Poll: Nintendo's Free-to-Play Experiments - Are You Still Playing?

Not my thing, doesn't bother me that they're there. Not worth it getting worked up over how the market is going. It'd be like yelling at an apple for falling.

I would like to play Badge Arcade more, if the European one wasn't that bad filled.

Pokemon Shuffle is actually very playable without spending anything and doesn't really pester you. Unlike Badge Arcade but i'm not complaining... beggars can't be choosers

Nintendo Badge Arcade isn't really a free to play game at all, it's merely an extension of the 3DS themes/Home menu system but framed in a very japanese, nintendo-esque model of also being a little bit of fun. You're paying for the badges themselves first and foremost, the crane game is merely an intermediary step, so again, it's just like buying a theme as opposed to actually paying to 'progress' in a free to play game where the difficulty or tedium ramps up to try and encourage players to spend.

I like the free plays we can for the training with the badge game and I can design my theme up a little with some Zelda/Mario

I put in over 300 hours into Shuffle but I've not played it for about 2 weeks now. Not going back any time soon either. Wasted too much time ignoring my other games!

Pokemon Shuffle is the only one I have experience with since I play it on iOS. For the most part it is a fun experience, but I wanted to throw the phone out a window when I hit Mega Glalie and now Mega Gengar. Both seem to be designed to need either power-ups or extreme luck to beat, and in that regard they remind me too much of Candy Crush stages were it came down to complete luck or money to get past them.

I absolutely loathe Badge Arcade because it's so well done and I enjoy it so much that I finally gave in and spent money on a free to play game and that was never supposed to happen.

They're fairly shallow and boring tbh.

I have yet to pay any money on any of the free to play games. I was thinking on it for the badge arcade but just haven't gotten around to it yet.

My kids really like Nintendo Badge Arcade, it's pretty fun and they've gotten free plays every day, which really pleases them. I've paid for them both to get 5tries on two occasions, it's a little bit of fun and I don't mind but I won't be doing that too often.

Pokemon Rumble World kinda fell off for me especially on the post game thing where you're just grinding for jewels to finish off the balloons. The repetitive nature of the game play kinda helped with it too. What the badge arcade and PK Shuffle did was incorporate for me was the occasionally and daily rotations of challenges that you can do. Moreso in PK Shuffle where that ONE stupid main path pokemon is just insane in difficulty and just HAVE to use power ups to advance.

Never have, probably never will. 'Free to play' is my second most hated gaming euphemism, by the way, right behind 'mature'.

I tried them all, but I only care for badges, right now I got the badges I want so I'm waiting for something I want.

I haven't touched any of their games yet. More than likely though I will pick up Pokemon Picross. Since I like a good Picross game.

I only like Badge Arcade, because it's not really a game, but more of an app that lets you decorate your home menu.

Ugh, the badge arcade is SO SLOW, it takes FOREVER to load, requires internet, and I haven't won any badges in the past two days with my single free try after not finding any additional badges in the training. I think the free-to-play model is awful, and I do not really approve of Nintendo moving into that sector. It just cheapens games and makes them all about getting you to waste more money without realizing it. I like the idea of being able to assign icons to folders on the home-screen, but would almost have rather this just be a system update to allow that, and have a bunch for free. All of this could and should have just been a fun/free theme addon to the system, not some dumb game I have to spend 15 minutes on each morning. That and why have they not had any system/controller badges since the first day?

This model of payment makes me uncomfortable. I will never support it so I never bothered to try any of these games.

I'm playing but not paying. (Just Badge Arcade though, just because you get stuff.)

Don't like the fact that the badges with the icons don't actually change the icons like I thought they would. Not as fun

I was more annoyed with Shuffle because it limits how often you can play. After a certain point, you literally have to stop. Rumble World was great in its approach. It may limit what worlds you can play but you never truly need to close the app until you are finished. I haven't played the Badge Arcade so I have no idea how that works.

If future projects adopt Rumble World's setup, then I'd be accepting. The only reason I didn't spend any money on Rumble World was because I kept having issues with the game crashing right after I had a balloon available so I ended up quitting.

I like Strechmo and purchased that one in full. The ones listed above never interested me so I didn't purchase them. My approach is simply if the game is interesting I will purchase it, and am happy to support quality games I enjoy. The games I am not interested in price does not change my opinion. I hope Nintendo finds effective strategies to deal with a changing market, but at the core of it I only care about the quality of the games.

I only play the Nintendo Badge Arcade. It's really fun, and the amount of free plays they offer is quite generous. I've only put in $1 so far, (I had to get those Splatoon badges!) but I don't intend on spending more money anytime soon. I'm using a lot of the badges to decorate my home screen, so I think it was worth the price. I'll keep playing daily for sure!

I resent the tagline "We might as well get used to it."
What we might do is vote with our [UNIT OF CURRENCY]s, whether you like this pricing model or not.

All that said, the fact that the Wii U selection is so small, and that more and more microtransactions and paid DLC are making it into my 3DS games means I probably won't be buying any more consoles after this (not just from nintendo, but at all)

All the games I've enjoyed more than anything these past couple of years (Stanley Parable, Papers Please, Undertale, Keep talking and nobody explodes, Lovers in a dangerous spacetime, her story) have come out on PC only, or PC first. My next investment will be in a proper-ish rig, some good wireless controllers and a projector.

Still playing Rusty and Badge Arcade (both JPN and NA versions) I've managed to not put money into badges but I've bought a number of games in Rusty and I like the arcade feel so it was very worth the money. And the haggling is fun as well. I haven't tried the pokemon ones just because I not THAT big of a pokefan (just enough to play the main games and pokken).

I absolutely hate F2P for one single reason: it never allows you to play freely, instead pestering you with annoying reminders, in-game paywalls, and/or extremely limited access. I don't care what positives people see in the concept, it's still a terrible model only invented to make gullible or unattentive players pay way beyond game value.
Give me a price for the title, and I'll pay if it's an interesting one. Give me an F2P model, and your game is automatically trash.

@Nik-Davies I was initially disappointed as you were, when I couldn't put my Splatoon Activity Log badge on top of my default one. Then I found that the badge works like the icon when placed separately, so I just moved the default icon into a folder and use the Splatoon one instead

I've checked badge arcade almost every day since it came out. At first my impressions were really positive, but it's starting to wear on my patience. A dollar for five plays is ridiculous. I'm spending real money for a chance at glorified stickers, so they really need to give you more plays for your money. I remember @rjejr saying we should get twenty five plays for a dollar and that sounds about right.

I liked the idea of free plays through the practice catcher, but they should let you pick the claw machine you want to practice, and therefore the one you'll have a chance at. Many of the badges seem impossible to get with only one play, too, and I really think the special backgrounds should be given away with the completion of each set.

I really like the launcher badges, so I can still see myself spending a dollar or two if they match my favorite themes. But yeah, I've spent two dollars on this, and I think that's more than enough for now.

So far I spent at least $10 on each games but for different reason. $27-$30 (don't remember the cap amount) on Rumble World to get the "full" version of the game, so far $10 for badges because somehow I think it's fair given the use for it and I got greedy with certain themes (you can easily guess which one), and maybe $10 on Shuffle just as a donation for doing free to play right in a way that don't force you to pay to enjoy. Also I put in 263+ hours so it would be rude not to.

Nintendo should put all the effort from making these games and games that are made just to sell Amiibos, into making a new killer Super Mario game...... after all that is what Nintendo used to do.

On Nintendo Badge Arcade I was tired of listening to the rabbit so I kept pressing the A key. To my surprise it ended up in eshop asking if I want to pay $1. I have deleted the game entirely.

I think Plants vs. Zombies 2 is a good example of free to play done right. It's perfectly beatable without spending a dime on it, and it doesn't artificially limit your play time. Since the game is really fun and I got a lot of play time for it, I was happy to spend a few dollars here and there on optional plants.

So basically, a good free to play game should work with the concept of reciprocity.

I still play the Badge Arcade daily because it takes up a few minutes of my time and I get something for it. Shuffle and Rumble World both bored me quick, and of course I had less inclination to spend money on either.

Still haven't spent money on Badge Arcade, and I don't intend to. Doesn't help that the pink rabbit really rubs me the wrong way.

Steel Diver Sub Wars is probably my favorite free-to-play by Nintendo.

I like them but I don't play them. Last free-to-play game I enjoyed was Terra Battle, but my phone was stolen and I lost my progress (forgot to write down the data transfer codes =_=) I haven't been into any of these small free to play games.

I don't play any of them and never will. I hate the free to start model but if they're going to exist then so be it.

I love Rusty's Real Deal. It has lots of game varieties that I had a fun time with.

Love shuffle, not bothered about the other 2. Variety and all that

They are addictive crap. I wish Nintendo would stop wasting resources in developing these hideous cash-grabs.

Downloaded them, tried them ... so that I could in good conscience say, that they are a waste of time all around, not to mention a potential waste of money.
Honestly, I think literally burning the cash would be more entertaining ... not that I would ever do such a thing, but still. I'll glady give Nintendo money, even more than I probably should, but only if I get something worthwhile in return.
By all means, suck me dry by exploiting my love/ addiction to Fire Emblem, sell me two games at once, plus another one als DLC, plus probably a bunch Microtransactions, then at least, we are both getting something we want.
These cra** F2P games, I will not support - bynow, I even feel bad for downloading them to be honest =(

Pokemon Rumble World is probably the game offering the most content out of these 3 that you can enjoy without spending any money and it doesnt feel all that restrictive.

Shuffle on the other hand can get insanely frustrating and unfair without paid boosters and is entirely luck based.

Badge Arcade is...well...just overpriced.
And the game constantly trying to explain to me that "these badges wont make themselves and that it costs money" is dispicable.
Nintendo, youre using existing sprites and promotional artwork. They already exist, stop pestering me with this sharade.

Honestly, Badge Arcade would have been fantastic for 10-15 bucks up front.
If you pay 2 bucks for a theme, you can pay 10 for a bunch of decorative icons.

All in all, nothing would be lost if these titles wouldnt exist. In fact, the manpower used to make these could have been put into other games. Mario Tennis could have used a few helping hands for more content.

I wish Nintendo would release the badge arcade on Wii U, I don't have a 3DS, and my Wii U menu screen could use some decoration.

badge arcade is fun, if almost utterly pointless. but it does scratch the gotta-get-em-all icth. i fully intended to just take what i could get for free and call it done... but then there were pikmin badges, and so i had to have them all. now as it turns out, badges come and go, but they always come again. however, if you want that really hard to reach one, you gotta pony up the cash. its very tempting because it is cheap, and it is fun, and it is addictive. so in the end, i am okay with tossing nintendo a few bucks here and there, i just gotta try not to get carried away. but i dont do this sort of thing often, so its my guilty pleasure allowance for the time being, lol.

Not bad, but in my book they are definetly nothing earth shattering. Not to also mention how shallow some of those are.

The only one over been interested in is the baseball one and that never made it to the UK.

It's ok. Whatever. As long as I'm still getting full games, I don't mind a few free to play or free to start games. I paid a little money on Pokemon Rumble World, and I don't regret it.

@KamenRiderClive
Lol... I hate it! But... I love it. I hate it because I love it

You can spend ages on rumble world without paying a thing, but I did end up getting bored. Shuffle was a game I played religiously for a few months but then it got really difficult so I stopped. But flipping badge arcade...omg so so damn addictive! I've spent probably about £4 and I have more than half the mario sprite collection. But as someone mentioned the UK/EU version doesn't seem to be getting much love at the moment. I'm desperate for the legend of zelda badges but its all been mario, animal crossing and splatoon so far

I would play Nintendo Badge Arcade more if my 3DS could actually maintain its internet connection... -__-

I believe that Nintendo did it right with Rusty's Real Deal Baseball and Nintendo Badge Arcade.

Though, the Pokémon titles were a little shallow on their end. A little too obvious on the cash grab part.

I have enjoyed Nintendo games since I first received a NES for Christmas all those years ago. I honestly have never been so disheartened about the future. These nickel and dime budget shovel ware titles that are developed to resemble gambling, and certainly victimize those who become addicted, used to be relegated to other places. Lesser places.

I think they could work if it hybridizes with traditional pricing schemes. They already have spending limits on some games where if you spend a certain amount of real world money, it prevents you from spending anything else. If they take that and then alter it so that when you reach that limit, the F2P elements go away and it functions like a normal game, then the pricing system is reasonable.

Tried all of them, never paid nor will pay for anything in them. Badge Arcade is the only thing I start up these days, and I'm just waiting for some Zelda badges, as those are pretty much the only ones I'm interested in.

Shuffle was fun enough, if unfair at parts. I used to play it day in day out and finished all of the normal and special stages and got all of the pokes in them, plus a few of the ones they added immediately after. Then I just grew tired of it.

Rumble was just plain awful to me - I played for like 20 minutes until the free options ran out temporarily, then I dropped that like a baby orc.

As for my overall opinion on free-to-play games in Nintendo consoles... Eh, it's fine by me. They are newer things to play that are potentially enjoyable and I don't need to spend a penny in doing so. As long as they don't become the norm or too greedy with the freemium limitations, I say bring them on.

Badge center got me hooked.

Never played Rumble but Shuffle is an excellent game. I've put like 300 hrs on it that I feel a bit guilty of not paying anything. It's very addictive although it becomes tiring to keep grinding for coins.

Badge Arcade is kinda fun, but I'm getting tired of the long loading times just to have one real try.

Rusty's Deal is fun too, but I wouldn't call it free to play, because there's no way to play it unless you pay for it =p

Once they put some Metroid badges up there...

I would rather you could win themes in the arcade then badges, the badges seem kind of pointless. I spent like 5 bucks in the badge arcade, I don't think I will spend any more.

I usually collect the daily gems and play one level most days on Pokemon Rumble World. I only play F2P games as a time waster and would never spend any real money on them. I don't enjoy games if I'm constantly trying to work out whether to spend money.

I sort of play Pokemon Shuffle regularly, although the difficulty has spiked a lot at where I am.

Never touched Rumble World. Badge Arcade is great, just not going to spend on it. Free plays for the win!

Badge Arcade is awesome, the bunny is great when they add new cut scenes or whatever you want to call them, looks like only once a week so that's all I'll be playing, once a week. If it had the same system as Shuffle with 5 tries every few hours I'd be playing every day, maybe twice.

I just started Shuffle again on my tablet and it looks so much better than the 3DS version and it's only 720p. I was up to level 181 on the 3DS version.

Rumble got too boring and repetitive for me after getting most of the balloons up to 100.

Miitomo looks like utter garbage compared to the 3 above, I have no idea what they were thinking. 2 Pokémon games and a game with Nintendo badges and they go with Miis.

Still playing Pokémon Shuffle very regularly. Unfortunately, I succumbed and bought some Jewels during the 5 bonus jewels promotion, and once more after that (which I instantly regretted, and I am so, so, so stupid for doing so).

Nintendo Badge Arcade is in a whole other league of being abhorrently expensive. Anybody even entertaining the idea of collecting all of the badges would have to spend a FORTUNE and just's just to give oneself the CHANCE to win some stupid virtual badges comprised of existing artwork. I would have been more than happy to spend say $20 upfront for the app for unlimited pays, but I won't be spending a cent on this given the current pricing structure. I wish people would stop throwing a dollar here or there for this crappy game so that Nintendo would just cease to continue churning out this sort of thing. There was a time when stuff like this would be free as a means of promoting their brands.

A year ago, Nintendo pulling this sort of crap was thought to be unthinkable. It will only go downhill from here.

I check the Badge Arcade once or twice a week. I don't care for crane games, but I do like badges. I won't pay that bunny a cent, though! Free to play for me means to play as much as I can for free.

You'll never get any money out of me! Wahahaha!

I DID buy the extra streetpass plaza games, but that is not really "free to play."

Oh yea the bunny has awesome cut scenes. Today he was all fan-bunnying over The Able Sisters from Animal Crossing. And the Pokemon battle he had with me (x D).

Isn't another bunny the salesman of the Streetpass games?

The badge arcade is too stingy with its free plays and isn't much of a game to begin with. Otherwise, I'm quite happy with these games. I play all three of them every day and haven't spent a cent on any of them. If the Badge Arcade ever comes out with an exclusive theme I want, then I'll go ahead and open my wallet, since it's just like buying any other theme while getting a bonus of five free plays.

Do they have Xenoblade stickers on Nintendo arcade?

The way these polls are being tabulated confuses me. Like on the first question, the scores all add up to 100%, implying that no one has more than one game, even though we can choose up to three answers.

Badge Arcade is the worst by far, an evil summary of how to pressure and manipulate innocent people that feel that the bunny is good-hearted in the end. No, I'm not a friend of this kind of games for mobile phones either, but until recently I thought Nintendo was a company that cared about children.

On the other hand, Project Zero/Fatal Frame is a good deal, a few chapters for free so you can try and decide if you want to get the full game. Mario Kart 8 DLC was made after the game launched and it offered 50% more content for a reasonable price.

The Pokemon games just feel like games you play when your bored and waiting. They are a complete waste of time that could be spent playing better games. Shuffle is made to be addictive and drive the player to keep collecting to feel a sense of accomplishment. It's a trap, Pokemon shuffle is a bad game.

Well, considering I nearly have all the splatoon foldier icon things without paying a single dollar, with a chance a day to win free plays, I'd say it's worth at the very least a couple hours of your time.
You get what you pay for no?

The Badge Arcade is such a cool little app. I'm loving it, and my Home Menu looks great, even without spending a single penny. I played Shuffle and Rumble for nothing more than a week, but had for while doing it. Also, I've considered buying Pokémon Battle Trozei on the eshop just because I played Shuffle. It's also worth noting that there paid Rumble games on both Wii U and 3DS, and I guess there's Picross on 3DS too.

The Badge Arcade's really generous; note how in the poll most of its players haven't spent a dime. And, as they've proved today, even if you miss a catcher one time, they'll come back later.

As for children, parental controls stop them from even ACCESSING the eShop without a parental PIN if they're set up.

Oh God no, I wouldn't even dignify these monstrosities with a download. At least Rusty's and Steel Diver had enough self-respect worked into them to provide an experience that doesn't cling onto you to farm your wallet.

I wish Nintendo wouldn't jump onto the "free-to-start" FTP bandwagon at all, and instead make full FTP games with only optional cosmetic DLC for payment, or episodic titles, or base FTP titles with DLC packs. If Nintendo keeps abusing the FTP model like this, they'll end up joining the prestigious company of those such as Zynga, Popcap, and EA (Dungeon Keeper).

"We may as well get used to it"? No way, I won't ever accept these free to start titles. It wasn't so long ago that most people would refuse to capitulate to such a shady business strategy on Nintendo systems. What happened?

Rumble World is quite good, and completely playable without spending any money.

At least, if you have StreetPass on, and get as many StreetPasses as I do (which is, like, 40 a freakin' week...)

Someone should do a video with the startup time for Badge Arcade on an old 3DS and the new 3DS - the difference is phenomenal.

I played Pokemon Shuffle all the time until I met Mega Glalie

@Benny3999 Had the same issue with that piece of sh*t a couple of days ago. My recommendation is this team: Mawile/Mega Mawile (if you have Charizard along with charizardite to turn to Charizard Y it works wonders), Ninetales, Sudowoodo/Aerodactyl and Lucario. He will still beat you a couple times, but if you hang in there with that team, you will pierce his a** in no time. It will also help to have a Moves +5, in case he blocks you with disruptions to prevent you from comboing him a lot.

I was charmed by Nintendo Badge Arcade, so I spent around $10 on it the first day and had fun.

I'm only going to buy a game once, though, not every day, so I haven't really had fun with it since. I'm pretty sure it takes longer to load the damn thing than it does to get through the 0-1 free play I get per day.

This free-to-play model is crap.

Out of all of them, Badge Arcade and Rusty+Stretchmo (which are more one-time purchases of individual games) are the only ones I've been on board with.

Unlike Rumble World and Shuffle, which break up an already working formula to get money out of you, Badge Arcade is pretty straightforward with its set-up and prizes. Your wins are more based on skills and smart plays over chance. And you have something to show for your time/money that's not tied exclusively to the one game. Also the bunny's dialogue and overly animated movents are pretty amusing.

If Nintendo continues with "Free to Start", I only hope that they avoid the gem/feul system that makes me delete every other F2P game as soon as I hit 0.

Addendum: Pacman 256 on mobile is the only exception I've made to my "No feul-based F2P" game strike so far.

Almost 50% like them,
Almost 20% not sure
Around 35% doesn't like (myself included)

So I guess Nintendo made about half of its user base happy. That's actually pretty solid. Stupid games to me, but hey, glad to see some of you are enjoying being nickel and dimed.

Will say out of their Fee 2 Pay games, Shuffle was the best. But I love puzzle games. I was a fan of the Rumble series, but F2P is bad. Badge Arcade is fast and boring. Rusty Real Deal I enjoyed, but the haggling concept made me stay away. Never tried Steel Diver.

I'm fine with them existing, but Nintendo hasn't handled any of them well. The paying option never feels like a good value, and that's a big problem.

Wowie, that last poll's results are so mixed. I like the badge arcade, but let's just remember: Around the bunny, hide your money.

Badge Arcade is so cynically done, it is impressive. I like the rabbit's "voice". The difficulty is a bit weird. It's too easy/random for a freebie, with multiple badges per run, but if I were paying then it'd be too annoyingly random.

I think the badges themselves are utterly pointless and are not even very good looking. I have a couple of MH4U themes, and the Splatoon or Animal Crossing badges are hard to see on that background. They have terrible contrast and look grainy. The Mario 8-bit badges are OK, but I'm a bit sick of seeing 8-bit Mario now. He's been done to death. The only good badges are the ones that replace a few program launchers. Either way, I rarely turn off Monster Hunter 4 to see the home screen, so it's all a bit pointless anyway for me

I'd be more excited with Nintendo Badge Arcade if the Pokemon badges would come to Europe already. I've wanted to try them out for some time now.
I played Pokemon Rumble World for some time then just stopped. Never touched Shuffle.
EDIT: Used money on Nintendo Badge Arcade right now and didn't get the last part i needed. I'll say that i feel the pricing is a tiny bit too high, but maybe that's just me talking nonsense because i didn't get the one part i needed left and now it'll disappear tomorrow.

While I enjoyed Shuffle (at least 'till 100+ levels) and Rumble World (and I'm quite 'eh' about the badge thingy - not really my cup of tea, but I can clearly see some may enjoy such customization), I never ever spent even a penny for the microtransactions. One thing is that I don't really need it, but the bigger problem is the very weird money conversion rate to PLN. They are just way too expensive for what they offer...

...and it's not just microtransactions alone, even the prices in eShop are sometimes truly ridiculous. I actually haven't bought ANY major game from the eShop, as they are, in most cases, much MUCH more expensive than the normal cartridge releases.

I don't like this Free to Play trend at all. I deleted Pokémon Shuffle and Badge Arcade immediately when they had the cheek to appear on my home screen by themselves.

Free to Play games are designed to trick or annoy players into spending more and more money by imposing artifical limits. It's depressing to see Nintendo buying into this cash grab model instead of designing games to be as fun as possible for the player, like they used to.

I'm deeply disappointed that Pokémon Picross is going to be Free to Play as it combines two of my favourite series. If it was available as a once off purchase at a standard eShop price I'd be very excited about it but I've no interest in a Picross game that's going to suddenly lock me out unless I pay up.

I would like if these games at least came with two pricing options, free to play for those who want it, or pay full eShop price for unlimited access to all content, like a normal game.

Right now, I do not play any of those games because I can't access the e-shop since last update. ^^

Before that, I was playing Shuffle regularly for collection purpose without any money. (and without any save edition, despite my ability to do so, because then what would be the point?). Rumble lasted me a few weeks, but I let it go after a while (because of my lack of diamonds), even after I loaded the stacks of free diamonds from codes two months ago I could not enjoy it anymore. Badge Arcade... well it came too late to try it ^^" (but if I had it, I would never pay for it like never purchased any official thema)

PS: I actually despise additional purchases in game. I only did it with Fire Emblem 13 to get 3or5 maps who had theoretically an added value to the scenario, SMTIV for a post-game quest and Fantasy Life (to get the full version, who was in the same cartridge when it was re-released in Japan -_-)

I've tried all the FTP games, but the pokemon ones were boring to me, and the Badge one at least has me coming back to check what's there. I've paid £1.80 for the badge game so I don't feel bad for the bunny that I will probably never pay again and stick to what I can get with free plays.

I'm ok with the free to play model. I like the badge game as if I have any cash left over from adding an eshop card and buying a game I can use it.

What I hated about Shuffle though was how it abused my completionist ways by restricting certain pokemon to timed events and even then only gave them out to very few players, a transparent attempt to get you to spend money to get everything. It just put me RIGHT off it.

I managed to 100% Pokemon Rumble World.
Says a lot

Free to Play (or Free to Start, as Nintendo would say)—abusive as hell to young kids. Certainly Nintendo Badge Arcade is, imo.

I would honestly be more inclined to pass a law that stops companies from selling games like Nintendo Badge Arcade to kids over the current 18/Adults games, because I genuinely believe these types of gambling games, built around very manipulative and insidious psychological addiction/compulsion based mechanics and behavioural modifiers—with the main goal to extract a whole lot of money from certain kids (and even some adults) that these people really wouldn't have considered spending normally/otherwise—can be far more damaging to young and easily influenced minds than some fantasy sex and violence.

Badge arcade ticks me off. Why the heck didn't they decide to let us TRADE badges
via at least local wireless, maybe even wifi. Gifting badges would be an awesome option to. Without those features, I really don't care about collecting them. I'll get just enough to fill my folder covers, then I'm done.

It doesn't harm anybody. Seriously. Who thinks that is a douche.

I just personally think, that they should have done that Badge Arcade "game" fully freeto play, because with that you can customize your homescreen and I think that should be for free. Just like the wallpapers which you can purchase...

I still like the "game" though. Did never and will never pay for it.

I just won't bite on ftp. Haven't bought any amiibos. I did find a copy of Pokemon white for $20 y'day at Good Game so I'm happy.

Things began going to hell when car dealerships started calling used cars 'pre-owned'. Now everyone get off my lawn!

They're not bad games, but I don't spend much time playing them because I like deeper experiences.

Yes, I've played Pokemon Shuffle for about a week straight eagerly waiting for my hearts to reset to have another go, but that was just for a week...about 5 months ago. Since then, my time's been devoted to Splatoon, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Super Smash Bros., and tons of other games that just have more to them.

They're harmless though and they're not hurting anyone. If you don't like them, don't get them. They're not even loaded with ads like free-to-play games on Android or iOS...though I can't speak for the mobile phone version of Pokemon Shuffle.

I downloaded all three. I only played Pokemon Rumble about 3 times before deleting it off of my system. I still play Pokemon Shuffle multiple times a week. So far I enjoy getting the badges from Nintendo Badge Arcade. I wouldn't call it a game really, but free badges to customize your 3DS is cool. I don't know if I'll ever spend any money on the badge arcade but I'm not opposed to it either. Most likely I'll wait until there's a cool background theme that I like and then I'll drop $2 and get 10 plays. My sons are already asking to buy more plays on their systems.

I guess the argument is that if Nintendo is working on this stuff, then they're not working on the A+ games we all love to play. If that were the case, I would be against these types of games (although Pokemon Shuffle is a really fun puzzle game), but I don't know if that's the case or not. Only Nintendo really knows. I still think we get enough quality titles. I don't have time to play the awesome games I own.

Personally, I'm okay with FTP types.
Shuffle & Rumble; considering I've been able to make it pretty far w/out giving in $$
Pokemon Picross, no doubt I'll give a try (huge picross fan)
Badge Arcade, I've been envious of the Japanese ever since first learning of its existence existence..
(also unhealthy obsession with customizing everything I come across)
Just so happy they finally brought it over! ;u;
...my only real complaint on it concerns the taxes :

I feel the "free plays" are given generously enough, but other paying options would be nice (play coins or a monthly subscription? )

Haven't paid a penny to these games, I'm typically a frugal person and it's not in my nature to part with money when I don't have to.

Played Pokemon Shuffle up to level 150 and got fed up with how luck based and how "pay to win" it's becoming so I stopped playing.

Pokemon Rumble I was bored of within 15 mins and shut it off, was fed with everything dying in one hit and it's just a mashing game.

Badge Arcade I'm enjoying for now, I managed to get the Rosalina badge buried at the bottom of one of the machines through free plays. Just find the rabbit annoying and the lack of variety on badges.
Also find annoying that when you get free plays, you must use them there and then otherwise you lose them. Believe me I've tried powering off on a free play and when you come back, it's gone for good.
It's only good when you get 2-3 free plays at a time for this reason.

I've put in $1 in the Badge Shop. These games are fine, there's no way to ruin others fun if you cheat the games, except in a streetpass sense. But even then you usually don't ruin anything. Also most of these things I find fair priced. I'm glad it's not $5 for 10 claw game tries, it feels like that's how it would be for a PS/XB game tbh. Plus at first they made it seem like you'd have to pay and they'd rarely give you a free game but it's the opposite, which is nice.

I love badge arcade.
I've only spent $1 to date getting nearly all my badges for free.

Also there is nothing wrong with these games being free to start, since you can beat them all without ever spending a cent.

Let's see on Wii U I only spend money on Wii Sport Club DLC sports pack never for the ridiculous 24 our nonsense other then that Amiibo Tab (if it counts as "free-to-play" but that wasn't the primary reason why I bought Amiibo's). I haven't test out Fatal Frame V yet and the other 3 (Zen Pinball, Tank Tank Tank and Lucadian Chronicles) play it once didn't comeback to it.

As for 3DS only Streetpass Mii Plaza and Steel Diver Sub Wars I ever use my money but then again those felt more like proper DLC deals then microtransaction + with Steel Diver I couldn't resist playing the entire game with the Blue Marine XD. As for the rest well I like Pokemon Shuffle but I wish it was a retail game or download only game on eShop (like Pokemon Battle Trozei), Pokemon Rumble World never like the Rumble series, Nintendo Badge Arcade love it but i wish it use Play Coins instead of microtransactions. Ironfall was boring (but I do admire that 3 indie guys were able to make it on there own) and Rusty Real Deal Baseball the worst of all the free to play eShop game (The haggle mechanic the worst idea Nintendo made in my opinion) Haven't test out Stretchmo cause I'm still playing the other 3 version of the Pushmo series. As for Pokemon Picross can't wait plus hopefully it succeed so we can get Picross 3D 2 in the west, loved the 1st one on DS.

So far, I only spend 1 euro to Nintendo Badge Arcade. Nothing more.

My only complain I can give that those micropayment are really expenssive, I mean...1 euro = 1 jewel or 5 tries? This doesnt justify me to spend a real money to a small amount of resource/tries/whatever other than supporting a f2p games because you can earn most of stuff for free anyway.

I agree with @Kirk , these types of games are actually potentially dangerous. These games can hurt people. One of my longtime friends knows at least one person who accidentally spent over $1000 on Candy Crush because they didn't realize that getting more gems was using their credit card, which was automatically linked upon downloading the title, without their knowledge. If someone with a low income accidentally did that, they could be bankrupted. Don't assume everyone who uses electronic gadgets is tech savvy. (Or savvy in general.)

Beyond just people not realizing hidden fees are in play, forcing the player to pay money to continue encourages addictive habits. MMO's pioneered the concept, but F2P, and especially free to start, takes this aspect to a whole new level, while introducing bona fide gambling mechanics. The only reason anyone who makes this type of game hasn't been sued into oblivion is because of the fine print of those legal agreements almost no one reads before signing I Accept...

I can see how this can go horribly wrong, but some of the FTP ventures have been pretty safe. I like how Rumble World (and Rusty...and Stretchmo) has a spending cap. It's the kind of system I hope they stick with for other games. Shuffle is on the other end of this for me; I won't even look at it because of its brutal microtransaction structure.

Soemthing like Badge Center, meanwhile, seems to fall somewhere in between. Most people aren't going to feel the need to pay for EVERY badge so it's probably not that unethical for most players. But the potential is there, and I'm not a fan of that.

Let's see. I've spent around 120 hours in Pokémon Shuffle and put in about 10 Euro's total, and those were used solely on Coins (items) and never Hearts (play time) so I can't say that money made me play it more or less. The game feels very generous towards players, and I like starting it up right before or after playing a 'normal' game.

Rumble World is something else if you ask me. I played it for about 110 hours in the same manner as Shuffle. But did you know that Rumble World has a strict all-time limit for amount money you can spend? It's more a DLC type game where anyone can choose how much of the game they want to pay for, or let patience be rewarded. Either way, about €30 is the max if I remember correctly, then you can buy all balloons and even get a VIP treatment including a Diamond Digger that digs up 40 Poké Diamonds a day to keep you going. That's what I did, so I spent aboyt €30 on this one never te pay for it again!

For Badge Arcade, well, I used up about €20 on it already to complete all the Mario sets, themed my Home menu like a pro, and will now play for free forever on a daily basis, as I'm not looking for more badges and don't really like tge gambling aspect this title has. Also, out of all 3 f2p games this one's the least generous, with few free plays even through the Practice Catcher giving little motivation. If you want all the different badges that will ever be released, I'm sure you'd need to pull money worth 10 full games or wait 15 years, if the app isn't offline by then..

I've got all three and play them every day.
The fact you can't spend long on them is good and playing through without spending any cash is part of the game to me.

The simple mantra of F2P is, if the game is good, then it's worth putting money into. So far, 3 of Nintendo's efforts have gotten me to put money into them: Pokemon World Rumble, Rusty's Read Deal Baseball, and Badge Arcade.

I put quite a bit of money into unlocking all of Rumble World's balloons, and still working to get all of the Pokemon in it. After all this time it's still a fun experience I play often, although I'm not putting any more money into it unless I need it. Pokemon Shuffle, on the other hand, had no real hook to get me to pay for any expansion of the game. It was fun in it's free form, but ultimately I took it off my system in favor of Rumble World, as it's just the superior Pokemon F2P.

I ultimately spent around $30 or so to unlock everything in Rusty's. I like baseball video games, and each game has a lot of variety and challenge to make it worth spending on. It's a bit narrow in focus, but still one of the most fun game collections I still have a blast with every so often. (I was surprised that Nintendo Life did not add it to the F2P poll ... why not?)

So, my time with Badge Arcade surprised me a bit, especially in what I wanted to put money into. As a die-hard Zelda fan, I spent a fair bit initially so I could grab all of the 8-Bit Zelda collection and (almost) all of the Link Between Worlds badges before they cycled out. I also spend a couple bucks to grab my favorite Pokemon badges before the week ended, especially Diancie. Since I'm a crane-game lover, I play the practice round every day and enjoy it even now. I see myself probably sinking a few more bucks if Zelda badges pop up again.

Based on these experiences, I do like most of what Nintendo has been doing in the F2P game scene. If they stay the course on what fans are hooked on, I think it will all work out for them.

I've spent A LOT of money on Pokémon Rumble, and I absolutely regret it. And about Shuffle: the "jewels" are ridiculously overpriced.
Badge Arcade is kind of OK.
I love games that have DLC, but I'm not a fan of these games that promote impulsive use of real money.

@BulbasaurusRex

I agree its extremely stingy and honestly, should have just been a $10 eshop game with updates for new badges over time. I've spent $10 and that's pretty much all they're getting out of me on it. I've knocked down many of the practice bades and only received 1 free play marker a couple times. :/
Better yet, just sell the badge sets for $1-2 instead of having us fish for them. Playing digital crane game isn't as fun or rewarding as doing it in person. My best week on crane games was 2001 with 9 Pokemon plushes for $10 spent.

So far I have like 47 badges, only had one day where I didn't earn at least one free play, and still haven't spent a dime.

The pokemon f2p games just didn't interest me much.

@bofis Sucks to suck! I'm pretty good at the crane and managed to get quite a few good badges! The only reason I paid money was for the exclusive theme that goes well with 8-bit Mario badges.

@FRANKLIN_BADGE
Thanks for the advice, I'll have to try it out. I'll have to catch Charizard first though.

@Captain_Gonru That's how phone gaming works. Usually 90-95% for people don't pay for IAPs, but those who do go ALL IN. I know several friends that have made purchases in badge arcade already for whatever reason. More power to them I guess.

But otherwise I agree with everything you said. I do play shuffle maybe once a month, but it's not the best puzzle game in the world. PAD eats up enough of my time.

@Aerona I really realy liked Badge Arcade at the beginning, and I sitl llike it, but I am playing it less and enjoying it less. The bunny - who I still find adorable - only seems to say 1 new thing a week now, and the free tries seem harder to get. I downloaded Pokemon Shufle on my tablet to play instead. Well that and I don't like any of the new badges as I've never played Majoras Mask, so I care even less now. I need my Pikmin badges but they left.

There's still a good free-to-start game in there, and a great marketing tool for iOS and Android, but its not working very well now to get me hooked liked it easily could.