Adam Tyner

It's a little tricky getting apples-to-apples numbers, but in the DS' first 4 financial years (not calendar years), it moved around 70 million units vs. 43 million for the 3DS. The difference will be even more stark later; 3DS sales have slowed considerably, while the DS peaked in its fifth financial year. The 3DS also has a much, much smaller attach rate.

Overall, the 3DS has done really well, even if it lags behind the DS and frequently misses the sales targets that Nintendo sets. The initial release was a disaster: overpriced, poorly marketed (a lot of people didn't realize that the 3DS was an entirely new system and not just the DS in 3D), and a less-than-spectacular slate of software. The 3D feature isn't the killer app Nintendo thought it would be. I don't know if this is still the case, but I saw several surveys fairly early on where a huge percentage of 3DS owners played everything in 2D.

fujishig

Oh, I absolutely play everything in 2D (I may try out the 3d if I remember, but usually switch back for battery life if nothing else). I haven't given my "new" 3DS a try yet, though.

But I would contend that the Dual Screen gimmick was also not that revolutionary. Sure, there are some games that absolutely depend on it, but a lot of my favorite DS games use that as a map screen or something similar.

Supermallet

I ended up grabbing Triple Deluxe on the 3DS to get my Kirby fix. Here's hoping they make another Kirby in clay but with better controls.

Supermallet

IMO, the DS is the best system Nintendo ever released. The amount of truly excellent games on that system is staggering. The 3DS pales in comparison, but is still worth getting for the AAA first party titles and the fact that you can still play all those great DS games on it.

PerryD

My favorite Nintendo handheld was the GBA SP. Very compact, crisp screen, and tons of great platform games. The DS is a close second though. I'm planning on passing on the new Wii U Kirby though, but I'm really looking forward to the Yoshi game.

The Questyen

Three worlds into Kirby and the Rainbow Curse and it's pretty disappointing so far. I'm sure most of you who are interested in the game know this from reviews so far but the fact that the game is designed where you are just staring at the controller screen and not at the tv is lame. So as good as the game looks in screenshots and videos just realize you are never going to see that because you are going to be looking at the low res version on the gamepad. The base controlling of Kirby is also not very fun especially once you start getting to the more challenging levels. It's annoying when you have a lot of chaos on the screen and you're fighting just trying to get Kirby to head in the right direction.

On the positive end the clay artstyle is still nice to look at and I really enjoyed the one level so far where you turned into a tank. But this is a huge drop down from the awesomeness of Captain Toad and Kirby's Epic Yarn blows this game away.

Adam Tyner

I thought I had a pretty good thing going with Kirby and the Rainbow Curse up until the second boss. My wife would control Kirby with the gamepad while I'd use the pro controller and platform it up as Waddle-Dee. (...which means I get to look at the big, pretty TV!)

We were both miserable trying to get through the second boss, though. The controls are a bitch in a setting this claustrophobic, and Kirby would repeatedly get "stuck" inside the boss/in a corner (especially when he'd electrify himself) when he takes up 60% of the usable arena, making for quick deaths. While we could repeatedly get the fucker to one final hit, we could never manage to Big-Kirby smash him in the right spot. We'd either run out of health, we'd misaim, or we'd have exhausted the stars to go all Big-Kirby.

She got fed up after literally a couple dozen attempts last night. I tried this morning and found the gamepad really unwieldy and uncomfortable for this sort of play. (In more leisurely levels, it's great, but not something where I have to move that much, that quickly.) I have a Kirby Amiibo, but the Infinite Star Dash only lasts for one life and can only be used once a day, so... The game is nice enough to let me skip past it and go to the third world after so many deaths, but I want to bury this bastard, and I don't know if I'm capable of it.

EDIT - Ugh, finally did it after seriously something like thirtysomeodd attempts. Now I just have to try to convince my wife to play the game again.

Supermallet

Sounds like a lot of fun...

Adam Tyner

Nosing around, a lot of reviewers complained about that extreme spike in difficulty and general cheapness as well. Apparently the couple of worlds after that are a breeze, which makes the whole thing about the second boss that much more puzzling. Since the first three bosses are recycled later in the game, I'm dreading having to go through that again.

Supermallet

It's actually a shame, the in-person co-op was one of the big draws of the game for me.

The Questyen

I finished it the other day and I actually beat that second boss on the first try. It's the second time you play him that I died like 30 times. I had the same issue as you where I kept getting caught too close to him inside his electrical ring and losing all my power. Every other boss in the game I beat on the first or second try including the end boss.

I can't even imagine trying to go back through and 100% this game. The individual levels are too long and too much of the chests and other collectibles are in timed rooms where if you fail you have to replay the whole level again. My favorite levels were the transformation ones and the one near the end where you control .

The Questyen

They just added the Donkey Kong Country Trilogy to the Wii U eshop. I've been wanting to replay these for awhile now.

mattysemo247

Awesome, how much?

Guru Askew

They're $7.99 each. The Donkey Kong Land GB trilogy is available on 3DS too and they're $3.99 each.

I bought all 6.

Adam Tyner

Continuing the opposite-of-each-otherness of this boss, I just played through him again in world 5 and flew through it. I didn't get him on my first try (one hit shy) but did on my second. I think the water helped me a lot since I had more freedom of movement. Wasn't fighting gravity and the boss. I'm having fun, but it's crazy thinking that I'm nearing the finish line after putting in fairly little time.

I miiiiiight go for all the chests in a very leisurely way (a level a day?) if no other games grab my attention anytime soon, but like you said, the length of the levels and the frequent inability to backtrack/retry without going through the entire thing again (or at least dying) is a pretty big deterrent for me.

Liver&Onions

Sounds like I shouldn't bother showing that one to the kid. Bummer, she loves Epic Yarn.

Adam Tyner

If you can rent it, borrow it, or find a really compelling price used or something, I'd say go for it. One shitty boss encounter aside, I've been really enjoying Kirby and the Rainbow Curse. It's also one of the best local co-op games on the Wii U at the moment. Still, it's too polarizing to recommend shelling out full price to buy sight-unseen, and it's very short.

It's weird because there are a fairly small number of rather long levels, and it seems like it'd play better if the levels were chopped up and expanded a bit from there. Maybe the difficulty increases near the end of the game (I'm on world 6 of 7 now), but it's kind of a cakewalk unless you really go for all the treasure chests. The tricky thing there is that if you miss a chest or mess up, you're S.O.L. without dying or restarting the entire level. Without too much effort, you'll probably finish each level missing 1 or 2 chests.

If you're into 100%-ing collectibles or just replaying in general, I can see getting your money's worth out of this. As fun, gorgeous, and unique as it is, it's not the easiest recommendation as a blind $39.99 purchase.

mattysemo247

Thanks, I grabbed all 3

mattysemo247

I dug through all of my old Wii games and redeemed any that had the code inserts. It sucked that so many expired. But I did manage to find enough to combine with a couple recent Wii U games to grab Wonderful 101. I also didn't have to crack the seal on Metroid Prime Trilogy or Kirby's Return to Dreamland

darkdaze73

I went digging through a bunch of my daughters DS cases looking for codes only to find out the same thing(expired). I am currently only 10 coins from Platinum. Had I not forgot to do a couple of the follow up surveys on games we got our daughter for Christmas I would be over the hump.

mattysemo247

What is Platinum?

Adam Tyner

600 coins in a Club year. It entitles you to fancier year-end rewards, even though it'll likely just be downloadable stuff this year (as it was last year too).

mattysemo247

Ah, I just checked it out and I did make it to Platinum. So you think they will still offer something even though they are shutting it down?

Adam Tyner

Yeah, there'll definitely be something.

We don't know what, though. If it works like it did last year, there'll be one list of Gold games and one list of Platinum games. If you're Gold, you can choose one game off the Gold list. If you're Platinum, you can choose one game from either list...but just one, total.

The FAQ makes it sound like there'll be physical Elite rewards this year, and hopefully they'll have something really cool.

Michael Corvin

Damn, we only have until the end of March for Platinum? Shit. I'm 170 short. Bummer.