The 20 Best Nintendo 3DS Games

Though its time in the spotlight has long since passed, the 3DS is still a great place to play some incredible games. It was a particularly strong console if you loved RPGs and puzzle games. But the 3DS did a great job of bringing 3D action games into the portable realm. Overall, it’s an incredible little system with a killer library to enjoy.

Some of the games will be harder to get your hands on, especially those only purchasable from the now defunct eShop. But if you can get some time with these games, it’ll be absolutely worth the hassle. To avoid any ranking issues, these games are in alphabetical order. We’ve also included some honorable mentions at the end for remakes and ports.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Not only is it one of the best 3DS games, Animal Crossing: New Leaf easily has the most hours spent on a 3DS game for a lot of people. It was a tremendous showing for the series when it launched in 2012. Becoming the mayor of your town and having a lot more control over how it looked really resonated with players. While nobody was really backing the amiibo part of the Welcome Amiibo! update, the massive boost in content helped cement this game as a must-have for all 3DS owners. Many people consider this the definitive Animal Crossing to this day.

Attack of the Friday Monsters!

One of the 3DS’s strengths was being home for a lot of great, smaller games. The eShop allowed for digital distribution and cheaper price points, which attracted a lot of more niche projects. One such game was the Level 5 published Attack of the Friday Monsters! It’s a very cutesy tale of kaiju attacking a small Japanese town. Its very Ghibli-esque in the presentation of this fantastic journey. The charming presentation proves that quality and scale are matters of perspective.

Azure Striker Gunvolt

One of the biggest breakout stars of the 3DS was the studio Inti Creates Co. They managed to bring a lot of unique twists to retro ideas for truly engaging games. One of their best was the Azure Striker Gunvolt series. The name is a bit of a mouthful, but the gameplay is as smooth as it gets. It’s like a juiced up Mega Man X style platformer with some unique mechanics. Fortunately, the series isn’t bound to the 3DS anymore, so you can enjoy these games on other places like Steam.

Bravely Second

Sometimes, it’s easy to go with the flow. You don’t always have to reinvent the wheel when making a game, especially RPGs. Bravely Default, and it’s sequel, established that there’s still plenty of room to explore the JRPG genre. Turn based combat has rarely felt this fun and engaging. The Job System allows characters to switch classes with a snap. It lets you build the party how you want. If you’ve ever enjoyed a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, you owe it to yourself to check this series out.

Etrian Odyssey Nexus

We picked Etrian Odyssey Nexus because it’s sort of a ‘best of’ for the series. It’s the most recent, and probably one of the most feature complete. If you’ve only got time for one of these massive dungeon-crawling RPGs, this is probably your best bet. However, the general series lacks a lot of typical storytelling. There’s more of a focus on the party customization and mapping features. If you’re into games with a more direct story, we would recommend one of the Etrian Odyssey Untold games. These are remakes of the first two titles, originally on DS, that add more of a through-line narrative. These games can be as tough as JRPGs get, though later entries allow for plenty of difficulty customization. Frankly, there’s not a bad game in the series. The original 3 DS games were remade for Switch and Steam recently if you want another avenue to check these games out. But top notch visuals and fully orchestrated music on 3DS are hard to beat. Plus, making your own maps on the 3DS screen is just fun!

Fire Emblem Awakening

The Fire Emblem series always felt like a fairly niche one, not even making it stateside until the Game Boy Advance. Even then, it wasn’t terribly common to find people who knew about them. That all changed with Fire Emblem Awakening. The game found a hell of a stride with its gameplay, storytelling, presentation, and mechanics. The amount of customization over your roster and the interactions with party members gave players something more to invest in. The newly added difficulty settings probably also helped the game find a broader audience. Several other Fire Emblem games came out for 3DS, and while they’re good, none of them are quite as great as Awakening. That said, check out Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Velentia for a cool, different take on the series.

Kirby: Planet Robobot

Kirby started on handheld and always felt a bit more at home there than on consoles. But, the pink puff put in the work on 3DS. Kirby: Triple Deluxe was great, and there are a ton of fun spin-off games. However, nothing compares to the platforming perfection of Planet Robobot. Even now, this might be Kirby’s best 2D platforming game. It’s almost upsetting that they decided to remake Return to Dreamland for Switch before this. But, in any case, it’s a delightful game with one of the best soundtracks.

Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

When Nintendo stated they were toying around with remaking A Link to the Past in 3D, it was exciting. That’s one of the best video games ever, at least to a lot of people. Then, they suddenly announced that it had grown into a new game. It was hard to tell just how effective the new wall-merging mechanic would be at first. Once you got your hands on the game, however, it all became clear. This wasn’t just a silly, slapped-on gimmick. The wall-merging was a truly awesome ability that played with the perspective of the traditionally 2D game in fun, new ways. On top of that, A Link Between Worlds was a solid Zelda adventure. It featured a more open-ended approach to world design that let players pick and choose their destinations, which would become a series staple for the next decade.

Mario Kart 7

It didn’t feel quite as exciting as when Mario Kart DS came out, but the 3DS title proved to be a new standard for the series. It introduced the concept of customizable karts to the series, allowing players to fine-tune their playstyle. It looked great, played better, and would only by surpassed by the unbelievably awesome Mario Kart 8.

Metroid: Samus Returns

Yes, Metroid: Samus Returns is technically a remake of the original Metroid 2 GameBoy Game. But it’s such a vast reimagining, and such an incredible game, that it deserves to be on the main list anyway. It was an incredible return to a long dormant franchise. The innovations to combat featuring a more melee-focused counter system helped to create engaging new layers for the standard Metroid combat. If not for Samus Returns, we wouldn’t have seen the eventual realization of Metroid Dread.

Persona Q 2: New Cinema Labyrinth

Nintendo fans may not have been used to Persona games, so bringing spin-offs to 3DS seemed weird. But any Persona fan can tell you that the Q games are fantastic. They’re similar in structure to the Etrian Odyssey games, featuring a focus on dungeon crawling. However, they have all the customizable combat and killer music you’d expect from the Persona franchise. The Persona Q2 specifically has the rosters of Persona 3, 4, and 5 mixed together. These games are simply too good to pass by.

Picross 3D Round Two

Puzzle fans may have fallen in love with the Picross series at some point, but the Picross 3D games on DS and 3DS are incredible. If you’re into any kind of number puzzle games like Sudoku, we highly recommend checking this one out. You use numbers and logic to break away at a large block until you form a 3D object. It’s fun, immensely satisfying, and a great game for the pick up/put down nature of the 3DS. If you’re into more 2D Picross games, check out the Picross e series by Jupiter, they’re all great. There’s a ton of them on Switch, too.

Pocket Card Jockey

Horse racing has never been so engaging! Who knew that all it was missing was some solitaire! It may sound ridiculous, but it’s immensely engaging. Not until Balatro would there be a card game that steals so much of our sleep away from us.

Project X Zone 2

Namco, Sega, Capcom, and Nintendo characters all mashed into one tactics game. What more could anybody possibly want? These two great games, developed by Monolith Soft, feature a massive collection of characters from all sorts of your favorite franchises dueling together on a grid. Project X Zone‘s tile-based combat is engaging, even if the story is a little… nonsensical. Still, it’s another great strategy game with a fun cast to work with. We never knew how badly we wanted to see KOS-MOS, Jill Valentine, and Tron Bonne team up before these games. And, in Project X Zone 2, Fire Emblem characters join in for an even crazier mash-up.

Pushmo

Sure, this game isn’t going to revolutionize the way you think about video games as an artform. But sometimes, all you need is a great puzzle game. Pushmo is all about moving around blocks to create platforms to climb to the top of the structure you’re on. It sounds simple, but it can be a real head scratcher at times. The charming presentation makes this a wonderful little package overall.

Shin Megami Tensei IV

Shin Megami Tensei IV is a standalone game, you don’t need to have played the previous games to understand it. It’s basically a perfect game RPG. It might not be reinventing the genre like Bravely Default, but it proves that you can still make a hell of a great game with a “standard” formula. The atmosphere, story, and gameplay are some of the all-time best of any Japanese RPGs. The sequel, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, might be off-putting for some due to its much stranger story and more punishing mechanics. But if that doesn’t sound bad to you, then we whole-heartedly recommend that as well.

Shovel Knight

While this has certainly appeared on every platform under the sun, it’s original release on 3DS was a monumental success. In some ways, that’s still the best version of the game. It made a strong case for the 3D slider with it’s strong presentation. Shovel Knight is a pixel perfect platformer that combines the best ideas of the NES generation into a solid, modern game. There has since been a ton of new campaigns and content added to it, as well as a few spinoffs, but it’s hard to beat that original game.

Super Mario 3D Land

We’re still amazed how easy it is to go back and pick this game up and have fun. It never fails. There’s a ton of brilliant levels that seem to combine design elements of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario Galaxy into one of the best 3D platformers out there. It was eventually followed up by Super Mario 3D World on Wii U and Switch, but there’s still something charming about the scope of the 3DS title. It’s easily one of Mario’s best 3D games.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars

This game kind of came out of nowhere. It feels like a Tom Clancy game in name only. It’s actually a tactical RPG like Advance Wars. In fact, since Advance Wars never touched the 3DS, this is the best way for you to scratch that itch. It’s an incredibly well designed tactics game, even if you’re not normally someone who’s very into the “Clancy-verse.” The story leans very hard into more science-fiction territory, imagining future tools of war like camouflage cloaks and crazy weapons.

VVVVVV

This oddly-named indie title is a tough-as-spikes platformer that will have you screaming “I’ve got this!” over and over until you’re pulling your hair out. Then you’ll actually make the impossible series of jumps, and find something even more insane on the next screen. It’s tough, but satisfying gameplay will be off-putting for some, but we think a lot of people will find this game an absolute blast. Fortunately, it’s not just locked to the 3DS these days.

Honorable Mentions for Remakes and Ports

• Digital Devil Survivor 1 and 2: Originally, these were both DS games. Atlus gave them a fresh update for the 3DS, adding new content and improved mechanics. They’re a unique mixture of the Shin Megami Tensei formula with grid-based tactics gameplay. The results are highly enjoyable, replayable RPGs about the surviving the end of the world.
• Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn: A port of the Wii game, this is an excellent platformer with a deceptively cute exterior. While it’s a game where you can’t die, the real trick is finding all the secrets and making it to the end of the level with all your collected gems. This approach of easy-to-play, difficult-to-master design makes for a game that is as engaging as it is ruthlessly adorable.

• Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D: It’s Majora’s Mask with improved features and graphics. Of course we also recommend Ocarina of Time 3D as well. Some of us have a stronger fondness for the weirder, offbeat tones of the sequel, though.
• Poochy &Yoshi’s Wooly World: While it lost some of the charm of Wooly World‘s visuals on Wii U, the gameplay is still top notch. If you’re a fan of Yoshi’s Island, this is easily the best anyone has come to replicating that, and maybe even improving it.
• Rhythm Heaven Megamix: It’s a crime we haven’t had a new Rhythm Heaven in so long, because it’s a great series. Even this was more of a “Best of” compilation of re-made songs and games. If you’ve never played one of these whacky rhythm games, you should absolutely seek this out.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux: Another DS game that Atlus gave a huge update for the 3DS. It’s another dungeon crawler, like Etrian Odyssey, but focuses more on puzzle solving than mapping. The sci-fi trappings are also a unique touch for the standard demon-hunting series. The combat can be punishing, so this is not a game for the feint of heart.
• WarioWare Gold: Similar to Rhythm Heaven Megamix, this was a best-of collection of the micro-game series. And just like Rhythem Heaven Megamix, you absolutely should have this game in your collection.