Video: Remembering The 3D Classics NES Range On Nintendo 3DS

Kirby's Adventure was one of my favorite games of all time, but I'm okay with it being replaced with 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure.

Didn't they use Xevious to demo the 3DS way back when it was revealed at E3?

Also, 3D Classics Kid Icarus was the best of the set. Took the best of both the Japanese and Western versions and added a nice environmental appearance behind all the stages.

They were the best versions of those games IMO.

Why they wasted one of these slots on URBAN CHAMPION, of all games, I will never understand. Mach Rider would have been a better choice. Or hell, they could have finally brought Devil World to the US as a 3D game, that would have been pretty stylish.

Still wish we would have got that FF1 remake.

Shame they didn't they do this with Zelda, Mario or Donkey Kong.

I watched this video on YouTube 2 days ago! Why were so slow to put it on the web site?!

Anyway, a true save system in "Kid Icarus" means nothing to me when the game is still too difficult for me to get very far in it. "Of Myths and Monsters" is the much better game. If they truly wanted to make a definitive version of the 1st game, then they should've added an easier difficulty level or at least added a rewind feature.

I played 4 of these. Kirby’s Adventure and Xevious were the ones I missed. I probably would have eventually played Kirby’s Adventure through this way, had Nintendo not gave away the Wii U VC version for 30 cents. And while playing it on Wii U had made Kirby’s Adventure my favorite NES game, I do feel envious of those who first got to play it it without the slowdown in the 3DS remake.

Overall, they’re ok. I feel like they could have picked better games to have remade. Excitebike is the only real good one I’ve played, personally, but I still feel like they could have made better use of user creation with a share feature, or Streetpass support. Or, maybe give us the 3D remake the enhanced version of Excitebike, Excitebike Vs. Kid Icarus is a very stiff experience, with a levels that are easy to get lost in. Urban Champion doesn’t have upside and playing Twinbee in 3D felt a little disorienting.

A few of my dream 3D Classics games would have been Punch-Out, Mach Rider, Donkey Kong and Double Dragon

@BulbasaurusRex

When I played the 3D version of Kid Icarus back in the day I was surprised how easy the game is - played through it in one sitting (approx 90 min). Or I am used to the game cause I own the Nes cartridge sind 1989 and played it a lot

Mostly played Twin Bee. Love how it blew the speakers out of the 3DS, lol. Keep the 3DS articles coming. It lives on in the heart

I think you were used to it mate. It took me a good few hours to complete it. It was strangely addictive for such an ancient game. Usually these old NES games get about five minutes of my time before I decide to play something else instead.

Because the D-Pad is not parallel to the Action Buttons i can't really play such Games on the 3DS :/

I had the excite bike one which was nice.. there are more hidden excitebikes games, like the wiiware one, which was lovely as well

One of those weird scenarios where the strange choice of games adds to the allure.

Perhaps more were originally planned, but I get the feeling Nintendo ultimately wanted to protect the integrity of the original versions of NES games - you know, so they can keep selling them to us over and over again...

These releases were great. And furthermore I think some of them were free as part of various special offers - I remember getting ExciteBike and Kid Icarus for free. 3DS in Europe had a a lot of free game offers (I think I even got Animal Crossing for free because I had 2 of the other big games).

I do disagree that these are the definitive ways to play these games. Some of the changes are too much. I really disliked that I could not turn off the backgrounds in Kid Icarus - that it could not be made closer to the NES experience.

I will also say that NintendoLife grossly misuses the term 'Game Preservation'. Reselling a game is not game preservation - especially in this case, where it's a rebuild of the game and not even the original version.

Reselling a game is not the same as reprinting a book etc. Video game consoles last 5-10 years - so any kind of rerelease will always very quickly end up stranded on a dead format. So, a rerelease like this does not preserve a game in any meaningful way. The Wii VC version of Super Mario Bros did nothing to preserve that game. That version is not available now - the original NES version is easier to obtain at this point. So VC was not true game preservation. Also VC and most retro collections are usually motivated by money, the aim is to earn income from popular properties, rather than any real attempt to preserve a game as an archival piece, regardless of fame or quality as true preservation would do (that's why we've gotten 7+ releases of Super Mario Bros for 5 dollars each and sadly no recent rerelease at all for Flimbo's Quest)

I don't think true preservation really exists in the industry yet (outside of independent video game / computing museums). Film preservation usually involves archives, where prints and ancillary materials (posters etc.) are preserved and restored - and made available either through physical libraries or online, or traveling exhibitions. True game preservation would be something similar to that - permanent (not on a limited time format), altruistic (not motivated by profit) and also not just for the most famous/fun games.

I always feel a little salty about this because I see it as another thing Nintendo started and then left early on. We only got a hanfull of these and there should have been more. It's sad when, in the end, Nintendo abandoned the 3D in 3DS, evenutally leaving it as a more powerful DS?

@Hck Aside from the 2DS, Nintendo never abandoned the 3D effect. They just stopped advertising it as the definitive feature. However, late release 3DS games like "Samus Returns" were just as likely to have a quality 3D effect applied as earlier releases were, save for the ones that were too CPU-intensive to use it.

Really wish we got Donkey Kong, Punch-Out and The Legend of Zelda, both of which, considering its perspective, would look amazing in 3D.

I forgot about this. I wonder if there’s a list of all the ways Nintendo has repackaged their classics.

I got Xevious (alright), excitebike (good) and Urban champion (bit cack), then i stopped. They killed their own momentum with UC. As mentioned above so many other games could have done the 3D treatment justice. Might grab some when 3DS eshop closes, but the Sega 3D games were a much more impressive selection, even if some of those were only (alright).

These are all fine and well, but so short-lived, never reaching its true potencial. On the other hand, the Sega 3D Classics Series felt more complete.

@Splodge agreed on the game preservation perspective. Nintendo just love to charge for what are essentially "freeware" games. It makes Bethesda look like saints when they re-release the original Dooms for a "reasonable" price, despite also being "freeware".

I've been ignoring these releases until now, I thought they're were just 3D versions (which doesn't bother me in Sega Ages, but somehow wasn't enough to buy these particular Nintendo games), but now I see there are some interesting tweaks too.

For instance, I think the color palette of Kirby's Adventure is noticeable better, am I right? I'm playing the original on the NES Mini and I always think it's a shame such a fun game has so few colors compared to other NES games.

Kirby and Kid Icarus were incredible. I mean, Kid Icarus was mostly great because I got it for free through Club Nintendo. It was essentially a free game before I had disposable income. I totally forgot about it until now. Can’t believe I beat it tbh it was rock hard.

@Xiovanni Not to me. Imagine growing up with the original and how it played, knowing you can slide kick off ledges for a speed boost, or swallow the Fire ability near an underwater fuse to activate a cannon in 6-3, only to have that tossed out the window with the remake.
NiD was the best way to play the game on a handheld without slowdown for a good while, but the 3DS version trounces it by being faithful to the original in every sense while removing said slowdown, and retaining the vibrant color palettes that I feel NiD lacked.
There are a few saving graces I will give NiD, being that it let you play with friends, had sub-games that are actually fun, and introduced Metaknightmare Mode. It may not be a completely faithful remake, and it's far from being my favorite version of Kirby's Adventure, but there is merit to playing it over the original.

How have I never heard if this?

I experienced most of these games running on the Citra emulator inside my Oculus Rift/Quest 2 headsets, which allows me to still view them in stereoscopic 3D, and they're actually very cool. I wish there was an easier and official way to play them now for anyone who doesn't own a 3DS (and still with the stereoscopic 3D too).

@Xiovanni That would mean that I have to actually get past that first level, though, but I can't get anywhere near the first checkpoint before I die.

EDIT: Well, I looked up some hints on GameFAQs and gave the game another try...and I actually made some progress! I'm up to World 1-3 so far. Who knew you were meant to just sneak past the Reapers in the early levels, or that entering a chamber destroyed all enemies (including Reapers) and items on screen once you came back out? This kind of stuff should've been in the manual! The game is still excessively difficult, though.

I have all these, and even though I loved Kid Icarus on the NES, the 3DS version is hands down the way to play this game. Can we all just agree that the 3DS is the greatest handheld system of all time? lol

Wow sad that these were not ported to Switch as HD Classics similar to what Sega did with the Sega Ages lineup from 3DS to Switch.

@BulbasaurusRex tbh the first few levels are brutal. Once you are able to get through those you should have a much better time. Super glad that the NES version on the switch has save states and rewinds.

I got them all and they're all great. I only with there were even more.

Every single one of these 3DS versions is inferior to the original NES version. The graphical additions are all ugly. Even 3DS Kirby is useless because the game runs flawlessly on the NES Classic Edition. So the choice is really whether you'd rather play Kirby on a big screen with an authentic NES controller or on the 3DS screen with an inferior D-pad. These re-releases were all an epic fail.

@TheWingedAvenger Owning these games on a handheld with 3D effect available isn't really inferior to purchasing a retired piece of hardware (or paying a yearly subscription) just to have access to them.

What's wrong with the 3DS d-pad anyway? Never had an issue with classic 2D games there.

As a huge fan of the Excitebike games, I immediately noticed that the developers at ARIKA did not program the bike physics in the 3D Classics version correctly at all. The bike was way too heavy, and it was difficult to maintain air and consistent speed unlike the original. After decades of playing the NES, FDS, and SFC versions all with physics similar to each other(and World Rally to a lesser degree), I could never get used to the change in the heavier physics on the 3DS. It’s sad, because everything else in the game was great. This one issue keeps me from going back to it in any way. I also feel like I’m the only one who notices this.

Kirby’s Adventure was pretty awesome, I’ll admit. I’m glad I picked that one up, although strangely, Kirby’s weight had a similar issue to 3D Excitebike as he was a bit heavier than he was in the original game.

I recall hearing Super Metroid also got this treatment and was available to play on a showfloor in early days of the 3DS, but for whatever reason was never released.
Might've been false as the eventual snes releases ended up being n3ds exclusive, but it would have been nice.

@Sabrewing I remember them teasing games like Mega Man 2 and Yoshi's Island. Imagine if we got those instead of Urban Champion.

Kid Icarus, with the save feature and FM farts soundtrack of the FDS version. I should play through that sometime.

They really picked some weird games for the 3D classics line. Super Mario Bros 3, Zelda 1 and 2, and Metroid would have been awesome!

@rushiosan
You're right, the 3DS D-pad is good. But it's slightly smaller than the D-pad on the NES Mini. I also agree that it's not worth it to get an original NES to play these games on it. The best way is to play the games on the NES Mini. Kirby and Excitebike are already on there, and you can easily add the entire NES library to it. And no, I'm not endorsing piracy. You should of course own the games that you play on the NES Mini

I loved Kirby's adventure on nes and was great to get on 3ds. Imo it was one of best Kirby games and best Nes games period. I still remember getting it when I was a kid and I was so amazed at how good and different it was than every game i had.

I wish they made a physical compilation of all six of these back when they were still making 3DS games.

Best way to play Kid Icarus hands down

I really liked these once the New 3DS came out with the advanced eye tracking thing, bought a few, liked kirby the best.

Were the controls different for the 3D Classics version of Kirby's Adventure? I played the original on Wii U VC but could never get into it because of them.

The definitive way for those of us who no longer own our original NES, is the Classic.

@TheWingedAvenger Modding an NES Classic is still not ethical (if not technically illegal) irregardless if you already own the games. It's certainly violating the EULA if nothing else.

Anyway, let's compare game by game:
"Ubran Champion" is trash on any system, so I'll skip that one.

"Exceitebike" with widescreen support, the good-looking added weather effects (not ugly at all), the 3D effect, and the much improved track editor make it easily worth playing it on a handheld screen with a slightly smaller D-Pad.

The 3D effect adds so much to the gameplay of "Xevious" and "Twinbee" that it alone makes them worth playing on a handheld screen with a slightly smaller D-Pad, not to mention the other improvements.

The graphical upgrade (including the 3D effect), which is much better and not ugly at all, and improved save system make it worth playing "Kid Icarus" on a handheld with a slightly smaller D-Pad. It's a closer call for those who have the Japanese version, but most of us don't.

With "Kirby's Adventure," most people would prefer the "Nightmare in Dreamland" remake on DS, anyway, although there's a commenter here who doesn't like how they remade the graphics and made some mechanical tweaks. If you want just the NES version, did the NES Classic version actually get rid of the slowdown? If not, then that alone makes the 3DS version superior. If so, then this is the one game where you have a legitimate argument, although some will still consider the handheld screen and slightly smaller D-Pad as acceptable sacrifices to play the game in 3D.

@BulbasaurusRex

I'm sure you and a few other people genuinely like the added graphics and 3D on the 3DS versions, so your argument makes sense. But Xevious isn't Xevious with those changes. The added graphics look terribly out of place in games made in the 80s.

A great reason to have a hacked NES Mini is that all the NES and SNES games that were plagued by slowdown magically run perfectly on the Mini. I recently played and beat Super R-Type, a good SNES game which is infamous for its slowdown, and I had no slowdown at all because the NES Mini emulates the game but not the slowdown.

Also, on my NES Mini I get to play Double Dragon III Deluxe, a hack which turns a terrible NES game into one of the top five beat-em-ups of the 8-bit generation. There are dozens more hacks that fix game-breaking issues. If you play certain games on original hardware, you're doing yourself a disservice.

It's an absolute shame that Super Mario Bros 3 didn't get this treatment, it was practically made for this.

@TheWingedAvenger No, almost everyone likes them better! The added clouds in "Xevious" look great, and even if they didn't, the 3D effect alone makes them worth it. Adding 3D to "Xevious" and "Twinbee" with their ground vs. air target gameplay mechanic makes those games so much better to play. It's more "Xevious" than ever before!

Again, hacking the NES Classic (It's not called the "Mini") is unethical and borderline illegal. Most people won't do that. So for us, the 3DS version is still the only way to avoid slowdown in "Kirby's Adventure" outside of its remake.

@BulbasaurusRex
You say "everyone likes them better", but no one bought them. Did you guys all pirate the games? Otherwise, how can so many people like the 3DS versions better without buying them?