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Wow That Was Quick: 3DS Drops To $169.99

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by Andy McNamara on July 28, 2011 at 07:37 AM
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Nintendo of America announced early this morning that the suggested retail price for the Nintendo 3DS would drop to $169.99 on August 12th, down from its launch price of $249.99 on March 27th of this year (yes, that quickly - less then 5 months).

Nintendo points to its reasoning with this selection taken from the press release:

"For anyone who was on the fence about buying a Nintendo 3DS, this is a huge motivation to buy now," said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "We are giving shoppers every incentive to pick up a Nintendo 3DS, from an amazing new price to a rapid-fire succession of great games."

The upcoming games Nintendo is referring to are Star Fox 64 3D which releases on September 9th, Super Mario 3D Land coming in November, Mario Kart 7 in December, and Kid Icarus: Uprising due in the holiday season.

LITTLE UPDATE: As a way to stop rage at the price drop Nintendo is "awarding" anyone who purchases a 3DS before the price drop with Ambassador status. Here is the way Nintendo explains it:

These free games are available to anyone who owns a Nintendo 3DS system and uses a wireless broadband Internet signal to connect to the Nintendo eShop at least once before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 11. These users will automatically be registered in the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program. The program contains two elements:

  1. Starting Sept. 1, Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors will be able to download 10 NES Virtual Console games at no charge and before they are available in the Nintendo eShop to the general public. These games, including Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climber and The Legend of Zelda, are slated to become paid downloadable games, but Ambassadors get them early for free. Once the paid versions of the games are posted to the Nintendo eShop later in the year, the updated versions will be available to Ambassadors for download at no cost
  2. By the end of 2011, Nintendo will provide Ambassadors with 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games. These include games like Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong. These games will be available exclusively to Ambassadors, and Nintendo currently has no plans to make these 10 games available to the general public on the Nintendo 3DS in the future.

So what do you think of the fastest price drop in Nintendo history (at least to the best of our memory)? Will this motivate you to get a 3DS?

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Comments
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  • by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:48 AM
    Nice. I hadn't considered buying one yet, but $169 is a good price I think. Maybe I will get one, but I have to know: Is it worth it?
  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:49 AM
    Now I might actually get it.
  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:49 AM
    They say if you bought it @ 250 they are going to give you 10 classic down loadable games.

    On edit, Yeah I posted this before the update. there are a total of 20 as stated in the article. Please ignore the man behind the curtain.
  • by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:49 AM
    Really Nintendo? After I just bought my 3DS. :[[
  • by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:50 AM
    That was way too fast! I bought mine for the launch price!
  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:50 AM
    Wow that... is... amazing. Wow. I might get this. Wow.
  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:51 AM
    Wow, On one hand a lot of people are probably pissed at this (most likely the people who bought it at launch), but on the other hand, WOO IM GETTING A 3DS (Hyrule here I come!)
  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:51 AM
    I am still getting the PSvita.
  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:51 AM
    Hey Andy, just letting you know that you left out the information about the Ambassador program for early adopters. 10 free NES games like Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, and 10 free GBA games like Metroid Fusion and Super Mario Advance 3.
  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:52 AM
    It only means that there is going to be an announcement for the 3DS XXL!
    Knowing Nintendo, it is all about making "BIG" Announcements.....So Expect the XXL Edition to be coming say around September. That is what happened with the DSi and DSi XL...


  • by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:53 AM

    Well now there's a good price. I predict some Ocarina of time after August 12th.

  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:53 AM

    I'm sure another article will show up but anyone who bought one before the price drop in a few weeks and logged into the e-shop will receive 10 free NES games and will receive 10 free GBA games when they become available.

  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:54 AM
    HAHAHAHAHAHA! My one friend who bought a 3DS is going to go insane when he hears this. Heck, up until the 3D Ocarina of Time game came out, he didn't even really use it. Wait until he hears that he could have saved $80 by waiting a few months.
  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:57 AM
    You didn't mention that people who already have one get 10 free NES and 10 free GBA Virtual Console games before they're released as paid downloads to the general public. (If I can get the Fire Emblem games and Yggdra Union from the Virtual console, I will lose my sh*t.) Anyway, I think this price cut makes the 3DS a pretty nice purchase, especially will all of the great games that are coming up later this year.
  • by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 07:58 AM
    WHAT THE ***. i bought a 3ds one month ago for 250. i want a *** refund nintendo!
  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 08:01 AM
    Here comes the 3DSi XXL U Motion Sensing Mario Kart Light Edition!
  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 08:03 AM

    Hahahaha oh wow. I feel bad for everyone who bought it already. But yeah, I'm actually considering this now...

  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 08:12 AM
    This is priceless... I just read a Gamasutra article two days ago that was like "Why is Nintendo so dumb? Don't they realize that if they took a loss (or a smaller profit) on the system and focused on software profits, they would be as successful as xbox/ps3?" Apparently Nintendo read the article too... this is a very smart move. Now they just have to hope they haven't done this too late for 3rd-party developers to latch onto their system.
  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 08:14 AM
    Feel like I got ripped off but atleast their offering free games from what people are saying in the comments. If only Capcom would of made UMVC3 like $10 for people that already brought the game, or better yet make it free. Cause they're losing some fans out there.
  •
    by Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 08:15 AM
    I wants one, why why do I have to go out in the world and get a good education!!! Why must I?!! gah! if it wasn't for college I'd be all over this!
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