Puzzle Games

The DS’ greatness was mostly based on three pillars — RPGs, adventure games and…puzzle games. Whether they were classic match-the-colored-blocks games, number games like sudoku and Picross or story-based titles like Professor Layton, the DS had some of the most addictive puzzlers around.

So far the 3DS selection of puzzlers is pretty paltry. There’s a so-so version of Tetris, and Konami released a lame Layton rip-off, but that’s about it. Come on guys, you’re losing your old people audience every day the 3DS continues to exist without good puzzle games.

There’s a 3DS Layton game, it just hasn’t left Japan yet. Come on Nintendo, old people want to give you their money!

 

Region-Free Gaming

The DS was the last Nintendo portable to allow you to play games from anywhere in the world without tampering with your system. There’s something special about a region-free machine — it makes you feel like you have a whole world’s worth of wacky gaming available to you.

Nintendo’s decision to region lock the 3DS probably has something to do with piracy, but the days when the games released in Europe and Japan were whispered myths are gone. We all know what gets released in other parts of the world, and people are going to do everything they can to make them playable on their systems. Give people less of a reason to mess with the 3DSes and just remove the region locking — you’ll have to listen to far less bitching from the Project Rainfall people if you do, promise.

 

Games From Nintendo’s Rogue Development Teams

So far most of 3DS games developed by Nintendo have been the work of their big central Shigeru Miyamoto-lead EAD development group (EAD stands for Entertainment Analysis and Development). The games they’ve delivered, like Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 have been darn good, but in the past the best portable Nintendo games have actually come from Nintendo’s quirkier, more obscure divisions. Divisions like Yoshio Sakamoto’s Software Planning & Development Group 1, Intelligent Systems and Skip.

These teams have been responsible for stuff like the Metroid series, the WarioWare games, Rhythm Heaven and Fire Emblem. Mario and Zelda are great, but to me it’s these more unique games that really make a Nintendo handheld worthwhile.