Nintendo Badge Arcade 'Free Plays' Might Be Over For Good

I think they should just give you unlimited plays from now on. There's no point in keeping it limited if the option to pay is going away.

Yes, yesterday no free plays for my Usa 3DS console.And today no free plays for my European and Japanese one.So from today all regions don't have free plays, only the once per day training.

Also something else important, is that for the first time 3 regions has exactly the same machines and badges!

It is hard watching an old friend die before your eyes.

I hope they bring this back one day, maybe we can get switch wallpapers this way through a switch online version?

I almost yelled and sobbed when I saw this! I hope we can still play for free. When I got my first 3ds I decorated my home screen with so many badges! I would look forward to it every day! If they took this away I would be so sad! 😭

Yeah I noticed that this morning
I play it every morning before work and was sad when I didnt get my free two plays, hopefully this is just an error

I was able to get a free play from using the practice center yesterday and today.
So it’s a bit convoluted, but it is still there

I noticed this last night as well. I felt kinda sad. lol Even with the insanely long load time, I still enjoyed playing this whenever I opened my 3ds. I still got a free play from the practice, but that's not always guaranteed.

i love the rabbit mascot, i wish he could live on past nintendos early attempt at free to play. he's cameo'd in other games and is so expressive and charming as a nintendo fanboy, it'd be a shame for this to be his only main appearance

@EarthboundBenjy I was thinking the same thing. It'll be a blessing if we ain't gotta pay for it anymore.

I'll be honest. I loved the 3DS since the day it came out until the Switch slowly took over, and recently after hacking it I've been playing it way more than the Switch.

I have no idea what Badge Arcade is.

Glad to see you guys picked this up. Was pretty sad to log in yesterday. Badge Arcade has been a daily routine for me since it came out, I’m really going to miss it if this is the end. Thanks for the memories, Bunny!

I just launched it and i didn't have any free plays, this has to be a fault that needs fixing in an update.

@flummerfelt I mean yeah, the practice catcher still works, but it’s going to be almost impossible to get very much without the 2 free plays on top of the 1-4 you might be able to get from the practice catcher.

this is the only "game" that ever got me to spend a dime on microtransactions. many dimes, in fact. what was i thinking?

@Bret It's a grab-claw gacha kinda thing, win badges and you put them on your home menu and on top of folders and stuff, it integrates directly with the 3DS home menu UI and everything, free-to-play and they used to have weekly updates and new dialogue and it was quite the experience before the 3DS ended production

Was quite annoyed by this last night as I normally play right before bed. I've been playing religiously the last 3-4 months and was able to get my badge total over 1000...once the Bunny gave me the hint that I should go for the red arrows my total really started to soar. I believe the next level-up is @ 1500 and I'm quite a ways away so hopefully they'll keep it going a bit longer

@EarthboundBenjy if they make it unlimited free-to-play I'll get the Enfuego Badge Arcade Bunny tattooed on my shoulder

Hopefully, Nintendo will include a little customization to their next console. Granted, it will come at either a cost of performance, or Nintendo makes their next machine powerful enough to do background tasking, like the Switch can. I love being able to just pause my game in memory, or pausing to trim a video.

I also got this message yesterday. I'm bummed that Nintendo ended the free plays a few days early.

@Potato-man I saw a post about the game's set up that indicated that even after the eShop closes, you can access your badge box and stuff to decorate your homescreen, but the machines will all just be down.

@EarthboundBenjy I know nothing about the real deal programing side of things, but given the loading sequences when playing, it looks like a lot of the actual reception of the badges from the machines when you win them is tied to the eShop. If so, that complicates things a lot more from a technical side than a simple flick of the switch.

I have been unable to even enter the Arcade for months now.

It was to be expected. I really enjoyed the free plays I received on this game from time to time. Quite a few cool stickers were included in there. The customization options of the Nintendo 3DS home screen was honestly impressive. So many different franchises were supported.

Completely forgot this was a thing. All these cool little bits for customisation 3DS had, there isn't a single thing on Switch. Wow.

@Minfinity I don't have a 3ds now but I used to... I'm getting another one so I will have no badges to decorate my home screen with... hopefully it gets fixed soon!

I enjoyed Badge Arcade. I like that it received representation in Smash. If I had to guess off the top of my head, Badge Arcade Bunny will eventually pop up in some other Nintendo console/handheld/hybrid. Nintendo mostly doesn't leave their IPs forgotten in history to die.

As I recall, you could totally, or mostly get the badges you wanted, without spending anything. That's how those kinds of games should be. You can pay, and simultaneously don't have to, all the while being able to fully enjoying the game either way.

There are no game-based themes, though the Switch does have options for White/Black/Grayscale/Inverted Colors. I suppose Nintendo's thinking is that most of the aesthetic customization for the Switch, is mainly down to your choice of Joycon colors/themed. So, in a way, personalization is kind of carrying over from 3DS, just not to the same degree 3DS has. (On a related note, the groups function of the Switch is not a time-saver, as you still have to go to "All Software", just to get to your groups. It'd be nice if Nintendo would allow users to jump directly to their groups, or a specific group.)

there is no point to this. you already cannot get a complete badge collection. many of them were limited.

I'm sure someone else has caught this, but the Miiverse Gallery just has the rabbit saying 'Sorry, I don't have anything witty to say, but excellent job!' which I assume is the default comment. I hope that this isn't coming to an end, but if it is, it's a fond farewell from me.

@stuntz0rZ Actually, there were plenty of badges still in rotation and you could complete most sets. The only ones that were truly limited were any holiday sets, so Christmas, Halloween, etc., and the Capcom badges of Mega Man and Monster Hunter (I’m assuming because of some rights agreement). Everything else was still in rotation up until yesterday.

There are reasons why Nintendo won’t give us unlimited free plays from now on.

Just you watch. Badge Arcade will launch on the Switch in this summer direct. 🤣🤣🤣

@graviton I wish, but considering we don’t even have folders on the home screen, I doubt it lol

This is the evilest Nintendo game I have ever played.

@Waluigi451 Folders…..how far we have fallen since the 3DS 😂

@graviton That would be awkward if the Switch doesn't have much time, before Nintendo starts focusing on whatever their next device will be. I hope Nintendo carries over stuff from the Switch to the base model of whatever their next console will be.

After going back to the 3DS the last few months before the eshop closure, my biggest hopes for the next Nintendo console are that it has Streetpass and a revived badge arcade 🙏🏼🤞🏼

Yet another reason to homebrew your 3DS. You can get every badge for free and a ton of amazing fan created ones too. I have Miyazaki movie murals on my homescreens.

@Captain-N word has it the next console will be backwards compatible…. Here’s to hoping 😉

@SteveSnowmn

my biggest hopes for the next nintendo console are menu music and good dpad 😎👍

@graviton Yeah, I hope so. I very much enjoy my Switch library.

@FlaviusFire Huh, wish I'd gotten into it before its apparent death.