3DS games don't work on DSs and the graphics are leaps and bounds better. Clearly it's a generational shift. Haven't listened to this week's casts yet, but I'd guess it's just some "we've been in this line of work a looooooong time" forgetfulness.

Nope. Different tech under the hood and there's no software parity.

@banefirelord: haven’t you heard them do this in other episodes when the 3ds came up like when Nintendo lifetime sales figures was a topic?

I mean clearly no but at the same time I can sort of understand the bleeding together that can happen.

They are definitely different generations. DS 3D capabilities were around that of the N64, while 3DS was closer to the Gamecube. Plus all the other stuff the 3DS could do. I mean the (New) 3DS could play Hyrule Warriors and Xenoblade Chronicles. Those are some pretty graphically intense games that the DS would have zero chance at being able to come close to.

The fact that they mostly named DS games is both because of backwards compatibility (they may have played those games on the 3DS, and for 2D games in particular it's pretty easy to confuse the two systems because they don't look for different for 2D titles) and because the 3DS library is fine, but not nearly as great as the DS' library.

The 3DS had some amazing games but the DS is probably the best handheld ever, and the 3DS had a lot more "console games, but worse" games while the DS had better portable games.

@bigsocrates: fair point about bc but I doubt any of them played much ds games on the 3ds 😅

@liquiddragon: Genuinely don't have any recollection of this. I'd understand why they'd fall into doing that, though, considering at what a weird time the 3DS launched in that middle ground between the 7th and 8th generation consoles.

Most of the highlight games for the 3DS are JRPG-ish or anime-ish in some way and such titles don't really seem to attract most of the Giantbomb crew.

Yeah, this is a fair point. The 3DS library was actually veering really close to the Vita library, in terms of just being video-game-ass video games. Notably, during that email question about favourite 3DS games, none of them mentioned any Fire Emblem games, which had quite the renaissance on 3DS. Also in a recent Bombcast where Jeff started mentioning that the Switch only has 2 really good games (Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey), the only counterpoint anyone mentions is Animal Crossing, and no one even mentioned last year's Fire Emblem on Switch :(

Back to 3DS. It's kinda fucked how almost no 3DS games used the dual screens in anything resembling an innovative way anymore. Very few games even used the touch screen much, since they seemed to want to assume the user was keeping their eyes glued to the 3D top screen. Stylus controls were almost never the primary user input, except on a few carryover series (Professor Layton, etc.) and some tapping-based rhythm games. 3DS has the dual screens and bottom touch screen almost out of obligation, but it seemed very few developers had any new ideas for it or felt like using it.

So anyway, yes, I think there's a pretty distinct generational difference between DS and 3DS games, both graphically but also the entire game design ethos.

They're different generations but some of my favorite games to play on my 3DS are regular DS games.

I love the 3DS, but it's probably fair to say that its just a design iteration of the DS that added a feature which didn't end up being all that popular.

As a southpaw, I don't consider this a shame at all. If a game came out that required you use the stylus with your right hand and the circle pad/d-pad with your left, I wouldn't have been able to play it. For Etrian Odyssey, I had to stop every little bit and switch hands and start drawing the map, then switch back and move forward some more. It didn't occur to me until much later that most people were probably moving about with the stylus poised above the screen, ready to quickly scribble something down without having to shift position every minute or so. The original DS's face button layout could, in a pinch, simulate a D-Pad, which is what I used whenever this was a problem (it wasn't often an issue, I didn't play many DS games, but I couldn't have played anything like Metroid Prime Hunters with the default controls.

When the 3DS came out, I actually strongly considered simply not getting one because I feared the library would consist of too many games expecting a right-handed player.