Nintendo 3DS Demo

Must look... away...

I've tried not to think too much about the 3DS.  Due to the state of my finances, I get a little bit more broke even thinking about adding a new piece of gaming hardware to my collection (which basically consists of a Wii).  I never got on the DS wagon, though I always thought one would be kind of cool.  I'm not in that position where I have to wonder if it is worth it to update my DS to a 3DS, in other words.  If a 3DS plays DS games, which I'm sure they do, that would be the way I would go, no doubt.  So I was strolling about the local Target store over the weekend and there it sat, a shiny demo of the 3DS that no one had grabbed a hold of.  So I did.  This would be the first time I'd played anything with the letters DS in the title.  The game was Starfox 64, and boy did I suck.  I vaguely remember playing this game for the 64 what feels like a few decades ago, so the demo level was kinda familiar.  My biggest problem was that I wanted to push up to go down and down to go up, like a lot of old school flying games, so I kept going off target or even off screen.

It was like this, only prettier

But the game was fun, I could of sat there and played it and got familiar enough with it to blow through the couple of demo levels they had playing.  The 3D, well, it was neat.  I don't think it's the kind of thing that would sell me on a system, the games will do a better job than that, but I felt it gave a cool little extra effect to the game that added a little something to the experience.  It was enough to make me wish I could get myself a 3DS and blow through Ocarina of Time or Mario 3D Land 3D World or whatever the confusing wording of that title might be.  Even Starfox would be a nice little addition to the handheld.  Sigh.  Sometimes living on a budget truly sucks.  Unfortunately, Daycare costs money and not a little of it.

It occurred to me that I've only had one handheld my entire life, and that was the original Gameboy.  I remember hours of fun playing Metroid 2 or Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and it hit me that you don't have to plop down hundreds of dollars for a little portable fun.  There's a vast library of Gameboy Advance games I've never played, and some I've played while at someone else's house and never got to finish, that I could dig into until I get funds for a 3DS.  Gameboy Advances run pretty cheap on the internet or craigslist and after I save up a few bucks, I think I'll get one of those and start playing some stuff like Metroid Fusion or Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap.

That should tide me over.  At least until I run into a demo version of the 3DS in some store playing a copy of Mario Kart 7.  Then the pangs will begin again...I really want one now.