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Image: 3DSsoup.com

Though the landmark has already passed in Japan, we're now approaching the fifth anniversary of the 3DS in the West. The first model launched on 25th / 27th March 2011 in Europe and North America, respectively, with the original model focusing much of its sales pitch on autostereoscopic 3D. That feature would become rather secondary in the months and years to follow, and after a slow start a drastic price-drop later in its launch year would contribute to an impressive turnaround.

Those are areas we'll write about in the coming days, but the five year mark also gives us an opportunity to look over the portable family's impressive game catalogue and consider its stand-out performers. With that in mind we want you to pick your favourites in terms of both retail and eShop 3DS games. Yet if we do this with polls they'll be, well, rather long and far from comprehensive.

So, how do you make your voice heard? It's simple, and taps into a feature we recently added to Nintendo Life that had been much in demand. You can go to any game page, provide a 'Game Collection' status update, and importantly assign it a user review score between 1 and 10 stars. It's these ratings that will define the community's favourite 3DS games for this anniversary.

How do you do this? Well, it's easy...

How to score your games

  • Make sure you're logged in to Nintendo Life. If you don't have an account you'll need to create one.
  • Find a game page (methods outlined below). If on a PC / Mac hover your mouse over the 'Game Rating' area and select a score. On a smart device tap the relevant area and then set a score.
  • This saves your score and adds it to the overall average.
  • You can also set a status in 'Game Collection', showing you own the game.
  • If you want a super quick way to rate games, head to this link to bulk add games and then assign ratings.

In terms of how best to find games, there are a couple of options.

  • Type a game name into the top search bar manually, go to the game page.
  • Or you can navigate to the New Nintendo 3DS, 3DS and 3DS eShop areas (through the top left menu), and use the various navigation options with the 'Games' category.
  • Remember there are a couple of New 3DS exclusive games to consider, too.

In terms of how the results will work, we will look at the average user ratings for 3DS retail and 3DS eShop games after 11:59 Pacific time on 25th March (which is in the small hours of 26th March Eastern US / European times) and compile top 10s for each category. These results will then be published in a pretty list with some smaller polls included.

So, here's a chance to rate some of your favourite 3DS games and have the results count towards our celebrations for the portable's fifth Anniversary. Have at it!