The 3DS is the Nintendo’s floatation device right now – its strong sales are keeping the gaming giant from drowning in losses. Part of the 3DS’ success is due to its ever-growing library of excellent games. However, there are still some absences in the 3DS catalogue that we’d like to see filled. Here are our picks for five classic gaming franchises we’d like to see come to the 3DS.
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy Tactics was a breakthrough hit for the original PlayStation. Its excellent strategy gameplay combined with the expansive Final Fantasy world created a wonderful experience.
Final Fantasy Tactics was great on the Game Boy Advance, and it was great on the DS, and it would be great on the 3DS. The increased power of the 3DS over its predecessors would ensure crisper graphics and attack animations; summons and other large attacks could even be projected in 3D. The Street Pass feature could be used to get special items or weapons from other players, or even store their clan information as ghost data for you to battle.
Perhaps Square Enix is waiting to see what the reception is like for the upcoming Final Fantasy XV, as their last few console offerings for the series have been met with a lukewarm reception. But maybe a great tactics game for the 3DS is just what they need to restore faith in the brand.
Bomberman
There was a Bomberman game announced for the 3Ds, but it was cancelled when Konami took over Hudson. Perhaps the higher-ups at Konami wanted to take stock of their new acquisition before publishing anything, but an innovative title for the 3DS would be a great first move.
Bomberman would be perfect for the 3DS, especially if it borrowed elements from both top-down Bomberman games and third-person adventures like Bomberman 64. We don’t need a big, sprawling story. The game can be more like the WiiWare title Bomberman Blast. Just give us a wide selection of maps and power-ups and let us blast our friends in 3D in local or Wi-Fi matches.
Konami has stated that they’d like to release an official product list soon, so hopefully Boberman fans will be getting some good news at this year’s E3.
Golden Sun
The first Golden Sun games were two of the best RPGs on the Game Boy Advance, and Dark Dawn was a gem on the DS. So we’d love to see an iteration on the 3DS.
Golden Sun was as much about grinding and battling as it was about solving puzzles using elemental magic called Psyenergy. The 3DS’ gyroscopic effect could be used to control certain Psynergy moves, and the summonable Djinn attacks could fly off the screen in stunning 3D. In a perfect world, players could transfer their save data over from Golden Sun Dark Dawn, to carry over their levels and items into a new game. This was the case with Golden Sun 1 and 2, and it was arguably the coolest and most revolutionary feature of those games. We see no reason why Camelot wouldn’t continue their successful franchise on Nintendo’s latest handheld, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for an announcement soon.
Mega Man Battle Network
The Battle Network series took the characters from the Mega Man series of games for the NES and SNES and translated them to a grid-based battle card RPG set in cyberspace. With your trusty Net Navi Mega Man (kind of like a digitized version of the iPhone’s Siri), you would log onto the internet to bust viruses and do battle against the nefarious WWW organization.
Battle Network Double Team DS proved that the battle network series was made for a touch, dual-screen system. Add-in improved graphics, a good, working online match-making system and the ability to trade items and battle chips via Street Pass, and you’d have one hell of a game for the 3DS. As a side-note, we also think the series would be fantastic for the Wii U, taking advantage of the gamepad to control the battles while keeping the TV clear of distracting menus.
Metroid
Do we even need to make a case for this? A side-scrolling Metroid for the 3DS would be like Christmas come early. Metroid is largely about exploration, and having an extra screen would be pretty nifty. The bottom screen could be used to project a mini-map, and you could use the stylus to note where important areas or secrets are. The backgrounds would be vibrant, and the 3D could be utilized like it was in Kirby Triple Deluxe, where enemies and environments came in and out of the foreground.
We would even be open to having a hybrid 2D/3D game where the majority is side-scrolling, but certain sections (perhaps when rolling around in a ball) would be in first-person 3D that could even take advantage of the Gyroscopic controls for aiming.
Personally, I’d be most excited for a new FF Tactics or a new Battle Network, as those were the games I logged the most hours on my Game Boy Advance and DS. With great titles like Kirby Triple Deluxe and Super Mario 3D Land, Nintendo has proven that its best franchises can translate flawlessly to the 3DS, so let’s hope that we see some of these great franchises return in the future.
