With 11.5 million units sold, the Nintendo 3DS came in as top-selling video game system of 2013 in the United States, which is awesome, because it is awesome.
Back in February, I wrote that the 3DS had swooped in out of nowhere to become the best gaming device you can buy. And thanks to a huge 2013 lineup that included heavy-hitters (Zelda: Link Between Worlds, Pokémon X/Y), beloved niche sequels (Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies, Etrian Odyssey IV), and under-looked gems (Picross e, e2, e3), Nintendo’s quirky little system cemented that status last year. Amazing how quickly things can change.
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33 responses to “Nintendo 3DS Was Top-Selling System Of 2013, Because It Is Awesome”
Good news. As long as Nintendo isn’t struggling on all fronts
I haven’t enjoyed a system as much as the 3DS since probably the Dreamcast. That includes the GC, which I friggin loved.
Around early November, my partner and I picked up dual 3DS units with Pokemon X and Y, Luigi’s Mansion, Link Between worlds, DOA Dimensions, Picross e, the extra streetpass games, and Animal Crossing. Then we both got free copies of Mario 3D Land from Nintendo.
I cannot stop playing this damn thing. It’s sitting 6 inches from my keyboard at work right now.
You’ve picked a great few games to start off, a few more I’d recommend if you haven’t seen yet are:
Fire Emblem – Really good Strategy JRPG.
Bravely Default – A Final Fantasy game, but without the name… one of the best JRPG’s in a long while.
Zelda OoT – If you never played the Original, also play if you played the original 😉
Mario Kart 7 – Karting Goodness
I can’t recommend these enough, particularly fire emblem. Haven’t picked up bravely default yet but the demo was a great intro to it.
I’ve seen Mario Kart second hand for $12. I really enjoyed the DS version, so I’ll be picking it up.
I have the demo for Bravely Default. I’ll get to that. I actually have an AR card form the TGS demo of it from years ago.
OoT I’ll probably play eventually. I’m waiting for Majora though.
where is Mario Kart for $12??
Nowhere…
There’s only one copy and it’s at my local hock shop, buried in with a bunch of DS games with no cases. I’ll be picking it up tomorrow morning.
you got me excited for a second… the only 2nd hand one i could find was still $45..
If it makes you feel any better, it was probably sold to the hock shop in a bag of stuff stolen from kids by some ice head…
Majora’s Mask is my favourite Zelda, I really hope it comes out on 3DS!
Me too! I’m dying to play it again with updated visuals. It was the most interesting Zelda I’ve ever played.
I hope it never does!
That thing needs to be reworked from the ground up into a majestic thing of beauty on a console.
You should get Bravely Default. Bloody game is so addicting. Fast forward turn based battle with auto mode for grinding. Adjustable encounter rate holy molly the king of JRPG.
Man, I keep looking at the 3DS and the only game that interests me is Zelda – what am I missing. I love my Vita, it has a tonne of game.
Between the 3DS and the (admittedly less good) PS Vita, it seems all the best stuff is coming out on the handhelds these days,
I’d give the 3DS only two positives – it can be carried around without protection (clam shell case) and it has a fair few good games. In all other respects the Vita beats it hands down in my view. You can bet your bottom dollar that Nintendo is money-hatting 3DS exclusivity (at least in Japan) on a lot of 3rd party titles, simply to keep momentum on their side. Otherwise we would be seeing a lot more Vita ports of DS and 3DS games like Zero Escape and Lego Lord of the Rings. I could be way off base but when the Wii U is tanking, I’d think that Nintendo would be fearful of the Vita stealing too much market share – it is a mostly superior piece of hardware, after all.
It’s stealing almost zero of the share market (exaggerating) because the 3ds is beating all forms of consoles
I don’t think Nintendo is worried
Can’t find exact figures but Vita sales worldwide are about 20% of 3DS sales, so around 35 million 3DS and 7 million Vitas. At the moment, about the only thing the Vita doesn’t have is the caliber of games on it that the 3DS has. Nintendo would be silly to let good games get onto the Vita through porting, because it only helps the Vita gain momentum. If I were Nintendo, I would be doing deals to prevent porting wherever possible, because as the Vita user base grows, the temptation for publishers to do a port of an in-development 3DS title and release on the two platforms also grows. As a publisher you wouldn’t just ignore a potential 20% sales boost for no good reason.
I was waiting for Batman Blackgate to come out for ages, I had a 3DS loved it to bits and wanted the game for that.
Soon before Blackagate came out I got a Vita. Ever since I’ve purchased any cross platform games on the Vita. They just look and play better. Could say the same thing about my Wii U and PS4.
To be honest I was looking forward to getting A Link Between Worlds for so long as well but since getting the Vita and PS4 I’ve not got around to it. Nintendo IPs are great, but after a while you need something else.
“Nintendo 3DS Was Top-Selling System Of 2013, Because it was the only console that hadn’t been out for 7 years already, and that people actually wanted”
FTFY
Not saying that the 3DS isn’t awesome…. just that I don’t believe that was why it was the best selling console.
Poor Vita doesn’t even exist? WiiU? Granted, people aren’t buying them much, but they are newer than 7 years.
Even without any competition, 11.5 million units in the US alone is pretty goddamn impressive.
I’d say with the way Android/iOS is going, any handheld console selling that much is impressive!
Eh…. my comment was my cynical brain’s first though after reading that headline…. No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot get behind any handheld console atm. And that saddens me. I’m absolutely craving for pokemon x/y, but I cannot justify a 3DS just for one game. And even if I did, my gaming habits are such, that if I want to game when not at home chances are my phone can hold me over.
Did I mention this saddens me? 🙁
I held off on a 3DS for a year. I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying silly shit like Streetpass games. I walk around the city to get blips on my 3DS so I can grow flowers with strangers wearing hats that look like bread rolls… and it’s fucking awesome
Picked mine up 2 weeks ago after never owning a DS.. Love it, only have Pokemon Y at present but it travels around everywhere with me! Top marks.
I’ll probably pick one up at some point this year to play Link Between Worlds, then fall into a deeeeeep hole of buying a ton of great games. I am ready for this.
It’s still too expensive. Games also, you buy 3 games and that’s already the price of the console.
Does this include 3DS, 3DSXL, 2DS or just 3DS?
I’d agree on the games costs.
Love my LBW edition one but yeah the cost of software is pricey.
3DS is definitely my system of choice for 2013 and its looking pretty damn good for 2014!
I still cant get over the amount of great games that have graced the system
Shin Megami Tensei IV
Etrian Odyssey IV & Millennium Girl
The Legend of Zelda OoT
Pokemon X/Y
Rune Factory 4
Harvest Moon ANB
Tales of the Abyss
All the great Mario games
And now I’m looking forward to Bravely Default and Zelda LBW.. bring it on!
Since moving out of home 8 years ago, my gaming needs have been fulfilled by PC games and two generations of “DSes”. DS and 3DS days have been some of the greatest in my gaming life so to speak. Haven’t really touched a home console in that time apart from Nintendo 1st party titles on Wii (namely Zelda haha). I may get a PS4 this generation? haha
I think the PS4 may be the only console to give you a stack of games that you can’t play better on PC.
Actually, the Wii U is underrated and most games on that will be proper exclusives too.
Might as well ask here? If you could only choose one… The World Ends With You or Bravely Default?
(DS games are still region free for 3Ds YEAH!!!)
It it the 3DS XL or the orginal as well? Because the good stuff I heard was about the XL which I own because of it.
Well remember Nintendo made all the other versions useless when they brought the 3DS out cause of the different cartridges the 3DS took and people do want those games so they went and bought a 3DS.. Like Pokemon X & Y for example.