While I'm not that deep into the series, I wonder how big an impact announcing a new Animal Crossing game for Switch would be. I was surprised by how big New Leaf was on the 3DS (around 10 million copies sold), plus I'd be interested to see if they'd integrate the console's portability into some form of gameplay/interactivity. Animal Crossing's popularity in general boggles me...not because I think it's bad, I just never considered it to be that popular a concept.
Animal Crossing is second only to Pokemon as the biggest ace they could possibly pull out to win over the 3DS crowd. Every game in the series has been among the best-selling games on their respective platforms. Especially if they tie it in with the mobile game, Animal Crossing on Switch would be massive.
GAF tends to sleep on the series a lot, I guess because the series is so intense a commitment that it distracts from other games. But the series is beloved by mainstream players. Honestly it's no different than VR or The Sims or anything. On one hand it's fully like you're living an entire alternate life, and the game is just enough of a time sink that you want to keep coming back to it, and just accessible enough that it's super easy to just play for 30 minutes a day. It's really relaxing to just spend a day fishing, and the neighbours and townfolk are so loveable and are always fun to interact with.
That seems to be the only kinda reliable rumor left.
Just wanna point out that that by "Smash 4 Deluxe" I mean an enhanced port with some new characters and stuff. I think Smash 4 will come to Switch, but only as a straight port of the Wii U version. I'm not expecting much new substantial stuff considering Sakurai made it a bit clear he was done with Smash 4 back in the Smash Broadcast, and I don't see them wanting to continue the project without the guy who's been directing it for like half a decade.
Another thing to consider is that Nintendo's still trying to sell us the 3DS and ergo the 3DS version of Smash. The original concept of Smash 4 was to have a handheld Smash game alongside a home console Smash. Of course, Nintendo can't exactly sell us the home console Smash game anymore because the console its on (Wii U) is dead, so I can see a Switch port being a quick replacement for the "home console" game to sell alongside the handheld version on 3DS, if you catch my drift. Considering Sakurai went out of his way to make sure the Wii U and 3DS games had total roster parity, I don't see the Switch port getting any new characters while the 3DS version doesn't
Question is, how long are Nintendo interested in selling the 3DS? In the short-term, yes they're still pushing the 3DS and Smash Bros. Obviously, considering the game lineup on both systems and the fact that handhelds always stick around a while, it's true that they want to keep that going through at least 2017. But what about after that? The 3DS's only major games this year from them are late localizations, ports and B-tier games. Fire Emblem Echoes is the only new release so far that maybe counts as AAA; Ever Oasis seems like a big deal development wise but will probably be pretty cult at the end of the day. Maybe there'll be an AAA game announced at E3 (e.g. Pokemon Stars - is that Switch-exclusive, cross-gen, or god forbid, 3DS-only?), but that'll be it. The Switch has also been eating the 3DS's lunch in hardware sales so far, worldwide.
Nintendo's strategy with the New 2DS XL, the various games this year, and their back catalogue of evergreen games and Selects, is just a cheaper option and a safety net for people and families who want to get in on the Nintendo action but can't justify the Switch. But whenever possible they're going to want people to get the Switch.
Once 2018 rolls around and there are more Switch bundles, potential price cuts and discounts, and simply more games to sell, there won't be nearly as much need for the safety net and the 3DS will play a much smaller role in their strategy. If, say, Smash for Switch came out in Q1 2018, then that gives the 3DS and SSB for 3DS one last holiday to be pushed before they can fully start selling a Switch version and offering incentives to upgrade.
Hi guys, I know this thread is not the place to ask questions but I don't want to make a thread so I hope this won't derail the thread much.
I plan to buy 3DS and maybe Switch later this year so I can get into Nintendo ecosystem, I missed a lot Nintendo games so I probably want to buy many games.
1. Which 3DS should I buy? The new 3DS in July or new 3DS XL?
2. I plan to go full digital with 3DS so which memory card is the best choice?
3. All eShop games I buy will link to Nintendo account or the 3DS? This confuse me a lot since I read some threads years ago about Nintendo account system
4. Are DS games available on eShop? I try to find 3 Castlevania on eShop web broswer but I don't if they're available on it.
5. Can you recommend me some 3DS games? Now I can only think about DQ VIII
1. Wait for the new 2DS XL so you have more money to get games. The 3D is nice, but if your choice is between the New 2DS XL and the New 3DS XL, then go for the former.
2. If you get a New 2DS XL, the best you can get is a 32gb microSDHC.
3. Games will be linked to your Nintendo Account. However your Nintendo Account is linked to your 3DS.
4. They are not. You'll have to track down the original DS cartridges.
5. There are so many good 3DS games listing them all would take forever so I partly just say get whatever interests you. That said Ocarina of Time 3D is a must-have and I personally recommend Kid Icarus: Uprising, Sega 3D Classics Collection, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Phoenix Wright Trilogy, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Pokemon Moon. Also keep in mind you can get SNES and GameBoy games on Virtual Console like Super Mario World, Link's Awakening, and Super Metroid.
