Happy birthday 3DS!

Nintendo announced a new Animal Crossing for the 3DS. I've been a fan of the series from the start (as I've mentioned previously) and so I knew I HAD to have a 3DS. I just had to.

And then the new Animal Crossing game didn't come out till quite a bit later!

Nintendo announced the Animal Crossing game too early & I was unhappy with that. On the plus side, I became an early adaptor of one of my favorite handhelds.

Its been a bumpy four years for 3DS. In the beginning, the system had no games. It didn't even have an internet browser or the Eshop when I got it (at launch). When the browser and the eshop arrived in June of that year, the 3DS was changed forever. I bought Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening that first day. I had never owned the Gameboy color version. I had missed out on the Gameboy color completely. So it was a special treat to get to play that. Oh and later I got to play the two Gameboy color Zeldas that I had missed out on too! The eshop had a great new feature to the system. And that internet browser is my most played thing on the system!! What? Don't look at me like that! I check twitter a lot. I'm addicted...

But it was a still a long while before there were any games for the 3DS. Like the early days of the Wii U, the 3DS was overpriced and undersold. The high price, lack of advertisement and no games meant that the 3DS was a flop....

Right?

Well, not exactly. Nintendo decided to drop the price early on. This could have gotten fans mad at them, but Nintendo was really smart about it and rewarded loyal customers that bought the system early. Early adopters, like me, got a bunch of OK NES titles and some really AWESOME Gameboy Advance games for FREE. I was especially excited to have Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap. No matter the quality of the games, though, it was a great reward for early buyers of the 3DS (and for those who were lucky enough to buy a 3DS cheaper and get in on the early adopter program).

And it wasn't too long after that that the 3DS started selling and it started getting games. At first, it was Mario games. It really frustrated me at the time that we were getting so many Mario games and Animal Crossing was taking forever. Looking back at it, those Mario games are all good. But at the time, it was so annoying.

Finally, Animal Crossing New Leaf came out and it was WONDERFUL. It was and still is my favorite 3DS game. Not a day goes by that I don't play the game. Yes, I still play New Leaf and love it a lot.

We've gotten other really great titles for the system too, like Fire Emblem Awakening, Fantasy Life, Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Mario & Luigi Dream Team, Luigi's Mansion, Kid Icarus Uprising, and recently Code Name STEAM (just to name a few). The 3DS has really turned things around.

And with the arrival of the NEW 3DS, Nintendo is extending the life of the system. Its amazing to think about that. When the system came out, everyone was calling it a flop: talking about how it had no games, the price was too high, and that Nintendo was DOOMED. Then Nintendo turned it around and look where we are now. A second generation 3DS system. Amazing!

So today is the fourth anniversary of the Nintendo 3DS. Its been a bumpy ride but Nintendo turned things around and made the 3DS into a MUST HAVE handheld system. If you love handhelds, the 3DS is the one you have to own right now. It has so many great games. Animal Crossing New Leaf is still the very best one, in my opinion.

Can't wait to see what Nintendo does next with the system! It looks like we'll have the handheld around for a bit longer. Who would have thought! Guess Nintendo wasn't doomed after all, eh?