Why are 3DS's so expensive?

[Moogley]

Because someone made up that price.
Better question is: Why are people buying expensive conosles enabling those prices?

What's the alternative for someone who wants to play dual-screen games in 3D?

 

[doorbell8423]

.

 

[Moogley]

There is no alternative afaik.

Right, so that's why people will pay any price. Imagine if there was literally no way to play A Link to the Past except with a real SNES. That's what 3DS is like.

There is quite literally no other way to play something like Kid Icarus Uprising. It just doesn't exist. So this is a problem that will actually get worse over time as there are fewer 3DS systems on the market and people miss the games even more.

People shouldn't be worried about how expensive they are NOW. They should be worried about the fact that right now may be the CHEAPEST they will ever be again.

 

[nmagod]

They are expensive i bought a japan region N3DSXL and region changed it it was two hundred dollars and the usa region N3DSXL consoles are three to four hundred a piece i did get a usa region N3DSXL on shopgoodwill.com for $180 https://shopgoodwill.com/categories/nintendo 3ds?p=1

stop using goodwill, unfortunately they've been pricing everything based on the high point of internet prices for YEARS

 

[Ryccardo]

why anybody would want to own more than a single 3DS is beyond me

O3DS (2013) - cuz let's see what this is about and, besides, the new Animal Crossing is out
O2DS (2014) - cuz Ninjhax and PastaCFW require 9.2 or less
N3DS (2015) - cuz the 3D now allegedly works (it did) and this Xenoblade thing sounds cool (it totally is)
O3DS (2016) - cuz it was pink and cheap at a doomed Game$top, this one actually came on 2.1 so instant A9LH, then I bricked it with the original sighax as the instructions were unclear and caused a bunch of people to flash the installer as a kernel
O3DSXL (2017) - cuz I just had a stuffed wallet at the anime con (and I ended up buying a NOS console with the then undumped 3.1E, which stayed as such for about 2 hours after I came home)
O2DS (2017) - cuz the first one I had was stolen and I got this one cheap

Of course I sold a few down the line and ultimately all of them (scene burnout + a DS being a much better timeless classic and I'm keeping a pair of those + got a job, who really has time for games now), but only for honest prices (= those I would pay for if I were buying)

 

[doorbell8423]

.

 

[yankii]

Why? Because most handhelds are abused and end up beat up as hell. That, and the 3DS didn't sell as many units as the DS. Also it's currently impossible to emulate its 3D feature.

I got my dual IPS N3DS XL for $500-ish locally, and I consider myself lucky because the thing was practically untouched. I do want another one but prices are even worse these days.

 

[Moogley]

It's certainly not because 3DS is the only alternative.
That's a surface-level take that helps people justify the fear of missing out. But the real reason you're being left out is everything above. And by paying inflated prices, you're not just hurting others — you're also hurting yourself in the long run. Fair prices won’t return if we keep normalizing this.

Some people have money to burn and lack self-control, but most of those people buy the newest, fanciest FOMO machine. Switch 2 is the money-to-burn argument, not really 3DS.

3DS is a bygone product; a creation from a time of caring, creativity, and community. Will we starve for games if we can't play Kid Icarus Uprising or Link Between Worlds or Fire Emblem Awakening or Etrian Odyssey IV? No ...

But if the titles of those games didn't stir something about the validity of my point, I guess nothing will. Those games are AWESOME. They're better than anything Nintendo has made for a decade, for the people who would love those games, because they combine hardcore designs with Nintendo polish, that sweet spot that made them so brilliant from 2002-2017.

Breath of the Wild is so boring to me. Fire Emblem Engage, boring. Mario Odyssey, boring. TOTK, don't even get me started; I couldn't even finish it.

If Nintendo would be a little more willing to make games for people who value challenge, creativity, and polish, I don't think retro consoles would be so expensive.

Basically my point is: consider putting some of the blame on where Nintendo is now, not on the fans who just want to experience where they were then.

 

[k66]

Want to experience naked-eye 3D on a bad screen??
Although I have several 3DS consoles, I haven't opened them in almost 10 years and I have no motivation to hack them.

 

[RyanTheArchivist]

Want to experience naked-eye 3D on a bad screen??
Although I have several 3DS consoles, I haven't opened them in almost 10 years and I have no motivation to hack them.

Because the experience of the games just doesnt feel right on emulator. The dual screen setup is very hard to mimic off of the original hardware.

 

[Moogley]

Want to experience naked-eye 3D on a bad screen??
Although I have several 3DS consoles, I haven't opened them in almost 10 years and I have no motivation to hack them.

There was a lottery with these screens, so maybe I just got lucky or maybe my standards aren't as particular, but I've never had a problem with the screen on my New 3DS XL, which is IPS to be fair. But the 3D is amazing, subjectively. To ME, it's amazing. It's still my daily driver because nothing looks quite like it; no emulator or android/windows device can even come close. Like Out Run 3D? Or something really unique like Kid Icarus Uprising? Nothing comes close.

 

[Aep]

I blame hShop, and (to a lesser extent, mainly because of the IPS bullshit) 3DSIdent (it is indirectly their fault their software gets used on a lot of consoles, raising demand for these consoles) for part of the reason 3DSes are so expensive now.

 

[Moogley]

I blame hShop, and (to a lesser extent, mainly because of the IPS bullshit) 3DSIdent (it is indirectly their fault their software gets used on a lot of consoles, raising demand for these consoles) for part of the reason 3DSes are so expensive now.

Blame Nintendo for removing an entire console's ecosystem for no reason whatsoever. THAT is the reason these apps exist and why 3DS systems are getting more expensive.

 

[Aep]

Blame Nintendo for removing an entire console's ecosystem for no reason whatsoever. THAT is the reason these apps exist and why 3DS systems are getting more expensive.

Part of it is the eShop closure too, yeah. But the bigger issue is piracy (3DS piracy is  hilariously easy), and the IPS screen nonsense.

 

[Hippocampus_Hamster]

Others have given compelling reasons for the OP's question, so I won't bother repeating the same thing.

I will say though that, while the eShop did close, the community banded together to find every game they knew of and archive them, including eShop exclusives. For legal reasons (and because I don't want Nintendo possibly trawling through this forum and finding where it is) I won't link to it, but the hShop is a great resource, and they're now working on archiving SpotPass data as well.

This also may be a driving force for 3DS handheld prices, as there's no need to buy every single game you want at Ebay prices (just the system itself ~.~).

also depends on if they included a plethora of pirated games, which is downright illegal probably unethical in a way too

So far as I know, modding the console is legal, in a grey market manner, but selling games on that console that are not physical or are tied to someone else's account other than the console buyer's is illegal. In the USA anyhow. iirc modded consoles are essentially outright banned in Japan period.

 

[nmagod]

Japan really has a hard on for anything that opposes preservation, huh?

 

[Hippocampus_Hamster]

Its the center of the corporatocracy that is modern Japanese business. So its no surprise they'd stranglehold any attempt to undermine their wealth base while it slowly erodes out from underneath them. Nevermind the cultural differences that are hard to get into with just a few sentences.

 

[KnightsBlood]

I checked my old email from GameStop when I bought a used one in 2021. It was $149.99

I thought that was expensive, but when you check now it's almost double!

Wasn't even aware of the sudden price hike in the last 4 years.

 

[88cmflak]

I checked my old email from GameStop when I bought a used one in 2021. It was $149.99

I thought that was expensive, but when you check now it's almost double!

Wasn't even aware of the sudden price hike in the last 4 years.

Yeah it's the same pricerange when I bought my used n3dsxl in 2020! Though I'm not lucky enough to get any IPS screen. So glad I decided to get one back then.

 

[Diego Liberal]

I noticed that recently (the rise in prices).
I remember paying R$1200,00 for my Old 3DS back in 2012, and about R$1700,00 back in 2017 for my New 3DS XL.
Those were release prices.

Last month I decided to look for a special edition New 2DS XL and the prices shocked me. Used Old 3DS devices going for over R$2000 and my Dragon Quest 2DS LL I purchased went for R$3800,00, I felt robbed.
I know they never were cheap here on Brazil, but goddamn it, doubled the price in some cases.

I guess that will be the last 3DS device I'll own.

(sorry, I don't know the prices in dollar)