Well, the final ten games for Nintendo’s 3DS Ambassador Program have arived, bringing the total up to 20; ten NES games and ten GBA games. But some of you may be asking the question, “Did I make a mistake by purchasing my 3DS early/late?” For those of you aren’t aware, Nintendo decided to drop the price of the 3DS from $250 to $170 earlier this summer. Most of the people who decided to drop $250 on a 3DS (or trade in 3/4ths of your game library, like me), then got pretty irritated once they heard of the price drop. Because of that, Nintendo then decided to treat those of us who purchased a 3DS and connected it to the internet by August 11th, 2011. This token of appreciation was the Ambassador Program, which gave early adopters 20 free games. But was it worth it?
In my opinion, it was not worth it. For one, we’re getting games that we’ve played through countless times before, like The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., and Metroid Fusion. I could go get a Game Boy Advance off of Amazon and play any GBA game if I wanted to, while with the Ambassador Program, I’m limited to ten games. As I’ve said before, Nintendo should just make Game Boy Advance titles available on the 3DS Virtual Console. I see no reason why they shouldn’t. I could’ve just waited two months, gotten a cheaper 3DS, and still had my huge game library.
Another thing is that some people that bought a 3DS after August 11th may be missing out on games that they’ve never played before. So now they have a little more money in their wallets, but then they may feel like they’re being punished. It’s a never-ending cycle, but then again, you can’t make everyone happy. What I would suggest (if there were no good games out, which there are now) is to wait for the 3DS Lite; you know it’s coming. The GBA had three iterations, along with the DS, so the same can be expected for the 3DS. The question then becomes: “Can I wait that long without playing Mario Kart 7 and Ocarina of Time 3D?” I would say go ahead and get a $170 3DS, pick yourself up a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Mario Kart 7, and be content. You only live once, so make sure to waste it on video games, like me.
Here is a list of all of the Ambassador Titles:
NES
- Super Mario Bros.
- Donkey Kong Jr.
- Balloon Fight
- Ice Climber
- The Legend of Zelda
- Metroid
- NES Open Tournament Golf
- Wrecking Crew
- Zelda II: The Adeventure of Link
- Yoshi
GBA
- F-Zero Maximum Velocity
- Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
- Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
- Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
- Mario Kart: Super Circuit
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong
- WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$
- Metroid Fusion
- Wario Land 4
So, what are your takes on the Ambassador Program? Let us know in the comment section below.
