On March 27, 2011, Nintendo released the Nintendo 3DS handheld. The successor to its Nintendo DS line of handhelds, the 3DS brought a number of innovations to the table, upping the graphical fidelity considerably and offering glasses-free 3D. Unfortunately, the 3DS had a slow start, with a lack of compelling software in its early months and a relatively high price point often blamed.
Eventually, the Nintendo 3DS managed to find its place in the gaming world, becoming one of Nintendo's most successful handhelds ever by the time it was discontinued. Over the years, the 3DS built up an impressive library of games, including some of the highest-rated titles of the last decade, with many of them available exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS. With the Nintendo 3DS turning 10 years old today, it's a good time to look back at some of its best games, like the 10 3DS games that earned the highest reviews from critics, according to review aggregate site Metacritic.
Best 3DS Games
- Colors! 3D - 89
- 3D Streets of Rage 2 - 89
- 3D Gunstar Heroes - 89
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D - 89
- Pushmo - 90
- Super Mario 3D Land - 90
- Shovel Knight - 90
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - 91
- Fire Emblem: Awakening - 92
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - 94
A quick glance at the 10 highest-rated 3DS games shows that the system had a variety of classic games, brand new titles, and new entries in some of Nintendo's most beloved franchises. This includes 3D remakes of the Nintendo 64 era Legend of Zelda games, giving a serious graphics boost to Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time, while also implementing a wide range of quality-of-life improvements to help make the games more accessible to modern gamers.
An original Zelda game also had a prominent place in the Nintendo 3DS library in the form of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. A direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds was critically-acclaimed and stands as one of the highest-rated video games ever released for the handheld.
Besides Zelda, some of Nintendo's other heavy-hitter franchises had a major showing on the 3DS as well. This includes Super Mario, with Super Mario 3D Land proving to be one of the 3DS system's early must-have titles. Fire Emblem also had a major resurgence on the 3DS with Fire Emblem: Awakening, which put the series on the map for many gamers and helped propel it to being one of Nintendo's hottest properties.
Source: Metacritic