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[JordanN]

Back in 2011, there was huge controversy surrounding the 3DS price. After disappointing sales, and the fact the upcoming PS Vita matched the price of 3DS while offering much more power, Nintendo slashed the 3DS from $250 to $169.

But what was Nintendo's solution to all the launch day buyers? Apparently, it was offering them...... ROMs.

And not even the newest titles. They dug back to the NES and Gameboy Advance as compensation.

Of course, the 3DS did eventually get more titles released for it, but was this really Nintendo's best way of saying "hey, thanks for beta testing our new handheld for us".

 

[namekuseijin]

anything Nintendo is a joke

 

[Birdo]

Hey, at least it even had a virtual console...

 

[SantaC]

anything Nintendo is overpriced.

fixed it for you

 

[Spukc]

Sounds like someone that is jelli he missed out on them GBA games

 

[Agent X]

It was a good gesture for early owners of the system.

It's too bad that they never released the downloadable GBA games separately.

 

[-Arcadia-]

I mean, technically, they didn't have to give you shit. I don't recall a similar move from competitors who also did emergency $100 price slashes.

As I understand it, the 3DS price drop led to some of the biggest financial hits Nintendo has ever taken -- it's not a surprise that they weren't looking to give away the farm to users that unfortunately bought in, or de-incentivize sales of new software by giving away fairly modern games.

10 GBA games at that point in time, wasn't a bad deal at all, nor were 10 NES freebies on top of it. That's a lot of good gaming. My issue was that the former seemed poorly emulated, and really dark, not really feeling like an optimal version of the games.

 

[JordanN]

Sounds like someone that is jelli he missed out on them GBA games

I owned both the 3DS and Gameboy Advance bruh.

 

[Spukc]

I owned both the 3DS and Gameboy Advance bruh.

Sure but did you get them gba games on your 3ds?

 

[JordanN]

Sure but did you get them gba games on your 3ds?

I bought the 3DS after the price drop.
I rather have the one Mario game that came with it than the 10 year old ROMs.

 

[SScorpio]

Not for the people who were able to get an original unit for the $169 price, but was still eligible for the Ambassador program. I still think back to the 3DS anytime I hear someone complain the Vita was overpriced at launch.

 

[Spukc]

I bought the 3DS after the price drop.
I rather have the one Mario game that came with it than the 10 year old ROMs.

since they are issued by nintendo they are 100% legal. And official ways to play those gba games,
I still use it to this day, on my new 3ds XL

 

[JordanN]

Not for the people who were able to get an original unit for the $169 price, but was still eligible for the Ambassador program. I still think back to the 3DS anytime I hear someone complain the Vita was overpriced at launch.

The crazy thing was $250 wasn't actually the original price.

There was a presentation by Reggie where they could have sold it for $300 or $400.

I loved the original DS but in no way did 3DS actually surpass it in that much value. And the system still had droughts...
The 3D gimmick also wasn't put to much use. Nintendo promised we were suppose to watch movies on it, yet all we got were these 5 minute shorts.

 

[SScorpio]

The crazy thing was $250 wasn't actually the original price.

There was presentation by Reggie where they could have sold it for $350.

I loved the original DS but in no way did 3DS actually surpass it in that much value.

I don't remember that. But am I remembering right that the VIta and its price was revealed just as or just after the 3DS came out? I like to think that was them trying to 1Up the competition with another $299 type moment, it would have been much more effective if the 3DS did release at $350.

 

[LarknThe4th]

It was a good gesture for early owners of the system.

It's too bad that they never released the downloadable GBA games separately.

Yeah, really frustrating what they are doing with their back catalogue

It's by far the most prestigious in gaming history and it's just spoon fed in drops and drabs!

Very lame

 

[Starlight Lotice]

Tesco dropped the price a few days before this Program was ended, and I missed out because they couldn't get their shit together.

Ah well...I own most of them anyway. It was good for Nintendo to do that but they desperately were hurting from that.

 

[JordanN]

I don't remember that. But am I remembering right that the VIta and its price was revealed just as or just after the 3DS came out? I like to think that was them trying to 1Up the competition with another $299 type moment, it would have been much more effective if the 3DS did release at $350.

Timestamped @ 33 minutes from the 2011 New York Presentation.

 

[Aggressive Carrot]

I can't complain. It was a good gesture for early adopters. I still have some of the games sitting on my 3DS.

 

[darthvargi]

Timestamped @ 33 minutes from the 2011 New York Presentation.

Wow I didn't know this. I was an "ambassador" but I thought 250 was high. This was during the Avatar era where 3D was going to change everything. Heck I even bought a 3DTV back then.

I will say despite me getting taken a bit, I did enjoy my 3DS a lot. Resident Evil Revelations with the circle pad pro and Monster Hunter 3 blew me away at the time for handheld gaming.

To answer the OP I was a bit upset about the early price drop but it was necessary for the handheld to succeed. All gaming journalists at the time were convinced the Vita and iPhone were going to end Nintendo's run on the handheld market and up until the 3DS really gained momentum in Holiday 2011, I believed it may happen.

 

[ZehDon]

I was in the Ambassador program, and having a bunch of free old titles was nice compensation. They weren't really obligated to provide anything - for me, the 3DS was worth the entry price at the time, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it. Was it overpriced? Probably. But the sheer number of hours I've gotten out of that device more than justified it for me. Did it amount to anything other than a badge saying "I paid a stupid price and all I got was a bunch of emulated title"? Yeah. What else were we expecting?

 

[Codes 208]

It had gba games so it’s already automatically better than switch’s Nintendo online freebies.

 

[TsimpleD]

I got mine for 169 and still got in the ambassador program, it was awesome for me

 

[JordanN]

I was in the Ambassador program, and having a bunch of free old titles was nice compensation. They weren't really obligated to provide anything - for me, the 3DS was worth the entry price at the time, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it. Was it overpriced? Probably. But the sheer number of hours I've gotten out of that device more than justified it for me. Did it amount to anything other than a badge saying "I paid a stupid price and all I got was a bunch of emulated title"? Yeah. What else were we expecting?

I think Nintendo should have swooped in and stopped certain games from being cancelled.

Like Mega Man Legends 3. Holy shit, I would have bought a 3DS sooner until Capcom decided to pull the plug on it.

I think other Publishers started delaying their games as well until the system was no longer belly flopping.

Nintendo had all this cash they made from the Wii/DS era yet they just sat by and did nothing (but give us free NES/GBA games lol).

 

[Jeeves]

I had a great time with the games they gave out. Some were games I hadn't played, some games I had played but not owned, and a few went on to be among my most-played games on the system.

Would $80 be a good bundle price for those games? Well no, but for me it was enough to mostly take the sting out of it.

 

[Hawks Eclipse]

Back in 2011, there was huge controversy surrounding the 3DS price. After disappointing sales, and the fact the upcoming PS Vita matched the price of 3DS while offering much more power, Nintendo slashed the 3DS from $250 to $169.

But what was Nintendo's solution to all the launch day buyers? Apparently, it was offering them...... ROMs.

And not even the newest titles. They dug back to the NES and Gameboy Advance as compensation.

Of course, the 3DS did eventually get more titles released for it, but was this really Nintendo's best way of saying "hey, thanks for beta testing our new handheld for us".

Throwing shade at Iwata on the fifth anniversary of his death, how timely.

 

[JordanN]

Throwing shade at Iwata on the fifth anniversary of his death, how timely.

I never even named dropped him once in this thread. Criticizing Nintendo as a company has no relation to a CEO's personal life.

I also posted a photo of my own personal handheld collection, so clearly he still won in the end, no?

 

[Macapala]

anything Nintendo is a joke

I'm telling Evilore that you are making fun of Nintendo. You're in BIG trouble now!

Nintendo is the best and there is nothing you can do to change that!

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

I mean, technically, they didn't have to give you shit. I don't recall a similar move from competitors who also did emergency $100 price slashes.

As I understand it, the 3DS price drop led to some of the biggest financial hits Nintendo has ever taken -- it's not a surprise that they weren't looking to give away the farm to users that unfortunately bought in, or de-incentivize sales of new software by giving away fairly modern games.

10 GBA games at that point in time, wasn't a bad deal at all, nor were 10 NES freebies on top of it. That's a lot of good gaming. My issue was that the former seemed poorly emulated, and really dark, not really feeling like an optimal version of the games.

Yeah but they slashed the price like 5 months after launch...

 

[PhoenixTank]

Wanted to add something that seems to have been overlooked: Nobody could buy these GBA games on 3DS i.e. They were exclusive to the ambassadors.
I know I'd missed out on some of these games on GBA and by the 3DS era getting legit carts for sane prices could be quite difficult.

I mean, technically, they didn't have to give you shit. I don't recall a similar move from competitors who also did emergency $100 price slashes.

As I understand it, the 3DS price drop led to some of the biggest financial hits Nintendo has ever taken -- it's not a surprise that they weren't looking to give away the farm to users that unfortunately bought in, or de-incentivize sales of new software by giving away fairly modern games.

10 GBA games at that point in time, wasn't a bad deal at all, nor were 10 NES freebies on top of it. That's a lot of good gaming. My issue was that the former seemed poorly emulated, and really dark, not really feeling like an optimal version of the games.

Funny you should mention that the GBA games weren't emulated well, but they are running on hardware (not emulated). I'm a little rusty on it, but AGB_FIRM is responsible for this and means that one of the ARM CPUs essentially acts as a GBA aside from reading from the NAND instead of from a cart. A bit like GC backwards compatibility on Wii (MIOS)
The darkness might be down to the difference between the GBA & SP and how they were displayed, IIRC... but that might have been just a software thing.

 

[Hawks Eclipse]

I never even named dropped him once in this thread. Criticizing Nintendo as a company has no relation to a CEO's personal life.

It's just too timely when you're criticizing a specific action that took place under his watch.

Anyway, to answer your question, I don't think it was a joke. People paid what they thought it was worth at the time.

 

[JordanN]

It's just too timely when you're criticizing a specific action that took place under his watch.

Anyway, to answer your question, I don't think it was a joke. People paid what they thought it was worth at the time.

Ok and?
Nintendo was never just one person. I could argue Shigeru Miyamoto also had involvement in the 3DS early failures, I'm clearly calling out the company in general.

 

[Barakov]

Oh man....Steel Diver that takes me back.

 

[JordanN]

Oh man....Steel Diver that takes me back.

At first, I was hyped for it.
But then the reviews started coming in calling it a tech demo, while at the same time, all the launch titles went up in price ($39.99 when DS games were $29).

I looked at it on the shelf but then put it back.

I ended up getting Nano Assault though!

 

[Regiruler]

Considering they kept their word about the gba games being exclusive to the program I don't really find it to be a joke at all, even if the NES choices are awful.

Those who got 3D Excitebike for free are the real OGs though.

 

[Hawks Eclipse]

Ok and?
Nintendo was never just one person. I could argue Shigeru Miyamoto also had involvement in the 3DS early failures, I'm clearly calling out the company in general.

And....I'm curious.

You weren't even an early adopter by your own admission, so what is the purpose of your OP?

Even the way you framed the title and OP reeks. A neutral title would be something like: "In hindsight, what did you think of the 3DS ambassador program?", not priming people with phrases like "was Nintendo's 3DS Ambassador Program a complete joke?" and "but was this really Nintendo's best way of saying "hey, thanks for beta testing our new handheld for us".

 

[theclaw135]

Considering they kept their word about the gba games being exclusive to the program I don't really find it to be a joke at all, even if the NES choices are awful.

Those who got 3D Excitebike for free are the real OGs though.

Keeping their word is fine, but why did they say that in the first place? Nintendo straight up declared complete refusal to even attempt to sell the games. A perplexing move for a company in the business of making money.

 

[EverythingsOverrated]

I thought it was dope. I got a bunch of games that I ended up playing a good amount

 

[MagnesG]

It's worth it at that time.

 

[JordanN]

And....I'm curious.

You weren't even an early adopter by your own admission, so what is the purpose of your OP?

Even the way you framed the title and OP reeks. A neutral title would be something like: "In hindsight, what did you think of the 3DS ambassador program?", not priming people with phrases like "was Nintendo's 3DS Ambassador Program a complete joke?" and "but was this really Nintendo's best way of saying "hey, thanks for beta testing our new handheld for us".

Are you paid by Nintendo?
Why does it matter to you that I criticize a handheld that isn't even manufactured anymore?
3DS came and gone, and even Nintendo admits that since they've put all their focus on Switch now.

Much less, I physically owned the product so what are you even asking for? No one can dislike or have an opinion on stuff they've purchased?

 

[Stilton Disco]

Not for the people who were able to get an original unit for the $169 price, but was still eligible for the Ambassador program.

I did this, that little window of after the price drop where you still qualified was too good to resist.

Combined with some really good vouchers and a sale that had been announced before the price drop, both of which were meant to shift stock at the old price, but were technically still valid, and a bit of haggling, I got two 3DS's for the new price in total, plus my wife and I had all the ambassador games.

All in all therefore I say it it was a brilliant move and the reason for one of my best gaming bargains.

 

[cireza]

They tried selling a premium console at a premium price. They failed and offered roms while reducing the build quality a lot.

Bets 3DS is still the day one models to this day. Afterwards everything became shit plastic and yellow screens.

 

[anonychus]

It worked out well for me. I had a lot of fun with the given games, ended up playing through 8 of the 10 gba games.

Not only that, but I once called Nintendo for an issue I had with a game download code, but I called after the expiration date of the code (there were some odd circumstances). Anyway, after looking me up in their system they saw I was an ambassador and gave me preferential treatment. I got transferred to his boss, who, instead of giving me another code, sent me a physical copy of the game free of charge. This happened around 2016, so long after I thought the ambassador program would be relevant. Again, this was after my code had expired, so it was on me anyway.

So yeah, I've been pretty happy with the program. I still loved my 3DS and I thought it was worth the price when I got it, so it was a very nice bonus.

 

[EverythingsOverrated]

They tried selling a premium console at a premium price. They failed and offered roms while reducing the build quality a lot.

Bets 3DS is still the day one models to this day. Afterwards everything became shit plastic and yellow screens.

The overall build quality of the OG 3DS was quite nice, it was just too small for my hands. I wish they would've stayed with the higher quality materials for the newer models but of course they went with that shitty soft plastic.

EDIT: just grabbed my launch 3DS out of the closet to compare with the new 3DS XL - man if they could've taken the bigger form factor and improved specs and just used the original 3DS as a design template....

The OG 3DS has a more sleek look whereas the models that came after have a very toy like aesthetic

 

[Scotty W]

No. The launch was a total disaster and the 3ds looked to be their biggest mistake since the virtual boy. I never jeard anyone complain after the ambassador program. Ever

 

[theclaw135]

The launch 3ds has poor ergonomics, and nearly useless 3d viewing angle.

 

[Stilton Disco]

The launch 3ds has poor ergonomics, and nearly useless 3d viewing angle.

The screen was also laughably small, even at the time.

The 2DS and n2DS fixed the the ergonomics, while I'd still argue the standard n3DS was the best overall for features, design, screen size and pixel density.

God I miss 7th gen for handhelds. Between the 3DS and Vita it was a bloody brilliant time for gaming on the go.

 

[Hawks Eclipse]

Are you paid by Nintendo?
Why does it matter to you that I criticize a handheld that isn't even manufactured anymore?
3DS came and gone, and even Nintendo admits that since they've put all their focus on Switch now.

Much less, I physically owned the product so what are you even asking for? No one can dislike or have an opinion on stuff they've purchased?

Nah, if anything I'm paying Nintendo by being a consumer.

You'll notice that I'm not doing a good job of replying to every other comment in here that's dissing Nintendo; I'm not bothered by criticisms of Nintendo in general.

And you might be wondering, "so why single me out?"...

Like I've said more than once: I noticed the peculiar timing and nature of your OP and pointed it out, that's it.

If your OP happened to be something like "The 3DS ambassador program was such an amazing gesture towards early adopters!", then I might have said "A post that commemorates Iwata on his fifth death anniversary, how timely.".

Granted, my last reply was a result of looking through your other replies in here and thinking about it.

As for your final question, I'm more inclined to listen to opinions (negative and positive) of people who actually own/ed the products over those who don't...

Guess who doesn't have the 3DS ambassador certificate?

 

[JordanN]

Nah, if anything I'm paying Nintendo by being a consumer.

You'll notice that I'm not doing a good job of replying to every other comment in here that's dissing Nintendo; I'm not bothered by criticisms of Nintendo in general.

And you might be wondering, "so why single me out?"...

Like I've said more than once: I noticed the peculiar timing and nature of your OP and pointed it out, that's it.

If your OP happened to be something like "The 3DS ambassador program was such an amazing gesture towards early adopters!", then I might have said "A post that commemorates Iwata on his fifth death anniversary, how timely.".

Granted, my last reply was a result of looking through your other replies in here and thinking about it.

As for your final question, I'm more inclined to listen to opinions (negative and positive) of people who actually own/ed the products over those who don't...

Guess who doesn't have the 3DS ambassador certificate?

Wow, this is some GameCube/Wii era fanboy levels of ether.

Relax, it's just plastic. Not a 9/11 conspiracy.

 

[KemoSabe]

Still better games than the switch got

 

[Eevee86]

No? I bought it at launch knowing the risks just like everyone else. They didn't have to do anything at all. It ended up having a fantastic library, even if it started a little slow.