Nintendo 3DS goes $169, old customers get 20 free oldies

3:10 AM on 07.28.2011   |   Conrad Zimmerman

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Nintendo has announced that they will be changing the manufacturer suggested retail price for their Nintendo 3DS handheld worldwide. The gaming system which launched less than five months ago at $249 will be available for a mere $169.99 come August 12. Similar cuts are occurring in Japan, Europe and Australia.

Did you catch that? It's an $80 price cut. That's almost 30% off of the original asking price for a product that fans and loyalists bought on the promise that great things were coming when nothing has come. And now this in less than six months. But don't worry. Nintendo has a plan for those of us who feel a bit chafed.

See, Nintendo understands the needs of the core customers who bought in early to feel satisfied with their purchase. So they're going to give everybody who bought a 3DS prior to this point the opportunity to download a collection of ten NES games for free before they hit the eShop. They'll also be giving out ten Game Boy Advance titles, including Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong, before the end of the year. These GBA games are currently expected to be exclusive to early adopters or, as Nintendo calls them, "Ambassadors."

So, you're going to get twenty old games for free, some of which are very old and have already been milked to death on other downloadable platforms (NES games include Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climber and The Legend of Zelda). This is supposed to make up for it. 

I'm not the sort of guy who wants something for free. I'm glad that they're admitting that they're bending over their core consumers and offering them some form of compensation for the pleasure, but they can keep their exclusive downloads of games I bought from them at least once already. I just hope this teaches us all a lesson in early adoption.