Nintendo · 2011–2020

Nintendo3DS

Glasses-free 3D and the last dedicated Nintendo handheld: Fire Emblem Awakening, Majora's Mask 3D, Pokémon X and Y, Kid Icarus.

[n] Nintendo 3DS games available

Shop all Nintendo 3DS games Explore the highlights

Why it mattered

Glasses-free 3D that nobody used, on the last great handheld

Nintendo launched the 3DS in March 2011 at $249.99 with a screen that did stereoscopic 3D without glasses, a gimmick most owners turned off within a week. Sales were bad enough that the price fell to $169.99 by August, and early buyers were handed twenty free Virtual Console games as an apology. Then Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land and Pokémon X and Y arrived, and the machine quietly became the last great dedicated handheld — roughly 76 million sold, and the place where Japanese RPGs kept shipping on cartridges long after home consoles went digital.

For collectors the 3DS is an Atlus and Square Enix system: Shin Megami Tensei IV, the Etrian Odyssey and Devil Survivor games, Dragon Quest VII and VIII, Bravely Default, Fire Emblem Fates in its three-in-one Special Edition. The cards are tiny and easy to lose, the cases are white plastic that scuffs but rarely cracks, and from around 2013 Nintendo stopped printing manuals, so a late game with only an insert is complete as issued. The 3DS is region-locked, so a Japanese or PAL card will not run on a US console — we say which region every card is. Every card is photographed and tested.

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Fast facts

ReleasedMarch 27, 2011 (North America)
Launch price$249.99 — cut to $169.99 five months later
Media3DS Game Card (1–8 GB); also plays DS cards
Units sold~76 million worldwide, all models combined
Best sellerMario Kart 7 — roughly 19 million copies
Did you know?The 3DS sold so slowly at $249.99 that Nintendo cut the price to $169.99 in August 2011, less than five months after launch. Anyone who had already bought one and signed into the eShop became an "Ambassador" and received twenty free downloads — ten NES games and ten Game Boy Advance games that were never sold on the 3DS eShop to anyone else.
Did you know?The 3DS was the first Nintendo handheld with a region lock: a US card will not boot on a Japanese or European console. Original DS cards stay region-free on the same machine. You can also tell the two card types apart by touch — a 3DS card has a small tab on one edge so it physically cannot be pushed into a DS slot.
Did you know?The New Nintendo 3DS of 2015 added a second analog nub, ZL and ZR buttons, a faster processor and built-in amiibo NFC. North America only got the XL size at first; the smaller model with swappable faceplates arrived months later in an Animal Crossing bundle. Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, Minecraft and Fire Emblem Warriors require the New hardware and will not run on an original 3DS.
Did you know?Nintendo released the 2DS in October 2013 at $129.99, the same day as Pokémon X and Y. It has no hinge, no 3D and a mono speaker, but it plays the entire 3DS library. It was aimed at younger children whose parents were told to keep them away from the 3D screen, and it became the cheap way into the system.
Did you know?Nintendo Selects reprints reached the 3DS in North America in 2016 at $19.99, wearing a red band across the top of the case; the first batch is usually listed as including Super Mario 3D Land and Yoshi's New Island. The card inside is the same game, so the band marks a later, budget print — first prints have the plain white case.
Did you know?The 3DS eShop closed on March 27, 2023, twelve years to the day after the console's North American launch. Games that were only ever sold as downloads here — Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, Pushmo, BoxBoy!, Pocket Card Jockey — cannot now be bought at all, which is one reason the physical cards for the system have been climbing since.
Did you know?Kid Icarus: Uprising shipped in an oversized box with a plastic stand to hold the console, because the control scheme gave people hand cramps; a copy without the stand is incomplete. Fire Emblem Fates came as two separate retail cards, Birthright and Conquest, plus a Special Edition with all three paths on one card — the version that now costs more than a used console.
Did you know?Nintendo announced the end of 3DS production in September 2020, nine and a half years after launch. Some of the best games arrived late: Nintendo itself published Dragon Quest VII and VIII in North America in 2016 and 2017, and Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey shipped in January 2019 in a run small enough that it is now one of the priciest Mario games on the system.

Find your next Nintendo 3DS game

Start with a familiar favorite, explore a theme, or browse by what’s included.

Counts are listings in stock — the same game can appear more than once in different packaging.

The grails

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, Fire Emblem Fates, Dragon Quest VII, Zero Escape, Metroid: Samus Returns, Kid Icarus with the stand — the 3DS cards that stopped being cheap.

The Atlus shelf

Shin Megami Tensei IV, Devil Survivor Overclocked, Soul Hackers, Etrian Odyssey, Persona Q, Radiant Historia — the publisher that kept printing dungeon crawlers when nobody else would, in runs small enough to matter.

Gotta catch the ones that hold value

X and Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Sun and Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, plus the Mystery Dungeon and Rumble spin-offs — six years of Pokémon on one handheld.

The rest of Nintendo

Hyrule Warriors Legends, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, Animal Crossing, Kirby, Star Fox 64 3D, Tomodachi Life — first-party 3DS without a plumber in it.

Mushroom Kingdom, pocket edition

Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario Kart 7, Mario & Luigi, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, and the golf, tennis and party spin-offs — Mario worked a lot of side jobs on the 3DS.

Monster Hunter and friends

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, 4 Ultimate, Generations, Resident Evil: Revelations, Super Street Fighter IV 3D — Capcom treated the 3DS like a home console and Japan bought it by the million.

Square Enix, portable

Dragon Quest VII and VIII, Bravely Default, Bravely Second, Final Fantasy Explorers, Kingdom Hearts 3D, Theatrhythm — the last time Square Enix put RPGs on a cartridge.

Licensed, and not sorry

LEGO Batman 2, LEGO City Undercover, Skylanders, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Disney Magical World, Hello Kitty Picnic — the cards that came home from Toys R Us in a bag with the toy.

Punching the clock

Happy Home Designer, Style Savvy, Story of Seasons, Fantasy Life, Pokémon Art Academy — games where you show up, do a job, and somehow find it relaxing.

Ultimate. Untold. Returns.

Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Etrian Odyssey Untold, Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions — the 3DS was the remake machine, and a few of these are still the best version.

Sega on a Nintendo handheld

Sonic Lost World, Sonic Generations, Rhythm Thief, Shinobi, Sega 3D Classics, Hatsune Miku Project Mirai — the old rival's cards, right at home in the 3DS slot.

Complete in case, best condition first

Every complete Nintendo 3DS game in stock right now.

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Card with manual

Cart and manual, no box — the collector's middle ground.

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Loose cards

Card only — tested, photographed, priced accordingly.

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Sealed

Factory sealed and photographed through the shrink.

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Nintendo3DS

Glasses-free 3D that nobody used, on the last great handheld