VGamingNews

Nintendo 3DS Price Cut Information

6 August, 2011 - 2:46 pm by
About 2 mins to read

 The Nintendo 3DS has had a coloured start, a massive bang on the launch weekend was undoubtedly Nintendo’s biggest, an approximate 112,000 units sold in the UK alone. Since then it has been all too quiet on the 3DS front. Even with the Ocarina of Time release and 3 Mario games due soon, Nintendo have taken the decision to dramatically cut the price of the 3DS by around one third.

Price has always been an issue for the handheld – the RRP is £220, which is more than an Xbox 360 and £100 more than Nintendo’s own home console! No offical pricing has been announced but we are expecting the price to fall to the £160 mark. The price cut is to boast sales ahead of Mario’s arrival and of course the Christmas period. Not forgetting, the 3DS will have competition from Sony’s Vita from Q1 next year.

The handheld has for the most part, riding on the success of third party titles such as Street Fighter and Dead or Alive. The arrival of Link in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D again sent sales through the roof for a short period. Super Mario 3D and Mario Kart are expected to be huge sellers for the console but will not arrive until November & December respectively. Star Fox is just around the corner, which all add to the much needed first party support.

For those who purchased a 3DS at full price this maybe a bitter pill to swallow, however Nintendo have realised that people may not be happy about the cut and are offering 20 – yes 20 – free games from the e-shop. Nintendo have sent messages to the console on how and when to claim them. They are a mix of NES and GameBoy games, a list of announced games can be found below:

NES

  • Super Mario Bros
  • Donkey Kong JR
  • Balloon Fight
  • Ice Climber
  • The Legend of Zelda

GameBoy

  • Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Bros Advance 3
  • Mario Kart Super Circuit
  • Metroid Fusion
  • WarioWare inc.
  • Mario VS Donkey Kong

The games will be available to participants of the Ambassador Programme, to register you have to log on to the e-shop by 10th August. The downloads will start from 1st September.