The State of the Nintendo 3DS eShop: A One Year Retrospective Look Back By Greg Wiggleton
The Nintendo 3DS digital marketplace, otherwise known as the eShop, is now over one year old. Now is a good time to look back on its early life and see how the Nintendo 3DS eShop has fared and where it is likely going. It’s no secret that the eShop fumbled out of the gate, but how is it doing now? Is it still having issues or is it starting to become a hit? I’ll first talk about the game releases and then the eShop system itself over the course of the past year.
see the release of one VC game and at worst we would only get DSiWare games. Some of those VC games were of quality like Super Mario Land 2 and Donkey Kong ‘94, but mostly the VC greatness were few and far between. Where were the original 3DS apps and games? Shouldn’t we have had some at or at least near launch? Weren’t their talk of demos at E3? These were some of the questions Nintendo faced from its consumers early on as week after week of sparely releases.
Looking back to the North American launch of the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was nowhere to be found. Unfortunately it wouldn’t be until early June, over three months since the release of the 3DS that the new digital marketplace would finally open. The launch itself was actually strong with releases of the classic Super Mario Land and Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX for GameBoy Color. Not to mention, a free Pokedex 3D app and a free limited download of the 3D Classics: Excitebike. Those that never had the DSi before were also now able to download any of the many great DSiWare games that instantly became available to them.
While slowly, some original and 3DS only apps did start to make its way to the eShop. Nintendo Video was an original idea from Nintendo that features music videos, trailers, and short skits that were created in 3D for the app. The app was limited to four spots, so anything that got auto
At the time things were looking up, or so it would seem. The DSiWare section of games still had great games released every week with usually two or three per week. Some great games like Antipole and Go! Go! Kokopolo! were released over the summer. Even now there are still great DSiWare games being released, such as Amoebattle and future potential great games like Spirit Hunters Inc. The DSiWare section had a lot of momentum going for it in terms of available content and the potential was certainly there for Virtual Console and 3DSWare games as well. Unfortunately, in those early months, it never came to fruition. Excluding DSiWare games, those early months barely saw any releases. At most we would only Page 14 FANBOLT GAMING DIGITAL MAGAZINE
downloaded was usually gone in a week. Nintendo Video had its own rocky start with it trying to find its footing in the community. Eventually the series Dinosaur Office helped the service become enjoyable. Netflix was promised and was then released in mid-August. Having Netflix on the 3DS was a big plus for anyone that wanted to watch TV shows and movies around the house and on the go. Being a flip design system also helped to make Netflix more enjoyable and easily place-able anywhere as long as you had internet. Another entertainment service known as Hulu August 2012