Can you believe the 3DS been chugging along since 2011? It outlived the Wii U and has even received a number of games during the Switch generation. With the system essentially on life support at this stage following the announcement of the Nintendo Switch Lite, now is a great time to reflect on the 25 best 3DS games of all time.
Our video producer Zion Grassl has taken it upon himself to compile a video list of the best 3DS games - as voted by you. It's worth mentioning there's no particular order to this list of games, so don't worry if a certain title gets mentioned ahead of another one. If you don't have time to watch the above video, you can always take a look at the "Best Nintendo 3DS Games" feature it is based on.
Have you enjoyed your time with the 3DS over the years? What are your favourite games on the system? Tell us down in the comments.
Comments 20
Someone make a list, and save everyone time from watching the video.
I agree with all these.
@LUIGITORNADO there is a link in the article for that. Apparently you didn't make the effort to read and jumped right to the comment section to whine.
My Top 25 3DS games :
1. Animal Crossing New Leaf
2. Miitopia
3. Tomodachi Life
4. Fantasy Life
5. Pokemon Alpha Sapphire
6. Pokemon X
7. Mario Kart 7
8. Paper Mario Sticker Star
9. Dillon's Dead Heat Breakers
10. Disney Magical World 2
11. Cooking Mama 5 Bon Appetit
12. LEGO CITY Undercover: The Chase Begins
13. Nintendogs + Cats: Toy Poodle and friends
14. Cooking Mama Sweet Shop
15. Cooking Mama 4 Kitchen Magic
16. Pokemon Ultra Moon
17. Pokemon Sun
18. Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon
19. The Sims 3 Pets
20. Style Savvy Fashion Forward
21. Super Mario 3D Land
22. Mario Party Island Tour
23. Yokai Watch Blasters : White Dog Squad
24. New Super Mario Bros 2
25. Metroid Prime Federation Force
Honestly, I’d be torn between OoT3D, Fire Emblem Awakening and Ace Attorney Trilogy for ‘best game’. Until I remembered the GOAT that is Rune Factory 4. Checked my play time and it’s a whopping 1263 hours. Honourable mentions go to Super Pokemon Rumble and Harvest Moon Tale of Two Towns.
Not really sure why 3 of the top 5 are ports, when 3DS original games like Luigi's Mansion 2 and Shin Megami Tensei 4 are lower or didn't even make the list. Just because it has the name Zelda in it, it doesn't automatically trump every other game
@Jimmy_G_Buckets That's a top 50 list, not the list in the video.
I don't actually own 25 3DS games. Got the Pokemon titles, the Fire Emblem titles, and a few Mario and Zelda titles. And Animal Crossing of course! That's about it. While 3DS was my main gaming machine, I had very little spending money. #University
I can give a top 10 off the top of my head:
Mario Kart 7
Metroid Return of Samus
Starfox 64 3D
Pokemon Shuffle
Animal Crossing New Leaf
Fire Emblem Awakening
Pokemon X/Y
Super Smash Bros
Super Mario 3D Land
Streetpass Mii Plaza
This list is only includes games I could think of without physically going and hunting around my house for the location of my 3DS treasure hoard:
1. Fire Emblem: Awakening
2. Shovel Knight
3. Codename S.T.E.A.M.
4. Animal Crossing: New Leaf
5. The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
6. Steam World Heist
7. Nintendo Pocket Football Club
8. Bravely Default
9. Azure Striker Gunvolt
10. Steam World Dig
11. Fire Emblem: Fates
11. Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
12. Resident Evil: Revelations
13. Attack Of The Friday Monsters
14. New Super Mario Bros. 2
15. Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
17. Super Mario 3D Land
18. Mario Kart 7
19. Luigis Mansion 2
20. Super Smash Bros.
21. Kid Icarus: Uprising
22. Puzzle And Dragons Z
23. Tomodachi Life
24. Senran Kagura Burst
25. Dead Or Alive Dimensions
Since i don't have much time here is a quick top 5
1. Fire emblem: echoes shadows of Valentia
2. Metal gear solid 3 snake eater
3. Pokemon ultra Moon
4 Codename S.T.E.A.M.
5.Fire Emblem: Awakening
Here's my top 25 thus far. I struggled to cut it down this much. In alphabetical order.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.
Corpse Party
Etrian Odyssey IV
Etrian Odyssey V
Fantasy Life
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Kirby: Planet Robobot
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D
Mario Kart 7
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice
Pokemon X and Y
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
Shovel Knight
Shin Megami Tensei IV
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
Star Fox 64 3D
Super Mario 3D Land
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
Shout out for 3D Out Run
Zion gets better with every video .
Enjoyed watching it to get hyped for the gems in my backlog!
Lots of straight up god tier games in this list. Just goes to show how amazing the 3DS is when I saw at least a dozen games I wanted to replay.
One I will say I think deserves to be on the list though that's criminally overlooked is Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy+. As a remake of Ace Combat 2, it does a fantastic job of updating the original to be more in line with the holy trinity (04, 5, and Zero). It has both arcade controls for newcomers and classic controls for fighter jet lovers like me. And if you don't like the new combat maneuvers, the game lets you just turn them off. The soundtrack and sound effects are, especially for a 3DS game, incredible. Some of the explosions like when you shoot down an enemy jet are pretty amazing for the 3DS as well. The game doesn't have multiplayer, but if you're a single player like me you won't really care. It also has a pretty impressive selection of planes from across the series, and the extra control features and Nintendo aircraft added in the + version are much appreciated as well. Even though the original game was released in 2011, it's still one of the most impressive games on the system to me. I just wish the game would have gotten the Resident Evil Revelations treatment so it would be on consoles now (especially on the Switch).
Another that I feel was a bit underappreciated and even treated harshly was Splinter Cell 3D. Chaos Theory is my favorite stealth game I've ever played next to Splinter Cell Blacklist so I can't say no to a portable version of it. It's a port of the GameCube/PS2 version rather than the similar but ultimately better Xbox/PC version unfortunately, but you won't mind much if you love the game like I do. It even has features no other version of the game has, like Fusion goggles (combining night vision, thermal vision, and EMF vision into one viewing mode so you aren't having to juggle three viewing modes). Also, instead of selecting from one of three premade load outs for each mission that can't be changed, you unlock Sam's gear as you go through the game, and you can use it all in earlier missions. So previously impossible scenarios like having the shotgun and sniper attachments in early missions like the bank becomes a possibility. Really fun if you love all of Sam's classic gadgetry before Conviction and Blacklist made your equipment a bit more generic.
@Miiamoto Glad someone is mentioning Shadow Wars. Fantastic strategy game especially if you prefer a more high tech aesthetic.
I still love the 3ds and still play mine regularly (currently replaying Oot master quest). the dual screens and the 3d effect are awesome features. The Nintendo trifecta of Zelda, Metroid and Mario got outstanding iterations with Link between worlds, Samus Returns and 3D Land.
For long periods of time my 3ds was basically a Monster Hunter machine, 4 ultimate being my favorite.
@Anti-Matter Mate you put federation force in your top list but not Samus returns......?
Nice to see Codename STEAM in some people's lists.
I still think it is one of Nintendo's most underrated and overlooked gems.
I missed the first five seconds of this video because muscle memory made me hear, "Heeellooo there looovely peeeople, it's Alex from Nintendo Life..."
and the Game Boy outlived the NES. What's the point? Handhelds have extremely long lifespans, they always have, because there are always multiple ones sold per household.
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