My Experience with Zelda Part 4

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My Experience with Zelda Part 1

My Experience with Zelda Part 2

My Experience with Zelda Part 3

Late in 2013, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds came out. I bought it release night at midnight in November. It was intended as a Christmas present, which meant I wasn’t supposed to play it, but I did a little. It was just too tempting when I would StreetPass someone who was playing it. I loved the nostalgia, and liked the new rental system that lessened the linearity, but felt that it could have been a little more different from ALttP. But this game’s version of the Zelda overworld theme is now my favorite (previously it was ALttP). I also loved the subtle references to Majora's Mask, as fans were hoping for a 3D remake like they had previously done with Ocarina of Time.

My only real criticism is that now that they have an established Zelda timeline and seemed to be focusing a little more on narrative, they wasted an opportunity to have it connect to past titles in a meaningful way. 

My nephew got a 2DS for Christmas that year, so now my kids (and I) had someone new to play games with during family visits. Not long after this, A Link Between Worlds was named as the game of the year. To celebrate, Nintendo let 3DS users (but not DSi owners) download Four Swords: Anniversary Edition again for 4 days. Knowing that this was unlikely to happen again, we went out and bought a fourth 3DS, intending to give it to Logan. I also alerted my brother about it so my nephew could get the game. We got it, set it up, got FS:AE, and then were planning on keeping it a secret for a while, but ended up giving it to Logan within the week. We told him he had to earn some of the money through chores, which he did. So now all four of us had the game and we could play 4 player without the need of the GBAs, the GBP, and the cords. 


Nearly one year later, I got Hyrule Warriors for Christmas. It’s really not an official Zelda game, but it was ok. I'm not much of a "hack and slash" kind of game person, but the "Zelda coat of paint" overtop of a Dynasty Warriors game made it enticing enough for me to want it. It’s nice that it was 2-player, so someone could use the TV and someone else could be on the Wii U Gamepad. But ultimately, once I got through the game there doesn’t seem to be much replay value to me, unfortunately. And unlike every other Zelda game, I wasn’t a completionist for this one. 

So while Hyrule Warriors was a nice little diversion, the thing that really got me excited was when Nintendo finally announced what we had all been hoping for – the Majora’s Mask remake. There had previously been a fan-led awareness campaign to let Nintendo know of the desire and demand for this game called Operation: Moonfall. It seems that Nintendo had been trolling and stringing along the fans in the various forums, panels, and interviews in the years leading up to its announcement. 

I picked up The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D from Gamestop on the midnight release. There were a few little changes to the game - mostly to one area of Clock Town and the 4 bosses, some mechanics changes, and a couple of additions like fishing. But overall the improvements and the new detriments sorta cancel each other out, but it's an okay remake. 

An "adventurer’s pouch" was released that was a leather case intended to hold a 3DSXL, 2 game cards, and 2 included special styluses shaped like the Master Sword and the Hylian Shield. I got one after I saw someone at the 3DS Meetup get one.

Later that year, the next new Zelda game debuted – The Legend of Zelda: Tri-Force Heroes. This game was made in the same vein as Four Swords, only this time there’s only 3 players, and the strategy involves wearing different costumes to gain abilities as well as picking up the others to make a totem pole. Fortunately, it worked better than previous multi-player games and even works online pretty well; and the single player version is basically the same, and only requires additional multi-tasking skills.

A demo was released a bit before the game came out. We could play locally or single player whenever we wanted, but they opened up the servers for a few select times to allow people to experience the online version of the game. The really cool thing was the little communication buttons that allowed the players to indicate what someone else needs to do without words – preventing trolls and 13-year-olds from bragging about how they banged someone’s mom.

I got it release day from Wal-Mart, but soon learned that it (like the 3DS itself) was designed to have a single user file. The solution was, of course, to buy 2 more copies for the kids so we could play 3 player locally.

Just before I got a NN3DSXL, Anne and I started to play Phantom Hourglass together. She played the bootleg version on the DS Lite and I played the official version. The plan was to trade items and ship parts, but we ran into a problem. Not only was the bootleg unable to work in a 3DS, but it is also Asian region coded, meaning it won’t connect to my American version. So we bought another copy of Phantom Hourglass and ended up giving the bootleg to my niece (who has a DS Lite). We also got a second copy of Spirit Tracks to do the same thing.

The next Zelda release was another remake – this time it's Twilight Princess HD. It was getting the same HD treatment that Wind Waker had gotten previously. Personally, since the Wii U was the most current console, and the Wii was still ubiquitous, I thought it odd to remake something that was so recently released. I would have thought it more wise to update FSA, since it can’t be played on modern equipment (every other Zelda game could either be played on the 3DS or Wii U Virtual console at the time). But the result was beautiful. They didn’t update any music (which was already great), animations, or polygon count. The only real update was quality and resolution of the textures and the ability to connect it to an HDTV via HDMI. It also included the ability to play it like the GameCube – the non-mirrored map and without motion controls. It also had a new dungeon and the ability to accept amiibo. In a way, it’s very similar to the DX remake of Link’s Awakening, but now I had the disposable income to get it even if it wasn’t as big of an upgrade. One additional perk was that it was promised that the Wolf Link amiibo (that was included) would be usable in the next Zelda game.

Early in the Summer of 2016, we got word that my brother’s family would be moving, and I got the idea of buying my nephew a copy of Tri-Force heroes that we could play online occasionally. The idea was to set up regular times to play with him, but it hasn’t really turned out that way. Oh well.

In the year leading to the next game release, Anne completed several Zelda games, something she hadn’t really done since we were first married. Before Avery came along, she finished ALttP, LA, OoT, and got about halfway through MM. Later she finished WW but has been too busy with life to do much in the way of gaming. But having her own 3DS has helped because she doesn’t have to wait for a turn on the TV or someone’s handheld. She completed PH and ST with me so we could trade items, making the games more fun. She’s finished the Oracle series, ALBW, and gone back to the classics and just completed Zelda 1 & 2 with copious use of Save States. 

Nintendo announced that the next Zelda game would be simultaneously released on the Wii U and their new console, known as the NX at the time. It was very similar to the release of the Wii, when a new Zelda game debuted with a new system while also being released on the previous console. I had planned on getting the Wii U version so I didn’t feel obligated to buy a new system, originally. But after seeing the Switch presentation in February, I decided to get a Switch and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The next day I stopped by GameStop on the way home from work and pre-ordered a Switch. Avery also ended up getting his own Switch and copy of the game after waiting in line for 8 hours on launch day.

I absolutely loved the new direction of this game. Having such a huge world to explore and little direction spoke to one of the main reasons I loved the series. I know that it is good practice to have a notebook (or something) to keep track of side quests or other notes to go back and investigate an area after a new item is obtained in these kinds of games, but I usually don’t because I like just trying to remember everything. However, this game kept track of most major things automatically.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I spent over 625 hours on the game (the Switch keeps track of it for me) finding every secret and unlocking every item. At that point, if I had divided out the cost of the system and game by how much time I put into it, it would have been about $0.61 per hour of play. It’s hard to beat that kind of value on enthralling entertainment. The best part of the Switch was that I could take it with me and play Zelda whenever I have free time.

Within a week of getting the new system and the game, I got a Zelda themed case to hold the Switch, as did Avery. I felt like I was set, until I went to the next 3DS Meetup. There I got to use the amiibo someone had brought, and I realized that there were a lot of unlockable items that I couldn’t get without owning 1 of every kind of Zelda related amiibo. I didn’t want to spend the $400 it would probably take to find all of them online (especially in light of the fact that I had just spent that much on a new system, game, and case). But I found a cheaper alternative that let me unlock everything I wanted – NFC215 Tags - the chips that are in the base of the amiibo figurines. Using my phone with a new app, a bunch of NFC215 tags I bought online for around $0.85 each, and some files I downloaded, I was able to spoof some amiibo. I printed out pictures on cards so I can tell them apart. So now I effectively have one of every Zelda related amiibo, as well as many of the Mario series and other characters I’m particularly fond of. Later I converted the individual tags to laminated cards (the same size as a standard deck of cards), each with 2 NFC tags in the corners.

A few days before the Switch and BotW came out, I got a book called The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts. It was the second book in the series began by Hyrule Historia. It’s mostly the official artwork and a few pre-production sketches for all of the games so far. Like Hyrule Historia, it’s a beautiful book and I look forward to the third one coming out in 2018. 

Something I had known about but didn’t look into all that much were 3 Zelda games I had never played before. No, not those CDi monstrosities, but the BS-X games. They were only playable if you a) lived in Japan in the mid 90’s, b) owned a SNES, c) also owned a Satelliview add-on, d) had a subscription to the world’s first satellite radio service, and e) were free for about an hour on particular nights. I only qualified for categories B and E.

Anyway, the basic gist is that the games were sent via satellite radio (sorta like the 90’s version of wifi) and were only playable for 1 hour a week. The first game, called BS-The Legend of Zelda (Map1), which was basically Zelda 1 but with a slightly remixed and shrunk overworld, and all new dungeons. Also, you didn’t play as Link, but as either the Boy or Girl avatar from the BS-X system menu. But the biggest twist is that actual audio of “the Old Man” was broadcast over the game with updates and hints, coinciding with timed temporary buffs (like unlimited bombs). Each week had specific goals, like getting 2 Triforce pieces and finding a certain number of heart containers.

Some time later, Nintendo released a Map2 version with a very different overworld and 8 new dungeons (which spelled out NINTENDO, sorta like how Zelda 1's Second Quest's dungeons spelled out ZELDA), but otherwise was pretty similar in concept. They also released A Link to the Past (with no changes or time limits) over this same system for those who hadn't bought the game 6 years earlier.

The final BS Zelda game was called BS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets. It was the same concept as the first 2 BS games (voice-over hints, 1 hour playtime per week, remixed dungeons, playing as the Boy/Girl avatar) but using the ALttP map and engine.

Thankfully some nice people in Japan were able to save the ROMs and release them to the web, and hackers have more or less pieced them back together. In my post-BotW lull of Zelda, I decided to play through these on emulators. As I suspected, I wasn’t missing much in the way of Zelda lore/story but they were fun to play through. Unfortunately they can’t recreate the exact game, but have done the best they can. But with a little imagination, it's not hard to fill in the gaps to get a sense of what it would have been like back when it was live, and it helps if you see an actual VHS recording of it. 

Here’s a small chart detailing the differences between the original broadcast and the hacked ROMs. 

BS Zeldas	ROM Hacks
Players already have an Avatar in the Town whose name was stolen (kinda like a Mii, but the only customization choice is boy or girl).	Players must go through a registration screen not unlike the LoZ and AoL name registrations with the added task of picking boy or girl.
Players can walk around the town and go into the tent where there’s an entrance to BS-LoZ, and are treated to a scene that looks like it’s from Mario RPG.	The ROM just shows static pictures of these events.
While the game is loading, information about the history of the Zelda series is read aloud, and Zelda herself (voice actor) asks you for help.	While the game is loading, information about the history of the Zelda series is printed on screen, as well as a written plea from Zelda to save her.
During the 50 minutes of playtime, pre-recorded and remixed versions of Zelda music are played. The songs are played in full regardless of whether the player is in the overworld or a dungeon, similar to how listening to an FM radio broadcasting music while playing won’t affect the in-game music.	While playing upgraded versions of the music from LoZ is played and is functionally no different than playing the LoZ.
Throughout the game the Old Man will communicate with the player. A message saying “Open your Ears” will appear (in Japanese, obviously) and then his voice can be heard telling the player about a temporary feature like unlimited bombs.	Throughout the game, the Old man will communicate with the player. A screen of text will appear on the screen (in English) with a translation of what he said.
A second voice giving general tips and hints, like what each button does, can be heard throughout the broadcast.	Not present in the ROM.
When time is up, your score and progress is shown and then a reminder to play next week is shown.	When time is up, your score and progress is shown, and then there’s a prompt to continue to the next chapter of the game. In AST, you must migrate a file to play the next chapter
A VHS recording of an original playthrough for reference.	A great video from Clan of the Grey Wolf explaining the games and ROM hacks.

My Experience with Zelda Part 5 

My Experience with the 3DS

After years of missing out on the latest handheld system, I finally decided to get a 3DS. I had never owned a DS, DS Lite, or DSi before, and had hardly even held one. This was mainly due to a lack of funds and my reluctance to play portable systems due to problems like batteries, lack of lighting, and hand cramping. But after reading some things online, I made the choice to get one so I could catch up on 2 of the Zelda games I had never played. Part of what motivated me was the realization that I was now 2 iterations of games behind, and that between my GBA and a 3DS I could still play any game Nintendo made. I had seen some commercials, and had never actually seen the 3D work myself, but I was curious.

I deemed the 3DS to be a reward for getting a little elective surgery done on the Friday before Superbowl Sunday in 2012. We took the family to Wal-Mart and I gave the color choice to Avery, who picked out Aqua Blue (he chose . . . wisely). I took it home, got it set up, and started messing around with it and reading the instruction manual.

I had read online about how 3DS owners got 20 free games, but after a little research I was disappointed that it only applied to those who had bought it before the $100 price drop, so I was about 6 months late (but about $100 richer). I hopped onto eBay and bought myself a new copy of Phantom Hourglass, which wouldn’t be delivered for about a week, but in the meantime I continued to learn more about it. I also played the included games, such as Face Raiders, the AR games, and the StreetPass Plaza games (Find Mii and Puzzle Swap).

I discovered the eShop, and loved browsing through all the games. I also like watching the Jessie Cantrell videos, Nintendo Direct, and some of the game preview videos. For the first time in a long time, I felt kinda “connected” to Nintendo (more so than I had felt with the Wii), and could keep up on current events. I found Link’s Awakening DX and downloaded it so I could play the one dungeon that had eluded me, but found that the game was much more colorful than I had expected, not a 4-color upgrade like the Super Game Boy. I also found Four Swords Anniversary Edition for free! I got both games and decided to play those while I waited for my first physical game in the mail.

I also downloaded a bunch of demos and tried them out. But finally Phantom Hourglass arrived, and I started playing almost immediately. I loved the innovative controls and interaction, in addition to the fact that it was a direct sequel to one of my top 3 favorite Zelda games. Since I had no other games, I left it in the 3DS all the time. I bought a protective screen cover set that came with a couple of cases and a cleaning cloth. I started leaving the cloth in the system when not in use so it would soften the blow when the two halves were closed, as I think the impact had scratched the inside camera.

Like the Game Boy Advance and Game Boy, I played it mainly at home, treating it almost like a mini-console. My kids and I took turns playing the games, but we slowly came to the realization that there couldn’t be multiple “profiles” on the system – it was meant as a personal system for one person. This meant they would be playing my quest on Find Mii and finishing my puzzles.

I kept the system on my nightstand mostly, except for a few times when I took it to school with me. When I was done playing it, I turned it off like I had done with every game system I had ever owned. It would be some time before I started leaving it on all the time in sleep mode. I didn’t get StreetPass Tags very often, so when I did I was very excited about the fact that I didn’t have to pay with Play Coins to do the StreetPass games. I learned the trick of changing the date and manually shaking it to rack up play coins, but I also started experimenting with taking it with me when I went out in public to see if I could tag someone. While on car trips I would shake the system to rack up coins, and give it to Anne to change the date when necessary (safe driving and all that).

After my 3DS dropped out of my pocket onto a hard tile floor (it only fell a couple inches), I decided to also buy a hard plastic case for it. I picked out a green Ocarina of Time 3D case that had a beautiful painting of Link on Epona riding through Hyrule field. Unfortunately, the picture soon rubbed off in my pocket, but the case kept the system safe and gave it a little more weight and bulk.

I soon found out about 2 others who had a 3DS – a current student of mine, and the father of one of my Cub Scouts. I started bringing it to school to tag my student once each day, and also driving by the Cub Scout’s house to try and tag his dad. Besides wanting tags, I was also curious about how far away the systems needed to be, how much time it took to transfer the data, and how well it went through walls. We discovered that we could tag him by surreptitiously visiting a parking lot behind his house and waiting for 5 or 10 minutes.

My friend James’ son also upgraded his DS Lite to a 3DS so I could run over there and tag occasionally as well and become 3DS friends. In the next few weeks, both James and his daughter would also get a 3DS, as would Avery, bringing our total to 5 between the two families. We started calling what I did, “Ninja Tagging,” where I would sneak around at night and get close enough to their house to tag (they would occasionally do it to me as well). Besides tagging, we would also send SwapNotes with funny messages bragging about how sneaky we were being.

Around this time, I started taking the 3DS with me everywhere I went in an effort to get StreetPasses (and also get play coins). I would get one here and there, but what I started noticing was how convenient it was to have a system to play when I had to sit around and wait for something. Between the physical game, a few downloads, and the demos, I had at least 10 games I could potentially play. And because closing the system put it into sleep mode, I didn’t have to save and turn it off like I would with the GBA (to be fair, games that were released after the SP was out often had some kind of sleep feature but it was cumbersome to get it in and out of sleep mode). Also, I grew to love the convenience of having games on a handheld. One of my main reasons for preferring a console growing up was that I never had to fight anyone for the TV in my house, since the TV I used for the SNES and N64 was a dedicated one for games and wasn’t hooked up for anything else. Unfortunately, now I had several people in the house all vying for TV time, and I couldn’t play my consoles on a whim like I could with the 3DS. Also, the issue of fitting a small handheld in my hands and unlit screens made them seem less attractive to me, but both these issues were resolved with the 3DS.

After a couple months, I bought Spirit Tracks to complete my Zelda collection. I enjoyed it more than Phantom Hourglass, but for some reason I stalled out on playing it 3/4th of the way through (I would later go on to complete it). I also noticed a strange problem with my 3DS – it stopped StreetPassing for some reason. A little research turned up that it happened after the system was completely drained of power, and that somehow this affected the internal clock making it think it had always just StreetPassed someone. The result was that I could get new people, but if I had already tagged them once I wouldn’t get them ever again. I sent in the system to Nintendo for repairs, but they determined it to be caused by the time I dropped it a few inches. They seemed to act oblivious to the fact that lots of people were posting about this online, calling it the “StreetPass bug.” The only solution was to do a complete system reset/restore, which meant I would lose all my progress in Puzzle Swap and Find Mii, but it had to be done. At some point later a system update corrected this bug, and a simple change of Miis will fix the issue should it ever come up again.

Avery’s 3DS also came with a copy of Pilotwings, and I had also bought a Rubik’s Cube game, so we now had 4 physical games, in addition to some of the downloaded games (such as a chess simulator). He also bought a fabric zipper case for his 3DS that held about 20 games, the AR cards, and the 3DS in a fabric zipper holder. I started keeping all the games in that rather than the little 1 or 4 game holders I had gotten with the screen protector.

Then a curious thing happened – Phantom Hourglass stopped working, and I was perplexed. I had a student who also had a 3DS and a copy of the game. His worked in both of our systems, and mine didn't work in either system. On a whim, I tried it in the DS Lite, and it worked. I did a little research, and found out that my copy was most likely a bootleg version, and a recent system update had rendered it unplayable. Some of the telltale signs included a badly printed manual, and the game's sticker code doesn't match the code printed on the back of the game card. I found both to be true in my case. Also, as I looked through the manual, I noticed that one of the pages had the Spirit Tracks logo and not the Phantom Hourglass one. Had this been a legitimate copy, there's no way the Spirit Tracks logo could have been printed 2 years before the game came out. To resolve the situation, I bought a used copy from eBay, but kept the bootleg copy as well. 

One day I was looking up stuff about the 3DS online when I stumbled upon a meetup group. Apparently there was a group of Nintendo enthusiasts who meet monthly in SLC. I told James, and both of our families went down to a park in Murray. Never before had I seen my 3DS blink green so much! It was awesome how many puzzle pieces we were able to get, as well as so many free Miis to use on Find Mii. Afterwards we went out to lunch for Philly cheese steak sandwiches. A couple months later, Avery and I went again to one held in a mall, and then after that they started meeting most often in a library. We now go almost every month, and it makes for a great time to talk with everyone about games.

Occasionally at these meetups they will hold a contest to give away a prize. Avery won a used copy of Kid Icaraus: Uprising there by guessing someone’s favorite past Nintendo console. Another time we won a Zelda Amiibo in a contest.

Another time Avery and I were seeking tags was at the first ComiCon in SLC. We drove down expecting to just walk around the exterior of the building, but found an open door. We waltzed in and were amazed at how many tags we were getting. We even got to go in to see Adam West and Shatner for free because they wanted to fill the auditorium.

My brother Brady (who had owned a DSi for some time) got a new DSi for Christmas because his had broken, and they were cheap on the Black Friday. My niece also got one the same year. In the year following, Aurora received a used DS Lite for Christmas along with a Littlest Pet Shop game. She liked it, but traded it in (read: I kept it and gave her the money she would have gotten for it because GameStop wouldn’t take it) and upgraded the present for a 3DS around the New Year. She was excited to have her own Netflix device and some of the other features the 3DS has, and I tried to find a way for the DSi and 3DS to message each other to no avail. Later the 2DS would come out, and I told my brother about them. My niece and nephew looked like they were going to each get one for Christmas, so we could all SwapNote. But less than 2 months before Christmas (Halloween night, actually), Nintendo cancelled the SpotPass features (aka regular internet) so it wouldn’t be possible. My niece opted for a tablet and her DSi instead of a 2DS, but my nephew got one.

When Nintendo re-released Four Swords Anniversary Edition to celebrate the latest Zelda game being named Game of the Year, I made sure that Avery and Aurora downloaded the game, told Brady about it, and informed my brother Matt to get it on their DSi and 2DS. Even though it was a DSi game, they only allowed 3DS/2DS users to get it this time around, so Brady and my niece couldn’t get it. I also realized that the opportunity couldn’t be wasted, so I bought another 3DS and got FSAE intending to give it to Logan for Christmas the following year, but the kids found out about it within the week and we gave it to him. It was probably one of the last 3DS units in town (I checked 5 places to find one), as there were only 2DS or 3DSXL units available. Later I would find out that it was because the “New” Nintendo 3DS would be coming out soon.

Using points from Club Nintendo, I got a hard plastic Zelda-themed case to carry 18 games in it, as well as several games that we share as a family.

We helped my brother Brady upgrade his DSi to a 3DS so he could join in on the fun and play some of the games he had been missing out on. Now that he’s in college, he’s been a little behind while I have been able to catch up.

In early April of 2016, I upgraded to a "New" 3DS XL. The main reason was because the virtual console on this new system could handle SNES games, so I could get A Link to the Past on my 3DS. Anne inherited my old system and she has been playing Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and the Oracle games, as well as the Mii Plaza games. The finish on some of the buttons and the D-pad started to crack or wear off, so we replaced them with new purple buttons, giving it a unique look. I also replaced the circle pad in Logan's 3DS, as the wear and tear Logan put into it tore the rubber covering off. 

I got my NN3DSXL some Zelda-themed armor to help protect it, as well as a pouch to carry it in. Additionally, my mom found a good deal on some 3DS cases and got them for Aurora and Logan that hold 6 games. 

This has been the first system where we have really downloaded a lot of software for it. I would normally rather have the cartridge or disc version of a game because of the potential problem of having a system crash and dealing with transferring games from one NNID to another is a pain from what I've heard. But the biggest reason is that once downloaded, it can be only played on that one system. So, for example, if I want to play Mutant Mudds (which Avery has purchased), I have to use his 3DS. By contrast, we can all share a Zelda game cartridge between us. However, there are a lot of games that are only available digitally, including those games that are given in return for a rewards program. 

But despite that, I have quite a few VC titles, including the first Metroid Trilogy, every Zelda possible, Mega Man 1 through 4, and Super Mario Land 1 & 2. I also have downloaded Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures, Shovel Knight Treasure Trove, The Legend of Dark Witch, and several of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games. 


Many of the games I end up getting are on sale. I have built up quite a backlog, so if I see something on sale that looks interesting I will get it for cheap, then play it later when I can get around to it. I got a Professor Layton game for $10 new on sale while in St. George on vacation, and Crush3D (used) for $3 in California. 

The final chapter in the 3DS story (at least for now) is hacking it. I had heard about people doing it and put it off until I was reasonably sure that I wouldn't be banned by Nintendo or have the system bricked, and also until we had a spare. Avery had recently upgraded to a NN3DSXL, so I used his old one as a guinea pig. Once I got the hang of it, I hacked all of the 3DS systems in our house, as well as several family members' and friends' systems. This opens up a world of new possibilities, including having digital copies of all my Zelda games so I don't have to bring the game case with me. 

The Nintendo 3DS

The 3DS was the next major upgrade to the DS line of handhelds. In a lot of ways, it is accurate to describe it as an upgraded DSi, but it added a lot of features – most notably the ability to view games in 3D with no additional hardware necessary. It used an autostereoscopic lenticular display that sends a slightly different picture to each eye, but only when viewed from the proper distance and angle. The top half of the 3DS included a slider to adjust the depth of the 3D effect or turn it off entirely. The viewable area of the upper screen is also slightly wider than the bottom screen.

There were several changes from DSi to 3DS, and several changes back to older designs. The microphone was moved back to its original position below the touch screen, and a switch for the Wi-Fi was added where the power button was on a DS Lite. The volume control was changed back to a slider, and the stylus holder was reverted to the back of the system and changed to a telescoping stylus to give the 3DS motherboard a little more room. It uses the same power jack as the DSi, and the headphone jack was moved to the center of the front of the system. The internal camera was moved from the hinge to above the upper screen, and the external camera had a second one added to enable 3D pictures.

Besides the D-pad, the 3DS featured a circle pad that allowed the same kind of control from an analogue stick from a console, but was slim enough to fit inside a handheld. Some games let the user choose the manner of control, while others used the circle pad as the main input and the D-pad as additional buttons (like the GameCube controller).

New features on the 3DS included things like a notification LED that blinked green for a Streetpass Tag, blue for something from the internet (aka SpotPass), red for low power, and orange for friend related content. It also has a pedometer to count steps taken by the owner while in sleep mode to motivate players to take the 3DS with them wherever they go. For every 100 steps taken, the player is rewarded with 3DS Play Coins that can be used to play certain games or unlock content. Besides getting play coins, the other incentive to carry the unit around is to get Streetpass tags from other 3DS owners.

Like the Wii, the 3DS has a Home button to exit to a home menu screen. While it can only run one game at a time, there are several applications that can be used while a game is temporarily paused in the background. These include some of the home screen settings (like screen brightness), checking on friends, using the internet browser, writing game notes, reading notifications, and later the MiiVerse.

The notifications let the user know how many Streetpass tags there are for each game, updates, and announcements from Nintendo. Game Notes lets players keep little digital notes during game play. Each 3DS is given a unique friend code that can be exchanged so that friends can see when and what each other are playing or play online together. The later addition of the Miiverse was basically a Nintendo-sanctioned version of Twitter.

Unlike the DSi menu, the 3DS menu can be arranged in a single line or an array. A system update further gave the user the ability to create folders to organize games and applications. Later system updates would allow background themes, badges for decoration, and additional free applications like Nintendo Video, SwapNote, and Netflix.

Like the DSi, the 3DS comes pre-loaded with a Camera app and a Sound/Music app. However, the pictures are taken in 3D and the Sound app can play MP3s. When a 3DS takes a 3D picture, it actually just takes 2 pictures simultaneously. It stores one as a regular jpeg, but saves the other as a proprietary format not readable by computers. So 3D pictures can be seen in 3D, but only on the actual 3DS itself. The sound application lets the user record sounds but they are now saved to the SD card and are now transferrable to a computer. Users can also load the SD card with MP3s and use the 3DS as an MP3 player. Both applications let the user temporarily alter the media – such as adding color filters to pictures or speeding up and changing the pitch of music playing.

The 3DS does have some internal memory, but it is mostly used for legacy DSi applications. Any 3DS software downloaded is usually stored on the SD card, which can be easily upgraded to a bigger card (up to 32 GB).

Also included in the default applications are Download Play (for both DS and 3DS games), an app that keeps a record of playing time and frequency of use, a dedicated health/safety information app, a Mii Maker (like the Wii), and of course, settings/options. Besides some apps, the 3DS comes with a couple of pre-loaded games. One is Face Raiders, an AR (Augmented Reality) game that uses pictures of friends’ faces as in-game enemies imposed on a real background obtained from the cameras. Another was the AR Card games, which use the AR cards included with the system to interact uniquely with the real environment.

One major game/app that the 3DS’s connectivity was built around is the Streetpass Mii Plaza. When a 3DS StreetPasses (or tags) another 3DS, a copy of each 3DS’s Mii is traded along with a greeting and some pleasantries-type info. The Mii Plaza has Streetpass sub games (Find Mii and Puzzle Swap) that use the various Miis to enable play in these games. Later the plaza would get an upgrade to include more games and features. Rewards from these games were hats and costumes to decorate and accessorize Miis.

It is backwards compatible with all DS game cards and DSi Ware. The eShop is a much upgraded version of the DSi Store that includes not only 3DS games, but DSi Ware and Virtual Console games for the NES, Sega Game Gear, Game Boy, and Game Boy Color. When running a DS game, the system uses a separate "DS-on-a-chip" processor, so some of the 3DS system features aren’t available. 3DS games were white in color (instead of black) and had an additional tab on them preventing them from being inserted into an older DS system.

After the system had been out for a while and not selling as well as Nintendo had hoped, they dropped the price by about $100. Many early adopters were a little miffed about paying a higher price for their system, so Nintendo compensated them by letting them have 20 free Virtual Console games. The systems that were bought before the price drop were known as Ambassador systems.

Later the 3DS XL would debut. Like the DSi XL, it was only really a size upgrade with a few slight cosmetic changes. The next version would be called a 2DS, and was meant as a more kid-friendly system. The hinge had always been the weak point of the DS/SP family, so it was removed and turned into a flat system, and the 3D function removed. 

Because it couldn’t be closed, the sleep function was replaced with a slider button. Also, the wireless slider button was removed and the option to turn the Wi-Fi on or off was added to the home menu screen. While it was more durable without the hinge, it sacrificed the convenience of size and keeping the screens from being scratched.

The “New” Nintendo 3DS (NN3DS) was a slightly upgraded version of the 3DS. It had 2 additional buttons (ZL and ZR) as well as a little nub that acted as a second stick for the right thumb. The internal camera used facial tracking software to adjust the angle of the 3D effect so that it always displayed at the correct perspective. It also had a slightly upgraded processor and internet browser (making SNES VC games possible). Some hardware changes included getting rid of the Wi-Fi slider switch in favor of controlling it from the menu like the 2DS, and the location of the game card slot was moved to the front. But one addition is the NFC sensor for amiibo. As before, it came in regular and XL sizes, but the XL is far, far more common. It also uses only MicroSD cards, and the slot was moved to the center of the back panel, requiring taking the back off to access it, making it far less convenient.

The last addition to the 3DS family was the "New" Nintendo 2DS XL (NN2DSXL), which is basically a NN3DSXL that can’t do 3D display, but retains everything else about the NN3DSXL. It's an interesting move, in that it reverted to the hinged design, as that was the selling point for durability.