I got five games for my Nintendo 2DS, and here are my thoughts on them so far. At this point, I haven't completed any of them yet, so they're really more first impressions than anything else.
Star Fox 64 3D - Not much to say about this game, really. It's essentially an enhanced remake of Star Fox 64, originally released in 1997 for the Nintendo 64. It was one of my absolute favorite games for the N64. I had beaten this game several times, but never got bored with it. I even got it on my Wii thanks to the Virtual Console service.
The souped-up graphics looked awesome on the 3DS. The characters, enemies, and bosses look fantastic. The only thing that bothered me was the control. I felt it was a little stiffer than the original version, but that might be because of the 2DS's joystick. I felt it was a bit stiffer than the N64's or the Gamecube controller's joystick. Still a fun game to play, though.
The only thing I can say I didn't really like about it was that, so far, there's no new features or content. Just improved graphics. I was hoping to get some more stuff from this game, like more collectibles and/or new levels. Still, if you've never played StarFox 64 before, pick this up.
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon - The first Luigi's Mansion was one of the first games I played for the GameCube back in the day. It was really neat seeing Luigi being the one to have to save the day for once (You can't really count Mario's Time Machine or Mario is Missing for the NES/SNES, as they're really more educational video games than traditional Mario games). Not to mention it was a genuinely fun game that reminded me of Ghostbusters a little bit.
So far, I am enjoying this little game. The Library Ghost with the big head was a nightmare to beat, but I managed to beat him.
The only thing I tend to have trouble with was using the R button itself. I had trouble holding it down to use the Poltergust 5000, and it can be unwieldy to aim while firing it, which made fighting some ghosts a bit more difficult. Also, playing further in the game, I did have some moments where I was left scratching my head and wondering where on Earth I was supposed to go.
Super Mario 3D Land - Of course, what's a Nintendo system, portable or console, without a Mario game? Super Mario 3D Land is that for the 3DS generation. It's a great game, plain and simple, using tried-and-true gameplay. This one was hard to put down, I'm at the last level already.
Many of the elements remind me of Super Mario Bros. 3 (Especially the returning Tanooki Suit, but it's slightly different in this game than its Mario 3 counterpart) and Super Mario World. It's an easy game compared to many others, but it's still a fun game to play. Over the years, I've come to the realization that the Mario games are often used to help introduce people to a new console and show off what it can do.
One feature I found cool was the White Tanooki Suit. After you lose a certain number of lives, you can hit a block, that contains a white-and-gold Super Leaf. Get the leaf, and you get the White Tanooki Suit, a suit that makes you invincible for the level. Some may view it as a cop-out, but I think it's a great anti-frustration feature.
You know, now that they have brought back the Tanooki Suit, I'd love to see them bring back the Frog Suit next...
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - Since this was a sequel to my favorite Zelda game, A Link to the Past, I knew that I had to have this game. Playing it brings back memories of playing this on the Game Boy Advance as a younger man (Never got on the SNES, even though I had one. Yeah, I know, blasphemy). The graphics are bright, colorful, and beautiful, and Link can do something awesome in this game: Meld with walls. It's a neat trick.
So far, the only thing I'm not really enjoying about the game is that much of the weapons will be using the same energy bar (Thankfully, the bar regenerates). Personally, I can understand WHY they went with this, as a way of forcing a player to use the magic resource wisely, but I feel it's an unnecessary complication. I really don't see why some weapons could use different forms of ammo, like the bow having arrows for ammo, for example. It worked in Link to the Past, why not here?
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D - I loved playing the original Donkey Kong Country on my old Game Boy Advance, so I decided to pick this up for my new 2DS. The art style does remind me of those old Rare games, which I thought was a nice choice on the developers' part, as a way of bringing old fans back to the series. I can't really say a lot so far, as I have spent the least amount of time on this game so far, thanks to Super Mario 3D Land and Link Between Worlds taking up much of my gameplay time. So far, I'm enjoying the game. One feature I thought was cool was if you get Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong gets three extra hit points (bringing it up to six), and he can use Diddy Kong's jet pack to make longer jumps. A handy feature.
