The Nintendo 3DS has been making waves ever since it was unveiled at E3 in 2010. Improving on the basic model set by its predecessors, the DS and the DSi, the 3DS is the first handheld console to utilise 3D technology without the use of 3D glasses or other additional accessories. In the first two days following its European launch on March 25th earlier this year, the 3DS sold a whopping 113,000 units in the UK, beating the sales figures for previous Nintendo launches of the original DS in 2005 and the Wii in 2006. This makes the 3DS the fastest selling Nintendo console ever in the UK – in spite of its initial cost of £187 (original Amazon selling price), plenty of Nintendo fans were willing, if not eager, to part with their cash to get their hands on the revolutionary new games system. That may seem to have been too hasty on their part, considering that the price of the 3DS has now been slashed to a mere £115 – 61% of the original selling price.
However, there are additional benefits of having bought the console on first release, at its original price. The Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program was designed to reward those consumers who purchased the hand-held during its first few months of availability – if you owned a 3DS and performed a system update or visited the Nintendo eShop before the deadline of August 11th, you will have automatically registered for the program which gives you access to 20 free downloadable games. The first 10, already available for download, are NES Virtual Console games including Super Mario Bros and Zelda II – The Adventure of Link. The remaining 10 are GBA Virtual Console games, 5 of which have been announced, including Yoshi’s Island and Mario Kart. These will be released for download before the end of 2011.
The original Super Mario Bros. game for the Nintendo Entertainment System has be re-released for download on the 3DS.
Access to these retro Nintendo classics alleviates one of the major problems that the 3DS has faced – at its launch, none of the most popular Nintendo favourites were available for play. The games that coincided with the release of the console were mainly uninteresting, missing out all the heavy hitters of Nintendo’s catalogue such as Mario, Donkey Kong and Zelda. This meant that even hard core Nintendo fans were somewhat apprehensive, and although this didn’t affect initial sales it may explain why Nintendo have felt the need to decrease the console’s selling price so drastically so soon after release.
In an attempt to keep things fresh, Nintendo have now released a new edition of the 3DS to add to the original two colours, Cosmos Black and Aqua Blue. The newest variant is Metallic Red, which was released recently to coincide with the launch of the Star Fox 64 3D game. This reimagining of the Nintendo 64 classic may help to expand the 3DS’s appeal to the die-hard Nintendo fan, whilst giving all consumers more variety in their choice of console. Misty Pink and Ice White 3DS’s have also been announced.
The Metallic Red 3DS was released in Japan under the name Flare Red, and in North America and Australia as Flame Red.
- Kat Humphries
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