Following yesterday’s remembrances of the Nintendo 3DS, I decided to open up the records app and take a good, long look at all of the games I played on the system throughout its lifetime. I definitely could transcribe the entire list of 254 games, but I settled on just listing any game or app that I used for over ten hours. That’s still 74 different pieces of software!
Some editorial notes are included where I felt I had either something important to say, a fun memory to share, or couldn’t wrap my head around how long I spent with a game. Blue titles are games released on the original Nintendo DS, red titles are Virtual Console releases, and green titles are system software.
- Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (269)
- Pokémon Shuffle (265)
- I still have no idea how this one go up so high.
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf (209)
- Monster Hunter Generations (180)
- Is that all? Really? I could swear that I spent a lot more time with this one. But I knew it was at least near the top!
- Pokémon Y (158)
- Ironic that one of my least favourite entries in the Pokémon series has significantly more hours than the rest on this list. I must have completed the National Dex on this one. And very slowly, at that.
- Hyrule Warriors Legends (131)
- And yet I came nowhere close to completing it… Interestingly, my most vibrant memory of this game is playing it while watching Mac and Me in the background.
- Super Smash Bros for 3DS (131)
- Got every single trophy, son! And then kept playing it a ton because the DLC characters and stages were so good. Probably logged more hours on this one that it’s Wii U sibling (but we’ll see…)
- StreetPass Mii Plaza (110)
- Man, the StreetPass games were so huge for a while. Keep in mind that this is a collective 110 hours over like 8 smaller games. I didn’t even buy the last round of games that were released.
- Pokémon White 2 (101)
- I have very distinct memories of whiling away many, many hours grinding levels to complete the Pokédex in this one. Thank goodness Game Freak has made that process a lot easier in more recent entries.
- Bravely Default (97)
- I honestly can’t believe that I spent almost 100 hours this this one. I would have guessed maybe 60, 70? It sure didn’t seem like that long. Guess time flies when you’re havin’ fun! And if you add up the time I’ve spent listening to the soundtrack, we’re probably well over 200.
- Pokémon Sun (87)
- This was the first Pokémon game to make any radical changes to the formula (I think), but the most important one is how you could abuse QR codes to fill in your Pokédex real fast.
- Dragon Quest VII (83)
- Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros Edition (62)
- Pokémon Picross (60)
- Xmas time always makes me think about Pokémon Picross, since it was released in December 2015 and I subsequently spent a lot of that Xmas season with this game. Great memories, that year.
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (57)
- I believe this is for two runs, one on normal mode, one on Master Quest. It still seems pretty high…
- Picross 3D: Round 2 (50)
- Pokémon Ultra Sun (48)
- Nintendo eShop (47)
- Forty-seven hours spent shopping.
- Chrono Trigger (47)
- Obviously, this doesn’t count the many dozens of hours spent with the original SNES release. Or the Wii Virtual Console version.
- Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy (45)
- I was playing this the first time that I got a migraine that temporarily made me forget how to speak. Good times!
- Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (43)
- Pokémon Alpha Sapphire (39)
- I played one nuzlocke run of this, did some post-game stuff, and then never really touched it again. I’ve always wanted to revisit it, since it’s quite a good remake of my sentimental favourite Pokémon game.
- Pokémon Pearl (38)
- Harvest Moon: A New Beginning (36)
- Kingdom Hearts 3D (33)
- Picross e6 (33)
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D (33)
- This got slightly ignored when I first bought it, since it released on the same day as Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (see the tippy-top of this list). But I finally went back and beat it last year. Great remake.
- Fire Emblem: Awakening (32)
- Paper Mario: Sticker Star (31)
- I believe that this is the first game that my ex-wife gifted to me and I ended up not really liking. Of course, I still played it to completion to show my appreciation.
- Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (30)
- I think I liked this one much more than Dream Team because it wasn’t twice as long as it should have been. It was still a little bit too long, though.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (30)
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (29)
- So good, I played it a second time immediately after beating it.
- Shovel Knight (29)
- I remember when Shovel Knight came out, how it was so life-changing that I felt the need to buy a second copy (I originally got it on Wii U) so that I could play it on the go as well. Money well spent.
- Super Mario 3D Land (29)
- Ever Oasis (28)
- I was playing this the first time someone sat next to me on the bus, then immediately changed seats when they noticed I was playing a Nintendo 3DS.
- Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash (27)
- New Super Mario Bros 2 (25)
- Received this for my 26th birthday. It was a memorable one, as it was the first birthday I celebrated as a husband and a homeowner. It’s telling how poor we were, since I had to wait to get the new Mario game as a birthday gift.
- Picross e2 (24)
- The Legend of Zelda: Tri-Force Heroes (24)
- Final Fantasy Explorers (24)
- Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (22)
- I knew that I had played the Wii U version a lot more, but only 22 hours? Really? I remember taking my 3DS over to my parents’ place to play with my brother quite often, but I guess it wasn’t as often as I’d thought.
- Team Kirby Clash Deluxe (21)
- Pokémon Yellow (21)
- Kirby: Triple Deluxe (21)
- I beat this game for the first time when I took my then-wife to see Stars on Ice. I was playing while we were waiting for the show to begin, of course. I did not play whilst the titular Stars were, in fact, on the ice.
- Kirby: Planet Robobot (20)
- I beat this game for the first time just before leaving for my grandfather’s funeral. It was a bittersweet day. I miss him.
- Pokémon Silver (19)
- Picross e (19)
- Picross e4 (18)
- Metroid Prime: Federation Force (18)
- To this day, I would really like to play this some more. The problem is that it’s not a great solo experience, and it’s hard enough to find another 3DS owner, nevermind someone else who actually bought this game.
- Monster Hunter Stories (18)
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (18)
- I played most of this in bed before going to sleep, and the town theme in this game is very short and annoying and would drive my ex-wife nuts. So of course I took my sweet time in towns to (playfully) annoy her. That’s probably why I’m divorced now.
- Etrian Odyssey IV (18)
- One time, on the way home from work, I accidentally got on the wrong bus and ended up on the opposite side of town. This is the game I was playing throughout most of the evening as I made the long journey back home.
- Wario Land II (17)
- Lufia: The Legend Returns (16)
- Kid Icarus: Uprising (16)
- An excellent game with an abominable control scheme.
- Mario’s Picross (16)
- Pokémon Battle Trozei (15)
- Picross 3D (15)
- That’s fifteen hours on the 3DS. I’m sure I plugged way more time into this one while playing on the original DS hardware.
- Resident Evil Revelations (14)
- I can’t overstate how huge this was at the time. A game that looked like this running on a Nintendo handheld. Yeah, 3DS had some other good-looking games early on, but I think that Capcom really nailed it. And then it took me like 2 years to finish.
- Picross e7 (14)
- Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (14)
- Pokémon Rumble World (14)
- Picross e5 (13)
- Internet Browser (13)
- It’s highly likely that at least 12 of those hours were spent looking at boobies.
- Mario Kart 7 (13)
- I wonder how many races you can pack into 13 hours? This is another one of those that completely baffle me with the relatively low number of hours. But then again, this is where I started to lose my appreciation for Mario Kart.
- Metroid: Samus Returns (12)
- Someday I’ll go back and try the speedrun. Maybe.
- Notifications (12)
- Proof that seconds add up over the years?
- Crosswords DS (11)
- That’s eleven hours on the 3DS. I plugged way more time into this one while playing on the original DS hardware.
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX (11)
- Ultimate NES Remix (11)
- Crystal Monsters (10)
- You know, it’s funny. I spent 10 hours playing this game, but cannot remember a single thing about it. Pretty sure it’s a Pokémon-style RPG, but I can’t tell you for sure. Don’t even know if I finished it!
- Weapon Shop de Omasse (10)
- Super Mario Advance 3: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (10)
- When I played this, it was the first time that I stopped and said to myself “Ryan, Yoshi’s Island will be so much more fun if you stop trying to get 100 points on every level.” And I was right!