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Why is Nintendo's eShop so bad on 3DS?

The US eShop interface is very confusing compared to the EU & JP ones. I don't really understand why NoA decided to do things differently. For example, the European Wii U eShop has an easy to find demo section and the categories on the 3DS eShop are better organized.
 
Just got one yesterday, and there's a few titles that I can only find via searching. I'm perfectly willing to go through a gigantic list of everything just so I can see what's there, but I don't see the option anywhere. For example, I think Cave Story can only be found if you search for the title.
 
It would help if you pointed out what these quality releases are instead of calling me crazy. I'm not trying to troll anyone, just trying to understand why it feels so lackluster.

I guess I don't really understand why you find it "lackluster". Is it the type of games there? Number of games available?
 
Yeah, I got mine recently and decided to look for some low cost games. I'm not too keen on investing a lot with their current account system so I just wanted some low cost things, but it was such a pain in the ass just to look through everything broken up like that.
 
Holy hyperbole, batman!
Well it was obvious hyperbole, it doesn't actually make me want to vomit. But I do think it's absolutely terrible. When I see all these awesome interfaces on tablets and phones and everything, and then I see that, it just bugs me. Don't even get me started on that endlessly stupid present thing while you download.

Damn, man. If you can't deal with the eShop, then I wonder how you feel about Sony's store....
I don't mind the interface THAT much, the new store just bothers me because it's laggy and takes one too many clicks to do things. I get the feeling sony is beta testing their new store on everybody lol. Their online store is slick as FUCK though. And since we'll soon be able to use that to download things, no complaints there. But yeah the new PSN store needs work.
 
Yeah, I got mine recently and decided to look for some low cost games. I'm not too keen on investing a lot with their current account system so I just wanted some low cost things, but it was such a pain in the ass just to look through everything broken up like that.

yea it's clearly designed for younger kids and simpler folk in mind. i assume they think the rest are smart enough to look online or something.
 
Well it was obvious hyperbole, it doesn't actually make me want to vomit. But I do think it's absolutely terrible. When I see all these awesome interfaces on tablets and phones and everything, and then I see that, it just bugs me. Don't even get me started on that endlessly stupid present thing while you download.

idk, I have an Android phone and an Ipad and both storefronts kind of blow imo. I really don't like app store. It's just as hard to find something on there as it is to find something on the eShop or other services.
 
Interface is awful. Selecting the menu option for "download full retail games" only brings up a partial list of available titles that are on the service. If I hadn't known that Code of Princess was available to buy on the storefront through a random discovery on the internet, the eShop has no means of providing that information unless I randomly searched for its name.
 
I love the theme music and some of the UI visual design. The organization sucks and so does the amount of demos. As far as actual content. It's a wasteland. Nintendo puts minimal first party effort and most of the great licensee games go to PSN / XBLA.

You would think with the limited content that Nintendo would flex some muscle with their virtual console.Yeah guys. Is everyone excited for balloon fight, Popeyes, and donkey kong jr nes ports??? One or two games a month if you are lucky.
 
Heh, because of the eShop I bought (and am currently enjoying the heck out of) Style Savvy: Trendsetters. This game is coming dangerously close to matching Fire Emblem as my favorite handheld title this gen.

XSQSeRT.jpg


<3!

Also just bought Etrian Odyssey off the eShop but haven't had a chance to play it at all thanks to Style Savvy. I'm in love with the eShop, honestly. I've owned my 3ds XL for about a month and a half now and I've bought half a dozen games off of it so far (with a dozen more on my wish list). The organization could be a bit streamlined, but that's about the only complaint I have so far.
 
It would help if you pointed out what these quality releases are instead of calling me crazy. I'm not trying to troll anyone, just trying to understand why it feels so lackluster.

Every title worth owning on the American eShop (NO PICROSS HERE DAMMIT):

Aero Porter
Art of Balance TOUCH!
ATV Wild Ride 3D
Bird Mania
Bloody Vampire
Bomb Monkey
Cave Story 3D
Coaster Creator 3D
Colors! 3D
Crashmo
Crimson Shroud
Dillon's Rolling Western
escapeVektor
Fluidity: Spin Cycle
Fractured Soul
Freakyforms: Your Creations Alive!
Gunman Clive
Ikachan
Kersploosh!
Ketzel's Corridors
Liberation Maiden
Marvel Pinball 3D
Mighty Switch Force
Mutant Mudds
Nano Assault EX
NightSky
Picdun 2: Witch's Curse
Planet Crashers
Pushmo
Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword
The Denpa Men: They Came by Wave
Tokyo Crash Mobs
Unchained Blades
VVVVVV
Witch's Cat
Zen Pinball 3D
 
Take the plunge. You're missing out on some incredible games.
I'm holding out till Nintendo gets their shit together.

I might get Crashmo on my 3DS and Super Metroid on my Wii, tho.
 
Wait, if you buy a DD game on the 3DS? You can't transfer it like to a XL if you bought a new one?

I guess I don't really understand why you find it "lackluster". Is it the type of games there? Number of games available?

A little of both. Quite a bit of games I looked at possibly buying gave off the air of "shoveware". The Nintendo published games looked more attractive but they came with the Nintendo quality price.
 
The UI is pretty bad, agreed.

However, I don't understand why people expect fairly new releases to be discounted on the eShop as opposed to retail. The demand is the same and retailers really don't make that much money (at least to my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong) off of game sales - $5-$10 is what I've heard from a retail I work closely with.

If it's an older title that's become discounted in store and is still full price on the eShop, I understand, but for day 1 purchases, I don't expect them to be cheaper on the digital store.
 
It is a terrible store to just browse in. I find it horribly unorganized. But if you go in knowing what you want to buy (ie Gunman Clive), it is easy enough to get in and out quickly.
 
I just wish they supported the Virtual Console. Much more appealing than indie games, yet for some reason they think adding one NES or GB game here and there is adequate enough support. Must be too much to ask for.
This post nails it, and a distinction must be made here. There's a steady stream of enticing new content, but Nintendo's handling of the Virtual Console has been downright dreadful.
 
I really hate the UI and how content is organized. If you are looking for something specific that isn't new then you need to use the search tool and type correctly the title of the game you want and hope its labeled the same in their system without weird symbols or additional punctuation.

Browsing content is a huge pain in the ass too as it's poorly organized.

My biggest gripe is still the VC offering. It's fairly pathetic 2 years into the life of the system. Where are all the great GBC and GBA games? Where are the NES games that are on the Wii VC? Why no SNES games?
 
I've spent a good amount of money on the eshop. I've played some awesome amazing games and some ok games. Nintendo isn't perfect but as long as they keep releasing games I want to play, I'll keep buying them.

They really need that account system though
 
Every title worth owning on the American eShop (NO PICROSS HERE DAMMIT):

Aero Porter
Art of Balance TOUCH!
ATV Wild Ride 3D
Bird Mania
Bloody Vampire
Bomb Monkey
Cave Story 3D
Coaster Creator 3D
Colors! 3D
Crashmo
Crimson Shroud
Dillon's Rolling Western
escapeVektor
Fluidity: Spin Cycle
Fractured Soul
Freakyforms: Your Creations Alive!
Gunman Clive
Ikachan
Kersploosh!
Ketzel's Corridors
Liberation Maiden
Marvel Pinball 3D
Mighty Switch Force
Mutant Mudds
Nano Assault EX
NightSky
Picdun 2: Witch's Curse
Planet Crashers
Pushmo
Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword
The Denpa Men: They Came by Wave
Tokyo Crash Mobs
Unchained Blades
VVVVVV
Witch's Cat
Zen Pinball 3D

Holding onto this list for when my 3DS arrives on Friday.
 
Prices aside (which is reasonable besides retail). The games offered are amazing.

What? The eShop is really great right now, and it's having sales regularly as well.

In fact, I'm compelled to make a thread about it soon.

They have sales all the time.

Plus spending ten bucks for a 2-3 hour game is better than spending sixty bucks for a 2-3 hour game.

Your mileage may vary...depending on your mileage from the united states.
 
I like the catagories. When a catagories says something like "Sports games" or "racing games" and is prominently featured, it kinda makes me check out some new games. Kinda how I found VectorRacing and really enjoyed it.
 
I just wish they supported the Virtual Console. Much more appealing than indie games, yet for some reason they think adding one NES or GB game here and there is adequate enough support. Must be too much to ask for.

New content > old content, always. I agree about VC support though, the VC severely needs 2 games a week.
 
Can someone post a pic of the US interface? The Japanese one is more than serviceable. We have new 3DS/Wii U games, both retail and eshop only on the top row, easy access to search, and categories on the bottom for demos, VC, downloadable games, and then a 'recommended for you' section.

I just wish they supported the Virtual Console. Much more appealing than indie games, yet for some reason they think adding one NES or GB game here and there is adequate enough support. Must be too much to ask for.

My VC/3D VC collection:

Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. USA
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Land
Super Mario Land 2
Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land
Wario Land 2
Wario Land 3
Kid Icarus 3D
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda II: Link's Adventure
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Famicon Wars (Advance Wars 1)
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Ice Climbers
Kirby's Dream Course
Kirby's Dream Land
Kirby's Dream Land 2
Metroid
Metroid II
Rayman 1
 
Mutant Mudds is $5 right now I believe, escapeVektor will be $5 next week, I think they're doing a sale for a different game very week. European eShop will be having a big sale on retail games right now, so I think it's safe to say there's going to be one here soon.

WHAT?! Where did you get this?!

I had just purchased it the other day!! fml
 
New content > old content, always. I agree about VC support though, the VC severely needs 2 games a week.

Releasing 2 games people don't want a week isn't going to help either. Why waste time on games like Wrecking Crew and some of those first generation NES games that are simply awful or short on content? I mean they can waste months releasing games like Ballon Fight, Donkey Kong 1-2-3-Jr, Popeye, Clu Clu Land, Tennis, and Hogan's Alley but I really don't think these are the games people are waiting for. Especially when they have a whole catalog of GB/GBC/GBA/NES games that are first party and much better.

I think another big issue is that unlike a competitor like Sony, they can't seem to make their VC offering cross platform compatible. I still can't play Super Mario Bros 3 or Startropics on my 3DS yet both are on the Wii VC.
 
Releasing 2 games people don't want a week isn't going to help either. Why waste time on games like Wrecking Crew and some of those first generation NES games that are simply awful or short on content? I mean they can waste months releasing games like Ballon Fight, Donkey Kong 1-2-3-Jr, Popeye, Clu Clu Land, Tennis, and Hogan's Alley but I really don't think these are the games people are waiting for. Especially when they have a whole catalog of GB/GBC/GBA/NES games that are first party and much better.

I think another big issue is that unlike a competitor like Sony, they can't seem to make their VC offering cross platform compatible. I still can't play Super Mario Bros 3 or Startropics on my 3DS yet both are on the Wii VC.

To be honest, I always felt the Game Boy library was pretty sparse. There's what, 5 more worthwhile games? Probably 10 more (that are not announced) for the GBC? They need to move on to the SNES and GBA.
 
Wrecking Crew is actually a bad example if you're going to complain about an early gen Nintendo game lacking content. It has 100 stages and an extremely robust for the time level editor.
 
Not sure if 3DS has the processing power to decently emulate the SNES, but Genesis should be easily doable, maybe even Neo Geo.
 
I really have no idea why the content is so poor outside of a few gems like MSF and Pushmo/Crashmo. Part of it is probably why the eShop is so fucking terrible to navigate. I don't think in the history of the entire gen there was a DD store was so disorganized and unintuitive. The top pane is in literally random order every week with all the important stuff like demos all the way to the right, and the bottom pane has an amalgamation of some quick filters (less important than say, demos) and the MK update. I could go on forever about how bad that is.
 
Wait, if you buy a DD game on the 3DS? You can't transfer it like to a XL if you bought a new one?



A little of both. Quite a bit of games I looked at possibly buying gave off the air of "shoveware". The Nintendo published games looked more attractive but they came with the Nintendo quality price.


What Nintendo game is so egregiously overpriced? Should the all be $0.99 because IOS is doing it?
 
Sounds like the US shop is a piece of shit. The Australian shop has new retail and e-shop games on the top along with whatever else they want to promote and the bottom has catergories like e-shop only, demos, VC and DSiware.
 
The UI only works if you have a limited selection of games. If there are a lot of games, that's when it becomes inconvenient.
 
Sounds like the US shop is a piece of shit. The Australian shop has new retail and e-shop games on the top along with whatever else they want to promote and the bottom has catergories like e-shop only, demos, VC and DSiware.

We've got categories for downloadable retail games, Nintendo Show 3D, new arrivals, demos, 3D games, and Future Releases on the top (along with other promotions), with Popular Videos, Best Sellers, Applications, Virtual Console, Top Rated Games and Retail-Only games on the bottom. The problem is, the demo/retail game category doesn't have all of the demos/retail games.

Edit: Take a look if you want.
 
Sounds like the US shop is a piece of shit. The Australian shop has new retail and e-shop games on the top along with whatever else they want to promote and the bottom has catergories like e-shop only, demos, VC and DSiware.

Right now this very minute the US eshop looks like this:

Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (which links to the demo and downloadable version) Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (Same as MH) Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (same thing again) Kersploosh (mentions the Price) Harmonknight (Demo) Mutant Mudds (on sale this week for 5.99) and then theme sections: Luigi (Dark Moon, SMB, MK7, NSMB2, Mario Tennis Open, NES Golf, Wrecking Crew, 3D Land) Racing Games, It's a Team Effort, Pokedex 3D Pro (on sale for a limited time) Brought to you by Nintendo (has most of the first party eshop stuff here) Recommendations, Games under 2 dollars, Now available, New Arrivals, Demos, 3D games, Future releases.

The bottom is:

Popular Videos, Best Sellers (big picture of Gunman Clive here, way to go!) Virtual Console, Applications, Top Rated Games, Only at retail.

These categories are pretty good in my mind.
 
We've got categories for downloadable retail games, Nintendo Show 3D, new arrivals, demos, 3D games, and Future Releases on the top, with Popular Videos and Virtual Console on the bottom. The problem is, the demo/retail game category doesn't have all of the demos/retail games.

So you only ever have one page of demo/retail games at a time then?
 
Gunman Clive, pushmo, Crashmo, mutant mudds, cave story, crimson Shroud, Sakurai samurai, ATV wild ride 3d,and bit trip saga are all wonderful games.

The store is a mess, the sales are a joke ($2 off! Wooo) and the downloads being tied to the console is nearly unforgivable... But to say there aren't great games is incorrect.


Basically it's nintendo being nintendo, great at games - shit at everything else.
 
I really have no idea why the content is so poor outside of a few gems like MSF and Pushmo/Crashmo. Part of it is probably why the eShop is so fucking terrible to navigate. I don't think in the history of the entire gen there was a DD store was so disorganized and unintuitive. The top pane is in literally random order every week with all the important stuff like demos all the way to the right, and the bottom pane has an amalgamation of some quick filters (less important than say, demos) and the MK update. I could go on forever about how bad that is.

I understand complaints about the UI, but the eShop has a bucket load of great games.
 
Exactly. There's hidden demos/retail games on the eShop.

That is pretty shit. In the Australian store if you go to the demos section for example you can just go through the list until you find the one you want, they're all there. It's the same with all the other catergories, every game that belongs in a section is in that section.
 
It's weird though, the US Demo section is only missing five or six titles and their mostly older stuff that no one would want anyways and if you know about them you can search for them.
 
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