Games that Would Be Ginormous on the Nintendo 3DS

Right on the heels of releasing the new DSi XL, Nintendo made a surprising move: they made the product almost immediately obsolete by announcing the tentatively-named Nintendo 3DS, a portable game console with 3D capabilities– glassesless, no less. The possibilities for such a device are endless, but of course it’s always easier to bring out a new game in an established franchise to launch a console…so here are ten games that absolutely belong on the Nintendo 3DS.

Scribblenauts

The original game: write in the name of any object you want, and the game will come up with it for use in logic puzzles, along the lines of the old Incredible Toon Machine game, if any of you remember that 1994 classic.

In 3D: In the original game you could even summon Cthulhu to help you out of a tight spot. Imagine that in 3D! Whoever thinks of it first could take over the world via DS!

Doki Doki Majo Shinpan

The original game: Infamously known as the “witch-touching game,” this uniquely Japanese game features the main character trying to determine who’s a witch and who’s not by raising their heart rates via “touching” with the stylus.

In 3D: What? Not only do you get to touch her front side, you’d have access to the back side, too. Just sayin’.

Ender’s Game: Battle Room

The original game: Doesn’t exist yet, but has been planned for the DS since 2008. The game revolves around Ender and other young children whose high test scores landed them in military boot camp, space-style, where they’ll be used to defeat an alien threat.

In 3D: I’ve always wanted to fight the ant-like aliens known as the Formics (or, alternatively, “the buggers”), so since a 3D console is in the works, why not aim for the stars?

Love Plus

The original game: a fusion of a dating game and a girlfriend simulator– sort of like ToHeart meets those “Petz” games –after you played through the “get the girl to like you” story with one of three heroines, the game becomes a real-time girlfriend simulator, complete with phone calls and getting mad at you if you ignore it.

In 3D: Let’s face it, Love Plus in 3D would take us just a few steps away from Star Trek’s Holodeck– and with VR dating, the end of humanity as we know it.

Sonic Spinball

The original game: In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, there was a zone called Casino Night, which I’ve always assumed inspired the eventual game Sonic Spinball, which was pinball but with Sonic instead of the usual balls.

In 3D: I was always better at Sonic Spinball than anything else and usually timed out on the Casino Night Zone rather than actually finishing the level’s boss. Besides, 3D pinball sounds awesome.

Yakitate Japan

The original game: There is none. This is actually a manga franchise that takes the basic structure of a sports drama– wunderkind enters professional world, loses, learns something, wins, loses, learns something, wins, rinse, repeat –and applies it to the world of bread-making in a ridiculously over-the-top comedy.

In 3D: Well, who hasn’t wanted to “knead” the touch screen after an erroneously interpreted tap?

Earthbound 2 (Mother 3)

The original game: Earthbound was the second game in a trilogy of RPGs known as Mother in Japan. Nowadays, familiarity with Earthbound is frequently relegated to people who like to play as Ness in Super Smash Brothers, which is tragic for such a flavorful game series.

In 3D: I don’t actually care WHAT form I get it in. I WANT MY MOTHER (3)!

Lemmings

The original game: Assign specific tasks to various little green-haired creatures to get them from point A to point B. Inevitably, some of them will be sacrificed in the name of the horde…

In 3D: If Lemmings was in 3D then watching them fall off of cliffs would be about a million times more rewarding. Maybe more rewarding than winning the game…hm.

Trauma Center

The original game: Imagine playing Operation, with less obnoxious buzzing but about a thousand times harder, with goofy looking movements and the less-than-perfect controls of a Wiimote instead of actual tweezers in your hands. Plug in a goofy medical drama worthy of a C-list night time drama and you’ve got Trauma Center. (I imagine it’s even more Operation-like on the DS.)

In 3D: Practically a training sim for would-be surgeons and serial killers. Woohoo!

Phoenix Wright

The original game: Solve mysteries and present your findings in court, but the colorful characters are as much of the draw as the gameplay itself.

In 3D: “It’s like he’s yelling ‘objection’ right at me!”

Gia Manry is a professional writer based in San Francisco, CA. She likes being followed on Twitter and can also be contacted via her website.