I collect gaming handhelds and own several 3ds handhelds, modded and un-modded. I also have a modestly large collection of games. The modding potential is high, but even unmodded, the big draw for me is:

1. Form factor. The non-xl version is very pocketable, and the XL takes up very little space in a backpack.

2. Exclusive game selection. There are soooo many excellent titles. The Etrian Odyssey series. Shin Megami Tensei. Fire Emblem. Pokémon. Several Legend of Zelda titles. If you love classic RPGs there’s an abundance here. Sure, you could emulate, but I think there’s no replacement for playing these games as originally intended.

The biggest reason to stay away is obviously cost. I’ve paid up to $1200 usd for new in box examples, and even fairly chewed up 3ds handhelds can run you a couple hundred. The games are also highly collectible, and while there are many cheap titles to be found on eBay, most of the really desirable games can run you $50-$400 depending on condition, obviously with sealed games in brand new condition being extremely costly.

If funds are tight you’d be much better off emulating on one of many quality emulation devices. The market is rife with really good hardware for retro gaming.

If you want to play 3ds you have 3 decent options.

1. Buy a 3ds for like $200. Hack and jailbreak it. This will be the most authentic experience.

2. Buy a retro handheld. This will be a good experience and has the benefits that come with Linux based handhelds.

3. Play on Android phone and use a 3d printed joycon holder. If you have a printer or friend with one and some old switch controllers this option is really cheap and mimics the OG form factor fairly well. I use this and while it's not perfect, it is functional.

The DS is resurging because there's no mainstream handhelds now, the DS has a large library and was the most recent successful handheld.

Emulation is probably part of its popularity.

If the system has games you want to play on it, perhaps should go for it. If you don't really care, then don't.

Just because something is old doesn't mean it's obsolete.

Just because something is obsolete doesn't mean it's ineffective.

To anyone thinking about buying a 3DS: If you like the form factor and if you're not opposed to emulation, I'd suggest you look at some dual-screen Android handhelds like the Anbernic RG DS, Retroid Pocket Duo, or Ayn Thor. They're quite neat pieces of hardware. The Retroid and Ayn handheld are powerful enough to emulate 3DS games, the Anbernic one (the only one of these I own) isn't, but it's able to emulate DS and PSP games quite well and play simple 3D games (I've spent last weekend trying to run Morrowind on it).

I've got a 3DSXL laying on the floor behind me that I haven't touched in almost a year.

For me, I wouldn't recommend it. I also wouldn't recommend a PlayStation, or an Xbox, but you may enjoy the games on those platforms. What it is "worth" to you is independent from what anyone else thinks it is worth.

I can't tell you if it's worth the money, that's for you to decide. The used prices are really high, even compared to more modern consoles (you can almost certainly get a used Switch Lite for significantly less). But the DS family of systems is awesome and the clamshell design makes them so much more portable than even a Switch Lite. It can go in a pocket and when you're done you just close the lid to put it to sleep.

The best system from the DS family is arguably one of the "New" 3DS/2DS systems. They are really easy to hack and that gives you access to a huge library of excellent 3DS, DS, GBA and homebrew games and ports natively and through emulation you also get GB, GBC, NES, SNES and even som N64 games (and likely some non Nintendo systems as well).

I love my 3DS and I play it probably just as much as my Switch 2. I recently beat the Ocarina of Time 3DS remaster and had a blast!

Unless you're a diehard hardware collector I would say no. As others have mentioned, there are great alternatives now that will cost maybe 10-20% as much, and possibly give you additional features or flexibility.

I'm surprised how many people are saying yes. Y'all got that much money to burn?

EDIT: Ok I see one person says the emulators are a bit lacking or wonky for the 3DS since it's an unusual device. If you want a 100% accurate experience then sure, I guess there's no substitute for the real thing. That's not a hard requirement for me personally.

Do you want to have a 3DS? If so, then yes it would be “worth” purchasing one.

But if you’re asking as part of the hobby Scalper-Investor-Bro racket: please kindly go fuck yourself and get an actual job.

It's worth it if you can get it for cheaper than an AYN Thor, and always worth it if you have anyone you know who also still uses a DS/3DS because of local wireless multiplayer.

The tradeoff with a Thor (or the couple of other ds emulator handhelds) is that you lose out on local wireless multiplayer (emulators might eventually support this in the future, they only do WFC via WiFi at this time) and the specific hardware gimmicks of the 3DS (3D, stereo cameras, perfect input latency, etc.) but you get access to GC, Wii, WiiU, PS1/2, PSP, Switch 1, and Steam/PC games.

What's the reason behind its sudden resurgence despite it being an "old" console as the Switch lineup has replaced it?

This is gonna sound like nostolgia glazing but really the DS era was Nintendo at their finest and the absolute gold standard of handheld gaming and a serious platform for handheld technology of the time. Stuff like streetpass could have easily been utilized for some amazing technology in other platforms like smartphones. The 3DS gets access to all of that + its own 3DS library of games, which is why its the most optimal console to buy.

95% of that library will never see the light of day again because they relied on the specific hardware the DS/3DS offered, the main one being the two screens. It would be impractical/impossible to remaster most, and Nintendo is still wary of attempting to emulate even a handful for their virtual console due to the aforementioned hardware and a bunch of PITA development required to make it work well (see the MelonDS forums of how long its taken to get to a solid state).

It's been in high demand ever since they ended production because of that reason, and it continues to climb due to limited supply.

Does it have to do with physical game ownership?

No, you should homebrew your 3DS to make it incredibly more viable to use and everyone uses big SD cards to hold all of their game ROMs and data.

The 3DS was a solid console. It had homebrew on top of its game library. If you want the authentic original experience, it's hard to argue with. If you want the actual 3D effect, I think this is your only option.

If you don't care so much about authenticity, though, there are some amazing emulator handhelds these days that even include a second touch screen for DS and 3DS games. They don't do the 3D effect as far as I know, but they'll emulate DS and 3DS as well as every handheld that came before them and many couch consoles. If you just want to be able to portably play 3DS games, get one of them.

Did the 3DS hack a few months ago, and it’s been great. Even if you only play games you own, keeping them all on one SD card has been so convenient.

I bought one for the first time earlier this year, and absolutely love it.

Depends on what games you like, but you should be able to find something to enjoy.

Switch lineup has replaced it

Fun fact: Switch isn't really a successor to the 3DS, but rather the result of a series of cost cutting to the actual 3DS successor, which was, of course, originally going to be a dual-screen console.

The 3ds is so easily moddable, it's ridiculous. For previous consoles, you usually need some sd card slot cartridge which is another 100 bucks on top, but the 3ds just already has that slot. So you'll get a nice console with a lot of well done games and within 20 minutes have its whole catalogue running on it. It's neat.

The library definitely still holds up, especially since you can also run NES, SNES, GBC, GBA and NDS games via homebrew as well. Games for 3DS are more designed for portability as well, better suited for short pick up and play bursts and easily paused/saved for later as opposed to console games that tend to expect you to have more time to dedicate to them.

That being said, with original hardware going up in price it might be better just to get a cheaper replica device. You're probably going to be emulating most games anyways, it does not need to be on original hardware. I would only spring for a real 3DS if you are a real retro hardware fan or if there's a particular game you want that doesn't work on one of the knockoffs.

The hacking scene for the 3ds is fucking amazing. I'm literally on here while I wate for mine to convert the Pokemon Emerald file to native game file. I can literally access TOR on this thing, it's frankly unbelievable what you can do with homebrew.

It's a nice console with a great lineup of games - it also plays the games from the original DS, so it really is solid. It has a great form factor and the 3D thing is hard to emulate. So if you are interested and have the money, do it

You aren't ever going to recreate the same experience with an emulator. If you want to experience those games as intended, your only option is to buy physical hardware made for playing them.

I recently jailbroken mine so I could play Japanese games. Because it’s aimed at all ages it has lots of games with furigana text. Since I already have a 3DS it was a better option than buying a modded Switch.

Also the games on 3DS are unique because of the dual screens. It’s an experience you can’t have on Switch. And lots of GenZ people grew up with 3DS and are searching to scratch that nostalgia itch. I think also the rising cost of new games is pushing people to piracy. And a jailbroken 3DS is super convenient for that.

Helluva lots of games, that's for sure.

Nostalgia trip as people play the games they played growing up instead of a remake on a console it wasn't designed for.

It has an amazing library, and even with the slew of new devices coming out I still feel that original hardware is the absolute best way to play that library.

IMO, the biggest flaw with the new handhelds is that they all use capacitive touchscreens since resistive just isn't manufactured anymore. Touchscreen-centric DS and 3DS games were designed with stylus use in mind, and capacitive styluses kind of suck for that. This applies moreso to the DS library, not as many 3DS games are stylus-driven, but there are some and if you want to play them you will have a much better experience on original hardware. No other handhelds offer the 3DS's glasses-free 3D either, which I know not everyone cares about to begin with, but I personally do like it, so it's another factor to keep in mind that you'll miss out on.

If you want to play online, Pretendo Network only supports original hardware. Real consoles have a unique ID that is signed, and if you misbehave they will ban you from the network. But emulators can freely change and spoof IDs to circumvent bans, so they have to just not be allowed on the network to begin with. Pretendo is still in its infancy anyway, not many games are supported and there isn't much of a playerbase, but if you care about it then it's something to be aware of.

Also note that if you want to play original DS games, I prefer an original DSi, or DS Lite due to the screen resolution. While the 3DS is backwards compatible, the screen resolution is not an integer scale, so it'll look awful if you scale to fullscreen or tiny if you keep it original size. The latter is less bad on an XL, but you're better off just rocking fully original hardware. I prefer DSi for softmodding and the DSiWare library, but if you really need the GBA slot too go with the Lite. GBA is much more easily emulatable elsewhere anyway though, unless you're specifically looking to play DS games with slot-2 interactions.

But if you don't already own any of these systems, I don't think the absurd prices they're going for right now are fair. Although the emulator handhelds do have some flaws, they're ultimately easier to get a hold of now, and they do have pros when it comes to an all-in-one device that'll also emulate other platforms. N3DS has some some decent emulator support of its own, but is even more expensive, while O3DS can't play much more than its own library.

So every device has its pros and cons, figure out what your use case is and how much you're willing to spend. Do you want the best possible experience for 3DS and/or DS games specifically, or would you rather have a jack-of-all-trades device that does everything else? I love my old DSi and 3DS because I already own them, but I don't think I'd pay full price for them today.

In my opinion, the biggest reason for the resurgence is that there are no more handheld consoles anymore. At least not traditionally. The Switch, and portable PCs like the Steam Deck et al are PORTABLE, but not pocketable, which is the real test of handheld consoles for a lot of people. Anything now is "you can maybe fit it in your backpack" at best.

Physical media/media ownership may contribute, but Switch is pretty good about that, and it is easy to pirate on PC.

Hardware manufacturers have noticed this, and there are some Android based emulation machines that copy the form factor. If I wanted such a device I'd go for that, most can emulate 3DS with better resolution. But there's something to he said for the simplicity of popping in the game and that's it.

Thats depend on what's your intent is. If you just wanna play the game, like the other comment said, there's a better dual screen android based handheld, which can emulate all nintendo handheld while also capable of playing some pc games with gamenative and droiddeck.

But the pros of 3ds is really how well build that thing is. I bought my n3dsxl in 2015 and use it until 2016, then left untouch until earlier this month. Thing still run as smooth as i remember more than 10 years ago, most thing still hold well, just have to fix up some rubber part and i'm already good to go.

Another pros is, i feels like emulator doesn't even come close to how good to play the game natively, i feels like this and DS might be the only two popular console that you just can't emulate the feels, especially the game that use the stylus. The 3ds lower screen is resistive touch screen, which mean you can just use anything as a stylus, where a capacitive touchscreen can't. On pc you have to awkwardly use a mouse for that, and on phone you have to use your finger for it, obscuring the thing you're clicking.

As for the games, it has a lot from the 3ds, but the backward compatibility mean the library is huge. It has all the good pokemon, the best Tales of, Chrono Trigger, Luigi Mansion 1 & 2, best Zelda game of all time, and many more. I've only start exploring it this months and can already see a lot of game that i might like. There's also drawing app which make great use of the stylus.

But the biggest thing i think 3ds is really great and no other device is offering is the 3d camera. Now i can take a pic of my cats, but in 3D. Worth it. Oh and gaming in 3d without awkward eyeware.

But is it worth the current price? Idk, but it might be the last nintendo product you actually own the thing especially when you load it up with custom firmware(we all do that, right? Right?), while they can just brick your Switch when they feels like it.

Don't pay through the nose for one. They're old systems and should not be considered reliable (though, they may be).

The value in a 3DS is the jailbreak. Once you have the "H-shop" replacement for Nintendo's E-shop, you can basically download any game that was available digitally. You can also dump your cartridge-based games, save some wear and tear on the slot. I know some people value physical, and that's a fine point, but it's also true that the card slot is an (eventual) failure point, and it's one you can eliminate.

Another cool thing you can do with a 3DS is dump the saves and restore them. I have Animal Crossing: New Leaf on cart, but I've dumped it to digital. I also play (mostly play) on my MacBook Air via an emulator. If I think I might be going back to the 3DS, I can put the save game back on the 3DS and pick up right where I left off from on the computer. There's also a level editor online, you browse to your save, you can make your whole town green again (no dead grass), you can touch up locations or straight up move stuff around, you can even reroute rivers and such. Just note there are a few checks the game makes (when Isabelle says "getting the town ready") and if it fails any checks, your save won't load. So don't go too crazy. If the game won't let you do it, like place a lamp post in front of a neighbour's door, that might make it fail the check. By the same token, the game itself is overly conservative with placement, but the check, not so much. You can definitely move a light post one space closer to a bridge than the game will let you place it. I've done this — I don't need to be able to walk between the light post and the edge of a bridge. The game makes you place it a full space apart, but the check doesn't care if it's now right next to it. But always keep the old save, and only make one controversial change, and verify the change passes the check.

DS/3DS collector here. I collected when it was in the shops so not currently.

However I can tell you those handhelds are my favourites for several reasons. One being the awesome library. Moreso on the DS but I would prefer playing that on a DS lite to fill the screen with native resolution.

Have a look what's there and if you're interested and then go ahead. I can not give much insight into the rising price but I think it's mostly social media and collectors, supposed hidden gems and stuff like that. That's making it public and many are looking into it too, causing rising prices.

For example I'd like to have 1941 for the supergrafx but at around 600€ it's insane and really absolutely not worth it. I can recommend to just keep your eyes open, there are sellers who go against these trends and offer fair prices.

If you just want to play there are possibilities for 3DS with SD card.

I haven't looked at pricing in a long time, but I got my (New) 3DSXL around 2015, and it is still one of my favorite devices to game on. I have an Odin2 Portal that I use to emulate all the good handheld and console systems, as well as streaming from my gaming machine with Moonlight, and there are still times that I just prefer to dive into a 3DS game instead. I guess it's kind of hard to explain, but it's just one of the best executed handheld gaming consoles ever, and the 3D aspect of it really takes the experience up a notch (I know it's not for everyone).

Anyway, probably at least partly due to being developed for before there were incessant in-app purchases and microtransations and whatnot - I regularly say to my partner that if we had to leave quickly in a fire, I'd grab my 3DSXL first. I think that even though it has been replaced by a newer series, the vibe and charm of 3DS games is pretty hard to match.

I would say yes. Emulating the 3DS is a bit wonky experience depending on many factors and where you emulate it, mainly because of screen input methods, and to some extend the 3D effect and microphone. I would only recommend to buy a 3DS if you plan on hack to jailbreak it. Because you cannot buy new games from the anymore, and you won't lose the ability to play carts anyway. But you gain the ability to play ROMs on it as if it was a cartridge.

Short answer: yes, if it's something you can reasonably afford.

Long answer: Like any other game system it has its share of exclusives, mods, hacks, and other stuff. If that library and those capabilities are something you want and you can afford it, then go for it. If it's outside your price range and/or you don't see anything enticing enough for the money then pass. High demand doesn't necessarily mean it's something you should get, it just means lots of people want it and the supply isn't getting any larger.

As far as the why: the 3DS has less viable emulation options than other systems (although they do exist and are always getting better), it's difficult to emulate correctly without two screens and a touchscreen, it has a lot of games that have not been ported elsewhere, there are tons of cool hardware variants, and it became "collectible" as soon as it was discontinued thanks to immediate reselling/scalping.

For what it's worth I've been into game collecting and retro gaming since about 2005 and I expect the 3DS will only continue to rise in price.

if you can snag it at a decent price for sure. i bought a new 2ds xl in 2019 for around 70 bucks used, someone was trying to let it go. i didn’t mod it at all until this year and it’s been a blast, customizable, any game you want, i have been playing balatro on the 3ds and it’s been so fun i think you’ll get some good use out of it

I've always been an ambassador for emulation, but the 3ds is a console that gives you a lot of portability which I adore. It has a good library of games, and I have particularly fond memories of monster hunter 4 ultimate and fantasy life

I love mine, thought nowadays it’s just a dedicated Pokemon and Fire Emblem Machine. Still though. I love it. Still, if there’s a bunch of games you want to try on there i say it’s worth it