I took my Nintendo 3DS on vacation like it’s 2011

I was getting ready for a much-needed vacation, when I came across my nearly mint condition Nintendo 3ds while I was sorting through heaps of junk when an idea came to me: why don’t I take the 3ds on vacation with me? As someone with a Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch, that idea seemed kind of silly at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Because yes, while those newer handhelds can play games like Cyberpunk or, well, anything, there really aren’t going to be many more chances to use the 3ds in public seeing as we’ve now moved into the Switch 2 generation. I’ve also never really played that much of it. I bought the 3ds towards the end of its lifespan and apart from a few key games, much of its vast library went unexplored for me. I was also curious whether it would be possible for me to still collect Miis through street pass, considering that I was leaving for this vacation through a major London airport. So, for one last outing, I packed up my Nintendo 3DS and took it on vacation. How do the games hold up? Is Street Pass still viable? And how does it compare to taking a larger handheld like the Switch or Steam Deck with you? 

The wildest thing I noticed about the Nintendo 3DS was that it doesn’t really need any protection. I simply threw it in the top of my hand luggage when I was packing and I felt that that was sufficient protection because of its clamshell design. There is absolutely no way I would do that with any other modern handheld, where the screen is exposed. The 3DS is also super small and light, and I have the XL version! So in the bag it went, but I made sure to put it in sleep mode to pick up all those miis at the airport. Beforehand I made sure to “pack” a huge chunk of the 3ds library “digitally” [WINK] so that I could really try out a bunch of games that I’d missed the first time around. I was determined that this was going to be a last hurrah for my 3DS because I probably wouldn’t be taking it with me again – OR WOULD I? More on that later.

I also noticed that actually flying and travelling with this thing is super easy because it’s also small enough to actually fit in the pocket of most pants. It really makes you realize how unportable handheld consoles have become. Yes, you can take them places technically, but there’s no way you’re throwing a Switch into your pocket to collect some sweet street pass miis on your way to play basketball with the boys. Or girls. Actually, who are we kidding girls don’t play games *laughs long* [phone rings] *WHAT!? THEY D–* 

So, I arrived at my destination, which was here, and in true gamer style started playing more video games instead of touching grass. I played a bunch of games, but there are two that I REALLY want to discuss. The first is kind of cheating because it’s a Nintendo DS game, but hey, the 3ds can play it so get off my back dad! The game is Hotel Dusk: Room 215, which despite being almost 20 years old, I’ve never actually played. Over the years, I’ve heard all of the internet hype about how much of an amazing game it is, so I finally took the opportunity to check it out for myself. The first thing that struck me, and look yes I may be deficient in brain cells for not knowing this, but you actually play the game sideways like a book – ITS WILD. I mean the internet was not wrong when hyping this game up, because it puts most other games to shame. You’re a detective in a hotel, and it features a lot of investigation, so it’s really cool to be able to make real notes in your notebook and walk around and investigate objects. You get to make decisions, choose dialogue responses, solve puzzles, and the movement system of navigating via a top down minimap on one screen and first person view on the other is just genius. This isn’t like a review of the whole game, so I’m not going to dive into all the details, but Hotel Dusk is a 20 year old game that utilizes Nintendo hardware better than modern games utilize the Nintendo Switch. I mean, when was the last time you even used the touch screen on the Switch or Steam Deck? The sheer creativity of this game is just something you don’t see much anymore.

The other game that I’d like to talk about is Yokai Watch. I’m not really much of a Pokemon player, but Yokai Watch has a distinctly Japanese setting and has always intrigued me, so I decided to give it a go, because you can’t argue with the low low price of free. Now, first I need to admit something that may or may not reveal high levels of autism, but for the past decade, I’ve always thought that Yokai Watch referred to watching out for Yokai, ya know, like looking for them. But in fact it refers to a real watch that you wear on your wrist… so yeah… Anyway, again, the game makes great use of the stylus and touch screen to help you catch Yokai, and it actually has a ton more personality than any Pokemon games. It has an interesting story with cutscenes and everything, and it captures that Japanese summer feeling really well. It’s the kind of quality you’d expect from level 5 games, but it’s kind of sad that these games are actually trapped on the Nintendo 3ds, with Yokai Watch 4 only getting a Japanese release because of the limited demand for these games in the west. 

Ergonomics and controls

I played a whole bunch of other games, like Shin Megami Tensei and Super Mario 3D Land, but that’s enough about all the great games we know are on the 3DS. Let’s talk about ergonomics and controls for a second. There’s no denying that the 3DS’s square shape can be a little awkward compared to newer, bigger, and beefier handhelds that give you something to grip onto. I found laying in bed and trying to play particularly awkward, and I say awkward because it wasn’t outright uncomfortable, but more that the heavy weight of the top screen throws off the console’s balance a bit in that situation. 

While the circle pad was good for its time, it feels a bit inaccurate today. It’s hard to feather your movement in a game like Super Mario 3D Land, and you’ll find yourself running or not moving at all. The ABXY buttons are placed well, but you definitely feel the distinct lack of a second thumbstick. I know the New 3DS had one, but come on it was a little nub thing that makes you want to heave. There are also 2 R and L shoulder buttons, with ZR and ZL not being present at all. Despite all of this, I think the 3DS still works better as a handheld than its successors because of its ease of use. Something I noticed on vacation was that I would throw it in my pocket or backpack and just take it places with me. Yes, that’s mostly because it was so portable and I didn’t feel it was as exposed to the elements because of its clamshell design, but also because it made you WANT to take it with you because of features like the activity counter and Street Pass.

Does Street Pass Still Work?

One The Nintendo 3DS’s most overlooked  features is Street Pass. Yes, I know I know you’re saying “what are you talking about, everyone knows about it” – and you’re right. But what I’m talking about here is the role it plays in making you WANT to take the 3DS with you everywhere you go, not just to play games. It stokes a desire that makes you want to engage with it when you’re travelling somewhere, and in turn, that makes the community even larger. Let me give you an example. I deliberately left my 3DS on sleep mode when travelling, and I waited with bated breath every time I opened it again to see if I’d encountered another 3DS player out there in the wild. It’s kind of strange that we haven’t had a new version of Street Pass for the Switch. I’m pretty sure the consoles can talk to each other wireless, but even if they can’t, Nintendo could implement it so that everyone on the same Wi-Fi network trades information. Frankly, my recent experience with the 3DS and Street Pass has only highlighted how more modern handhelds are just devices for playing the same games you can play on your PC. And while that is good in a way, the idea of a handheld community that gets exclusive games and the identity surrounding gamers who play on the go has kind of disappeared. This is only backed up by the sad fact that despite passing through a major London airport twice and carrying the 3ds with me everywhere I went, I didn’t get any Street Pass hits. On my whole week long journey, I didn’t pass within the 90 feet Nintendo suggests of another Nintendo 3DS user. I knew that 3DS users and Street Pass was becoming rare, but it’s kind of depressing to think that the 3ds era is now pretty much done and dusted. 

Comparison with handhelds

For all of my gushing about the 3DS, we can’t escape the fact that it was a product of its time, so I want to spend some time comparing it to the bazillion handhelds available on the market today. The Nintendo Switch 2 is now upon us, making the 3DS now a console that’s 2 generations old – I mean, it came out when the PS3 and 360 were still fighting for dominance. The Switch came along and revolutionized handheld gaming by uniting Nintendo’s handheld and home console communities for better or worse. But now we’re used to having PC power in our hands with the Switch 2, the Steam Deck, the ASUS ROG ALLY and every other company that wants to copycat what Nintendo did. Pitting the 3DS against these graphical monsters might seem like a completely unfair fight, and graphically it is. But as we explored earlier, graphical fidelity isn’t the be all and end all of what makes a handheld fun. As I found out on vacation, the 3DS is A) small enough to easily take with you B) small enough to WANT to actually take with you, and C) it has features like street pass that compel you to take your 3DS out in the wild. I don’t know about you, but despite having a Switch and a Steam Deck, I rarely take it out of the house. They end up being more of a console that I play when I want to vegetate somewhere, rather than a truly portable one that I play on public transport. And yeah, there’s no denying that these newer handhelds are also more comfortable to hold in the hand for the most part – although it’s kind of debatable – but they also lack the exclusive games of the 3ds. I mean, sure you can play all the latest games, but the 3ds had exclusives like Bravely Default, Fire Emblem, Pokemon, Professor Layton, and tons more franchises that were exclusive to the system. 

Conclusion

Taking my Nintendo 3DS on vacation with me really opened my eyes to what handheld gaming should be, and it made me kind of sad that it took me years after the complete irrelevance of the console to realize what I missed out on at the time. I’m not ashamed to admit that I used to be an elitist PC gamer who scoffed at those “children” carrying their 3ds everywhere, but if you were one of those, then this is my message to you: I get it now, and I’m sorry. What’s perhaps most impressive about the 3DS is that it had such an identity, not only versus handhelds you can buy today but also against contemporaries like the PS Vita. The 3DS is and was just so much more than a console that you can take with you. Despite not being graphically on par with a home console, it was in the same league with all of the major consoles out at the time. It had community features that Nintendo seem to want to forget about, heck you only have to visit Splatoon’s main plaza to see how the original game was designed with drawn picture messages in mind. And the fact that Nintendo have shut down the 3DS eshop and stopped support for it is a huge shame. 

Taking my Nintendo 3DS with me on vacation like it was 2011 was a great experience. I was never worried that it would get damaged, it was portable enough that I could fit it in my pocket, and the games are – to this day – fantastic. So, I urge you to do the same as I did and see whether you can capture some of that nostalgic, child-like wonder that used to be handheld gaming, because you might just be surprised at how much you like it.