3DS didn't fail though, it did fine. Obviously it didn't live up to DS standards in terms of sales but that's not a failure. It could have failed, but they heavily supported it and phased out the gimmick. Not so with Wii U, which is probably their least supported system (excluding Virtual Boy).
I was born into the era of rechargeable batteries for handhelds. my dad would always go on about how with his old Game Gear he need to carry a small bag full of batteries for a long road trip. I would probably pick up a Game Gear if i saw one for a good price, but most are fucked due to bad components. But hey i was able to get a Neo Geo Pocket Color and Sonic Pocket Adventure for like 80$.
The 3DS failed at launch, I mean.
Awakening was at least ambitious and tried something new, which was a rarity with Nintendo at the time.
A lot of games also appeared on phones, which was likely a bigger competitor. Otherwise, if you didn't care for RPGs, which is me, then the system held little value as majority of its titles were RPGs. It was basically a system of RPGs and 2D Platformers, while the Wii U was a system of 2D platformers or gimmick shit. Either way, the systems lacked variety, and even their more focused genres suffered from having too much mediocrity.
I remember those days with my Game Boy Advance. I can't remember how many batteries that I went through playing it until they came out with that rechargeable attachment for it.
You can easily say the same thing with current year, with the added trend of reliving the past.
Phones did waaaaaaay more to hurt the 3DS than the Vita. The Vita is estimated to have sold around 15-17 million units versus 76 million 3DS units. Very few people gave a shit if something looked better on Vita. Any software released on both platforms most assuredly sold better on 3DS.
That's true, but I'm sure it didn't help. I believe Vita had a decent attach rate too. I certainly bought games for it over 3DS when given the choice, like the Zero Escape games.
Blame Iwata, Reggie wanted to launch 3DS at $199 but he wouldn’t budge.
I'd argue youngsters still have more physical games than digital ones on the principle that a kid's interest may likely change over time, and selling vidya to obtain a new game (even an used one) is rather handy for the parents as well. I gift game physicals to my young relatives on these ideas as well.
My Stella Glow nigga.
Getting really tired of this “finish it later” approach. I can let it slide on rare occasions (people may give Star Allies shit for doing this, but the alternative was to have half a year of nothing but Wii U ports; Star Allies needed to release early to break that up), but Nintendo does it so often now that they might as well just call it early access.
Well, from where I'm sitting, I see: An soccer game with Bing Bing! Wahoo! in it, with an some tweaked mechanics from the past two games. There's also the customizable gear and the "create your own club" thing.
