS and it’s counterparts like the 3DS XL, New Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 2DS and any of the other models that I haven’t mentioned in the Nintendo 3DS Family of Systems will all be referred to as Nintendo 3DS or even simply 3DS for the sake of this article. As I said before, the 3DS has a fantastic library of games. It has some of the best Mario and The Legend of Zelda titles available for the system as well as Pokémon, Metroid, Hey Pikmin, Luigi’s Mansion, and many more.
Of course a rich library of games is one thing but the icing on the cake is that a lot of them, including these triple AAA titles are now available at a fraction of their original retail price. When they used to go for around $40/€40 you can get most of them new for less than $20/€20. Secondhand games are cheaper still with a lot of them priced at around $9/€9 – $16/€16.
Of course it does depend on where you go to purchase 3DS games. For example, Game and GameStop still have limited quantities of games that can be found in the pre-owned section. You may not be able to find every game you are looking for there but you will certainly find plenty of bargains.
Another place you could try are pawn shops or trade-in stores like Cash Converters or CEX. These can hide hidden gems but not without a catch. The catch being that some games can be much higher than the recommended retail price depending on the rarity of the game. Another setback is that even after paying a considerable amount on these games, there is the concern on whether they even work or not.
For those that prefer to buy online, eBay is always a good place to look but it does have it’s problems as well. You might just find a particular game you are looking for but eight times out of ten, it is at a much higher price than some are willing to pay. Another thing is that some listings don’t even include the 3DS case that actually contains the game, just the cartridge.
Wherever you decide to buy Nintendo 3DS games, just use your good judgement. Is it a game you are looking for? Can you justify buying it? Is the game already available on another system you own? Above all though, if you didn’t buy the game originally at launch, why pay more than retail for a secondhand copy now?
Well that is the games out of the way but what about the consoles themselves? We fortunately, they haven’t all suffered the same inflation as some games have for the console. Depending on the model itself, you can easily pick up a Nintendo 3DS or even the New Nintendo 2DS XL for just under $80-90 / €80-90 secondhand and new for maybe a little bit more. Limited edition models like the Majora’s Mask 3D special edition is priced at extortionate rates but if you are happy to go with a more readily available model, it is much more cost effective.
As for where to purchase a Nintendo 3DS, Video Game stores like the aforementioned Game & Gamestop will likely have some secondhand models available but your best option may even be eBay. There are a lot of different Nintendo 3DS models available and reasonably cheap as well. Some even include the charger which was not originally included with some models. If you are looking for a brand new console, however, you probably won’t find any for less than the price of a Nintendo Switch new.
I myself have never owned a Nintendo 3DS previously and have only recently just purchased one. Okay, so I got a New Nintendo 2DS XL but I am not to fussed about actually having the 3DS function as most people hardly play with it on anyway. The model I got was second hand but it did come with a charger and it’s original box. The stylus was missing but there was a micro SD card inserted so I count that as a win and 3DS stylus is cheap enough to pick up.
I think on the whole, now is a pretty good time to pick up a Nintendo 3DS if you don’t already own one. Most games are cheap enough that you can build quite a good collection on a fraction of what it would have cost to get them day one. Also, in most cases, the games are not going to get any cheaper and in fact are quite possibly going to rise in price soon. With the recent announcement of Metroid Dread coming to Nintendo Switch this October, Metroid: Samus Returns on the 3DS saw an increase in sale and it’s price suddenly skyrocketed. Though this isn’t the case for every game but it is quite possible that other 3DS titles could see a price increase should the market pick up around buying these games again.
Well, that’s all from me today for this article. I hope you found it informative and that it may help you come to a decision if you are thinking of picking up a Nintendo 3DS for yourself or for someone else. Have you recently picked up a Nintendo 3DS/2DS? Do you have any 3DS game recommendations for someone who is just getting started? Please let us know in the comments!
Picked up an Animal Crossing 2DS XL and a Super Nintendo 3DS XL at very good prices this month. The games catalogue is really deep and impressive, especially backward compatibility with DS games. It’s a great system to play and collect for!