Nintendo recently laid out the rest of 2013 for their 3DS portable via Nintendo Direct. Zelda and Yoshi games were announced, release dates were revealed and Luigis were abundant. While most gamers are (rightfully) drooling over Link's next adventure and some interesting Japanese ports on the way, we thought we'd take a quick look at a feature often overlooked in portable titles: multiplayer.
We generally look to PCs or home consoles for the premier multiplayer experiences, but as Nintendo finally gets around to embracing online gaming their first affected console just happens to be the portable 3DS. First, the best multiplayer available on the 3DS right now:
Kid Icarus: Uprising
There's really only one downside to the multiplayer in Kid Icarus: Uprising and it's got nothing to do with the gameplay. It's hand cramping, and you'll get over it. As a third person shooter/brawler hybrid developed by Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai, the lightning-fast movement, dodge system and wide variety of weapon classes and power made Kid Icarus: Uprising the first meaningful multiplayer experience on the 3DS that wasn't a kart racer.
There is one innovation that's always worth mentioning with Kid Icarus: Uprising. Weapons, while falling under certain classes (and playing extremely differently depending on the class), were also varied by randomized statistics, as if the generators in Borderlands and Monster Hunter did nasty stuff together. In order to balance that randomness, players who used extremely powerful weapons drained far more of a multiplayer team's total health than players who opted for less-powerful versions. It was an ingenious move that is underappreciated in the way that it enables players of all skill-levels to compete in the same arena. Nobody's done that since. It may never be done again.
Mario Kart 7
Far less in need of a description, Mario Kart 7 came to the rescue alongside Super Mario 3D Land to take the 3DS out of its dark launch year. Since then, the console has been soaring in the sales department. It's Mario Kart, this time with gliders and underwater segments and the best online infrastructure the series has ever seen. Enough said.
Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon
The only thing more surprising than the inclusion of a cooperative multiplayer mode in this year's Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon was the fact that it is actually worth playing. Instead of copying and pasting the highly success competitive multiplayer mode based on Luigis Mansion in the Wii U's Nintendoland, the 3DS game went in a totally different direction. As an extremely simple rogue-like, up to four different-colored Luigis can get together in the "Scarescraper" to hunt down ghosts and climb to the roof.
While most of the randomly-generated floors featured similar gameplay to the single-player campaign, the boss fights on every fifth floor really highlighted how working together actually made Luigis Mansion: Dark Moon a whole different experience. Four Luigis flung around by a massive yellow blob of a ghost is quite a sight to behold.
Multiplayer On The Way
Mario Golf: World Tour
Unlike last year's Mario Tennis Open, this summer's Mario Golf: World Tour is getting the multiplayer treatment every Mario sports titles deserves. In other words, every great thing about the Mario Kart 7 systems are coming to the next Mario Golf. Communities where gamers can customize gameplay scenarios (only Luigi, for example), asynchronous large-tournament play and, of course, live online play are on the table. Mario Tennis Open sadly had only random and friend matches.
If you've ever considered yourself a talent on the Mario golf tour, you're getting your first chance to really prove it soon.
Mario Party
Mario Party is coming to the 3DS sometime this winter. Multiplayer details weren't really on display during the recent reveal, but c'mon. It's Mario Party. If any Nintendo franchise needed the introduction of online multiplayer more, especially considering local multiplayer will require multiple 3DS consoles, it's Mario Party.
Are you listening Nintendo? Are you? Hello?
Super Smash Bros. 4
Super Smash Bros. Brawl technically had online multiplayer. It was terribly laggy and totally underdeveloped. Nintendo will no doubt right that wrong, especially considering Masahiro Sakurai is coming back to the franchise with his Kid Icarus: Uprising experience in tow. While the Wii U version will undoubtedly be the preferred, the 3DS is more than capable of delivering an ideal experience, second joystick or not.
The Gamecube's C-Stick, while definitely quicker, isn't required to pull off a full character moveset. Maybe Nintendo will find a way to replicate the C-Stick on 3DS, maybe they won't, but just remember that the original Nintendo 64 game got along just fine without it.
Monster Hunter 4
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, while released with a full online suite on Wii U, was disappointingly relegated to local cooperative play only on the 3DS. Capcom is changing that with Monster Hunter 4, currently slated for a summer release in Japan. Whether it comes to the US likely depends on sales of the currently released game. But whether it will be worth anyone's time isn't a question. The Monster Hunter series is among the most challenging and therefore rewarding cooperative games on the market today.
