I personally love my Nintendo 3DS XL. I take it with me almost everywhere I go and like the way the system encourages use of that portability to interact with others (via StreetPass) and to translate your own activity into a reward with the system's Play Coins. These features have been with the 3DS hardware since launch and Nintendo has done a lot to update the system thus far. Here's what more we could possibly ask for.
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More System-Native Uses for Play Coins
Currently, a few games depend heavily on Play Coins in a way where you'll actively seek opportunities to go out walking around with your Nintendo 3DS. Animal Crossing: New Leaf is one of them, though the system's Puzzle Swap feature also offers an opportunity to make a daily habit out of walking with your 3DS. I'd like to see more of the system-native features like augmented reality offer new ways of interacting with them so that Play Coins feature more heavily in the exchange. Taking your Nintendo 3DS with you to meet friends might also make for an interesting downloadable street pass game where you can open your own shop. [And I think there's a game on 3DS that lets you run a shop now.]
Optional Streamlined eShop Experience
Right now, you have to load the eShop and wait for a lot of tiles to load. Then you need to scroll through the different menus to find what you're looking for if you don't just use the search bar from the get-go. Even though you'd have to open the eShop to get this point, it would be nice if Nintendo's website where you can browse the eShop library, offered the QR codes necessary to navigate directly to a game you want to download on your 3DS. This could be accomplished with a secondary eShop app that only launches the camera to scan a QR code from another source, thereby jumping to the eShop game page.
Community-Specific Apps
There are some massive Nintendo 3DS communities playing and discussing games together both online and by extension in the real world. It'd be nice to offer these gamers a way of interacting with the community they prefer. Miiverse access on 3DS was a big addition earlier this year which made a lot of people happy in the way it extended the drawing and messaging platform between both 3DS and Wii U systems. Still, I think a Reddit app or other social media app might help the 3DS gain more traction in getting out to a coffee shop or another place with friends and wireless internet coverage.
More 3D Classics
I know it sounds silly, but the look and feel of every 3D Classic I've played on Nintendo 3DS brings back the nostalgia without comprising a unique new graphical look that feels totally exclusive to the system itself. You really can't get around the way 3D Classics update the pixelized graphics of (most recently) Sega Genesis classics like Streets of Rage. I haven't bought and played every 3D Classic on the system and maybe that's only because I'm waiting out for the right game to grab my interest.
We'll update this page with more in the coming months.
